"The Hunger Games" media coverage...
I just have to share the stuff that happened when we did the coverage for "The Hunger Games" mall tour.
Please bear in mind we're not used to these types of media events. My husband mainly covers concerts, with some sporting events thrown in there. This was a whole different deal.
We went to the Mall of America and the people there had a TON of room for media between the stage and barricade. I mean, usually at concerts, you get about four feet between the barricade and the stage to move. Yeah, we got about twelve feet to run around at the MOA. It was AWESOME. We were practically skipping around. So, I go there and it was PACKED. The thing about us is that we like to have fun with the fans of everything he shoots. A lot of media people think they're too damn good to associate with the fans, but that's crap. I love talking with fans. So we talked to these girls who had been there since eight o'clock. We had gotten there at three o'clock (five minutes earlier) when speaking with them. Later, I found out that it was not eight AM, no, rather eight PM from the prior evening. I was like, "What???" A lot of people were upset because they were like, six people away from the autograph session, but I told them it was cooler that they were up front for the Q&A. Personally, I have seen a ton of autograph sessions and many times, you barely get to see the celebrities. I would rather get to hang around with or get images of them than get an autograph any day. I didn't get to get a photo with Marilyn Manson, but I got to hang out with him one on one for about ten minutes, which means way more to me than any damn photo.
So we are up there and I was taking a bunch of pics for the fans with their cameras before it all started. There were so many guys from like, WireImage and Getty and such that refused to do it. That's lame because they weren't doing anything and you could tell this meant SO much to these people. So I just took a ton of pics and talked with them for something to do.
The cast came out. They were all really nice and fun. People were FREAKING out. I don't know, I don't tend to freak out with people. I have only done that thing where I can't talk twice in my entire life with people. But I just see them as people. I'm looking at them and I'm like, "God, this has to be SO odd." I mean, can you imagine all these people coming out to see you? And screaming at the top of their lungs? I've been to concerts next to amps that have lower decibels than those screaming people - not a joke.
One thing I loved though was that I had no clue that the girl from the "Orphan" film was in "The Hunger Games". She comes on stage and I'm like, "Is that the freaky chick from that Orphan movie???" If I could have sat and talked with any of them, it would have been her just to be like, "You were scary as hell in that movie! I mean, I still can't watch the makeup removal scene."
Word to the wise - if you are ever going to something like that and get up front, don't get pissy with the media. Mainly because, they will always be at these things. If you don't like it, they are not the places you should go. They are all authorized to be there for good reasons. They're not people who sneaked up in front of you or butt their way in line. There was one lone girl behind the barricade who kept saying, "These photographers and news people shouldn't be allowed to be up here. We're the ones who waited for it." Well, we worked our asses off to get the jobs and are providing the fandom with additional coverage to expand it. All of her friends were telling her to shut up the whole time. That made it quite comical. Besides, we don't stay in one place the whole time. We move around a LOT.
One of the craziest things I saw, I have to say, was when everything wrapped up. Everyone was gone and we were gathering up equipment when this girl walks up to the front of the barricade, stand there a second, and then just BURSTS into tears. I was like, oh, my god. So the promotions woman that the MOA went up and grabbed the huge promo poster and gave it to her, which I thought was really nice.
Some of his photos are posted HERE. These and others will be posted at his official website and are currently available for sale. If you want to purchase any, please just PM me. :)
Samples
Please bear in mind we're not used to these types of media events. My husband mainly covers concerts, with some sporting events thrown in there. This was a whole different deal.
We went to the Mall of America and the people there had a TON of room for media between the stage and barricade. I mean, usually at concerts, you get about four feet between the barricade and the stage to move. Yeah, we got about twelve feet to run around at the MOA. It was AWESOME. We were practically skipping around. So, I go there and it was PACKED. The thing about us is that we like to have fun with the fans of everything he shoots. A lot of media people think they're too damn good to associate with the fans, but that's crap. I love talking with fans. So we talked to these girls who had been there since eight o'clock. We had gotten there at three o'clock (five minutes earlier) when speaking with them. Later, I found out that it was not eight AM, no, rather eight PM from the prior evening. I was like, "What???" A lot of people were upset because they were like, six people away from the autograph session, but I told them it was cooler that they were up front for the Q&A. Personally, I have seen a ton of autograph sessions and many times, you barely get to see the celebrities. I would rather get to hang around with or get images of them than get an autograph any day. I didn't get to get a photo with Marilyn Manson, but I got to hang out with him one on one for about ten minutes, which means way more to me than any damn photo.
So we are up there and I was taking a bunch of pics for the fans with their cameras before it all started. There were so many guys from like, WireImage and Getty and such that refused to do it. That's lame because they weren't doing anything and you could tell this meant SO much to these people. So I just took a ton of pics and talked with them for something to do.
The cast came out. They were all really nice and fun. People were FREAKING out. I don't know, I don't tend to freak out with people. I have only done that thing where I can't talk twice in my entire life with people. But I just see them as people. I'm looking at them and I'm like, "God, this has to be SO odd." I mean, can you imagine all these people coming out to see you? And screaming at the top of their lungs? I've been to concerts next to amps that have lower decibels than those screaming people - not a joke.
One thing I loved though was that I had no clue that the girl from the "Orphan" film was in "The Hunger Games". She comes on stage and I'm like, "Is that the freaky chick from that Orphan movie???" If I could have sat and talked with any of them, it would have been her just to be like, "You were scary as hell in that movie! I mean, I still can't watch the makeup removal scene."
Word to the wise - if you are ever going to something like that and get up front, don't get pissy with the media. Mainly because, they will always be at these things. If you don't like it, they are not the places you should go. They are all authorized to be there for good reasons. They're not people who sneaked up in front of you or butt their way in line. There was one lone girl behind the barricade who kept saying, "These photographers and news people shouldn't be allowed to be up here. We're the ones who waited for it." Well, we worked our asses off to get the jobs and are providing the fandom with additional coverage to expand it. All of her friends were telling her to shut up the whole time. That made it quite comical. Besides, we don't stay in one place the whole time. We move around a LOT.
One of the craziest things I saw, I have to say, was when everything wrapped up. Everyone was gone and we were gathering up equipment when this girl walks up to the front of the barricade, stand there a second, and then just BURSTS into tears. I was like, oh, my god. So the promotions woman that the MOA went up and grabbed the huge promo poster and gave it to her, which I thought was really nice.
Some of his photos are posted HERE. These and others will be posted at his official website and are currently available for sale. If you want to purchase any, please just PM me. :)
Samples