Blimey it's been a while! What can I say other than I've been busy, REAL busy! I have had
a fantastic run of back to back assignments, that just didn't leave me a moment of free time. So apologies for the blog hiatus and thank you to those of you who inquired after
my well being!
I guess one advantage of having a break is that at least I can put up some of the images that have now been published rather than the usual 'watch this space' line!
Of the many bits of gear that I head to shoots with, I have to say that a leaf blower is not usually amongst them. Let alone do I usually use a leaf blower as a weapon of mass destruction, but recently I did! The shot required a lot of wind and debris flying around on top of a hill. Knowing that the weather was bound to not co- operate in the gusty department and rather than lugging generators and wind machines up the hill, my weapon of choice was a large leaf blower!
So the plan was hatched and lots of carefully selected debris was assembled, newspapers, coffee cups, plastic bags, crisp packets, hats, umbrellas, leaves, oh and of course the target aka Tod the talent! It was always going to be a composite image with that amount of elements involved.
So just after sunrise there we were on top of Mount Victoria and as predicted not a breath of wind! To add to the fun a huge bank of cloud was swallowing up the blue sky at a rapid rate! So once we were set up in the best position I grabbed some background shots and set up a couple of lights to ward off the impending gloom. A bare bulb strobe off to the right and a soft fill coming in from above the camera. Then it was out with the blower and we started bombarding our talent… it was all going just fine until the blower started firing missiles at Tod! Fortunately I wasn't aiming at his face at that moment, so he just took a few to the chest before I killed the missile launcher rather than him! I'm guessing the blower was also a sucker and at some point had been used as such. Oops! Luckily he saw the funny side. So after I told him to harden up, we continued firing debris everywhere and of course chasing it all over the hill to pick it up again!
The whole image came together in just over a day and a half from start to finish, so I'm really pleased with the result we achieved on such a tight deadline.
For my next shoot I think I'll use a less dangerous prop… like a rocket launcher!
I guess one advantage of having a break is that at least I can put up some of the images that have now been published rather than the usual 'watch this space' line!
Of the many bits of gear that I head to shoots with, I have to say that a leaf blower is not usually amongst them. Let alone do I usually use a leaf blower as a weapon of mass destruction, but recently I did! The shot required a lot of wind and debris flying around on top of a hill. Knowing that the weather was bound to not co- operate in the gusty department and rather than lugging generators and wind machines up the hill, my weapon of choice was a large leaf blower!
So the plan was hatched and lots of carefully selected debris was assembled, newspapers, coffee cups, plastic bags, crisp packets, hats, umbrellas, leaves, oh and of course the target aka Tod the talent! It was always going to be a composite image with that amount of elements involved.
So just after sunrise there we were on top of Mount Victoria and as predicted not a breath of wind! To add to the fun a huge bank of cloud was swallowing up the blue sky at a rapid rate! So once we were set up in the best position I grabbed some background shots and set up a couple of lights to ward off the impending gloom. A bare bulb strobe off to the right and a soft fill coming in from above the camera. Then it was out with the blower and we started bombarding our talent… it was all going just fine until the blower started firing missiles at Tod! Fortunately I wasn't aiming at his face at that moment, so he just took a few to the chest before I killed the missile launcher rather than him! I'm guessing the blower was also a sucker and at some point had been used as such. Oops! Luckily he saw the funny side. So after I told him to harden up, we continued firing debris everywhere and of course chasing it all over the hill to pick it up again!
The whole image came together in just over a day and a half from start to finish, so I'm really pleased with the result we achieved on such a tight deadline.
For my next shoot I think I'll use a less dangerous prop… like a rocket launcher!
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