The latest video task I’ve been out on working as part of an Army News team was to cover the Tri Service Sailing Regatta, which was held in Weymouth, using the Olympic course. The day was not only wet due to the fact we were out on sailing boats, but it was raining all day! Until we finished of course and just as we sailed into the harbour the sun came out in all its glory! Typical!
This video was filmed and edited by me:
http://youtu.be/zaMjTlDw3fs
After the last job took me onto a C130 filming the Paras and US Airborne parachuting, bouncing all over the place, I thought that was tough trying to keep the video camera steady! Well now I realise that was a walk in the park after trying to video a racing boat and its crew! We spent time on board the “British Soldier” yacht, and most of that time was spent at 45 degrees looking down onto the water whipping by and then we’d turn, (sorry I have no idea what the correct terms are,) jib the thing and shiver me timbers! When we turned, the boat would move from 45 degrees one side to 45 degrees the other and every one on-board moves rapidly from one side to the other, whilst pulling on loads of different ropes at great speed! I was confined to the rear of the boat, as it was easy to get in the way and end up wrapped up in ropes and sailors! Being pretty limited in where I could go did pose a problem, as there were so many different shots and angles I wanted to try but couldn’t get to them from that part of the boat.
To help with stability, I used a monpod,. This is something I use all the time as part of my stills photography kit, especially in low light situations like weddings etc. I tried it for the first time during the parachute video and pulled it out again this time round and can safely say it’s now a permanent fixture on my video camera It helps keep the shot steady in those situations where you can’t use a tripod.
I did attach a Hero cam (HD GoPro) to the rear of the boat to catch some of the action at a wider angle,. You can see from this video how wide a shot the Hero Cam gets and you can also see the position we ended up in trying to interview the skipper on the fly. I put a radio mic on him and we tried our best in the environment we were in.
interview example from Mike Hubbard on Vimeo.
To get the rest of the footage outside of the British Soldier yacht, the general views of the race and that boats that made up this web piece we went out on a rib boat, which is a small quick motor boat that bounces all over the place,. We had to get into position and then stop and start filming. A few times we motored alongside the boats and actually managed to get some pretty steady footage considering, but I think that was luck! This rib also took us from one boat to the next,. The first time we tried to board one of the yachts, which was British soldier, neither boat stopped and we just motored along by the side and had to jump from one to the other! I was just praying I didn’t drop my camera!!
Also this week I went down to the Honourable Artillery Company in central London to take portrait photos at a charity ball to help raise funds. Here’s a few of those photos:
My next blog piece will be about Ian and Kate’s Newquay wedding!!! They kindly allowed me to join there family for the weekend while I photographed there wedding… Here’s a sneak image preview:
