How would one become a battle field cameraman?

Question

I'm studying film but my true passion is camera operator in hazardous conditions i.e. Tornado's,War for example..

I'm very fit and have 2 years military training in scouting and am going into my second year of film studies...

I would love to do camera work for the likes of BBC and CNN for news work or even documentation is there any sort of application process I must do ??????????

Answer 1

There are several ways of becoming a TV news cameraman in a war zone, but the main factor is having experience of shooting news. Documentary style shooting is different from current affairs and is different again to shooting news. You need to know the difference so you can move from one to the other without problems.

1)  Is to apply to one of the TV networks (in the US) or to the BBC (in Britain), or to apply to Reuters TV and hope that they will send you to a war zone.

2)  Apply to the TV outlets and say that you want top go into a war zone, and where do they need people.  You would have top pay your own way there and work as a freelance. You would need your own professional quality gear.

3)  Turn up in a war zone and walk into the offices of one of the US TV networks, or to Reuters TV or APTV and say you want to freelance for them. Again, you would need your own gear.