THIS is TOO COOL

Here’s the scene: You’re a wire shooter, assigned to cover the European Swimming Championships. There’s a guy, Alain Bernard of France, who may set a record. So you know you’re concentrating on him. Of course, every other wire and agency photographer is going to focus in on this guy, how do you do it differently?

Well, shoot it from underwater, of course. It’s been done that way for years. But … then he sets the world record in the 100 meter freestyle. If you’re shooting from underwater, on a remote control … how do you get your photos out faster? Can you afford to wait until the end of the meet, then dive down to fetch your camera?

Read all about how Wolfgang Rattay set up not just an underwater camera, but a remote controlled underwater rig that wirelessly transmitted the photo to his laptop over on the Reuters photo blog.

Geek to the max, but … but … four minutes after setting the record, he had the photo on the wire. FOUR MINUTES.