Ok, so I didn’t think I wanted to shoot anymore Coast Guard images, but I hadn’t done any personal work in a long time and I knew I could top the older Coast Guard photos from a lighting stand point.  One of my good friends, Pepe Carire, a fellow rescue swimmer sat for me, and Simon Bartlett helped me out as an assistant.  The challenge here was lighting the helicopter.  I had never really lit an object that large before and wasn’t sure if my lights would be strong enough to over power the ambient light, but I thought I would give it go.  I used three lights to illuminate the helicopter.  I had an Alien Bee 1600 for the tail, an Alien Bee 800 for the body and an Alien Bee 800 for the nose which was later photoshopped out.  Pepe was lit by an Alien Bee 800 and the light was modified with a beauty dish and Grid spot.  In camera I underexposed the image which really gave the clouds a dramatic effect.  I was rushed for time because the helicopter was scheduled for a flight but I think we still managed to get a respectable picture out of the shoot.  I think the only thing I would change in retrospect is adding one more light to the left of Pepe’s shoulder which would have separated him from the background a bit more… Live and learn.

The second picture was created rather quickly as we wrapped up with an Alien Bee 800 and grid spot from positioned above Pepe.  A little photoshop magic and Booya… Pepe immortalized.

Behind the scenes photos give everybody a better idea of what time of day it actually was as I shot the images.  Thanks Simon… next time try a wide angle buddy Ha ha!

Thanks for your help fellas!

Air Station Atlantic City Rescue Swimmer Pepe Carire

Chris Razoyk and Pepe Carire

Ummmm... How am I going to light this?