Ferrari 458 Italia - just really special...
My favourite Ferrari as a kid was the 365 Daytona and I’ve been a front engined Ferrari fan ever since. Even though I loved watching Tom Selleck leave a big black line in his 308GTS, when I first drove one years later, I thought it wasn’t a patch on a 911. One of those never meet your heroes moments, I guess. I never really got the whole vibe of [click to continue…]
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Canon XF305
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I love flying, but hate airports. Having to be there at 4.30 am for a 6.30 am flight is never common sense in my view, but that’s the world we live in today. Most times, I manage to make it to the airport, onto the jet and into a seat without having to wake too much, then jamming my 6′ 4″ frame into an airline seat to get remotely comfortable for a doze.
This time though, as the jet headed east, towards the sunrise, I found myself reaching for a camera. As the sun rose, hitting the cold metal of the wings and engines, the Fokker F28 began to positively glow. What had been a dull grey, dreary autumn day on the ground became the most beautiful sight at 29,000 feet as the thin orange line ahead of us burned it’s way into a sunrise. For several minutes, the alloy glowed beautifully as I tried to find a scratch free piece of plexiglass the frame a shot through. [click to continue…]
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A James Bond Avatar - DBS and Goldfinger Hiller Helicopter
Rob’s Hiller bursts into life sounding like an old Riva powerboat. We’ve already had a chat about logistics, as while he and Simon have radios, I’m down to hand signals, standing so close to the Hiller as it hovers. Rob’s not keen on hovering directly over the top of the Aston, as losing the engine would put him in a really bad position, so he’s right behind it, hovering as close as he’s comfortable with.
I shot this image and a few variations on a wide angle zoom before moving back and using a 70-200 IS. The foreshortening effect of the telephoto lens has the desired effect and makes it look like the Hiller is right over the top of the DBS. l shot some variations on the shot below but I know there isn’t as much space for the words.
It looks fine on the back of the camera, but I actually preferred the scene of the wide angle, giving more space for layouts, so I move back in close and shoot some more on the 14-40 zoom. The Hiller is pretty noisy up close and the downdraft is far stronger than a Robinson R44. I keep shooting a few more variations until Rob gestured that he’s had enough. Holding a hover in this old technology Hiller is an acquired skill and requires high concentration, but by now, we’ve got the shots we need and I’m just enjoying letting that 50′s technology helicopter blow me about.
In the end, the Hiller didn’t sell at the auction and Rob still owns it. The urge to sell seems to have passed and the Hiller is available for hire. All shut down, I took the chance to sit where Pussy Galore sat all those years ago, as I sat at home as a kid and watched Connery struggle with that atom bomb.
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Just moved this post across to Neill’s new aerial photography website, dedicated to professional aerial photography It still exists and if you’re looking for information on how to book aerial photography, you’ll find a lot more information here
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Canon XF305 - Does it fit with the Canon 5D?
If you want to get really in deep with the XF305, then download the manual and spend some serious time with the camera to learn it…. I’m offering a series of observations based upon an all too brief time with this immensely powerful broadcast camera and how I feel it fits into my business workflow and how it will cut into other footage shot on cameras like the Canon 5D and Go Pro Hero. [click to continue…]
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I‘m a big fan of the wilderness of Sweden and indeed the country generally. I still remember vividly when I shot this. We were on a recce trip to Sweden with Ice Driver’s Andy McKenna, 550 kms north of Stockholm in early January, scouting for locations for his then new business. We were staying in a hotel nestling on the edge of a most colossal lake that wasn’t completely frozen, due to it’s size.
After a few excellent beers and a burger, we chatted in the bar with the staff. “The lake will freeze tonight, then that will be it until May”
“How do you know?”
“Just a feeling” was the sage reply.
Waking next morning at around 7.00 am, drawing back the curtains, something looked different, but I couldn’t figure what. Grabbing a camera and a coat, I walked quickly down in the pre-dawn light to the waters edge to see an amazing sight. What had been a vast expanse of open water last night was frozen. The blackness of the brand new ice was amazing, not yet thick enough to support my weight, but the vastness of it took your breath away. I’ve often heard the phrase, “silence ringing in your ears” and that morning, I felt that for the first time. The stillness made the air sing, my Canon 1DS sounding like a Howitzer as the shutter released. The only other sound was the tiny clinking of ice fragments along the shoreline, like rocks in a glass of malt whiskey. Watching the rapidly rising sun, a thin edge appeared on the horizon, giving the light that look that you sometimes see out of the window of long-haul airliners, with a thin, blood orange, line across the distant hills.
I shot a few more frames and then just stood, drinking in the scene, resisting the temptation to step out, onto the virgin ice.
As I stood in the cold, cursing my haste at leaving my room and the lack of clothing layers, there was the most amazing sound. Beginning far off to my left, then moving across the vastness of the lake to the right, a sound like a bull whip cracked down the lake, from one end to the other. The sound of the new ice shifting and settling.
I walked back to the hotel, grateful for one of those powerful cups of Swedish coffee, as I reflected on the amazing environment in that part of Sweden and that silence like no other I’d ever heard.
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I removed watermarks from all of the images in my portfolio last year. I’m not a fan, I believe it degrades from the impact of the image and smacks of a petty mindedness on the photographer’s part, a Scrouge-like mentality that EVERY usage must be paid for with a big fat fee, which isn’t what I’m all about. Seeing your work being used, a lot, is very satisfying.
Anoying, distracting watermarks - I hate them...
Sadly, because within a few short months, I discovered my work appearing all over the internet on commercial websites whose owners really should know better. You’d think it a good thing and I should be flattered that my work is used elsewhere, but that isn’t the point, so here’s my viewpoint: [click to continue…]
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I was alerted to this short movie about the making of True Grit over on Twitter by Steadicam operator Flelix Forrest and it reminded me of a comment by Sir Michael Caine when he was asked about film remakes, in particular The Italian Job II. “Why remake a film that was done very well the first time around? If it were me, I’d take a film done badly the first time and do it well” His view was that a great film has fond memories amongst the public and that creates resistance to a remake. Let’s face it, there’s really only one Italian Job, right?
I loved True Grit when I was a kid. “Fill Your Hand You Son of a Bitch!” made me laugh out loud and still makes me smile today, so I when I saw this brief video about the new movie, I breathed a sigh of relief. Roger Deakin’s cinematography looks stunning and having Jeff Bridges looks great as the main man. Looks like I need to get myself to the movies a lot more this year, if only to hear Jeff Bridges deliver that line
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It is, of course, the Ferrari 312T3 now owned by Nick Mason, shot in 2004 at the Goodwood Festival of Speed. Well done to Peter Windsor and Mike Newman for getting it. As far as I know, it was a unique occasion as the car was driven up the hill by his son, Jacques Villeneneuve, while wearing has father’s famous GPA helmet. He certainly wasn’t hanging about, despite the fact that Nick Mason, the car’s owner, was looking on and the track was soaking wet. Interviewed for the crowd at the top of the hill, just after his run, he was remarkably open about the significance of the occasion. “It was a one-off, something I’ve always wanted to do. Now I’ve done it, will be intensely memorable and I doubt I’ll need to do it ever again”.
It must have been quite a feeling for him, sitting on the startline that day, wearing that famous GPA….
Gilles Villeneuve Ferrari F1 car being driven in 2004 by his son, Jacques, at the Goodwood Festival of Speed
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OK, so it’s probably a Ferrari under there, but which one? The real Ferrari geeks will be able to tell me exactly which Ferrari is sleeping under the dust sheet. No help, no clues about where or when it as taken, if you call yourself a real Ferrari fan, you’ll know the answer. You can either Tweet me or hit the comment box below and tell me all you know about the car you think it is…
Once it’s been guessed, which I don’t think will take long at all, I’ll tell you where and when and a bit more.
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Most of the time when I’m shooting aerial photography, there’s a fairly heavy, long lens installed, generally the 70-200 IS Canon EF lens, one of my favourites. That’s because we’ve generally been commissioned to get a nice, tight detail view of a building and it’s immediate vicinity. So when I recalled this shot of Whitehaven, in Cumbria, I was reminded just what a great view we have from a helicopter. Most freinds and people I know who fly will probably be shepherded into a big tin tube onto a holiday jet, a tiny square of a window to peer out of, if at all and be blasted straight on up to 35,000 feet, so when I talk to them about what great things helicopters are, they just don’t get it. This was shot back in 2005 and last winter’s floods will probably have significantly changed this view now. Shot on the wide end of a Canon 17-40 zoom, just grabbed as we overflew, you can just see the edge of the helicopter skid in the bottom left.
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Juts declared on general release in the UK is this great looking documentary about the work of Lord Norman Foster. Documentary movies inthe UK generally don’t get a great run, so I don’t know if I’ll get the chance to see it on a cinema screen, which will be a shame. There’s some great looking aerial filming of some of Lord Foster’s famous projects, including what must be a now famous vertical overflying The Gherkin in London. The quality of the film looks great from the trailers I’ve seen on the TV today, so if you’re into great architecture and can find it on a big screen somehwere, I think it’s worth the time to go see it. The film is called “How Much Does Your Building Weigh, Mr Foster?” after a famous question he was once asked. You can read more on the movie website here, together with likely screening dates and locations.
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First impressions of Capture One V6.0
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Car Photo shoot gift package
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Glasgow Rangers football supporter, Manchester 2008
I’d be the first to admit that I’m NOT a football photographer or a football fan. In fact, you can comfortably write on the back of a postage stamp my total knowledge of the game. So when I got a call about covering it, I was dubious.
However, it turned out that it wasn’t coverage of the game that was needed, but scenes of the giant street party taking place outside the ground in the streets of Manchester city centre. The final publication was to be a Scottish celebration of Rangers’ road to the European Cup Final showing the (hopefully) celebrations of victory. So it was to be a long day, with scenes of people arriving, celebrating as the day went on and coverage of the celebration / commiseration at the end of the evening.
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Ok, there’s something strange going on here and I think we should be told… Within just a few days of each other, two leading proponents of independent film making and video DSLR’s have both posted on their blogs about the cost of film making. No big deal, I hear you say, money makes the world go round in film making. But just take a look at those headshots… I think we should be told.
Will the real Vincent LaForet please stand up?
He makes a valid point that many films with huge budgets should in fact, cost not more that £500,000 “In 2010 there’s been a tidal wave of new technology – particularly the Canon EOS 5D Mark II, a camera that costs £1,500 and yields images like 35mm film [used in cinemas]. The digital equivalent would have cost £100,000 only a year ago. You don’t need expensive cameras any more.”
Across the Atlantic, Vincent LaForet’s blog post comes at it from another angle. He warns against the current excitement at making great movies and [click to continue…]
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My new website design is gradually springing into life over the next ten days with several changes to make it easier for people to see what I do and also several exciting developments to help make it more future proof. Anyone who knows me will know that I regularly design websites for a wide variety of clients, so when it came to my own website, how come I didn’t design my own?
Several reasons, really, so if you’re a photographer / writer out there full of indecision on which way to jump with your website design, my thoughts below will hopefully be useful.
Firstly, as I started looking through my back catalogue of images, I realised that I was actually just scratching the surface of the material I have available and I wasn’t making the best of it. I regularly receive requests for stock images [click to continue…]
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An awful lot of my work with aerial photography isn’t quite as glamourous or exciting as it initially sounds….
It’s really nice when you get those commissions to shoot unusual buildings or other large projects from the air, but what many people don’t realise is that those lovely shiny buildings, stadiums and motorway bridges actually started life a few years earlier in a planning meeting with an architect, an accountant and probably a whole load of other people tasked with actually getting permission to build the project. That’s where the less glamorous side of aerial photography kicks in – shooting the ‘brown field’ site.
The chances are that when the planning application for a large project goes ahead, there will be questions, queries and probably also objections. So what the project needs are some large aerial views of the whole site, showing the building area and the surrounding land. And that site is probably not going to be the prettiest thing you’ve ever seen. It’s going to be anything from an old factory, an abandoned industrial estate to even an old dog track.
I’ve hard drives full of aerial views of ugly old pieces of derelict land that are definitely not worthy of a portfolio, but, nevertheless, were vital at the time. Quality is important, but also, so is timescale, which means that we aren’t going to be waiting around for gin clear skies and the right time of year.
Those images are often supplied as a huge 16bit Tiff image, deliberately shot as a ‘flat’ looking, low contrast scene, as they are destined for a CGi rendering artist who will be showing everyone just how cool the whole project is going to look and he needs all the digital information he can get to work with. I’ve seen the final CGi image printed at A0 on display at planning meetings and it’s quite an interesting composition.
I just don’t think I’ll be publishing any fine art prints of “abandoned dog tracks from the air” in the near future….
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