By Karen Idelson, August 8, 2008
Today's reality shows, far-flung competitions and exotic dramas rely on dangerous challenges. Men climb the masts of a fishing boat in violent Arctic seas, fighting their equipment. Or race through an Indian market, working out a mental puzzle while hauling heavy weights.
And that's not even the contestants -- it's the camera department.
The jobs of TV cinematographers and their camera crews in extreme conditions can be as dramatic as anything viewers see on camera.
It's Deadliest Catch cameraman Cameron Glendening who climbs the masts of those fishing boats, and he won't even bother unless the waves are running at least 25 feet high
. "There's no point in doing something like that in calm seas," says Glendening, nommed this year in nonfiction programming. "You're trying to take the audience into the experience of the crews, and that means hanging off the side of a boat with a Ziploc bag over your camera sometimes."
Click www.variety.com for the whole story.
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