The Atlantic String Quartet – Nancy Case-Oates, Alison Black, Theo Weber and Clayton Leung at DF Cook Hall, St. John’s, Newfoundland. Photo by Greg Locke © 2012
Atlantic String Quartet
Lunch at the Duke of Duckworth
It’s Fi and Chi for lunch at the legendary Duke of Duckworth pub in downtown St. John’s, Newfoundland. It’s not just a landmark or set from the hit TV series Republic of Doyle. Its a classic. TIPS? yes …and get there early.
We shot this for Canadian Business Magazine and a story about business travel. Photo by Greg Locke © 2012
Bring the light
Lawyer James L. Thistle, of McInnes Cooper, photographed in St. John’s, Newfoundland for the Canadian Bar Association magazine, NATIONAL.
Sometimes you need big lights and sometimes the little one are the perfect tool for the job. Small area, limited time to shoot and reaching for our Speedlights. For this shot we used a Nikon D800 camera and a couple of Nikon Speedlights controlled with the onboard CLS (Commander Mode) system. One Speedlight had a softbox and the other a grid to light the scene in the setting sun overlooking the harbourfront.
Working search and rescue
Cougar Helicopters dedicated search and rescue helicopter doing ocean rescue exercises off St. John's, Newfoundland. Photo by Greg Locke © 2012
Since we are on the theme of working in a harsh environment lets look at some people who willing jump out of helicopters into into a cold stormy ocean to rescue you when things go wrong. Working search and rescue requires a special breed of person to do a job where the physical and psychological demands to just do the training is beyond what the majority of the population are able or willing to face.
Cougar Helicopters in St. John’s, Newfoundland, which conducts helicopter operations on the Grand Banks supporting the offshore oil industry, has added a dedicated search and rescue helicopter and crews to its fleet.
The SAR teams have been doing training exercises over the past month and we’ve been chosen to photograph their operations as they prepare their especially equipped Sikorsky S92. Cougar is the first operator, civilian or military, to use the S92 as a dedicated SAR helicopter.
Working in a harsh environment
Speaking of crappy weather (see previous post) we all know that working in Newfoundland and Labrador, especially if it is outdoors, has its physical and technical challenges. Our fishermen and mariners have been doing it for hundreds of years and it is still one of the most dangerous jobs around. They survive by their wits, experience, ingenuity and the knowledge passed down from their fathers.
Even with today’s survival and safety technology and practises making it possible to work when you would otherwise be forced to retreat you need a healthy respect when working out on the land and especially the sea.
For one of our clients being able to work and conduct advanced engineering and marine operations safely and effectively in a “Harsh Environment” like the North Atlantic in winter, is the central theme to their overall communications message.
To that end I spend a lot of time out in winter storms, on boats, chasing icebergs, bobbing up and down on the pack ice and generally trying not to get too wet and cold in pursuit of that quintessential Harsh Environment image.
I have learned the finer points of high tech survival suits and discovered the wonders of alpaca wool socks. Choosing the right technical clothing for the situation not only makes working more comfortable but could save your life if things go wrong.
It also means making sure your equipment is prepared for the elements. Choosing the right gear for the job and having backups will determine if you come back with the shots or not. You want to take enough gear to do the job but not so much that it becomes a burden adding to the physical demands of the environment.
After you dress yourself don’t forget to dress your cameras and equipment. Rain coats, hot packs, weather proof cases and pouches, extra batteries, chargers, memory cards and hard drives.
Don’t be afraid to leave your gear out in the cold. It will keep working, if you 
have enough batteries, down to -20C. Those small hand warmer heat packs taped to the camera will keep everything working when it gets colder than that.
Bringing a camera from the cold into the warm indoors only causes condensation not only on the lens but inside the camera which will eventually mean a nice repair bill somewhere down the road. …or destroy it completely. Let it acclimatize.
It brings new meaning to the term “environmental portrait.” These are a few shots from recent assignments out in the elements of Newfoundland ….and this is spring time!
Time, time time …Part Deux
West End St. John's, Newfoundland. © GREG LOCKE 2012
Here is the view of the west end of downtown St. John’s you don’t often get. This scene will change considerably over the next few years as three major office building construction projects have begun in the area after more than twenty-five years being vacant land prime for commercial development.
Camera #2 has been installed, with the view above, for our 15 month time-lapse project in the downtown. This site has a few more challenges …like wind, snow, fog and sea gulls …and their droppings! While Camera #1 is nice and warm and dry and next to a coffee machine in an office Camera #2 will have to brave the elements on the roof of an office tower for the next year.
If there was ever any doubt about the fickleness of the elements in St. John’s in Spring I offer up these photos as evidence. On the left is a shot done on a beautiful warm Friday afternoon in April as I was downloading data from the camera. The photo on the right was Monday morning. ...click to enlarge
Nikon D800 – Loose in the real world.
I have not been excited about a new camera since I traded a bag full of Olympus OM1’s and a bunch of lenses for a couple of new Nikon F3’s, an 80-200mm and a 20mm back in 1985. The first digital camera I considered worth buying was the Nikon D100. I had used the NC2000 and the D1’s and they were total crap. Sorry, it’s the truth and we all know it. Since the D100 I’ve only bought a couple of D2x and a D700.
I wasn’t really planning on buying a Nikon D800. However, when I saw the specs and it coincided with a need for a new HD video setup I figured it was as good a time as any to make the credit card say ouch.
I don’t think anyone expected a 36 megapixel “full frame” monster with new expanded video features.
I got my order in to Nikon Canada Pro Services preferred purchase program and Jeff Chevrier at Photocreative, I was able to get one of the first D800s to come into the country.
Cameras, as cool as the technology can be, are still just work tools for professional photographers. They have to have features that are useful and functional in my “real world” shooting and production environment.
With that in mind, this review of the D800 is going to be more about things that matter to working photographers in the field. It’s not a tech “test” or a spec review or, God forbid, a Nikon vs Canon discussion.
Every camera and tech geek on the web has their own version of that and you’ll find the best at RobGalbraith.com and DXO labs websites. Which, by the way, calls the D800 the best DSLR to date. Continue reading
On set with Laura and Evan
We just finished up shooting some TV ads with our friends at Lingo Creative and I had the pleasure to meet Laura and Even. These two great young Newfoundland actors nailed the improv scenes within minutes of hearing the briefest of concepts. It’s a shame you won’t actually see their faces on screen so I thought I’d post a couple of stills I did on set.
Panoramic portraits
CLIENT: “Greg, we need you for a few days to shoot some portraits of workers at a bunch of locations”.
ME: “Great. Whats the concept?”
CLIENT: “Well, its for a corporate annual report and I’ve laid it out so the portraits are panoramas spanning the page. Nice face shot with vista for a background.”
ME: OK, do have any sketches done?”
CLIENT: “Yes, sending them over now. …but don’t sweat the composition, we can shoot the portraits and backgrounds separately and I’ll put them together in Photoshop.”
ME: “How about we shoot it right the first time and save us both some time ….and it will look much better.”
Here is one of 14 panoramic portraits we shot in five locations on work sites around the Avalon. Many thanks to the crew at Oceanex for accommodating us on this particular shoot on a very cold early morning.
For the tech curious:
For this shot we used a Nikon D700 and a SB700 Speedlight in a softbox controlled by Nikon CLS system.
ISO 200, 160th sec @ f2.8. Focal length = 50mm
Time, time, time…tick,tick,tick
We’ve installed our first camera in downtown St. John’s for what will be a 15 month time lapse video of the construction of a new office building on the harbour front. This little Panasonic TM-700 camcorder (an awesome little camera if anyone is looking for a small but high quality HD camcorder) is the easiest installation and gets the cushy job in a nice warm office, next to the coffee machine, overlooking the site. It will work away at 1 frame per minute for the next 15 months.
Still fine tuning a few things but the first few days look pretty cool. Heat build up from being ON for weeks at a time will be the big test for one of my favourite little cameras.
The next cameras will be outside, down on the site and on the roof of another nearby building, as the project progresses. Weatherproof boxes will be the order of the day for these guys. Have not made a final decision on the camera / intervalometer combination yet. Talking to Nikon tech about what they might have to fit the bill.
The last time I did a major time lapse project it was with a Nikon F2 with a monstrous motordrive, intervalometer and film back with 250 foot rolls of Ektachrome motion picture film. ….and 200 metres of AC power cable.
It’s MUCH easier now.
My only worry is I’ll forget where I left the cameras!! Check back in 15 MONTHS for the results.
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