Front and Center with Suzanne Ebner

Being a camera operator on a television show isn't just a matter of point and shoot. Take Suzanne Ebner, who's won four Emmy Awards — for lensing the Oscars, American Idol and Dancing with the Stars — and has been nominated for the past ten consecutive years for NBC's singing competition show The Voice.

"Sometimes doing shots, it's like patting your head and rubbing your stomach at the same time," says Ebner, whose twenty-six Emmy noms also include the Grammys, the American Music Awards, Survivor and a Lady Gaga special. "You have to pan, zoom, tilt and move the camera, all at the same time. You have to stay in focus. You have to be knowledgeable technically and creatively aware. And you have to be able to work together as a team."

That teamwork includes making sure other operators don't appear on camera and not duplicating another operator's shot. "You always want to offer something else," she says.

A favorite "something else" occurred on The Voice. "We were rehearsing a song, and I noticed this beautiful lighting effect; we have an amazing lighting designer, Oscar Dominguez. So I thought, 'I'm going to try to compose this shot a little bit differently,' because sometimes there are images that just ask to be shot. It was an odd kind of framing, but it worked. Everybody loved it, and it stayed in the show."

Shooting live provides additional excitement — and challenges. "It's so much fun, and stressful at the same time," she says. "Everybody's concentrating on what they need to do. When it works, there's nothing like it. But you never know — there's always the possibility there might be that surprise that you've got to catch." (Like last year's Oscars surprise involving Will Smith.)

Ebner credits her own experience as a singer and musician with helping to hone nuances and capture shots. Having always loved still photography — her Southwest-themed photos have been exhibited in galleries and museums internationally — she gravitated to the motion that camera operating contributes to storytelling. She began at news stations in her native Texas, then worked on soap operas and sitcoms. She's also done aerial and underwater cinematography, and recently branched out as a director and director of photography on commercials.

Ebner is grateful to be accepted as a woman in a male-dominated field and for her Emmy statuettes, displayed on a shelf in her office. "It's a great thing," she says, "to look back and say, 'Wow, look what I've accomplished. And look, I've been respected by my peers enough for them to award me."

This article originally appeared in emmy magazine issue #7, 2023, under the title "Front and Center."