A photographer’s expensive camera got dragged onto the court by a college basketball player, causing the lens to detach from the body. | CBS Sports
A sports photographer had a disaster while sitting courtside at a college basketball game when a player fell into the crowd and came running back with a camera strapped to his leg.
Houston Cougar guard Ramon Walker Jr. saved the ball, but doing so caused him to fall into the photographers and the fans in the front row. With the ball still live, Walker Jr. was keen to get back on the court to help his teammates, but as he rushed to do so, he brought an expensive camera back with him.
“I kind of felt something on my ankle, but I was just focused on getting back,” says Walker Jr. “I was running back out and I heard somebody say, ‘wait, wait, wait.’ But I just kept running, and that’s how the thing transpired.”
The camera was whipped across the court, causing the lens to forcibly detach from its mount. The lens looks to be a Canon L-series — possibly an EF lens on a DSLR — but nevertheless expensive and undoubtedly painful for the photographer.
In the CBS Sports broadcast, the camera cut to the photographers in that spot, with a few lenses being trained on the photographer in the red shirt. PetaPixel has so far been unable to identify the photographer.
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The clip made its way around a couple of photography Instagram pages, including on Adorama. Fellow photographers were quick to sympathize.
“It’s always the strap. Always,” writes Gabe Sanchez. “Can confirm cameras do go flying during basketball games, it is not a fluke. A strap is a required piece of kit,” adds Josh Kutcher. Although it must be said, the photographer might now wish he had removed the strap during the game.
The lens appeared to be beyond repair, and possibly the camera, too. But it’s a risky business being a sports photographer; accidents do happen. Just recently PetaPixel reported on a photographer’s lens which “shattered into a thousand pieces” at an ice hockey game.