I remember picking up a rig for the first time, and the only thing not telling me to put it right back down was my pride.
Then another operator, kept telling me to keep picking it up,
as often as possible,
until it just becomes an acceptable weight on your body,
and you can actually work on getting decent at it
I had a very strange road into steadicam in that I come from a live, multi-camera background, starting off doing jib, but always salivating at the freedom of the steadicam.
The studio i was working in had a steadicam, owned by the network, but it was barely used, save for music performances.
We had a second hour lunch, for some crazy reason, and I remember exhausting the operators in the studio of their knowledge, and getting in the rig for 2 hrs a day, 4 days a week, just trying to get it under control.
I began observing other nyc steadicam operators, on their shows, which lead to quite a few 'A-ha' moments, from balancing the rig correctly, to tweeking my footwork, and controlling the transfer of weight from one foot to the other.
Within a year of taking other peoples feedback, and a lot of hours in the vest, I was getting to a point where I felt comfortable actually charging people to do this. I had so much respect for my fellow operators I didn't want to jump in until I felt damn sure I wasn't going to discourage a production from using steadicam in the future.
I had some ups,
some downs,
moments where I wanted to just walk away from it, and seriously questioned whether this was a mistake or not.
But then I had someone take a flier on me, gave me a shot, on a real low budget show, and just encouraged me to try new things.
I was hooked after that, and suddenly I began 'disengaging',
not thinking as much, just expressing...
Suddenly, I began tumbling down the rabbit hole of the desire for perfection and greatness,
every frame culminating to some moment yet to be discovered, but when it hits, it feels like the world slows, swirls, and for a moment there is something that happens...
Over the last few years, I've had a few moments, hard to say what it is exactly, but it just hits me, and its almost like I've leveled up in a video game, and suddenly able to do so much more...
I don't know how else to explain it, but I'm thankful for it.