Walking the red carpet at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards was an amazing experience, said Ben Shearin, one of three Batavia natives who contributed to award wins for their work on "Deadliest Catch."
"There are so many people and yelling photographers that it can get pretty crazy," Shearin said. "But you turn around and there is Mya Rudolph and LL Cool J in front of you.
Shearin is a cinematographer on "Deadliest Catch," the reality drama from Batavia native Thom Beers' Original Productions that follows crab fishing boats in the Bering Sea.
"Deadliest Catch" won an Emmy for outstanding cinematography at the Sept. 15 Creative Arts Emmys, which recognize the technical aspects of television production. Tony Pontillo, another Batavia native, was also part of the cinematography team.
"I am really lucky to work with such amazing, talented people and to be able to share the biggest honor with them," Shearin said. "To have played a part in that, just makes it that much better."
The series also won an Emmy Award for Batavia native Josh Earl for outstanding picture editing for a reality program. Earl, a supervising editor, shared the Emmy honor with film editor Alex Durham.
"Deadliest Catch" also received an Emmy Award for outstanding sound mixing for nonfiction programming.
Shearin said a favorite moment of his was when Beers and Sig Hansen, a skipper on one of the fishing boats, walked down the red carpet and later presented an award.
"I had to pinch myself and say 'This is really happening,'" Shearin said.
This was the second consecutive year that Shearin was part of the nominated cinematograpy team. The "Deadliest Catch" team also won the award at the 2010 Emmys.
"During the entire awards ceremony, I think everyone from the 'Deadliest Catch' team was nervous. I mean how can you not be in that scenario. Being nominated is an amazing honor, but you still want to win," Shearin said. "When they called Josh's name, that's when I thought, 'If he can win two years in a row, so can we.' I guess it took the pressure off a little bit."
The cinematography team, which counts 17 individuals as winners, receives a single Emmy statuette. After the ceremony they "passed the statue around and took pictures and congratulated each other all night," Shearin said.
"It was the perfect ending to a perfect night," Shearin said. "I don't think this was just a win for Josh and Alex and the camera team though, it was a win for everyone who worked on the show and everyone at Original Productions."
