A freelance photographer from Fuquay-Varina who spent 12 years working for WRAL-TV died Tuesday while shooting video of a boat test from a helicopter in Florida.

Mark Copeland, 44, and another man died when the helicopter crashed into the Gulf of Mexico near Sarasota. The pilot was seriously injured.

Copeland's work as a video cameraman took him around the world. With WRAL, he covered Mother Teresa's funeral in Calcutta and went to the Middle East during the first Gulf War.

WRAL anchor David Crabtree, who worked on assignment with Copeland often, said Copeland was willing to do whatever it took to get the best possible shot.

"I have never worked with anyone who loved news as much as Mark Copeland," Crabtree said. "He would eat and breathe it and live it. It just penetrated every cell of his body."

Crabtree said that Copeland's goal was to capture video so good that any single still shot could be framed.

"He was steadfast in what he did and really cared," Crabtree said.

He and Copeland were Tennessee natives and would sometimes get together to play drums, a hobby they shared.

Following the action

Copeland left the station in 1999 to create his own freelance company, though he continued to work with WRAL. The clients listed on his Web site include national news networks and stations such at The History Channel and PBS, as well as NASCAR and area universities.

Friends said that Copeland was close to his family in Tennessee and had many friends in the Triangle. But he never married and did not have children -- attachments that might not have fit in with his work schedule.

Janelle Clevinger of Wilson, a close friend of Copeland's, said she used to joke that he never even owned so much as a fish.

"He would get up and go at the drop of a hat," Clevinger said. "He'd be doing drag racing in Jersey one minute and then be overseas the next."

For his last project, he was part of a team of freelancers working on a weeklong series of boat tests.

One witness said the helicopter Copeland was on got very close to the boat before flipping over. Clevinger said she was told by Copeland's family members that the boat they were shooting might have hit the helicopter.

The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash.

No plans have been made yet for Copeland's funeral. He is expected to be buried in Tennessee.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)