One of my recent personal/commercial projects was shooting stock images for a specialist aviation photo library. Now, NOT being a plane spotter (though there's nothing wrong with being one), I approached the whole project differently from most other photographers. Not knowing anything about the aircraft, I spent a few hours here and there down at Manchester Airport's Aviation Viewing Park - a very therapeutic 'escape' on a summer afternoon; a great way to get out of the office with the mobile phone switched off for a couple of hours (so nobody can hassle you!) You really should try it...
I got to meet with (other) plane spotters, blending in perfectly as the 'Newbie'. The friendly bunch used to give me the gossip as to what was expected in that day - all a bit secret squirrel. I felt like an undercover reporter on a big story a lot of the time, whilst I stood there with my sandwiches and coffee eavesdropping on the scanners and general chit chat. Some of the spotters there actually travel round Europe spotting planes at all the major airports, summer-long. Each to their own I suppose...
The folio of images has been building up over the past few summers, with my shooting vantage points varied all around the perimeter of the airport's two runways. The agency loved what I was doing - very different from the usual stock images, so I stuck at it, as best time allowed. I didn't spend days camped out, just the odd morning or afternoon where I had 'windows of opportunity'.
These days, when not on wedding duties, I spend my time shooting other commercial and personal projects. This aviation project has now been 'grounded'. I have had a success with several images being sold around the world...
...including the official cover for FLIGHT 93, the book on which the film is based. So....still unable to tell the difference between an A319 and 737-200, my time spent shooting the big metal birds taught me nothing, apart from how to escape from my working 'bubble' from time to time, to enjoy the sunshine and relative tranquility, and to plough some energy into a random project. A bit like fishing, but with the smell of aviation fuel thrown in!
amazing images as always mick, i think ya might have just changed me into a plane geek, well i did get to the bottom of the blog and read everything x
ReplyDeleteReally like the graphic element to these images Mick. Really nice work.
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