NBC Fire and Ice

The torch for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games may have just gone out, but our excitement over being a part of it lingers on — even on the ice.
This past fall Travis worked with internationally renowned photographer Sampson Chan as his 1st AC to capture some of the most intricately detailed shots on the ice. It was part of NBC’s Olympic profiles on some of America’s greatest hopefuls (in athletics, that is — there’s still plenty of hope for the rest of us.)

The 2-day shoot at the West Valley Accord Ice Center covered women’s figure skater Rachel Flatt, US speed skater JR Celski, curling team skipper John Schuster, women’s ice hockey team member Julie Chu and figure skating pair Caydee Denny and Jeremy Barrett. The profiles aired leading up to the Games and as transitions through the various broadcast events and opening ceremonies.
To capture the meticulous shots the crew’s greatest find was the Phantom. Not a super-hero itself, but pretty special. Same camera used for parts of the movie Ironman. It’s a special high-speed camera that captures up to 5,000 frames per second (that’s super slow-motion for all you math majors). All of this, so that some of the high-speed action from the winter Olympics fastest sports could be brought to television viewers around the globe.

For a special low angle shot right down on the ice itself, they also used a snorkel lens (no, it’s not for water unless we’re talking about frozen water). At one point they were working with such a high shudder speed that they had to employ four 6,000-watt HMI lights concentrated onto a 4 foot area of ice. Almost caught the gear on fire and made the ice melt. Let’s just say it made Travis see the light (and it almost burned his retinas too). Despite that, it was definitely a unique opportunity and a chance to cover the best of both worlds. Slow motion, ice and a snorkel lens, we’ve got everything covered!