In the O.R. with Dr. William Leighton

Some of the most rewarding projects I've worked on have been capturing medical footage with brilliant physicians, nurses, and staff. Whether it's at a medical mission in Nicaragua (see last month), or right here in my own backyard.

Today, we're lucky enough to be capturing the very talented Dr. William Leighton, whose many skills include helping burn victims recover and regain their quality of life, often reconstructing their heads and faces from what little is left behind after their accident.

Today, Dr. Leighton is performing his 48th surgery on just such a burn victim. I met the patient before the surgery, and he spoke very highly of Dr. Leighton's skill and dedication. Of less consequence, however, is the fact that we're deploying our newest boom camera mount, in an effort to get the best angles possible.

Excuse the crummy panorama shot here. The boom is actually too long for my iPhone's camera, so this is three shots merged. This is a modified Manfrotto light/mic boom stand on a wheeled tripod. It has an internal gearing mechanism that allows us to rotate and tilt the Sony HD camera we have mounted on the end.

Dr. Leighton uses these videos to teach other physicians the techniques he uses, and we often find the medical equipment companies are interested in the footage too. It's a win-win all around. Not sure how the patient feels about watching the footage, but he signed the release, at least.

We also use a ground-based camera to capture Dr. Leighton's face and voice, providing context to the procedure and allowing him to comment and lecture during the surgery.

It's a wonderful feeling knowing that the video you shoot will be used to help other doctors heal patients like this one, and bring Dr. Leighton's techniques to the next generation of reconstructive surgeons.

Medical Hands for Healing...the video

Thanks to everyone who offered kind words about our recent trip to Nicaragua. For those who are interested, here's the video that we ended up producing....

Medical Hands for Healing - Granada, Nicaragua from Ben Freedman on Vimeo.

Medical Hands for Healing in Nicaragua

Here's something we don't get to do often enough... Travel to an exotic location with an inspiring group of professionals who are donating their time for a worthy cause...and capture it all on video.

...and I got to wear SCRUBS, so that sealed the deal. Seriously, Medical Hands for Healing is a group of cosmetic surgeons, nurses, medical staff, and organizers that offer their time at no cost and pay their own way to third world countries to help those in need.

The most common problem we saw during the week we were there was a cleft lip or palate. While not life-threatening, this condition can be extremely difficult to live with, and often results in few or no teeth in your mouth, and a hole that allows food and liquids to enter your nose while you eat. Speech can be difficult, and it also presents the stigma of a deformed face.

Here in the US, a cleft lip is treated soon after birth, but we saw cases ranging from birth to thirty years old. I can't imagine living with such a condition for that amount of time. It really underscored just how lucky we are to be living in the USA.

It's a wonderful thing to see the look on a Mom's face after her baby is returned to her following a procedure by one of these wonderful doctors. But it's truly a group effort, as nurses, organizers, and other volunteers all work together for the benefit of these poverty stricken people

I was just an innocent bystander during all this, but the video documentary I make will hopefully help raise money for Medical Hands for Healing, and we also shot a couple of training videos for the local Doctors to help them get up to speed.

It was a wonderful, eye-opening experience, and I'd like to thank Dr. Aldo Guerra and the rest of the crew of allowing me to participate.

CES 2010 - The Adventure Continues!

Once again, this year, STM Bags sponsored our podcast, Neo-Fight.tv, to head to Las Vegas to cover CES 2010.

For those of you unaware of CES, it's the Consumer Electronics Show, and is one of the largest exhibitions in the US, with nearly 2700 booths showing off their wares.

Master Producer Jay Lee, Co-Host Tiffany Young, and myself jumped in the Explorer and headed out on Tuesday morning. One great thing about Arizona is that it's close to major centers like LA, San Diego, and of course, Las Vegas. Driving is not only cheaper (and far less stressful) than flying, but it affords the luxury of bringing a ton of gear, and being able to easily cart it around to the various hotels and ballrooms that we'd be shooting..

Case in point, here's Tiffany covering a nifty new gadget at a 'mini-show' held at the Venetian Hotel and Casino. If it weren't enough that there are miles and miles of booths at the show itself, other PR companies hold these press-only mini-shows. As they are only for the media, they're a lot of fun (and the free food and drinks don't hurt). The exhibitors are ready and expecting to give interviews, so we can get a lot done in a short period of time.

Eventually, of course, we have to get to the show floor itself, which is VAST. Here's Jay and Tiffany covering a new NAS product from Verbatim. I thought Jay's cargo pants and belted-tunic look gave him a definite 'Luke Skywalker' feel here...

Another great thing about CES is it allows us to meet all of our friends and colleagues in the media. Here's Andy Walker (with his shooter, Peder Pederman) from the podcast LabRats.

All in all, a great time was had by all, and we're all looking forward to covering next year's show... To catch our coverage of CES 2010, point your browser at www.neo-fight.tv over the next four weeks. Let us know what you think.

-Ben