Rocking it out without a tripod in Fiji. Note to self: Always remember the base plate!

What is one to do when one has no tripod and needs a little elevation and a sturdy shot?

I pondered this question recently at the Sonaisali Island Resort and this little gem of a setup is what I came up with. It isn’t what I would call aesthetically pleasing, but hey, it did the job!

Let me walk you through it. That’s 3 rock solid slabs of frozen chicken fillets on the bottom there. They were commandeered from a passing porter who had a whole trolley full destined for the kitchen’s deep freeze. I’m not quite sure he understood what we were doing, but he sure found it amusing.

Next in line we have a somewhat flexible seed pod from a nearby tree that was found on the ground. The seed pod is being propped up by the lens cap of the wide angle converter.

I’m definitely not proud of working like this, I forgot the tripod base plate and just had to make do for a couple of hours. At the end of the day though, the end justifies the means. If I hadn’t of posted it here, nobody (except the confused porter, who had to explain the three missing slabs of chicken to a cranky head chef) would be any the wiser. So I guess it just goes to show a little ingenuity, no matter how fraught with the risk of salmonella, can work wonders when you’re in a bind without a tripod.

More soon. . .

Complete silence with farmland, mountains and a whole lot of gorgeous yellow tinged sunlight thrown in for good measure. Ballooning is awesome!

Apart from the gentle breeze and an occasional forlorn cry from a farm animal 2000 feet below, there wasn’t a sound to be heard.

The sun rose as we soared listlessly across the sky at the complete the mercy of the elements, our balloon casting long shadows across the land. The 5D MK II lapped it all up with the 15mm Fisheye, the 14mm Rectlinear and the much loved Sigma 50mm.

The best shot of the balloon ride was definitely when the pilot dropped the basket so close to the Cane fields that the flowers were hitting the top of the basket as we skimmed across the top of them. It looked like some impossible crane shot and you simply couldn’t have got it any other way. Fantastic stuff!

After that, everything went down hill, it was the hardest, longest, most physically demanding and mentally exhausting day of the trip yet. An incredibly difficult, yet fitting way to see it out.

I spent the rest of the morning running around Sonaisali Island Resort getting interviews, while Brett took advantage of the clear skies and went to grab the rest of the shots we needed from Denarau Island.

There was also a day spa, rooms, a cocktail party and firewalking to shoot and not a second to stop and breathe until we wrapped for the final time at 7pm. That was the nail in the coffin for me. 16 hours of absolute gnarliness and I was cactus! Rendered mute with exhaustion until I’d managed to get down a couple of celebratory ales with the crew to salute a job well done.

So we were to bed by midnight and back up at 4:30am this morning for the final journey to the airport, where we jumped on our plane back to Brisbane and the comforts of home.

As I write this from my office back on the Sunshine Coast, reflecting on the journey, the good times, the bad, and everything in between, I can definitely say it was worth it and a good time.

We all tried some different things on this trip and took a lot away from it. A job that forces you to grow and learn through experimentation and being put in challenging situations is a great test and it’s always rewarding to see it out and make it work.

So that’s about it for the Fiji thing. . .Back to normal, day in, day out life on the Sunshine Coast. Not that it’s a bad thing, now I can spend all my time checking the letterbox to see if the 7D has arrived yet. . .Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, here I come!

An hour of sun capped off the shoot at Shangri La's Fijian Resort nicely!

Lemon juice, lemonade, tequila and rain. . .it’s day 6 and it’s all blurring into one hectic, non-stop experience. We’ve got one day to go and the wheels have almost fallen off.

Synapses are firing at half to one quarter speed, motor skills are deserting us and it’s not getting any easier.

Having been working flat stick for close to 20 days now, it really should come as no surprise that it’s taking it’s toll on the body and the mind, but we’re almost there, the job is almost done and everything is looking great. Thank god this kind of punishment doesn’t affect the images!

Today was actually a good day, I can’t talk up the working hard thing too much as we did get to sleep in. Assuming it was going to be awful weather when we woke (which it was) and given that we were supposed to be on the bus and on our way to the next resort at 10am, a sleep in was the logical choice.

During breakfast it started to clear up, the sun got stronger and before you knew it it was 11:30am and we were knee deep in the lagoon 50 metres from shore, shooting a gorgeous reef, starfish and a glorious blue sky. It really was a great way to finish up the Fijian Resort as everything we had shot up until that point worked really nice, but was missing those stunning tropical shots that the weather was trying to stop us from getting.

So onto the bus we got and off we went to the next stop, Sonaisali Island Resort. The bus trip went rather quick, with some lovely scenery, a bit of Fisheye love on the 5D MKII and a smattering of Peggle.

After crossing the river in the ferry, which was the only access to the island, we got into shooting what we could whilst the sun was still playing fair with us. Some beach stuff and a bit of the pool and before we knew it, it was gone again.

The final setups included a horse riding shot, which the Canon 100-400 F4-5.6 performed fantastically for and our model was not the happiest about since she had short shorts on and chafed the hell out of her legs. The beach was jet black, volvanic sand and when galloping the horse through the water, the sand got all up under her legs and all over the saddle. Mental note to self, short shorts and bare feet are possibly not the best riding attire.

The last setup was the sunset, or what there was of it anyway. . .lacklustre until the last minute when the sky lit up in a dazzling display of red and violet clouds. Definitely the best shot of the day and worth sticking around for.

After that we wrapped and now I’m here typing this, without access to the internet to actually post it.

An unfortunate situation indeed, but we’ll get through it. It’s time for bed, tomorrow mornings call is for 4:15am and a hot air balloon flight for some aerials. Fingers crossed for good weather. . .

For now. . .it’s goodnight!

Side by side. The EX1 with the wide angle and the 5D MKII with the 50mm. Unlikely friends!

Drip. . .Drip. . .Drip. . .Drip. . .

As my consciousness climbed slowly out of slumber I registered the dampness of the sheets around me and an incessant tapping in the centre of my chest. I was soaking wet, the rain was pelting down outside and our roof had a nicely placed leak just above my bed. Fantastic way to start the day. . .

And what a day it was! It was a wet, overcast and as a result, we spent most of the day doing crazy setups with lights, multiple flashes, umbrella’s and bounces doing our best to work with what we had. It would have been an entirely different story if it hadn’t of been for the rain.

Life dealt us lemons again and we came away with the goods. We shot portraits today, mostly indoors, some out, of the hotel staff. Just characters from around the place, looking good in their assigned roles. It ended up working a treat.

Zen! Available wherever good plastic tables are sold! Get yours now!

We were also lucky enough to come across a discreet beach wedding and also get permission to shoot it. When the bride started choking up on her vows, I have to admit, I did the same. I ended up interviewing the two of them, they were both lovely and best of all, so well spoken and high on the fact that they just got married, that they didn’t stop gushing about how wonderful everything over here is. That’s great for us as it’s given us a lot to work with in the edit and well spoken, outgoing people are hard to come by when you’re shoving an EX1 in their face and expecting them to deliver the goods to camera first time around!

The last setup for the day was the Zen shot. Kind of like the Zen shot in Peggle but without the funky graphics and great gameplay. It consisted of the model, the water, the spa and a good amount of tungsten lighting. We waited for the light to balance out, shot the hell out of it and then called it a day.

It was by far the most arduous day we have had, because we had somebody helping us with gear and driving us around in a golf cart. We did so many setups with the lighting and shot so much more than we would have on foot carrying it on our own that it’s really taken it’s toll. The old injuries are playing up, the back is aching from shooting and everybody is fairly sleep deprived.

Tomorrow promises a much needed sleep in as we are checking out at 10am and heading to the next stop on this whirl-wind shoot of unseasonal, rainy Fijian experiences. . .

Until then. . .:)

Maximum Zen Acheived!

Tropical Fiji Weather

If life deals you lemons. . .pass the tequila and salt!

Well, that’s what I say. Brett seems to think it’s ‘make lemon juice’, but nobody really drinks straight, freshly squeezed lemon juice (apart from sadists) and clearly tequila, lemon and salt are complimentary flavours. Everybody loves the old lick, sip and suck don’t they? But I digress. . .

Headphones in, music playing, disconnected. . .that’s where it’s at right now. We’re 4 days in, and as I type this, ominous overcast skies abound. Rain laden clouds with pendulous bellies threaten to burst and the verdant fijian countryside rolls by out the window of the mini bus. We’re on our way to the Shangri-La’s Fijian Resort, the next stop on our shoot and it’s not looking good at the moment.

It’s been raining, a lot and overcast since I woke up yesterday morning. Hardly conducive to coming away with cracking shots which scream tropical Fiji, but you get that. The plan was get on a chopper, nail some aerials of Denarau, then head out to the Asuau’s, shoot the island and the cruise boat and head back to the mainland.

We did have one stroke of luck, upon boarding the Helicopter, the sun popped out from behind the clouds and we managed to do three circuits of Denarau Island, and get our aerial shots in nice sun. That was to be it. . .after a 45 minute trip with the doors off the chopper we arrived at the Asuau Islands and more specifically Nanuya LaiLai Beach and the Mystique Princess Cruise boat.

Possibly the best photo I've ever taken with a camera phone.

A couple of screaming passes over the boats moored just off the beach and, we had landed.

It was a beautiful island, supposedly where Brook Shields lost her innocence and her swimwear (according to Brett’s script) but in the cold flat, light of an overcast day, it really didn’t look like much at all.

We did the best we could with what we had and actually ended up doing quite a bit of strobist style photography with a 580EXII and 430EX off camera. No sun meant getting a little creative to achieve that sunny look and it ended up working a treat.

Despite the less than ideal weather, we did come away with some decent shots and it definitely wasn’t a write off.

Using a Cokin filter setup we managed to make something decent out of the quasi-sunset and and that was it for the evening, we wrapped, turned in on the Mystique Princess and hit the hay.

I awoke this morning to the gentle roll of our vessel making it’s way back to the port on the mainland. I took a quick look out the window and then at my watch. It was 9am and no wonder that Brett hadn’t knocked on the door earlier, it was disgusting out there. The rain drove in sheets across the choppy Pacific. Bleak, grey and miserable, visibility was down to almost nothing.

Breakfast was short and then it was back to making do with what we had. A setup involving a oiled Fijian native with the national marine flag worked nicely, the strobes killed it again.

Back into port, it was off the boat, into the mini bus and back to the Sheraton to pick up our fearless editor Shawn and Paulina, the co-ordinator AKA Mum. That brings us up to the present and I have to get off the bus, so more after todays wrap. . . . . . . . . . . . .

I’m in the room now, number 518, at Shangri La’s Fijian Resort. It’s a huge place, on it’s own island with a beautiful reef sheltered lagoon right out the front and a meek, but clean, 2 1/2 foot swell breaking against the offshore reef.

This afternoon wasn’t too much of a struggle, even though we started shooting at 5pm and black storm clouds roiled across the ocean out past the reef. It was dark, raining on and off and surprisingly we still managed to pull enough shots out a family dinner scene, the restaurant and the menacing, yet beautiful outlook over the lagoon to create a strong clip. That was it for the day.

We’re still not shooting much else but 5D MKII and the 50mm is still our go to lens. It’s fantastic bokeh and beautiful depth of field, coupled with the full frame sensor is just killing it. I am beginning to wonder how much difference the sensor size will make to the depth of field with an equivalent lens on the 7D. I’m really hoping not too much, as I would hate to regret having already pre-ordered a 7D!

In closing, we’re extremely disappointed. The clouds have set in and the outlook for the rest of the week is terrible, with thunderstorms forecast everyday. But as I said before. . .

If life deals you lemons. . .pass the tequila and salt!

Terrible working conditions.

You're on the bench this quarter. . .

These are my glasses. I have a penchant for Senior Citizens fashion. What can I say? I'm an old soul!

Fiji is really turning it on! The weather is perfect, just enough cloud to give the sky some interest without compromising the light every 2 minutes and light winds most of the time. The talent is starting to relax into things and really work the camera and the images are improving with every new setup. Smiles all round over here!

Right now, I’m back in the room after another full day shooting. As I type, Brett is sitting here talking about tomorrow’s schedule to one of the models, more just thinking out loud, getting things set in his head. It’s his way. . .but I digress. . .

Today went well, apart from some IT issues pertaining to the internet access here in Fiji at the moment, it was a resounding success. We are supposed to be launching fresh content online every day and we are tapping out at the worrisome upload speed of 4kb a second with dropouts rearing their ugly heads more often than oglers while we are shooting. We found our way around it all though and all the clients are stoked with yesterdays cuts.

Things kicked off today with some beach shots after breakfast, followed by a bit golf and tennis action. The 70-200mm f2.8 got a great run and really came up with the goods. . .We’re talking hair thin focus planes and backgrounds so blown it’s not funny. The footage looked great in camera. . .Now, we’ve just come back from the edit suite and the editor, Sean, has cut the best clip of that stuff. It’s fantastic and so good to see that he’s on the same page and a very talented creative.

We needed to get interviews with some of the punters who were at the beach party last night, so after shooting those in the afternoon on the EX1 (which was dusted off for it’s first use this trip. A testament to the quality of DSLR video.) we grabbed another solid sunset and it was game over.

Tomorrow is shaping up to be a crazy day, can’t wait for that one! Up in the chopper at 9am, aerial shoot over Denarau Island and then off to some other islands for an overnighter and lots more beach and watersport love. I’ll definitely get a bunch more photo’s tomorrow, and hopefully get them up tomorrow night if we can get access to the net over there.

I fully realise that I should probably stop crapping on and actually post some serious content, but at the moment, even writing this is proving to be quite the test. Anyway Christian, how about you just shut up and actually post something interesting to look at tomorrow instead of boring us with your lame stories. . .Point taken. . .I’ll do better next time. . .

Until then. . .

One of the pools we were shooting and not swimming in. . .

As I sit in this warm and cosy bed, a lone ant marches erratically across my screen, just one of many of the little buggers that seem to be crawling all over this room at the Sheraton. Our gear is spread all over the room, and I swear that the amount of rechargeable batteries slowly drawing new life from the mains power is surely creating some kind of radioactive hotspot, that could possibly result in prize winning, oversized fruit and vegetables, anywhere within a 200 metre radius.

All that aside though, I am still alive and possibly even a couple of kilos lighter from the sweat I exuded today. For lack of a better word, it was a massive.

Perfect blue skies and light winds greeted us as we rose and after a killer breakfast we got stuck into shooting one of the models beside the pool, Sports Illustrated style, beside the pool. The 5D MKII was singing, well it was recording, the Sigma 50mm 1.4 was singing. And what a pretty tune it was. That lens copped an absolute beating today and never missed a beat. In fact the whole kit worked really well, even when showered with metho from the firebreathers. I have a feeling Canon’s weatherproofing is not quite tested against fuel and solvents. It still works though, so I guess that’s a good sign. We’ll probably wake up tomorrow and it’ll just be a pile of fuming slag. Here’s hoping not. . .

The weather really helped us get some cracking shots, real tropical love. The editor, Sean, is currently cutting an absolute mountain of footage and I’m pretty sure he is just spinning out on not only how much there is, but also how is going to get an edit out by the morning. Let me tell you, I do not envy him one bit.

The Sony EX1 did not even get taken out today. It was all 5D MKII, all the way. As I said, the Sigma 50mm got the biggest run, but there was also a host of other lenses that had their time. A bunch of nice Canon glass. . .Canon L 17-40 f4 for those classy wides, 70-200 f2.8, 100-400 f4, 14mm 2.8 even the the 15mm Fisheye (don’t ask!).

The model, who for the purpose of this post shall be henceforth known as Paris, was good to work with. It was her first time and understandably was a bit nervous, but is not scared to give it a crack and is putting it on for the camera.

The only bummer to happen, we ended up getting roped into shooting a room at about lunchtime. Trouble is this room should really have been shot on dusk, but time and availability were calling the shots, not the light, which is never good. Anyway, I shot this thing with the 5D and my wireless strobe setup that I have been using a alot lately, and despite the images coming up nicely, they just don’t smack of “Sheraton”. The lighting is nice and smooth and the colours are crisp and the shots are clean, but I am not happy with them as they just are nothing close to the classy, natural look of a proper dusk shoot. In my opinion, that’s the look the Sheraton needs.

Apart from that, it was a great day and a great start to the trip. I got a bunch more photo’s here to upload and much more to crap on about, but that has got to be all for now. . .I’m cutting into much needed sleeping time. . .

Much more tomorrow. . .

Possibly one of the best blurry photo's ever taken with a Nokia N96

Last night I started off on the Sunshine Coast, drove down to the Gold Coast to stay the night and woke up this morning to catch the connecting flight to Sydney with the gang. The gang being, Brett Clements, the man behind PlatinumHD and my partner in crime on the Gold Coast, Paulina our lovely chaperone and Christyna, the talent, whose main job is to bounce light and make noise, apparently.

It went rather well, and by well I mean we didn’t lose any luggage, (and there was quite a bit, 138kg to be exact) we all stuck together and we all arrived safely.

The business class flight on the way over was cool, but quite frankly, what business do I have having all that room. It just isn’t cricket. I almost felt like an impostor up there!

We’ve had our pre-shoot meeting, the schedule tomorrow is packed TIGHT! Looks like it’s about to get crazy!

It’s late and after a room service dinner, it’s time to hit the hay. Team meeting at 7am in the morning and then straight into it. Blue skies and light winds mean it’s going to be a corker of a day to shoot, can’t wait!

The real work starts tomorrow. . .more then. . .:)

Apparently the most laptops security has ever seen come out of one bag.

I went on a similar shoot in Fiji at the end of last year with the same crew, for the same client, that literally ended in disaster – cyclonic weather, insane flooding, closed airports, trapped tourists and. . . .dwindling food and beer supplies. That last one nearly caused riots. Hell hath no fury like trapped Aussie’s without the life giving amber liquid!

But I digress, we’re taking a bunch of gear. . .The EX1, the 5D MKII, Lights, Flashes, Matteboxes, Lenses, Filters, Underwater housings. . .pretty much everything we could ever possibly need. Since I doubt very much that finding a Multi-Coated Hoya 77mm polariser would be so easy in the Hotel convenience store, it’s all coming.

Anyway most of the stuff we’re going to be shooting will be uploaded everyday to our clients site, but I’ll be posting some behind the scenes stuff here. Mostly photo’s that I can quickly snap off in between takes with whatever camera is available at the time.

I’ll try to get something up everyday, but knowing how much work will be required over there, forgive me if I drop the ball on a day or two. . .

Oh, just pre-ordered my 7D too. . . .Now all I have to do is survive the excruciatingly long wait without going insane! Wish me luck. . .

More soon!