NBA photographer scales 150-foot stadium ceiling and manages 8 cameras every gameday

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For New Orleans Pelicans photographer, Layne Murdoch Jr, setting up eight cameras and 16 lights is just another gameday at the office

Three stills from @pelicansnba Instagram Reel showing photographer, Layne Murdoch Jr's, duties during gameday. Cycling through images on the rear LCD of Canon camera, setting up a remote camera high up in the stadium's catwalk, and players being photographed from the sideline during the game
From setting up early to editing images until midnight, gameday is nonstop for New Orleans Pelicans photographer, Layne Murdoch Jr (Image credit: New Orleans Pelicans / @pelicansnba)

I never would've thought that an NBA photographer would need a head for heights. Well, try telling that to New Orleans Pelicans photographer, Layne Murdoch Jr (@murdograph).

A Reel posted via @pelicansnba provides a knee-knocking and leg-wobbling insight into the NBA photographer’s packed schedule on gameday, including climbing up into the 150-foot ceiling of the Smoothie King Center to set up a remote camera with a 70-200mm zoom and 16 strobe lights.

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Layne manages a whopping eight cameras at a time, explaining “we build our own triggers”, so that the cameras on his person will trigger the other cameras, ensuring that he doesn’t miss the moment. Of course, that means there are cameras everywhere, including a camera under the basket, on the floor, on the backboard – shooting through the clear perspex so as not to impede any hoops – on the catwalk – high up in the ceiling – with three cameras on Layne at all times.

Not only does he have to set everything up before the game, but he also has to photograph players interacting with the fans, player reactions after the game has ended, locker room celebrations, and of course, the game itself. It’s not surprising that he can go through at least ten memory cards during the day, totalling 800-1,200 photographs. And all of that happens before he has to pack up after the game and edit the images, before finally leaving the venue at around midnight.

I don’t know about you, but that’s one hardworking photographer right there!

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Mike Harris
Mike Harris
How To Editor

Mike is Digital Camera World's How To Editor. He has over a decade of experience, writing for some of the biggest specialist publications including Digital Camera, Digital Photographer and PhotoPlus: The Canon Magazine. Prior to DCW, Mike was Deputy Editor of N-Photo: The Nikon Magazine and Production Editor at Wex Photo Video, where he sharpened his skills in both the stills and videography spheres. While he's an avid motorsport photographer, his skills extend to every genre of photography – making him one of Digital Camera World's top tutors for techniques on cameras, lenses, tripods, filters and other imaging equipment – as well as sharing his expertise on shooting everything from portraits and landscapes to abstracts and architecture to wildlife and, yes, fast things going around race tracks...

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