One of my early childhood memories from growing up in Southern California is of my dad showing me a litho print of the A4-D Skyhawk in flight that he'd brought home from work at the Douglas Aircraft Company. As I looked at the image, I thought to myself, "How did they get that picture?" never bothering to ask my dad and certainly never considering that decades later I would be immersed in the process.
Have you ever wondered how the aerial photos are taken for the articles and ads you see in Flying? Well, after over 1,000 magazine cover credits, and countless advertising campaigns for OEMs, I can tell you that although my name may appear on the credit line, there are a lot of behind-the-scenes people who helped the images come into being.
The photos you see in Flying aren't just lucky shots, or three good images out of 500 taken. They are well planned, and well executed, with an emphasis on safety. If I'm shooting an article for Flying, featuring a new product, Editor in Chief J. Mac McClellan calls me about the assignment and tells me what he and Art Director Andrew Becker hope I'll capture for the article. I then contact the public relations representative at the manufacturer and set up a date to fly the air-to-air, and shoot interiors and ground exterior shots. The total shoot lasts about four hours.
After shooting the ground shots, we begin the preflight briefing with me stating the artistic goals followed by the pilots discussing how we can achieve them safely. Safety is always the most important issue. It's critical that the pilots have formation flying experience to fly a photo shoot. If a pilot is not formation qualified, a photo mission is no place to practice. I may have an idea for a shot, but if the pilots can't fly formation safely, I'll never be able to get the shot. The pilots are of course the heroes of any photo shoot.
After a briefing that usually lasts about 30 minutes, we're ready to go fly. I prefer first and last light as the direction and character of the light is best during those times and I can produce a wide variety of exciting images in a relatively short time. Magazine aerial sessions last about one hour.
But when you're shooting a major OEM's advertising campaign, the stakes are raised. The budgets and time allowed for an advertising shoot are substantially greater than for a magazine shoot, because the images will be used for years, in various mediums, rather than just once in a monthly periodical, and the potential income from selling airplanes is much greater than selling magazines. It would be similar to a feature film versus a television show.
Last year Bombardier, parent company of Learjet, amassed a gaggle of advertising personnel, pilots and photographers for an air-to-air adventure that would last seven days. The goal was to capture still and video images of all three current production model Learjets. Denzil D'Sa, Montreal-based marketing and communications manager for Bombardier business aircraft, contacted me to help begin the coordination of where, when and how we could achieve their needs and still remain close to budget.
It takes a large group to make a successful photo shoot. Famed aviator Clay Lacy was commissioned to fly his periscope-equipped Learjet and shoot the video. My job was to help coordinate the overall logistics and produce the stills. After a location is chosen, based on the backgrounds desired in the images, the planning begins. Weather is always a consideration and alternate locations must be available if weather dictates.
I'm often asked what kind of equipment I use to get my shots. My response is "a B-25 and a Canon." Of course, I use other platforms, which are determined by speed compatibility with the target plane, platform availability and budget, but the B-25 is my first choice and over the past 35 years I've shot from 17 different B-25s of the approximately 30 flying worldwide. The Canons I currently use are the 21.1 megapixel Canon EOS-1Ds Mark IIIs and the new Canon EOS-5D Mark II. Using two or three bodies, my primary lenses are the IS24-105 mm and IS70-200 mm zoom lenses. I'll bring other lenses along for specialized shots, and my assistant brings two back-up bodies and additional lenses.
