(by Aoibheann)

Just back from a long day in Dublin city centre getting footage of the preparation for US president Obama’s visit for AFP (Agence France Presse). Arrived into the city early to get some dawn shots, but there was no real sunrise, just the slow lightening of grey matched by a blustery wind and spitting rain. Balloons and flags were getting battered along the quays and security crews looked like they would have rather have been in bed. I donned my rain jacket and started working.

For this shoot I was working on my own, loaded up with the tripod, camera and audio gear. Thankfully the new HD video cameras are lighter than the old heavy digi’s, because tighter budgets and the need for 24 hour rolling news have stripped news crews down to a minimum. I wasn’t the only “multi-skilled-operator” who had to shoot the footage, conduct the interviews, ensure the audio was clean, then edit the footage and upload the stream without any support crew. Its just the way broadcast news has gone, and you have to get on with it and get the best footage you can.

The south side of the city centre was pretty much locked down, with no traffic allowed to pass through. In amongst the stage platforms being built and the army vehicles buzzing around I met 3 cheerful students who had been waiting from 6am (Obama was only due in at 17.30pm!).  AFP added a clip of them onto Youtube:

Got back to the media centre at Dublin Castle to edit and upload the footage. By this point the place was busy and I saw a few familiar looking telly-faces amongst the international press core. I also have to admit that I coveted a few of the photographers lenses as I got to my station and edited and uploaded the footage.

Using still lenses on HD video cameras has been a fantastic and affordable joy for me, but I know the lenses those lads were using cost tens of thousands of Euros each, so all I could do was drool from afar.

After the upload, I was out on the streets again getting more shots. By midday there were already packed queues of people waiting halfway up Dame street, and the crowd snaked round beyond Christchurch cathedral. People I met in the throngs were cheerful and looking forward to hearing Obama speak. I recorded a few more shots and some vox pops and dashed back to the media centre to cut and file them in time for my second deadline.

One thing that struck me back at Dublin Castle was seeing a few journalists writing their articles from the shared, televised news feed; I don’t think some of them had left the media centre at all. I didn’t stick around to contemplate how many news stories out there are just sourced from pooled news feeds; my story was filed and I managed to escape the city centre ahead of the hungry, thirsty (and somewhat starstruck) crowds.