I was watching a tape of Reed Pierce playing Bustamante in the US Open finals, and I found it funny how this one cameraman kept walking up and stopping directly in front of both players right before they shot. I noticed that Bustamante got sharked twice early in the match and as a result made some mistakes. Reid was playing perfect with the exception of missing an easy kick completely, and it looked like he got sharked by the cameraman too. I think it just goes to show how great all of these players really are when they are under the TV lights. Not only do they have a huge crowd watching, and the hot TV lights glaring down on them, and knowing that they are going to be viewed by hundreds of thousands or millions of viewers at home, but they also have to deal with some guy with a massive camera jumping in front of their shot while they are in mid-stroke. I've been to tournaments that were televised, and in these ones the cameramen did the same thing but they were not nearly as close as they were to the players in this match. I mean this guy was like four feet from the table. Has anyone else noticed a particularly 'intrusive' cameraman at any events?
Cameraman Sharking
- Thread starter LastTwo
- Start date
LastTwo said:
Yes, one time I was playing in the finals of a tournament, I was on the hill. As I'm shooting the 8-ball for an easy setup on the 9, the TD comes over, crouches and shoots WITH A FLASH from right behind the pocket, stuns me, I jerk my cue and I miss position on the 9 and fail to make a very tough cut for the win. I was pissed and he was like, "stop whining, you made the ball blah, blah, blah..." I lost the tourney and I guarantee you under normal circumstances I make those two from where I was 100% of the time.
What makes it worse is that he had the other guy in the calcutta. That makes it hard for me to believe it was just a lapse in judgement.
Cheers,
Regas
I thought ...
that flashes aren't permitted to be used while a match
is in play, only between matches or after a match is over.
Otherwise, you just have to stop down or be using a
low light digital camera.
I have a friend who used to do all my pictures for a billiards newsletter
I used to publish using a Kodak digital camera with zoom, and he
always got great pictures. He only used flash for winner's pictures.
I might add that he peruses Pawn shops, and found the camera at a
steal.
that flashes aren't permitted to be used while a match
is in play, only between matches or after a match is over.
Otherwise, you just have to stop down or be using a
low light digital camera.
I have a friend who used to do all my pictures for a billiards newsletter
I used to publish using a Kodak digital camera with zoom, and he
always got great pictures. He only used flash for winner's pictures.
I might add that he peruses Pawn shops, and found the camera at a
steal.
Snapshot9 said:
That was my understanding too, which is why I was pissed. I was expecting the shutter, but the flash right as I'm pulling the trigger from right in front of me is what blinded and stunned me and made me put unintended English on the CB. As I said, the TD also had my opponent in the calcutta and he was also the room owner, so I didn't really have a higher authority to appeal to. This was before the days of digital, back when we still had calcuttas in Denver (1992 or so).
Also, the picture was never printed in the Billiard News, instead, after the other guy won, he POSEd for a shot of him shooting the 9-ball.
Cheers,
Regas