Behind the Scenes in the Maldives

This photo was from a recent shoot I did while in the Maldives. The client required some interior shots of their new sea plane for promotional purposes.

The brief was to photograph the interior as well as a couple enjoying the inflight experience. The models were provided by the creative agency I was working with. While I like to have a say in clothing choice, this was taken out of my control for this shoot. Though the shoot went well and the client was happy with the final result, the shoot had a couple of unexpected speed bumps to negotiate. They were:

Problem #1 – The plane interior wasn’t ready when it should have been

This wouldn’t have been a problem, except for the limited amount of time we had to do the shoot. When I arrived, the plane was still being cleaned. A friendly ‘come on guys, lets get this plane clean’ seemed to help things along.

Problem #2 – There was no air con inside the plane

Twin Otters don’t actually have air conditioning. They have fans. The fans only operate when the plane is running and given we were stationary at a floating dock, this wasn’t going to happen. Given it was 30 degrees outside, it must have been at least 35 degrees inside and getting hotter. As I didn’t want my models looking like sweat soaked people, I advised them to stay outside until we were set to go with the shoot. By the time I walked out of the plane at shoot end, my shirt had gone from light green to dark green, it was that hot.

Problem #3 – Maintenance man walks into my photo

The lighting is set; the models are set and I have just started taking the first frames, when a maintenance man walks on board (into the back of the frame), kneels down and starts repairing a broken table. The kicker is he is totally oblivious to two models, a photographer and some lighting equipment just feet away.

A friendly ‘excuse me, you’ll have to come back and fix that later’ does the trick.

While pre-production planning is key to any successful shoot, the truth is that you often get a couple of curve balls to deal with on the day. None of these would have been a major problem, except for the short time we had to actually do the shoot. Big thanks to the two models, the pilots and crew and the team at the creative agency.

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