Along with two amazing photographers located in Chicago and New York, Paul Octavious and Steph Goralnick, and the ever awesome Laura Brunow Miner here in SF, I have embarked on a mission to let people control my Canon 5d Mk2 camera, see through my lens, and take photos remotely.

As Phoot Camp alumni, we have completed two experiments so far. In the first, Paul art directed an entire animated photo shoot for “whimsical,” a stop-motion and time-lapse animation about a woman being chased by a monster. He saw through my camera lens from Chicago, and told me how to shoot each scene and where to move the characters over the speaker through Skype (more on that later). It was like we were collaborating together in the same place. In the second, where Steph has actually taken pictures by remote controlling my camera, while on the phone with laura and I, she told us to jump on the count of three. We jumped. And she snapped the photo from New York. Using my camera. Then she told me to put on a woman’s coat and spin around, but that’s not necessarily relevant.

THE POINT IS, THIS IS AN AMAZING WAY TO COLLABORATE WITH PHOTOGRAPHERS FROM ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD.

I use a USB cable to tether the camera to my Macbook. Then I use Remote DSLR Pro to control the camera, and get a live view through the lens. I share the macbook’s screen remotely using either Skype or Adobe Connect. The photographer in another location can actually press the shutter release, change ISO, and ask me (the human tripod) to move around, tilt the camera, pan, etc.

IN THE FUTURE ALL CAMERAS WILL HAVE REMOTE CONTROL.

And Laura sent me this fantastic interview about setting up cameras in the wild to remote take pictures of animals.

“What do you say to people that suggest using the camera traps is not the same thing as you taking the image?

Yes, some people like to say that I didn’t take them. My reply to them is, of course I did. I found the spots and rigged the cameras. I adjust how the camera functions. It wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for me. But to get the shot I want, I can’t be there. It’s not possible. They are very personal shots. Intimate. And a wild animal wouldn’t be in that same spot if I was.

Pro Tip: ‘Sometimes we rub dung all over the equipment so the animals won’t immediately smell human.'”

Open to any other ways to do the shutter exchange as well!