This is a cool photo, it’s one C130 jump starting another at the war games in Oman last year, our ride broke down, blew a starter motor or something, the Brits came alone with one of theirs and parked in front, jammed the brakes on the blew out dead motor back to life.
Anyhow, well over a year ago David (of tvcameramen.com) asked me to tap out a few words re my experiences aboard the Aircraft carriers during the bombing of Afghanistan. What can I say but big boys toys and great pix everywhere you looked, that’s about it really. Working on a operating aircraft carrier would be a once in a life time experience for most of us so maybe I could give some pointers to anyone who would be lucky enough to get the chance in the next few months.
First, if to have the chance to do a COD landing (Carrier Onboard Delivery) you won’t be able to h
ang on to your camera. The camera will be taken off you and packed in with the rest on the cargo, with good reason too. As you go from 230km/h to 0km/h in 2 seconds you don’t really want to hang on the camera, so pack it well and have it clearly marked as a camera (not that this helps much, the guys doing the baggage handling aren’t real gentle) so maybe a roll of gaffer tape, some quick dry glue and tools would come in handy. A few photographers lost their laptop computes this way so it is also a good idea to take the viewfinder off and pack it separately.
Wrapping the camera in tin foil is said to cut down on zaps on the tape from the radar, I found it was best to put the foil under the Portabrace cover (you should have one) and I poked holes through to the buttons I needed. Don’t forget you will need to put the camera on the tripod so make sure it all fits and works before you go out, it would be a tab embarrassing if a chunk of your tin foil blew into one of there jet engines. Remember the zaps get into the viewfinder too so some time you will see them through the camera but they won’t be on the tape, vice verse also.
Take a look at the kit you will need to wear on deck, note the ear protection,
The ear protectors make it very hard to see through the viewfinder as the bulkiness of it keeps your head away from the body. The obvious way to get around this is to set the tripod low and look down into it but doing a piece to camera is still a problem. I found taking the lens out of the viewfinder and putting my head behind the camera worked best. Some of the plastic lenses on the goggles they will give you are tinted and in bad shape so take time to look for a good clear pair. You will have to wear them during take off and landings but you can remove them in between.
Forget shooting of the shoulder, the ear protection is just too much trouble and you will soon run out of shots. There are a million of great compression shots to be had at the end of the lens too.
The carrier need 30 knots of wind across the deck for take offs and if it’s a still day it can make it all through it's powerful engines, that along the jet wash (gets very hot, you must have long sleeves) and the noise, it’s almost impossible to have a conversation with your correspondent during launch and recovery. I used cheap walkman head phones tucked up inside the ear protection best to monitor sound, due to the incredible loud noise and the only time you can do a piece to camera is in between cycles of launching and recovering aircraft. We talked our minder into allowing the correspondent to take of the head gear to do a piece to camera and I found a 416 hidden inside his helmet and if he/she holds it next to his / her chest you will be able to get it in quite close and be able to shoot a bit wider.
Moving around inside, you will get lost, every way you look looks the same, there is a numbering system on the walls to tell you where you are.
Editing, 110 volts with a Yankee plug, The ship has its own TV station, they make in house news videos, they run movies 24 hours a day, there is even an O.B happening, you can watch all the take offs and landings on one of loads of TV’s around the place, there is a studio where the captain can address the crew and where the news is presented from, this is where you will most probably end up editing, every one in the same work space so bring some good head phones. Tapes are flown out by COD each day to where ever the dish is.
Enjoy.
Special thanks to Robbie for sharing his experiences and photos with us
