The Art Director and I directed Travis, the camera operator who came up with loads of strong ideas. It was a wonderful team effort. Nick, our pilot is super experienced with aerial video and stills. He setup some amazing passes for video that look just incredible.

NIck, Long Ranger Pilot, CineFlex HD on nose-mounted isolation plate, Travis, Camera Operator and Keith, Art Director.

Long Ranger on the deck after landing to show the client a quick tape of the shoot.

Downtown Detroit Moonrise with Windsor, Ontario in the background.

Art Director Keith in the left front seat of the Long Ranger after his first helicopter flight.

Landing Secured in Canton.

Interesting set of challenges presented themselves. Flying in the Twinstar Thursday evening over Manhattan when LaGuardia ATC informs us that the airspace is closed. Of course this happened without the benefit of a NOTAM. The backstory is that the NYPD asked LaGuardia to “close” the airspace above midtown while the Russian Spies were being transported to the airport. We returned to Teterboro and planned for the next morning.

We took off from Teterboro after the morning fog burned off. As soon as we hit the Manhattan shoreline we ran into a problem. The governor in the Twinstar became erratic and one engine had to controlled by hand. The safety advantages of a twin engine ship were brought home quickly. Again we headed back to Teterboro. Safety first.

Flying with film professionals who know how to fly for the camera, plus are high-time pilots, is the only way to go. Flying with high-time pilots who understand how to identify and correct an inflight problem is essential to everyones safety and a successful mission. We could have continued to fly the mission but chose safety over finishing the shoot.

Plan B: A new ship was called in for the assignment. The TwinStar was flown back to its home base by two pilots and I completed my assignment in a brand spanking new Bell 407.

If you are ever in Athens, check out the amazing Indigo Hotel. A gold LEED building. The freshest air I have ever had the privilege of breathing. I awoke refreshed and energized. Fantastic bar and restaurant service plus killer design and rooms.

This image is a fly-by shoot of a retirement community in the south-east. All of the homes are designed to a set standard as are the roads and amenities. It felt sterile to me. But some people just love and need for everything to be consistent.

Glorious day on Thursday! I shot a several projects within the Special flight restricted zone for a government agency. Loads of fun to be back above Arlington and Alexandria.

We took off in the Hughes 500 from Manassas Airport. The local airport authority was training fireman how to put out aircraft fires. The Commonwealth has a training aircraft that is used with a fire mat and a crash dummy to simulate a fire with Jet A and a victim on the ground.

Flying over the Columbia Island Marina on the east side of the Pentagon. The Washington DC border is the Virginia shoreline of the Potomac at low tide. For this image looking back toward Lady Bird Johnson Memorial Park, we are, technically, flying over Washington, DC.

The Special Flight Restriction Zone requires Secret Service plus TSA waivers to enter. It is a somewhat difficult process to go through, however, I have shot within the FRZ and SFRZ many times. I miss being able to scoot into downtown DC and shoot with ease. I appreciate the simplicity of flying in other cities. Often we work out our schedules and approaches with the Air Traffic Controllers and off we go. That makes life simple.

DC is a special place with unique airspace restrictions that are required to protect the city.

The FRZ is the outer ring on the map. The inner ring of the AOPA map is the Special Flight Restriction Zone.

After battling a raising headwind for an hour and half, it was time to head to a nearby field and refuel. These World War II era hangars were manufactured by the Butler Corporation. The gentleman who ran the FBO said he had only seen this type of hangar at one other field, a small airport in South Dakota. This was the first of three fuel stops we made and none of the fields accepted credit cards for fuel. They gladly billed us.

After refueling, we headed north into Minnesota to shoot a second wind farm. That was a quick twenty-minute flight. In the interim, the winds rose even higher and a cloud deck settled in. My pilot and I agreed it was time to wait the wind out for a few hours. We landed at the Springfield, Minnesota field. A small single-runway airport manned by Sonny, a gregarious and kind-hearted eighty-two year old native of Springfield who gave us a lift to the local diner for lunch.

Sonny also arranged “transport” back to the field for us with the local law enforcement officer. I often meet the greatest people when I fly into small towns. The back of the squad car is a bit cramped and sparse, but then it is not really designed for comfort.

Eventually, the winds died down and the cloud deck started to break apart. We lifted off around four in the afternoon and headed for Northeastern Iowa to shoot a huge wind farm that spanned several miles. The light was amazing: crisp and clean plus the clouds created wonderful shadow play on the freshly planted fields. We shot until sunset and then headed back to Des Moines.

When we landed, the Hobbs meter read 9.1 hours. That is a long day! 17 hours from eyes open to eyes shut.

Aerial Louisiana Coastline Marshes – Images by Cameron Davidson

I’ve shot on quite a few deepwater rigs, primarily for a couple of clients who produce natural gas. The SPAR rigs are quite amazing – much like an iceberg, the majority of the vessel is underwater held to the seafloor by gigantic chains, such as this one I shot on another SPAR rig in the Gulf of Mexico.

For many years I have been drawn to the interaction of our imprint on the shorelines. I’ve shot marshes and rivers around the world and continue to shoot personal projects on watersheds. I am glad that I was able to shoot a few of the Louisiana marshes before they become impacted by this tragedy.

I hope you enjoy the views. These were shot from a Bell Jet Ranger and most of the flight was between one-hundred and three-hundred feet above the water.

A second set of images, all aerials of the Arizona border shot between Nogales and Naco will be uploaded by Monday.