Putting the viewer in the middle of the action is one of the great challenges of photography. To get that difficult shot I've always liked using remote cameras. They are a great way to get a point of view that would be difficult or dangerous or impossible otherwise. Some of my Photo Society colleagues (Tim Laman, Steve Winter, and Randy Olson to name 3 but there are more) have taken remotes to technical heights, using infrared beams and computers to trigger the cameras. I tend to take a much more low tech approach.
My MO is to clamp the camera into a hard to reach position and then fire it with either a radio remote or a simple intervalometer. In the photo above (and below) there is a manfrotto superclamp on the back rack of the motorcycle with my camera attached. An intervalometer is taped to the rack as well and it fires the camera every second as I ride along. This technique produces A LOT of bad pictures, but also an occasional good one.
above, off for a morning drive in Tennessee
If I don't want to sort through thousands of images and my hands are going to be free I'll use a radio to set the cameras off.
above, tandem hang gliding high over the Outer Banks, NC
Here I have a camera mounted to each wing and different radios to fire them. Depending on how the pilot is banking I fire which ever camera is pointing at what I want a shot of. Important thing to note here, make certain your radios are taped down securely!
In a wet situation the camera goes in a waterproof housing and I'll use the radios again. I've found that even in a white water raft putting the radio in 3 zip lock bags and taping it to my life jacket works pretty well.
above, The Çoruh River in Eastern Turkey
Once at Cataract Canyon on the Colorado River I was shooting this way when our raft flipped.
above, Cataract Canyon at high water
We all wound up swimming the rapid and I didn't get any photos out of the remote camera once the raft was upside down, but the triple zip locked radio remote came through just fine.
above, the last frame before the raft flipped.
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