I was watching the Olympic divers tonight. Amazing. I'm not sure, even if I could do a handstand and hold it for thirty seconds, I'd use it to propel myself off a perfectly good platform. How exactly do you do that the first time? Anyway, I was watching the action when my eye caught the camera that plunges to the water (and below) with the divers. There's a cool story behind that camera which begins with Garrett Brown

You probably don't know the name Garrett Brown. If you toil in the movies you might know of his work. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented him with a special Oscar for his invention, the Steadicam. That's the device that straps a camera to the cameraman and allows a steady motion shot without the use of dollies or tracks or any of the other things movie people used to fret about. Garrett's been the Steadicam operator in dozens of movies--big movies.

If you're of a certain age, you'll surely recognize Garrett's voice. He appeared for years in radio ads for Molson Beer. He was the stoner sounding guy having flirtatious conversations with a gigglingly approachable sexy woman. Garrett and his voiceover partner Anne Winn sold a lot of beer! At one point they were called "the most recognizable voices in radio."

I'm mentioning Garrett now because he also invented the Emmy-Winning, Gravity-Powered, Vertical Camera Tracking System or DiveCam I marvelled at tonight. It was first used in the '96 Olympics. Its simplicity is what makes it so amazing. The falling camera tracks the falling diver because it really is falling! It was Galileo who first popularized the idea that all falling objects, no matter what their mass, fall at the same rate. Drop a diver and a camera together and they'll stay together!

The camera is mounted on a rail sitting inside an sealed aluminum tube. A glass strip runs the length of the tube allowing the camera to peer out. From the diving platform to the water line the glass grayed, so less light gets in. From the waterline down the glass is clear. That way the camera's iris setting doesn't have to change to compensate for the switch from overwater to underwater.

The camera itself is hoisted to the top of the tube by a pulley system then free falls to the bottom. As the diver passes the platform the DiveCam operator pulls a switch--the rest is nothing more than gravitational pull. A bungee keeps it from hitting the floor (which we understand cameras don't like).

I don't know Garrett, but I sent him some fan (e)mail last week when I realized the beer guy was the Steadicam guy was the DiveCam guy. Three artistic big successes--not bad. He responded:

"Geoff thanks for your note and the three-part compliment... it all seemed strange and confusing while it was happening, but now it feels almost logical!!"

Next time you see the Olympic divers go, think of Garrett and have a beer!