montana photo blog

2,000 feet to the deck and no door

October 12, 2009

Posted in: Uncategorized

the key is to shoot your self portrait and act like you don't know its being taken

20 below zero is way to cold to shoot out of the window!

no flip flops here

I’m hired quite a bit to shoot aerial images for everything from lifestyle in the Turks and Caicos to a golf course in Bermuda. All of these shoots have one thing in common. Preparation. If you climb into that helicopter unprepared you will not return with the images your client has paid you to produce. here is a brief look at the things i do before and during an aerial shoot.
1. talk to your pilot- go over all your needs before the shoot date, discuss weather delays and postponement costs. These vary from service to service. Remember, almost every pilot that you fly with has been on hundreds of photo shoots, some of them will know the light better then you! There should be no surprises on shoot day.
2. be prepared to give the pilot the gps to your shoot location and your pickup location if your not leaving from the airport with the pilot. be early to your pick-up, the clock is ticking and you are paying for every minute. If you are flying for quite a distance before you arrive at the shoot area discuss with the pilot where you will be taking off the doors. You don’t want to fly for an hour sans doors, it slows you down (costs you cash) and is LOUD.
3. take ONLY what you need, this is no 747 with overhead carry on space. depending on the bird,  your space will vary from none to nothing. For most shoots i carry two D3 bodies with dual 8 Gig cards in each. Most of the time i use a 70-200mm and a 24-70mm. These cover most of what i need. i gaffer tape my lens shades to my lenses. Remember, the door is off and you are hanging out of copter inside of a wind tunnel. the worst thing next to you taking a dive to the deck 2000 feet below is your lens shade blasting back into the rear rotor. Empty your pockets of anything you dont need, you will be sliding back and forth in the back seat and your wallet sliding out and into the sea below is neither cool nor environmentally friendly. Cell phones, sunglasses, eyeglasses, pens, shot lists…keep everything in a safe place. I use a Zing bag that has a drawstring closure and a clip on the side.
4. Flash cards- Take more then enough cards, there are no quick runs to the car to grab more cards. Make sure all of your cards are formatted, you will be changing your cards on the go so cut a step out of the process by having the cards ready to go.
5. if only one door can come off, when given the choice, i always have the door on the pilots side taken off. Its easier when you are discussing landmarks to be on the same side.
6. this is going to sound odd but hear me out. i gaffer tape my seat belt, i wrap it a couple times around the clasp. Why you ask?My second or third flight i was shooting a couple walking down the beach at sunrise. It was chilly so i had on a jacket which was a bit bulky. Leaning my body out of the helicopter and resting my feet on the skid i shot for about an hour until the sun was too high. i called on my radio to the producer that we would make a flight path change and moved back inside to move over to the other side of the back seat. When i reached down to open my seat belt it was gone, not connected. There beside me, un-lifesaving, the belt had come undone and i didnt realize it as i rested on the skids my life unknowingly in my own hands. so,  one small strip of tape wrapped around my belt is an insurance policy that i’m willing to take an extra 30 secs to prepare.

my last piece of advice, watch that liquid intake before the flight!