never rely on your remote camera

At the last basketball game I shot, I set up a remote camera on the shot-clock. It was a big game against our rivals, Cal State Long Beach, so I got there four hours early. I also dropped by earlier in the morning to make sure that none of the teams had an open shoot-around scheduled. From 3pm-5pm the court was clear.

I arrived at 3pm and brought all my equipment in through the court-level entrance. When I got there I was faced with the choice to either setup a overhead from the catwalks or a clockcam. I ultimately decided on the clockcam because you see more faces from this angle, and I was covering the game for the newspaper. I had only set up a camera in this position once before. It took me a little over an hour this time. I had the arena staff lower and raise the hoop several times. The hardest part about setting up a camera in this position is that the shot-clock changes position as it is raised and lowered.

I borrowed a 40D from another photographer from the paper as a second body, which I would have wanted to use as the remote camera, but since I was there 4 hours in advance I needed to use my camera because I had an AC adapter.

As for the game, it came up a little short, picture-wise. I spent a lot of time setting up my camera and making sure that everything was perfect. The only big plays that were made on the basket where I had my camera set up were made by the other team. All I can say is that its a good thing I had an extra body.

Never rely on your remote camera.