NBA Photographer’s Gameday Routine See Him Manage Eight Cameras at Once
An NBA photographer has given an insight into what it is like covering a professional basketball game and the incredible amount of work that goes into it.
Layne Murdoch is the photographer for the New Orleans Pelicans and in an Instagram Reel shared by Murdoch, the Pelicans, and the NBA, the photographer takes the audience through his intricate workflow which includes managing eight cameras.
The video starts by showing Murdoch placing a remote camera under the basket to capture all the action on the hoop. But that’s the only remote camera he uses: another one is placed on the floor, one goes on the backboard, and then there is one up into the rafters attached to the catwalk of the Smoothie King Center, 150 feet up in the air.
“I have a 70-200mm on it that I can zoom in with,” Murdoch says of the camera attached to the roof that sits next to 16 strobe lights which he also operates.
Murdoch explains that the remote cameras and lights are operated by triggers — which he built himself — that are plugged into a hardline that activates the cameras and lights dotted around the stadium. “It fires whenever I want,” adds Murdoch.
On game day, Murdoch carries two to three cameras with him as he covers everything from portraits of special guests, the action, player interactions, postgame pleasantries, and the locker room.
He uses 10-12 Compact Flash (CF) cards per game and shoots 800 – 1,200 photos on any given day. Murdoch appears to be using a camera from the Canon 1D series.
Murdoch finishes up his day by spending one-hour editing photos and another hour packing up all of his equipment. He’s not done until midnight.
These type of behind-the-scenes videos are becoming popular thanks social media. Last month, PetaPixel covered a day in the life of New York Jets photographer Sarah Snyder as she captured the players, the plays, and general hullabaloo of an NFL game.
