Nick Hogan (Bollea) Pleads, goes to jail.

It's an international story when Hulk Hogan's 17-year-old son Nick (Bollea) admits that his actions caused the severe injuries to John Graziano. That's what happened May 9 when Nick was scheduled for a hearing in Pinellas County Court. The press knew that there was a plea deal in the case and with Hulk's international fame, it was bound to be covered by many reporters and photographers from Tampa Bay and beyond.

TMZ set up a live video feed from there. The St Pete Times and Tampa Trib reporters were there as well as multiple crews from each of the local TV stations. All of them were doing live reports from there. Radio too.

In all, there must have been 15 reporters, 25 video shooters and live truck operators and only about five still photographers.

Six, if you count me. I was shooting for Getty Images and hoping that my photos would get picked up for publication. They did, but more on that later.

The point is that it was a big, media event, not to mention the impact that it would ultimately affect both families and people that care (or don't care) for them.

It's a bit intimidating knowing that you won't have much time to get your shots. Since the event was a "pool" camera situation, in which one videographer and one still photographer shoot inside the courtroom and share their goods with everyone else who's there.

My shooting would be limited only to the outside of the courthouse. There was no shooting in the hallways. So, the only time I would have for my personal photographs would be them (Hogans) coming in and leaving.

In total, I had about 2.5 minutes, literally to get news images worthy of publication in any media.

The Hogan family arrived about five minutes before the beginning of the start time. They walked in without emotion past the awaiting pack of hungry journalists. A videographer tripped over the cement balls in front of the courthouse while filming their entry. Nick grinned as the guy layed sprawled on his back.

After they went in there was nothing for me to do until the hearing was over. The courthouse has a decent media room and I did want to watch the hearing so I sat and watched the emotion-filled hearing. Nick got sentenced to 8 months.

When it was over, the family, minus Nick who was immediately taken into custody, left the courthouse without saying anything. It gets very crazy during those "walks" when 50 people are asking questions, shooting video and stills, pushing, pulling, looking for their shots and sound bytes. When those masses start moving you never know where you're going to end up. You just kind of get swept up in whichever way the subject of the shot is going. Sometimes, I'm not even sure if I moved my feet, yet I end up 50 feet from where I began.

I ended up being right in front of Brooke and Hulk when they got to their car. They basically walked right into my lens and into their awaiting car. The post -hearing opportunity to shoot them was 30 seconds. It's a much shorter walk leaving the courthouse than walking in.

I think I filed about a dozen photos to Getty Images, half of them while watching the hearing in the media room. Expedience is expected and demanded when working for Getty. It often pays off because they distribute internationally and there are deadlines and web sites to file "breaking news" bulletins around the clock.

They were picked up by E! online, Entertainment Weekly, Entertainment Tonight, ABC News and a few other outlets. One or two of the links are posted on my web site under "about Tim".

US Magazine published one of my photos in their newsstand copies. Often you never know who bought your photos until you get your statements a month or so later.

Professionally, it was a good shoot.

I've got a feeling I'll be shooting the civil hearings and case when it starts.

Thank you for reading. Comments welcome.