29 Camera Operators Get Really Honest About The Things They Get To See Behind The Scenes

Went to PH like 6 months after typhoon Haiyan to document a medical team. The island we went to was still completely f*cked, nothing was being done, and none of the donations were being given to them. The med team was super pissed off at the situation

The one that pops in my mind is filming some 'land boating' at a meth compound in the deep South. Snorting pills on the sidewalk through a tampon was a bit crazy. Going waist deep in an alligator-filled swamp to follow a crack addict also enters my mind

[Saw] a contestant having sh*t themself after a challenge. [...] A look of dread for sure. A quick dip in the ocean is all the freshening up they got. Had to wear the same sh*t-stained, salt-water-rinsed shorts for another couple of weeks as well!

I worked on a documentary about Riker’s Island, which is a very large jail just off the north part of Queens, NYC. The whole thing was surreal, but the worst part was the maternity ward where incarcerated mothers had a few hours a day to see their kids in a large acrylic cell.

We had incredible access to everything- one of the executive producers was the niece of Rose Singer, whom the nursery is named after and she became a member of the Board of Corrections of NYC shortly after.

Other things that stand out:

Unannounced ‘TEAMS’ meetings at 0600 where the main governing body of the island grilled the heads of each jail about incidents and things like amount of toilet paper their jail used that month.

The smell of hardcore disinfectant and overwhelming body odor.

The food was a lot of starchy pasta and soda.

Extraction was the term used when officers went in as a team and removed an inmate by surprise force to find contraband.

The officers patrolled the island on mountain bikes. They had water teams of boats, jet-skis, and divers. LaGuardia is only about a hundred feet away at one point so there are escape attempts, but the divers are there to rescue prisoners. There’s a dangerous tidal pool call Hell Gate there.

You enter by bridge, the producers made sandwiches in a cooler for everyone.

So back in late 80’s I worked for a local television station in Paducha, Kentucky. We were hosting the (whatever-whatever) annual Children’s Miracle Network, Live. I was running the remote or “bunny-cam” as we sometimes called it. I would go around the studio audience and get bumper shots or reaction shots or whatever the director yelled in my headset to get.

About mid-way through the evening during one of those exhausting montage vignettes showing kids in need of help I took a rest off to the side of the audience. Little did I know that my cam was giving the control room a impromptu up-skirt of a not-at-all unattractive woman. It could have easily been the elderly lady in the seat behind her if I was sitting on the next step up.

Noting went live thankfully (although they might have seen a spike in donations if it had.) They let it go on I guess until I asked what they were all giggling and talking about.

Once they told me my face went to thirteen shades of red as I slowly backed right on out of there before anyone had suspicions.

I passed the remote cam to someone else to take over and I jumped on one of the fixed studio cams never to look back. I never lived it down.

Another cameraman and myself were staying at Stan's fish camp in one of his cabins. It was the summer so the mosquitos were terrible... Like carry you away terrible. We didn't end up putting the mosquito pick completely out before bed - like we thought we did. It smoldered under the cabin for a few hours and we awoke to the crackle of fire and a five-foot flame in the doorway of the cabin. Our cabin was on fire! The only way out was to jump into/over the flame. It was scary.

On one show, our crew was setting up all morning for a big party scene. Once ready, we waited hours for a special guest to arrive so we could get things started. When she finally got to set, she wasn't even ready to shoot, needing hair and makeup done. Our director said, "We are ready when you're ready," and she took it the wrong way. She didn't want us to be rushing her, haha. Anyways, her and the director really got into it. She was rude and then he started yelling, "We have over 100 people here who have families to get home to." Eventually, she walked out. We waited another 40 minutes and she came back and gave us an abbreviated performance. Very classy

There are definitely moments that I have felt unsafe. When I first started working on the show I was more fearless than today I think, I have kids now and that changes your perspective a bit. We do have security occasionally if we know that there people or situations that we find ourselves in are going to be particularly dangerous. We just make them out to be production assistants, not to draw any attention to them

I once did camera work on a series accompanying people who work at night. One episode was at a hospital ER. People had brought in a guy who was completely drunk. I cannot remember whether he took his clothes off himself or they undressed him. However, to prevent him from making a mess, they put diapers on him. He escaped the room he was kept in and ran around the hospital wearing nothing but that diaper and ranting on and on about his conspiracy theories. The footage wasn’t used.

I've seen many fights on camera. Worst injuries are usually just black eyes, though. Hair pulling is big, too. Lots of lost weave on the floors, haha.

As for boobies; yes. Sometimes they pop out or [are] even shown off. I mean, when I worked on Playboy's Swing, I saw everything. I mean, we were filming swingers banging every night, haha