With a camera on his shoulder since the early 1980s, the talented Mark Copeland always got his shot and always greeted folks with a smile.

Friends describe Mark Copeland, an accomplished videographer from North Carolina, as talented, kind, respectful, hardworking and generous.

Sadly, none of us at Powerboat magazine had the chance to get to know Mark, who died in a helicopter crash while shooting video for a television program and Powerboat's Web site. But from the pages and pages of tributes on his former television station's Web site and on http://www.legacy.com, it was easy to see why the 44-year-old would have fit right in with our Test Team.

While colleagues remember him as incredibly talented, they note most of all that Copeland was a fantastic friend and a dedicated son and brother.

"I admired the way he cared about my parents," said Terry Lynn Copeland, Mark's sister who grew up with him in Oak Ridge, Tenn. "He always took the time to come home, even if he had a busy schedule. And he called all the time—he really cared about them and what they were doing."

Mark was as proud as anyone from Tennessee could be. If the state ever came up, he was the first person to announce, "I'm from Tennessee!" While he resided in Fuquay-Varina, N.C., he visited Tennessee quite often to check on his parents, brother and two sisters, all of whom live in the Volunteer State.

His mother, Johnnie, said his love for photography began in high school, and he never looked back. From his first job at a local Tennessee TV station in 1981 to his 12-year stint at the Raleigh, N.C., news station WRAL-TV, Mark viewed life through the lens of his cameras. And boy did he observe some unbelievable stories.

Mark was part of the first crew from WRAL to cover Desert Shield/Desert Storm. He also traveled to Calcutta, India, to cover Mother Teresa's 1997 funeral, and he was part of the high-definition coverage of John Glenn's historic 1998 shuttle flight, for which he won a regional Emmy award.

The bottom line, Mark was the consummate professional, which was why he was able to sustain a successful freelance career after leaving the Raleigh station in 1999.

He made his mark as the owner and operator of a Steadicam. He was one of the first videographers in the South to own such equipment, which essentially combines the steady footage of a conventional tripod mount with the fluid motion of a dolly shot and the flexibility of handheld camera work.

As part of the Steadicam Operators Association, Mark worked frequently in the areas of broadcast, documentary, sports, music and corporate video. His collection of other high-definition cameras made his talents even more sought after, earning him assignments with major television networks such as Discovery, E!, ESPN, SPEED Channel and more.

Those who knew him best said he was generous with his time and knowledge. Close friend and fellow cameraman John Cox said Mark was big-hearted, forgiving and helpful.

"He was a perfectionist," said Cox, a news photographer for WRAL who frequently traveled and freelanced with Mark on shoots such as IHRA drag racing. "He had his own way of doing things and he would always get the result he was looking for. He just had a sense of where to be and where the subject he was shooting was going. He was the kind of guy who never wanted to let anyone down."

Cox also recalled Mark's love for gadgets. Mark was the first to preorder all the latest gizmos on the market. He put them all to good use, including his last purchase, the new iPhone.

Family and friends said if there was one thing the adventurous cameraman enjoyed more than filming, it was doing it from a helicopter. Whether it was WRAL's Sky 5 or any other helicopter, Mark felt right at home as the eye in the sky.

And while Mark will be missed by many, colleague Scott Hanson of Raleigh put it best on a tribute page: "We have tears because we have memories. Because we have memories, we have smiles. I'm so lucky to have known him."