Take three cameras to a football match? It makes you wonder how Bob Martin triggers them all…

Can you describe how you work with remotes at a football match?

I have a little bypass cable and I cable them up if I’m close enough to them; if not they’d be fired via Pocket Wizards. I’ve got a little foot pedal switch that engages or disengages the remote. The foot pedal switch engages either net one or net two. Some people who are more co-ordinated than I am can press the foot pedal when they want the remote to fire. I can’t really do that! When the play comes towards the end in question I engage that remote, when the game goes towards the other end I engage the camera at the other end. Now, I don’t think about when I’m shooting because the remote fires whenever the camera I’m holding fires. That’s a standard technique when using a remote in a team sport. It’s something I learned from the American guys who shoot basketball, where they use tons of remotes. They just engage an end. If you can have three remotes on a basketball net, when the play is at that end of the court you just switch on that set of remotes. You’re doing it when the play is not at its peak moments, so you’re not screwing up your hand-eye co-ordination from trying to do two different things at once. Have you ever had a remote in the back of the net that missed the goal? Yeah, loads. Also, pictorially it doesn’t always work. The thing about remotes is they give you a second chance, a second picture, a second angle. They are an extra. You can never totally rely on remotes. You should always be working on the camera you hold.