FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) — At WANE 15, the people behind the camera are always just as important as the people inside the camera.
Thanks to advances in technology, news photographers' jobs have become much more efficient throughout WANE 15's 70 years of service to our communities.
WANE 15 photographers still use larger, more powerful cameras, but the overall size of the cameras and the equipment needed to operate them has decreased.
By easily switching from tape to digital using SD cards, photographers have more recording time and less time to prepare their videos for release.
“As far as being a photographer in the field is concerned, it has become a lot easier,” said WANE 15 Chief Photographer JR Carmichael.
Other technological advances have made travel easier. News photographers used to have to find their destination on a map and have someone in their car with them to guide them there. Today, we have GPS devices and cell phones that allow us to get to the breaking news scene much faster and easier.
In the past, people communicated with television stations via two-way radios, rather than simply calling on their cell phones as they do today.
There is also the invention of a mobile backpack that allows live feedback to be sent to TV stations without the need to drive and set up a large live truck.
“I would say it takes between 5 and 20 minutes to set up the actual car. Compared to the TVU backpack that we use, you literally just set it up, turn it on, plug in the camera, and you're ready to go,” Cars says. Michael explained.
He has worked at WANE 15 for 24 years. Although much progress has been made, Carmichael said it was much easier to go with the flow compared to his previous changes.
“Just listening to former chief cameraman Ron Harmeyer, hearing what he had to carry and what he had to do, reporters and photographers today can't help but wonder how it all worked out. I don't even understand what it was.”
Harmeyer was WANE 15's chief photographer for many years. People simply called him “Chief.” He worked at WANE for 48 years. You can learn more about him and hear the story he shares with Carmichael in the video below.
People like Mr. Hermeyer and Mr. Carmichael are people you'd never hear on TV, but they're essential to WANE 15's success in bringing local news to Northeast Indiana and Northwest Ohio. was.
Carmichael started in 2000. This means that for more than a third of his 70 years at WANE, he has shot many of the videos you see on TV and other devices.
“I don't think of this as my job. I look at it as an opportunity to express myself through the lens of a camera. To bring that, you know, to the big thing that we're a part of. To give people the latest news of events that we can witness but others cannot see.We watch it as if we are delivering it to people in their own living room. '' Carmichael said. “I'm grateful every day that Ron Harmeyer gave me the opportunity to do this job. She really can't see herself doing anything else.”
WANE 15 will officially turn 70 later this year.
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