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Mark J. Rebilas adjusts a camera which will soon be airborne

Photo by Mark J. Rebilas

By Robert Benson

Mark J. Rebilas is a Phoenix-based freelance photographer who travels the world making sports photos. He was in China last month for the Olympics, last summer in Brazil for the Pan Am Games, and in the past three months, in California, Florida, Indiana, Texas and 10 other states. He sent me a list. It’s too long to repeat here.

In the past year alone, he’s shot the Super Bowl, the Olympics, the World Series, the Rose Bowl, the Indy 500, the X games….He seems to be everywhere at once, and has a traveling itinerary and schedule that makes the Pope look like a shut in.

But the one place he can’t be is riding on the hull of a dragboat as it screams along at 200 mph, or hanging from the tail stabilizer of a flying crop duster, or in the air on the bike of an athlete at the X Games as he’s doing a no handed Superman 75 feet off the ground.

Rebilas gets to those locations remotely though, using a remote camera, mounted strategically, sometimes where no human can go. I caught up with Mark electronically from his hangout at Chilis. I wanted to talk to him about his remotes and techniques he uses to employ them. But before all that, three questions have to be answered up front: why the Arnette Sunglasses (he wears them constantly like that guy from the X Men movie), lack of monopod (he doesn’t use one) and your obsession with Chilis (the restaurant)?

Rebilas on Arnette sunglasses: I’m a name brand whore, after growing up in a lower middle class family and shopping at K-marts I like to buy myself nice things these days. Plus I’m fiercely brand loyal so i bought a pair of Arnettes about eight years ago and now that’s all I will wear

Rebilas on his constant visits to Chilis. Why?: That’s probably the most popular question with me. I’m really not too sure about the origins other than when I turned 21 it was the first place I got a drink and it kinda went from there. Obviously with my occupation I’m on the road a lot and Chilis is something I’m familiar with and it really adds a sense of normalcy to my crazy life. Now I’m not going to try and say without Chilis I’d be hanging out with rock bands and snorting cocaine off the bare asses of strippers but hey who knows? I truly enjoy the food at Chilis and perhaps most importantly, Chilis uses the same brands at all their locations so the drinks taste the same. I drink long island ice teas, and as some people may know, that’s a drink that can taste great (with the right alcohol) or it can taste like death with the wrong stuff. Perhaps I’m really am a raging alcoholic?!

Rebilas on lack of monopod. Ever. Growing up as a kid traveling around with my father Gil (a motorsports photographer), he never provided me with one and would always make fun of the people using small 200mm and 300mm lenses on mono pods. Plus we weren’t using 400, 500, or 600mm lenses - there was no reason to. So now, 14-15 years later, I am still shooting and am just starting to dabble with monopods. But obviously all the years I have shot without its really awkward to now try shooting with one. A lot of people are under the assumption and think it’s my attempt of trying to be a badass or something when that’s not further from the truth. I just cannot get the hang up panning with it. Especially with racing where a lot of the time I am elevated looking for crashes (one of my biggest sources of income). I have tried and know for a fact there’s no way someone with a monopod can swing a different direction such as across and up and down, faster than me. I’m no scientist, but I would guess handheld gets you on the action two tenths of a second before someone with a monopod; they have to move feet and stance to rapidly change directions. Now at the Super Bowl this year I was shooting from an elevated position in spectator seating and I used a monopod the whole time. It worked great because being elevated sitting in a chair there was nowhere to move. I also used a monopod at the Olympics quite frequently since we were seated. I am trying to learn to use them (my back already hates me) so we shall see what transpires.

Photo by Mark J. Rebilas

Read more about Rebilas on jump below

Okay, and now on to remotes, and how he uses them. When did you become interested in using remotes? When I would envision shots that weren’t humanly possible with me taking them handheld. Obviously as a race fan I would see TV footage of those onboard lipstick cameras that showed a completely unique view to sports and I wanted to do that. Plus I have some older model cameras that I can afford to destroy so why not sacrifice a camera or two in the name of a shot people can never see?

Have you destroyed any cameras? As much as I’d like to say I have, sadly I really can’t. I have damaged a remote cam because it got sprayed by a water truck, but I haven’t completely destroyed one…YET. I plan to do a remote cam or two at a drag boat race in November and hope to kill one. It makes it much cooler to show off a shot that killed your camera. I think.

Why do you think editors and viewers like remote photographs so much? It takes them into the world of the athlete more than any handheld shot can do. People get so many avenues of visual stimulation…newspapers, magazines, TV and web so they’ve seen most everything. When you can provide the viewers something they can’t see on a regular basis then you become valuable to the editors who are constantly looking for a unique view of sports.

Photo by Mark J. Rebilas

Do you do remotes for your own satisfaction or to make a sellable image? It’s honestly a bit of both. With the amount of photographers out there without jobs looking for work (more and more everyday) you have to do something to set yourself apart from the pack. Remotes work great for that. As much as people like to complain about the state of our industry I am of the feelings that what you did in the past is irrelevant. We now live in a fast paced society with the mentality of “what have you done for me lately” if you can consistently produce high quality images above the norm then you will always have work. On the other end of the question photographers are very egotistical and love to be recognized by their peers. I’d be lying if I said it didn’t feel good to have your friends and colleagues emailing and calling you to tell you how much they liked your shot. But also I’m not gonna risk several grand in gear just to get a “nice shot” email from some friends. I don’t waste time on remotes that don’t have a good chance of being double trucks.

What is the most technically challenging aspect of using remote cameras? The tough parts about doing the remotes is trying to visualize everything that can go wrong during the course of the shoot. My first well known remote that people saw was the motox bike rider onboard shot at the X Games. With that shoot my assistant, Guy Rhodes, and I didn’t realize the issues with vibrations and impacts of even a perfect landing. The first jump he took ended up shattering the super clamp upon landing. Thankfully good buddy Mike Isler was quick to loan me one. On top of unforseen circumstances is having to deal with Pocket Wizards to fire the remote. While you may read that the range of a Pocket Wizard is around 1000 feet, I dare you to try and get one to actually perform anywhere close to that. Even 500 feet is a risky ordeal. So now on top of worrying about camera issues you are stuck worrying about firing issues. I really don’t understand how NASA can control cameras and satellites millions of miles away but pocket wizard cant make a damn transceiver that has a mile or two range!

Photo by Mark J. Rebilas

A broken superclamp, the result of a motox landing

I’ve heard of people Frankensteining toy airplane remotes and such to get further reach, distance wise. Ever look into that? I’ve been trying to think of ideas such as that but laziness prevails and I end up asking my superstar remote assistant Guy Rhodes to research and find out. Of course he never gets back to me so I have no clue.

What do you use to attach the camera to the car (or boat, bike, plane, etc)? I use Bogen super clamps for some remotes (motorcycles, snowmobiles, stationary remote cameras) and I use suction cup mounts for smooth surfaces such as the hull of a 150mph drag boat, as well as on the bodies of cars and go karts, plus there’s times where I use neither and simply duct-tape the hell out of a camera to a vehicle (unlike clamps and mounts, duct tape wont loosen up as the result of vibrations and impacts…sounds like BS but its a really good method!)

How does the athlete usually feel about you attaching a camera to their ride? Do they reject it sometimes, maybe because it will hamper their performance or they are camera shy? In most cases the athletes are very into the idea because it’s something they’ve never had. Mike Mason, the motox rider we did an onboard on, was totally into the idea and we were mounting the gear five minutes after approaching him with the idea. Chris Burant, snowmobile rider, loved the idea when we explained the success of the last remote that resulted in an ESPN the Magazine double truck. To these people, they realize the free advertisement they and their sponsors get by being a part of these shoots and they have no problem helping out. If you really think about it with the remotes I try to do that if they are successful (which they usually are) they will run big in a magazine.

Do you always use wide lenses on remotes? Well obviously for onboard cameras you must use a wide lens, but for stationary remote cameras (baseball remotes and auto racing remotes) iive used 400mm remotes and will most likely have a 600mm remote soon.

Photo by Mark J. Rebilas

If you had a remote, say, on a boat, and that boat flipped during the race, wouldn’t all your images be lost? As long as the camera is able to be recovered the flash card will be fine. The are very durable and able to take a beating. I have accidently washed a flash card in soapy water and it still works fine. I dont care if I lose a whole remote setup though, if I got an onboard crash photo it would all be worth it to me

Many amazing underwater images were produced at last month’s olympics - Why didn’t YOU do remotes there? The Olympics (worse than any other event I attended) only allows certain agencies the access to do a lot of stuff. In most cases you were required to be a “pool photographer” (essentially only Getty/AP/and Reuters were given that access). Now after getting to China (without any remote gear) I found out that other remotes were pretty easy to set up with no permission needed so I kind of screwed myself. But to do a pool camera it would take damn near an act of congress to get the access. Plus, in most cases, it required you to have scuba gear or an assistant with it to set them up. I have no scuba gear and no assistant so it wasn’t going to happen.

How do you feel about photo credits on a remote camera set up and fired by an assistant? I refuse to accept credit if the assistant did all that [setting up the remote and firing the camera]. So I have nothing against the big name photographers who do so but the way I feel about the situation is I refuse to accept credit for a remote camera that was set up and triggered by an assistant. In my eyes the assistant took that picture and NOT the photographer. Even worse is I know good friends of mine who actually were assisting bigger name shooters and shot an image with their HAND HELD camera only to have the photog take the image and have their name on it. Then to top it off, the assistant has been begging for months for a CD of the images and gets nothing. If I don’t have a major part in the setting up and shooting of a remote I will not take credit for it.

For people trying a remote for the first time, what are some pointers you might offer to them? Tape down anything that can move around or shake loose (focus, wires, Pocket Wizards) also safety cable your remotes so in the event of a clamp failure the camera doesn’t fall completely off. Let your subject know that anyway they can be gentle on the ride that it would be appreciated. Think of everything that can go wrong and make sure you take all the precautions to prevent problems. If you are gonna risk destroying a few grand in gear make sure you get the damn shot at least!

Have any upcoming ambitious plans with a remote that you want to announce? Space shuttle or anything? Haha, I have the world’s biggest drag boat race coming up in November here in Phoenix. Usually I’m out of town for NASCAR, but this year it falls into an off weekend. I want to do a remote in the middle of the track clamped to the finish line timer pole with a wide angle lens. It’s a very risky shot because the camera is in the middle of a lake a few inches off the ground being buzzed by 260mph boats, but if the shot works it will be a thing of beauty. Also, at the end of December, there’s a big dirt track go kart race (100 mph karts). I have been shooting this race for several years and the access is awesome. Last year I had two remote cameras but this year my goal is four remote cameras (as well as my hand held camera).

You can see more of Mark Rebilas’ work at his website, www.markjrebilas.com, and read about him on his blog at www.markjrebilas.com/blog.