Tomorrow is the big day.  The 138th running of the Kentucky Derby.

Laura and I arrived in Kentucky on Tuesday to get settled in, and to start work on several multimedia pieces.

We’ve been at the track every morning by 5 a.m.  It’s my favorite part of this event.

Dawn on the backside of Churchill Downs allows me to make beautiful pictures at a slower pace.  It’s peaceful and beautiful.  Tranquil, but exciting.

But I don’t come to the Derby just for the horses.  I come for the people.

I’ve been covering this event for more than two decades, and through the years I have made some of my closest friends here.  People like Bill Luster, Dan Dry, Matt Goins and Skip Dickstein, just to name a few, are the main reason I wouldn’t miss the Kentucky Derby.

The Run for the Roses also gives a chance to catch up with colleagues, like SI senior staff writer Tim Layden.  He is a wonderful writer and great friend.  Working with him is always a pleasure.

He was the subject of our first multimedia piece, a multi-camera stand-up where he gives viewers his picks for this year’s race.

Our second multimedia is a backstage look into the making of champion race horses and the beauty of the Derby.

Stay tuned for more….

What a wonderful weekend in Germany. Old friends, new friends, lots of toys, terrific food and chance to learn from some impressive teachers.

I was excited about having a chance to work with some great folks, and spend time interacting with the 11,000 photographers who would be attending the expo.  Plus with plenty of fine German beer for Laura, I knew it could only be a happy environment.

Before anything else I need to talk about Yasuo for a moment.  This was a mammoth undertaking. I think it has to be the largest event of it’s kind in the world.  With his team at Nikon Germany, he put together not only an impressive group of speakers, but also filled a giant hall with a wide range of corporate friends and provided a brilliant environment for everyone to learn and share.     He had time and kind words for everyone.  Gracious and generous while under so much pressure and stress is a lesson we can all learn from.

The last month I’ve had a chance to work often with my long time friend Joe McNally.  Every time I hear him present it’s an education.  He is not only incredibly knowledgeable about photography, he is just flat out fun to listen to.

Laura and I were backstage with Anne Cahill right before Joe’s first presentation on Saturday — he was lighting an elephant and a lingerie model with small flash — and there was a lighting diagram/sketch Joe had drawn on a piece of cardboard lying on one of the shipping cases.   Some of the group–and I am not naming names here,  but it wasn’t me, were discussing selling it on Ebay.

I got the chance to make a new friend this weekend who spends significant time with some of my old friends.  Florian Schulz is a contributor to  National Geographic with a world of talent.  Seeing his work on display and meeting his young family was a joy.   I hope to see more of him down the road soon.

The guys from Profoto Germany knocked themselves out to help us with various lighting solutions.  They  introduced us to their ProDaylight system for our shoot with the body builder and gymnasts.  These are an extremely powerful continuous light source — they will be very helpful particularly for video solutions.  These lights allowed us to show the audience exactly what the light would look like, why we placed the lights where we did and — more important — allowed the photographers in the audience to join and shoot with me.   At one point I was struggling to make a point so I invited some of the crowd to come and sit on the floor with me to see things from my, literal, point of view.  About 150 flooded out of the seats and surrounded me.  This was really fun for all of us.

Photo by Carsten Bockermann

Nikon Solutions was a 2 day festival.  Each of the days, we did three presentations: one on DSLR video, one on a Love of Photography and a live shooting demonstration with multi remote cameras.

I always learn more than I can teach at this type of conference.  I have shot about 150,000 frames now with the Nikon D4 but every day I get new information that helps me make the images I want to make.  Each of the other presenters opened my eyes to useful solutions.

It’s time to take the inspiration and information and get back to work.

Tomorrow first thing, we are loading up 20 cases of gear and heading to see another group of old friends at my favorite yearly event, the Kentucky Derby.  The only place to be the first weekend of May, every year.

I started the week in Las Vegas and ended it in New York.

I was doing workshops and talks about DSLR video both places.

In Las Vegas, I was a guest of Manfrotto at NAB. I always love to spend time at the Kata booth. They are some of my favorite people and their products, while seemingly simple, are a critical component of what I do. I work on the road, on deadline, and my gear has to arrive organized and protected. Kata bags make that happen.

As much as I enjoyed spending time with Kata and Manfrotto, and seeing so many of my friends on the convention floor, one of the best things I did in Nevada was head to Red Rocks at dusk.  It was great to get out of town, grab my D800 and iPhone 4s and go for a long, slow walk.

In New York, I was speaking at Adorama and the crowd was wonderful. Terrific questions, fun atmosphere — and the knowledge that excellent pizza was right around the corner. I walked from my hotel in Midtown down to Adorama on 18th street, and then back to Sports Illustrated’s offices on 50th street and the Avenue of the Americas. Twice. Lots to see, lots to shoot. Sore feet.

This is easily the best time to be a photographer/storyteller.

At Adorama, I was hosted by Jeff Snyder. We’ve been friends for a long time, which is a good thing in someone you are doing business with, but even better he is a photographer and understands what we do.  With him it’s like having a hometown camera store instantly available, but with national resources.

NAB is great fun. For gear heads, it just doesn’t get any better than this. Every corner you turn there is something exciting and intriguing to play with.

Over the past two years, I’ve had the opportunity to help design and test Manfrotto’s new supports range, the SYMPLA.

The SYMPLA is the perfect match for the flexibility provided by HDSLR filmmaking. It provides multiple supports for your camera and lens, making it well-balanced and stable. It is easy to adjust, easy to pack, and easy to customize.

Comfortable and convertible, the SYMPLA expands creative potential by allowing you to shoot where you want.

In our exclusive behind the scenes video, you can watch many of the different ways we utilized the SYMPLA.

I’m honored to get to introduce the SYMPLA at NAB today, April 17 at 11:30. I’ll be discussing the design and the SYMPLA’s special features.

Yesterday was even better. I got to just roam the floor and visit my friends.

Before I entered the hall, I bumped into Tim David from Apple, who really need to watch where he is going, but that turned into the best surprise of the day. While I was talking to Tim, Garrett Rice – also from Apple came by and made me laugh for 30 minutes. A very nice way to start the day.

Inside, my first stop was Eileen Healey at Chimera — if there is a nicer person alive I don’t know who it is.

Next Dennis Wood at Cinevate. Their new jib is really cool, and I haven’t told Laura yet, but we will have one soon. If Dennis only had a little more energy…

Then to Chris Kearns from Small HD Monitors. I love their products. The new D7 monitor is sweet. Incredibly lightweight. It’s going to be a huge help with handheld cameras.

I went by Nikon’s booth, but the crowd was too big, and so I’ll head back today and visit with all of them. There is never enough time with those guys. Kris Bosworth, Scott Diussa, Mark Kettenhoffen, Sara Moosbrugger, Mark Suban, and if I have enough time I’ll talk to Mr. Silverman, but that usually requires a few hours and an instruction manual.

A huge bonus for me is the Manfrotto booth where Stacy Pearsall — check out her new book – and Andy Dunaway are doing demos and helping explain things. Really fine folks that I am lucky to have as close friends.

Though it has been a few weeks, I’m still so inspired by all the people I met and had the opportunity to spend time with on the Nikon Nordic Tour.

Here’s a little behind the scenes video of me, Peter Brodin, and Joe McNally.

Good times and great friends.

Adorama from Straw Hat Visuals on Vimeo.