My blog posts tend to be a little lengthy, so....


We spent the last week in Polk county. We had two videos to shoot there, one about golf courses and the other about waterways. Now for someone with absolutely no interest in golf, I have become surprisingly knowledgable about them due to the number of courses we've had to film. The bunkers on these courses are ridiculous! Bridgewater in Lakeland had 12 foot deep bunkers and at Southern Dunes the bunkers take up almost as much land as the fairways. I was on b-roll duties for all the courses, so claude and I took off on a golf cart to get all the footage we needed. Claude provides one hell of a golf cart ride. He was driving me up and down hills that I'd never believe a golf cart could navigate. That's why we call him the Skipper!

The waterways video had us going on two airboat rides and bass fishing on Lake Weoh Ya Kapka. The first airboat ride departed from the Westgate River Ranch. While out a good ways into the Kissimmee River, the driver suggested that Amon and I get out on one of the banks and film the boat flying by (this is after he drove us by at least 5 alligators). So Amon and I reluctantly get out of the airboat onto semi-dry land to get the shot thinking he'll drive by us once and then pick us up. Ten drive-by's later, he finally pulls up to let us back on. We didn't see any wildlife while we were on that little patch of earth, but Amon was swearing he could hear a clicking sound. Apparently, Emilie was the one encouraging our airboat captain to keep circling around. Thanks Emilie! The second airboat tour, courtesy of Captain Wayne, was a little more educational and a little less fear-inducing. He even let us take turns driving the airboat.



Our last day in Polk County was spent at the Lakeridge Winery in Clermont, FL. This was an expert video with our Insider expert, Mitzi Gordon. We got to tour the winery, interview the wine maker, and watch some visitors taste several varieties of wine. Their wine is made out of Muscadine grapes which produces a significantly different flavor than the grapes most people are used to. Both their tours and their tastings are completely free and there's absolutely no pressure to purchase anything...though Amon, Emilie and I went home with several bottles.

Once back in town, we headed over to our next shoot at Circus Sarasota. The first day of our two-day shoot at the circus was for their last dress rehearsal. This is apparently a special night because all the local ex-circus performers/workers come out to see it. And since Sarasota is overflowing with circus history, there were tons of people in attendance. When co-founders Pedro Reis and Dolly Jacobs (both of whom have their own pages in circus history) entered the ring they asked for everyone who had been involved in the circus for at least 50 years to stand up. I was amazed at how many people stood up.

The performances were spectacular. My favorites were the Argentine family of human jugglers (The Poemas), the Ukrainian acrobatics of Crazy Flight, and the Smirnov quick change artists. The clown, Jimmy Folco, is an import from Italy was great! We interviewed him after the show and, with a very thick accent, he told us about Sarasota being famous all over the world for not only the circus, but clowns as well. We also interviewed the ringmaster Joseph Bauer, Jr., the co-founders, the White Crow, and Sarasota's most-famous clown (out of makeup and in a suit) Chuck Sidlow. We were also able to get an interview with Dick Smothers (of the Smothers Brothers) who happened to be in attendance opening night. I gave my wife the picture camera and brought her along as my sidekick for opening night (she is a big circus fan).


Me with the Circus Sarasota ringmaster.

This Thursday we head back to Orlando to do a Family Expert shoot at the Nickelodeon Hotel. I'm looking forward to potentially getting slimed!


Oh, I figured out how to add html tags. Go me!