Bye, Bye, BET.

I was the house photographer for BET’s 106 & Park TV show for 3 years.  The workload was insane, but what a wonderful shooting opportunity it was.  I shot over 800 images per show and I often shot 2 shows per day.  And, I would edit these 1,600 or so images at the end of the day while still at BET and upload a final, captioned take of around 300 total images before I went home each day.  It was mentally exhausting, but so much fun.

As long as I created the images BET needed -(the hosts with the guests, and the guests alone on set, being the most important) I was free to pursue the shots I was seeing on and off set.  My tool of choice was the Leica M9 but I sometimes used the iPhone with a fisheye attachment as well.  I may have been quite the spectacle, juggling 2 Nikons, a Leica and an iPhone fisheye on the crowded set, but my choice of gear consistently allowed me to create new and interesting shots each day, even though I was shooting what was essentially the same subject every day.

My tenure at BET ended when Getty Images took over responsibility for photographing the show each day.  Despite my love for shooting on that set, I was really glad for it to end.  I think 3 years was the perfect amount of time to have spent there.  Getting back my free time to focus on other projects was a real blessing.