Nevada native to tape Olympic games

Nevada, Mo. -- If you watch NBC's coverage of the Beijing Olympics you may very well see some footage shot by a Nevada native, Thomas Costley, who currently works for the Austin, Texas NBC affiliate, KXAN. Costley is a cameraman with the station and has worked there for 10 years. During that time he's seen a lot of recent history through his lens.

"It's been very exciting in Austin," Costley said. "I went to the Bush inauguration and covered the shuttle explosion, Lady Bird Johnson's death and the FLDS raid."

Costley has had footage used by other outlets other than the local station, he's had material on NBC and CNN. Displaying a picture of a locked gate, Costley said "They used this on CNN in a story about the FLDS compound."

Getting ready for the trip to China is taking a lot of Costley's time right now, every item, no matter how small has to be documented for the Chinese authorities before leaving.

"We've had lists and lists of lists to go through for this," Costley said. "Everything has to be documented so we can get our equipment into China. They want every little detail."

Costley said he and the others he was traveling with would get to China on Aug. 2 for the start of the Olympic games Aug. 8.

Costley said his group was to leave Aug. 1, arriving in China on Aug. 2. "I'm not sure because of the time difference but we'll be working like 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. or something but it's ahead over there so it'll work out."

Costley said he sought advice from a woman who runs the Asian-American Cultural Center in Austin but it didn't help him much.

"I asked her, I said, 'What do I need to know about China?' and she was all excited. I said 'What am I supposed to do, I'm not supposed to look people in the eye, I'm not supposed to drink the water, I'm not supposed to cause a commotion;' and she said, 'Look at you, you big guy, you carry big camera, you walking commotion. You stand out like sore thumb.""

There are some constraints on what Costley can do with his free time, he can take pictures for his personal use but any pictures that are broadcast must be taken with cameras that have the proper stickers on them and have been through a credentialing process, much like the media people themselves.

"I can take pictures myself but I can't broadcast them," Costley said. "You have to use the cameras on your equipment list to broadcast pictures. The credentialing process is strict. I'm part of a group, there are 30 stations that belong to the same company, and we'll be taking different shots. I'll be taking pictures for our area, The UT is close, and there are a lot of swimmers from there. I can go all over the Olympic village but I can't go to some of the events, they have separate credentials for different events."

Costley is blogging about his experiences and it and other blogs from KXAN can be found at: http://blogs.kxan.com/sportsdesk/