Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Got Camera? Will Shoot

Last night, I was driving out to one of our monthly listening tour meetings, in Chatham County. On my way out, we ran into some storm cells passing through the area. We didn’t have a photographer in the area. What did we do? I’ll turn it over to Teran, Community Content Liason to tell you the story….

Thunder crashing… lightning flashing… rain pouring and wind howling…that was our Tuesday night in Chatham County! Team NBC 17 made a stop on our Listening Tour in Pittsboro last night for a Community Focus Forum. In the midst of setting up and getting ready for the forum, a much needed summer storm was forming and coming at us hard!  Sure enough the storm blew through the entire Triangle with a force that was not to be reckoned with.

As we were about to start the meeting, we got a call from Wes Hohenstein NBC 17’s Chief Meteorologist saying a tree had fallen on a house in Pittsboro and we needed to get pictures and video of it but did not have a reporter to go down there. The news crew knew we were there, so low and behold I headed out with my camera phone and handheld camera to find this house. As I was driving down the street looking for this house, there was no tree to be found. I called the NBC 17 assignment desk to check the address again, and as I pulled up in front of the house I was greeted by Catherine the owner of the house and her neighbor. Catherine was frazzled, but still very nice and invited me into her home to show me where a branch had gone all the way through her roof/ceiling into her bathroom.  Then she took me to the backyard to see the tree on top of the house. I took some pictures on my cell phone and immediately e-mailed them back to the station.  I then shot some video on my handheld camera. I got back in my car and drove back to the station where they were able to edit my footage and get it onto the 11 o’clock news. Keep in mind, I am neither a journalist nor a photographer.  I am a just a girl with a camera, and by having my position of Community Content Liaison, I was able to be out in the community where something like this happened! A special thanks to Erin who got me to where I needed to be, and Brad and Monty who were able to edit my footage and get it on air!

Also a thank you to the Chatham County residents who braved the storm and came to our forum: Gabriel, Ilana, Claudia, Patti, Sheila, Michael, Jeanette, Joan, Sterlin, Norma, Carol, Bill, Pam, Andrea, Vance, Dianne, Neha, Molly, Gilda, Loyse, Melissa, and Rita! We look forward to meeting more of you on one of our stops during the NBC 17 Listening Tour…coming to a town near you!

-Teran