This summer, I was hired to shoot several events for the annual Hot August Nights Event Series here in Reno, NV. The kickoff event is held in Virginia City, NV, which is a perfect venue for a classic car event. However, it still does seem a tad futuristic for Nevada’s own frontier town.
Hot August Nights Official Kickoff in Virginia City
Still, if you read Mark Twain’s “Roughing It” you’ll know that parades, spectacles, and enthusiastic locals are par for the course for Virginia City, though there are fewer gunfights than there used to be.
Hot August Nights Event Series Grand Finale
Hot August Nights used to be an event held in Reno, NV only, but in recent years, they have held an entire Event Series with classic car clubs and organizations all over the country throughout the year, culminating with winners from the satellite events meeting up at Champion Chevrolet at the end of July for the Event Series Championships.
How I Shot These Events
I shot these events on my Sony FX3 in 4K 10-bit 4:2:2 video with a combination of lenses. Mostly, I shoot with the Sony 24-70 2.8 GMII lens, which is super sharp, light, and has amazing optics. The second most common lens I shoot with for events like these is the Sony 20mm 1.8 G lens. This lens is small and light and works great on the gimbal. This lens has a wonderful look, bokeh, and color. I also use my Sony 70 – 200 f/4 GM lens for long shots and closeups. Even though it is only an f/4, I find that the bokeh is terrific at the long end of the zoom range.
I do a mix of hand-help shooting and gimbal for events like this, usually leaving my sticks at home entirely. For the hand-held videography,I generally use Sony’s Steadyshot on the active setting, which gives a stabilized smoothness to the footage while still having a classic hand-help video feel. I try to shoot a mix of hand-held and zoom shots, which are also hand-held, but my 70-200 lens has SteadyShot built in, so it’s double stabilized, and I’m able to get the look of the camera being on sticks with a fluid head even though I’m still hand-holding it.
If you’re looking for high-quality event videography for an indoor or outdoor event in Reno, I’d be happy to chat about the project.
-M