Chris Filming at Camp Bastion, Afghanistan. 2008.

TV Cameramen can be set in our ways. It took a long time for the concept of Shoot/Edit (i.e one person filming and editing a News story) to take hold. We are now also expected to be computer savvy and able to send our finished films across the internet. It is no longer enough for a Cameraman to be “a good shooter”, we must also have a strong editorial input into our pieces and to know our subjects intimately. There are many downsides to these developments, the hours we have to put in and the amount of kit we have to carry can be pretty grueling.

But where do things go from here? Are we a dying breed? Soon to be priced out of the market by Assistant Producers willing to do twice as much work for half the price? I think not, I think that generally most News Cameramen are savvy enough to stay one step ahead of the game, to keep on top of developments within our industry and prove that we can do most peoples jobs better than they can do ours.

Multimedia journalism strikes me as an area where an experienced TV News Cameraman can shine. I have been following a number of websites recently including www.mediastorm.com and www.bombayfc.com both of which showcase journalism that I believe is far more original and entertaining than anything we get on rolling 24-hour News Channels. The stories combine lots of natural sound with still photos and video clips to stunning effect (see the example below). They are generally picture rich stories told by the subject themselves. To me it represents the perfect fusion of media and is an area of journalism where we, as cameramen, can prove that we are taking the lead and staying one step ahead of the business.

Wasteland from Bombay Flying Club on Vimeo.