At this time in 2008 I remember saying “this is the busiest spring season we have ever had.” In 2009 I said the same thing. I am happy to say that 2010 has been the busiest spring we have had yet.
And boy have we had the chance to work with some phenomenal clients thus far!
We began the year collaborating again with Canada’s top bodypainter, Ashley Forshaw. The concept was based on the tale of Little Red Riding Hood. Our props team assembled a bed in the middle of the forest in North Vancouver while Ashley bodypainted Little Red and did prosthetic special effects makeup on the wolf. He was also outfitted with leg extenders to add an extra couple of feet of height. We spent the afternoon lighting the forest and photographed dark, creative images throughout the night.
Early in the year we drove to Arizona for an assignment in Phoenix where we had the opportunity to hike into “The Wave” at Coyote Buttes. We were driving a uHaul truck loaded full of equipment which ended up getting stuck in deep sand on the way to the trailhead. Several hours later we managed to dig the truck out, pull the essential equipment from it and hitch a ride in the back of a local rancher’s pickup. 8kms later we arrived at the trailhead. We hiked three hours with heavy backpacks full of equipment, shot for an hour and then hiked back out. It was during the hike back that it donned on us that we did not have a ride back to the uHaul. This realization occurred roughly 20 minutes before we ran out of water and were forced to pack our water bottles with snow (yes, Arizona had snow!). A total of 28kms later we arrived at the uHaul and drove back to the hotel in the dark.
A few weeks ago we went on assignment to Hamilton, Ontario to shoot for Flightcraft. We rode in the cockpit of a Boeing 727 on a flight that started at 4pm and finally got into Hamilton at 5am. Of course, being a big flying fanatic, I did not sleep at all. We shot that entire day, hopped on a DC-10 that night and flew back to BC. Two hours of sleep in 36. Not too shabby.
Last week Fortis contracted us to go to Okanagan Falls, BC to photograph their linesmen installing massive transmission lines. The excitement of shooting Chinook helicopters carrying 15,000 pound poles and setting them down perfectly beside us was thrilling to say the least. Although, we’re still finding dust and dirt in places we shouldn’t.
We are certainly gearing up for a very busy boat season. Thanks to the rebound of the economy, people are buying boats again and we intend to pull out all of the stops with our shooting techniques this year and capture tons of new and stunning images. (We have a few openings later in the summer for boat photography. If you are interested in having us come and photograph your boats, we would love to talk to you about it.)
On another note, we want to pass along a big ‘congratulations’ to Craig and Chytra of Savour Magazine for taking a beautiful regional magazine and going national. We have thoroughly enjoyed shooting your covers for you this past year!
The Team and I are off to Victoria, BC in a couple of weeks to do an architectural shoot for NORR Architects of Calgary, AB. It is always a pleasure shooting for Alexis and her crew.
We hope this email finds you happy, healthy and busy and we look forward to hopefully having the opportunity to work with you this year!
All the best,
Shawn and The Team (David, Nicole and Jordan)