Shooting live sports is a tough endeavor; the photographer has to be aware of their surroundings even when trained in the viewfinder. But it’s easy to make a mistake as one camera operator did at a cricket game in Australia on Thursday.
While covering the Women’s Big Bash League (WBBL), the camera operator tried to film an injured foot belonging to one of the players who was earlier seen being helped off the field. There was just one problem, the camera picked up the wrong foot.
The clip starts with one of the cricketers limping heavily with a grimace on her face being helped by two people. The next clip shows a foot with a bit of wrapping on it but the foot quickly disappears from the screen. Even the commentators presume it is the injured player, “She’s trying to hide it,” says Alister Nicholson on the mic.
But then as the camera pans up to reveal the foot owner’s face, it’s the wrong person. “That’s Milly Illingworth, ” says Nicholson.
Illingworth’s reaction is priceless. She stares at the camera operator in disbelief before making the double-money gesture.
“That is gold. How do you even know about that Milly?” says co-commentator Lisa Sthalekar, hinting at the trend for selling photos of feet online.
“She needs the steel-capped boots,” Nicholson jokes.
Illingworth continues to laugh with her teammates, looks over at the camera again, and mouths “eyes up”, urging the camera operator to stay away from her feet.
The funny moment has gone viral across the internet with many joking that it was directed by Quentin Tarantino, a nod to the fact that shots of feet appear in many of his movies.
“Cameraman just got busted,” says one person on Reddit. Many praised how well Illingworth handled the situation while also commenting on how red she went.
It was an honest mistake from the camera operator and certainly not as bad as the one made by an Olympic cameraman in Paris during the summer when he wandered onto the track and disturbed a 5,000-meter race.