Occasionally a job comes along that makes me nervous.
I don't do heights, I'm not good on ladders; so why did I agree to climbing up onto a small wooden platform, less than a metre square, on top of a glorified telegraph pole... to take engagement photos of two fearless people who are soon to be married ?
Leigh and Rowena are both keen outward-bound types, they'll have a go at anything that has a 'thrill' element to it. For their engagement photos they chose the High Ashurst Outdoor Activity Centre at Boxhill in Surrey. Not exactly your average engagement location of sun, sea and sand - but hey, I do like a challenge.
So we had this image in mind of Leigh and Rowena sitting on a highrise timber pole, drinking champagne. The idea had been inspired by that very famous 1932 image of American workmen having their lunch, whilst sat on a girder, hundreds of feet in the air, on top of a New York skyscaper.
You can see from the photo above how it all looked from the ground. Fortunately we had some very skilled climbers to help us make it happen safely and I had two of my assistants helping me who also captured the process on camera (Thank you Heather and Rebecca).
Leigh (the bridegroom to be) also works with me as an assistant - but today he was in front of the camera for a change.
In the photo above, Leigh edged his way onto the pole having just cimbed up the ladder with picnic basket and large umbrella in hand (a feat in itself). As I said, we originally planned to have them sitting on the pole drinkin champagne, but as is so often the case with shoots like this, the best shots can be the ones you don't plan. I took a number of photos with them drinking... but it wasn't until Leigh produce a pack of playing cards that saw the winning image.
For me, climbing up the ladder, then off the ladder to climb up the pole, and then transferring from the pole to the tiny wooden platform was quite nerve-racking. Sitting down on the platform, with nothing to hold onto was even worse. I genuinely do not like heights, but once the camera was hauled up on a rope and we began shooting the nerves disappeared.
Heather taking photos of me. You get some idea of the scale. I gues it's not really that high, but it sure felt like it. Next week, we're climbing to the top of the Shard!!
So here below is the final shot, the one I like the most. Rowena ditched the brolly, they turned to face each other and began playing poker - 20 feet in the air! I love this shot.
Click on any of the photos to see large versions, but the picture below is extra large. If you have any questions or want to leave a comment, use the comments section beneath this final image.
See more of my images at www.ahronson.com
Comments