Dropping in up north

The weekend before last was my first weekend off in 2010. Something I haven't done much of over the last busy six months is shoot personal projects, not commissioned or paid shoots, just things that I think will look good, will be fun and photography that will hopefully keep the creative juices flowing. It's an important part of the process and something I'm hoping to do more of this year. This video was shot over two days near Ninety Mile Beach as a big swell attracted hundreds of surfers to Ahipara for the weekend. Big ups to Border Records for the soundtrack too.

Dropping in up north from Mike Heydon on Vimeo.

From the whiteboard to the water

Here it is, the finished image from the Rowing World Champs campaign shoot. Photographed over 2 (early) mornings at Lake Karapiro including a couple of pretty cold boat rides, 11 different NZ rep crews, 25 rowers including a bunch of world champions and over a day of piecing it all together in post-production. The image will be used in promoting this years World Champs in October in press and outdoor advertising. A real team effort onsite so it's great to finally see the final image long after we did the initial sketch on the studio whiteboard weeks and weeks ago.

Risky business

This week I've been at Lake Karapiro shooting the NZ Rowing Squad for the 2010 World Rowing Champs ad campaign. We were scheduled for a two day shoot although day one was a write off: I've never had weather turn bad so quickly on a shoot and we were left scrambling for lights set up right next to the water and rowers were scrambling for their boats. The weather and the brilliant sunrise on day two made up for the stress and carnage and we got through it and thankfully all the gear stayed pretty dry. Once the final image is all pieced together, I'll be sure to post it here.

The steep part of the learning curve

We've just finished production on a short promo video for the Wairarapa Balloon Fiesta as part of our new video production service. It seems shooting video with a photographers perspective is a real benefit, especially since we can combine video and stills during a shoot so they both have a similar look and feel. For this project, an early morning was endured, fun was had, characters were interviewed and lessons were learnt. It's the fifth year I've shot this event and capturing it with video adds a whole new dimension of planning and work needed. Leaving a camera virtually unattended amongst a crowd of thousands to capture the night glow time lapse was indeed an exercise in stress and paranoia. I'm pretty happy with the results though, take a look.

We're working on another couple of video projects at the moment which'll be finished soon. Be sure to check back as they'll be posted here.

Wairarapa Balloon Fiesta 2010 from Mike Heydon on Vimeo.