helipad

In Shanghai with David Beckham

What a great opportunity it is to fly around the world shooting celebs for big brands. In this case, travelling to Shanghai to shoot David Beckham for a PR activation was pretty cool to say the least. Why Shanghai? No major reason. it just happened that travel plans and availability found us meeting there, in a fancy room in a luxury hotel. Air travel makes the world a very small place indeed.

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The brief was comprehensive; one strong shot with Becks with BA crew/fans on a branded backdrop. Not staged or frozen… rather a fluid flow of energy. Charismatic and authentic. Time frame? Ha! Five minutes tops. It had to be quick, captivating and simple.

What I’ve learned over time is that researching your subject is key. Think career, hobbies, video’s, TV interviews, social media. Together, it all helps to get a good understanding of who you’re working with. Aside all that though, celebs are also human so being able to hold a good conversation from the start sets you off on the right path. It’s often a short and intense session. The higher the status and the bigger the entourage equals the less time you get and the higher the stakes to deliver the goods.

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In order to work fast, I had set up three different shots which were rehearsed in detail beforehand with the crew and a Beckham stand-in. The set was lit with two Softbox Octa’s connected to two Pro-8a’s with air remote, so there were no unnecessary cables and no shortage of fast flash. I stripped down my gear completely using just one Canon body, a fast CF card and two lenses. The less extra gear to worry about, the more you can just focus on just managing the energy on set. One of the pilots, Mark, who worked on our Margot Robbie and Orlando Bloom shoots was also part of the team. He’s outgoing and charismatic making for a lively conversation with Beckham. Admittedly, I did have a few quirky questions to hand (see research) in case the conversation died. Beyond that, it was just a case of moving through each planned shot flawlessly.

I shot 104 frames in well under five minutes. The client handed over five edited images of which two got final approvals by Beckham’s team. So yes, it all worked out as planned. Seamless, fast and resulting in the delivery of two cracking PR shots.

Wk.

The world’s hottest helipad

As part of the recent British Airways PR roll out, we recently shot on the helipad of Abu Dhabi’s Hyatt Capital Gate hotel. It’s a pretty cool location with aerial views of the Abu Dhabi skyline. We were shooting Hollywood actor Orlando Bloom, a celebrity heartthrob who first landed in the limelight for his role in the Lord of the Rings and Hobbit trilogies.

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As his schedule dictated, we ended up shooting just after 1pm. This meant harsh sunlight along with super warm temperatures, unusual for early November, making the conditions far from ideal for photography. But then again, do the perfect conditions ever present themselves? You just have to work best with what you have. In this case, the key was to keep it short and sweet with a well orchestrated, highly conceptualised and pre-figured set of images. I had shot on this helipad before with Matteo Manassero so I had some advantage of knowing what to expect.

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Arriving on set early with my assistant Kish, we dragged all the kit up stairs, worked on our shortlist, had a rehearsal with the BA crew, then agreed on our ultimate three shots. First up was the usual head-on pose, second, a more dynamic shot of Orlando surrounded by BA crew. I gave the crew a real scare when I tripped over my studio light cables when walking backwards, near the edge of the helipad. Thought was quite funny (but might have been the only one…).

Finally a fisheye shot, that really captured the lines of the helipad and the curve of the skyline.There’s a similar shot in my aerial series when I photographed the iconic Palm Jumeirah using a fisheye lens. Taken from a helicopter, it made the cover of the national newspaper. I don’t use this lens very often, but I carry it with me always and when mounted at the right time, the results are amazing.

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Quick doodle visualising shot list. 

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Rehearsal – Behind the scenes image by Kish

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Behind the scenes image by Kish

Our short and sweet plan panned out perfectly… we were in and out within the hour.

Wk