Crab Cam

Compact HD cameras capture the raw danger and excitement of the Discovery Channel’s Deadliest Catch

By Iain Blair

This Article Features Photo Zoom

Dutch Harbor, Alaska. Icy water! Crashing 50-foot waves! Frigid temperatures! Howling gales! Guaranteed crewmember injuries! When it comes to reality shows, Deadliest Catch, the cult hit show on the Discovery Channel, is like a cold, hard slap in the face. The only bachelors in sight are hard-bitten fishermen, and if something goes wrong, lives are on the line—definitely not for the faint of heart.

Produced by Thom Beers’ Original Productions and narrated by Mike Rowe (Dirty Jobs), the show follows the crabbers as they battle the extreme conditions of the Bering Sea searching for their prey, the Alaskan king crab. The crab itself isn’t that deadly, unless you’re careless with your fingers. But the environment and the professional hazards—everything from monster rogue waves that have swept men overboard into the icy depths to the dangling 850-pound steel crab pots that can effortlessly crack a skull—combine to make these crabbing trips one of the deadliest jobs in the world.

In terms of filming under extreme conditions, it would be hard to top Deadliest Catch, now in its sixth season. This time out, the show follows five boats: Cornelia Marie, which recently lost its captain, Phil Harris, a star of the series since its premiere in 2005, due to complications from a severe stroke in February; Northwestern; Time Bandit; Wizard; and Kodiak.

The Time Bandit crew sorts crabs at a table.

“The show has evolved so dramatically since we began,” says Matt Renner, coexecutive producer, who has been with the show since its debut. “We were all lured by the extraordinary environment and the extraordinary people working on these boats, and when the world first saw the monster waves, that was the story. But we always realized that behind all that, the real ongoing story is about the characters and their dedication and sacrifice in this dangerous world. And the heart of my job is trying to figure out the psychology of our producers and DP teams—who is best suited for a show like this?—and then trying to pair them to the right boat.”

Each boat is assigned a two-man producer/DP team and is equipped with some 20 cameras, recording every move the boat and crew make. “Original Productions owns all the cameras and lights, as there’s no rental facility up there,” adds Renner. “We have to be totally self-sufficient.”

“It’s quite simply the toughest, most intense reality shoot I’ve ever done, and dealing with all the camera gear and lights when you’re way out at sea is a major challenge,” reports producer/DP Todd Stanley, who has been with the show since the start and whose credits include SOS: Coast Guard Rescue, Iditarod, Hard Copy and Inside Edition. “The harsh conditions, lack of spare parts, the long hours—you name it. It makes filming anything very hard.” But if anyone is up to the challenge, it’s Stanley, who spent 15 years as a river guide, running whitewater rivers all over the world. “Shooting documentaries is my style, and this show lets me get back to the roots of what I love to do,” says Stanley.

Stanley, who according to Renner has spent more time shooting on the boats than any other DP, has seen a lot of changes since he first started on the show.

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