The Hawaii I was Hoping For

I took two days after shooting wrapped to see some of the Big Island. (I feel a little weird using such a familiar term for such a new place, but I also don't like names that don't really say where you are ... such as "I'm going to Africa." Anyway.) I found Brett LeMaster's company Mele Nai'a through some sort of web search, and I had some great email conversations with his partner Leina before I left Miami. To be honest, all I needed to know was Brett's reputation as a freediver and see the photos of False Killer Whales on their website to know that I wanted to dive with them. I REALLY made the right decision! Spinner dolphins is the basis of their business, and we had just found a pod on Monday morning when Brett got a call about some Pilot whales logging on the surface. Before slipping in the water in front of the slowly moving pod, Brett casually warned me about Oceanic Whitetips that often travel with the whales. And as I sat in blue water waiting for the whales to pass, the first thing I saw come out of the distance was a shark. As it got bigger, I consciously told myself to be ready for an aggressive shark. And it was aggressive, in a slightly disinterested way. On that first pass, I had to stick my fin in it's face to send a message, and I know I was nervous because I didn't think to shoot the shark just behind my fins. It was nice to turn and see Brett behind me. But after that, the sharks were turned simply by eye contact, and I have to admit that I was wishing them just a little closer, just a little closer. Wow are they incredible! Such huge fins. Such amazing color. I have wanted to get in the water with an Oceanic Whitetip for a long time now. I can't believe how seemingly easily is happened.

Hawaii Production

There came a point on Day 2 of the production ... sometime after the wind went quiet on Mauna Kea, and the clouds completely rolled over Parker Ranch, and the production reached a generally low point ... there came a point when one of the clients pointed out that Bob Gordon's company motto is "Making the impossible, possible". Yes, it was more a comment on how impossible the idea of ever completing the commercial seemed at that point. But at the same time it was probably obvious to everybody that the best way to overcome most impossible situations is a talented helicopter pilot. And in Hawaii we had two of them ... Craig Hosking and Don Evans. Plus Akoni Kama, who's job it was to be literally dragged around by a helicopter. Who needs wind when you have a Hughes 500?


The fact of any film shoot is that mornings are early. We had back to back 4:15 am calls on this job. And it was a surreal experience to drive through the pitch black, with an impossible number of stars overhead, following small crew signs along the roadside. And when the sun came up, our location was revealed as something closer to the moon than the Hawaii I was expecting. Mauna Kea was one of the most dramatic and beautiful places that I have ever been.

MIT Triathlon

Lara ran the Olympic distance event at the Miami International Triathlon this morning. I have been looking forward to shooting lots of swimmers churning water. However, the swimming portion of all events except the sprint happened before the sun came up. Here are a selection of the few that almost worked. I blame my poor shooting on lack of sleep and the huge amounts of Nyquil in my system. Note: all camera blur on the bike photos is intentional. All blur on the swimming photos is the result of the 7 am start and the 7:29 sunrise.


I am trying to wade through the gigabytes of photos that I returned from Hawaii with. It might take me a couple of days to get something posted.

Kingman, AZ

I flew home on Thursday from three days in Kingman, Arizona. The return flight on Air Tran (the airline with least leg-room) took us high over the snow covered country. Even though I spend much of any flight looking out of the window, the days I spent in Kingman now make me consider aerial views in a much different light.

This project was part of Bob Gordon's on-going series of commercials. The story dealt with two guys who load their old Jeep into an even older cargo plane, fall out at 10,000 feet and parachute safely to the desert floor where they drive away in search of even more adventure. All skeptical looks by readers can easily be explained by three words ... foreign cigarette ad. (Someday soon I will approach this topic.)

The key shots to this shoot were all done from either plane to plane, or helicopter to plane and some amazing technology was used to for the motion picture photography. Of course, being "the still guy" on a commercial shoot, Space Cams and Snake Heads are not available to me. All of my key shots were taken while strapped into the back seat of a helicopter. (The flight crew thoughtfully provided paper-tape to make sure that the seatbelt stayed closed.) Once strapped in, I was a on a ride that both changed my perspective and made me a part of the action in a very immediate way. The logistics of these sequences were detailed and there is a lifetime of pilot experience that goes into getting a cargo plane, which stalls out just under 100 mph to fly alongside a helicopter that maxes out just over 100 mph. And there is a lot of trust in paper tape by any photographer who sticks his head and camera out into a hundred mile an hour head wind and squints through the viewfinder. I have to thank Craig Hosking for getting me into some incredible camera positions. And for the paper-tape that kept me in the helicopter.

The view from that high above the desert is amazing and in a lot of ways it reminded me of underwater photography. Looking down on all of that neutral negative space, a silver plane literally popped off the page in the similar way to a freediver in the blue or a dolphin on the bank. And the dark horizontal line of the distant mountains reminded me of a still day in the Gulf Strem. The scales were entirely different, but the connected and inspired feeling was the same. I think I could have spent the entire shoot looking at the abstract possibilities presented by the desert far below.

Anyway, it was a tough shoot in many ways, but I came away with some great photography. Orlando Noa and David Dominick of Digital Decaf were a great addition to the still department. And as always, Bob's crew was great to work with. New stop is Hawaii. I am already shopping for a climbing harness to save on paper-tape!

February Catch Up

I have been away from the blog for a while now. There may not have been a lot of assignments to comment on, but new ideas, new photos and a trip or two would have found space. I could chalk it up to basic laziness, but to be honest, I am thinking about the consequences of simply putting ideas out there for others to see. It is easy to believe that few people visit a site, and nobody really reads a blog. However, it is an indescribable feeling to become aware that another photographer has paid close attention to your work. Right down to what I called my last show. Anyway, I will leave it at that for now. And for the rest, the rain is pouring here in Miami, and I am right in the middle of a couple of unusual and interesting assignments. Seems like a good time to jump back in.

I always appreciate working with a crew, and the three days that I spent working with Bob Gordon and Pete Zuccarini last week produced some great images. I was hired by Bob to shoot the still photos for an Indonesian soccer tournament campaign. It was set entirely in a pool in Ft. Lauderdale. Of course, footwork is key in soccer, and Pete had guys training for weeks to cross-volley kick and dribble all while holding their breath. At the same time, Matt O'Connor and Harper Hellams worked hard to makes sure there was a ball for every scene ... sinkers, floaters, mid water balls and balls that could fly across the pool. Alex Krim and Neil Andrea provided water safety. We had directors, editors, wardrobe and PA's in a small camp around the pool, and six guys who's specialty is soccer and were very excited to see what water could add to their game. And in the end, it is amazing what happens when a dozen people focus their combined efforts on making something happen in front of a lens. Today I am flying to Kingman, Arizona to continue work with Bob's crew. The next stop will reach towards the pinacle of what a shoot can be when money is only a relative consideration and might make me wonder how an underwater guy ended up in a helicopter.

Lightroom

Adobe Lightroom has been installed on my computer since sometime last summer. However, it is safe to say that using it only to create impressive web pages is not getting the most out of the program. Last weekend I sat in on a four day course offered by D65. Seth Resnick and Jamie Spritzer are the go-to couple for breaking the Lightroom learning curve down to size. I was lucky to meet Jamie one week before I bought my first digital SLR way back in 2004. Their workflow became the way that I work, and I have made it a point to refresh my workflow with a D65 course each time Adobe updates their photo software. To say that Seth has a thorough understanding of the program is an understatement. To say it is an understatement is an understatement. But the success of the course is how Jamie and Seth pass this understanding along to photographers. At the end of four days, I felt I knew what Lightroom could do and how to best use it. And walking away from the course, I knew that I had days of keywording in front of me, and many more hard drives to buy.

2008 Outside Wall Calendar

Our copy of Outside Magazine arrived yesterday. It included the 2008 wall calendar ... a gift for new subscribers. I am very excited to have my photo of Pete freediving with a humpback whale as the photo above the month of September. And it is in good company. The calendar includes some great images.

Getting Old.

Ok, it is too late at night to try to find a way to fit these images into some sort of a narrative. Both Curacao and Bimini produced images that remind me why I think that I have something to offer as an underwater photographer. And the stand out photos from both trips remind me that years ago I told Pete that I would start shooting macro photography when I was too old to freedive. Well, I just turned 38, and both assignments found me spending long, patient hours behind my 100mm macro. On scuba, no less! There is something about a Petersen shrimp in an anenome that shows me there is a world of underwater photography still to discover. But Katie's style while freediving is reason enough to always have the 16-35mm as the lens of first choice.

Ocean Futures

I had the chance to spend a week in Bimini aboard the Apnea. Fabiene Coustea and Ocean Futures flew to the island to film a documentary which focused on the environmental problems (some might say the ecological disaster) created by the development at Bimini Bay. This was the first time that I visited the north end of the island in years, and yes, I was truly shocked by what I saw. Bimini is just too small for the vast numbers of cookie cutter town homes that are planned and it's mangrove shoreline is far to valuable as habitat to be removed for something as self serving as a golf course or a channel to bring yachts to a backyard. Please take a look at these sites. Bimini needs all of the friends it can get.

Catch-Up

Two trips and the Thanksgiving holiday have really put me behind in my blog. But I have a couple of hours in a noisy hotel room to try and get caught up. What follows is what seems noteworthy from three weeks and two projects.