Far above the ground level

Due to some personal problems I have not been able to concentrate much in tying up assignments for last quite a few months. One assignment came my way from a Tyre company in manufacturing Tyres agricultural and earth moving equipments. Oh my those things were really, really big. I had to setup my lights and shot against a white background setup requested to be created in one their huge halls. There were a few tyres that looked like new born babies, but they were just a few. The basic idea was to do cut outs of these products for their product catalog.

Another part was to take pictures of their set up and infrastructure. They had two manufacturing units close by and on another huge industrial plot there was a ware house to stock these till they were sent to their clients / dealers.

During the discussions earlier when the briefing was on through phone calls, where they mentioned of their wish to some how take bird's eye view. I needed the services of Superman to fly me up to shoot angles comfortably. How could a comic character come to my help? Using flying machines like helicopter or small planes was quite a possibility, but as per my information one needs quite a lot of clearances from the various government agencies. I could be wrong here. I did it leave to them to decide. They also broached the easy possibility of arranging a crane to use. What height crane should be used? I have never been up that high, so it was a tough call for me, but felt it should go up at least twice the height of the plant building. They did organise a crane that could go up to 120 feet. They too had a special platform built with railing, to help save the earth from caving in from my weight and the weight of my Canon 5D Mark II if I measured the height and gravity during the fall. Well it was a very new experience for me when the crane came very late in the afternoon as the sun was going down to light up the other part of the globe. The crane was called in on the third day of the shoot. Well the guys kept us all waiting since Noon time that is when I thought should be the right time to start the shoot. It would take time to drive and park the crane and by that time the light would be nice on the buildings.

On the first two days and first half of the third day I expected to finish off most of the industry's machine shoot and the tyres. On the third day post Noon I kept for the bird's eye view, and the final 4th day to wind up covering any areas that were not ready for one reason or the other.

BKT Company's marketing official Mr. Vikash who had been coordinating the shoot specially flying down from Mumbai and came along with me in the vehicle, had to leave early on the second day on a family emergency. It was unfortunate. He was a nice person to interact and I found him to be a really wonderful person.

I was then to coordinate with HR Manager Mr. Zutshi for the rest of the shoot. Coordination by one of the senior company officials is a must otherwise things do not move. He is another wonderful person and a great personality. I loved his tea, coffee and Cinnamon with honey that he served every time I went into his office. He told me he drank a lot of these all through the day. I could see a huge stock of the raw materials. An electric kettle made him independent from getting his beverages from outside his office. Cinnamon and honey helps in reducing weight and is also good for the body. I to have started drinking the same every day. Though my sugar level has some how gone quite a bit north than the normal, I just take it with out any kind of sweetening. Once in a while I just put small spoon of honey in my tea. With so many sweet people around, except for the guys who have taken over my flat and not signing the lease deed and start paying the rent, one can easily give a miss to sugar. So far there is no craving for sugar or any thing sweet. Hopefully my taste buds keep reined and in control.

We had the crane set up in the open yard in the middle of the plant. The light was going down fast, but we needed to check out the view we could be getting. So I just suggested if he would accompany me up on the platform, where he was  game. The reason I wanted was that he would be there to help take decision while I showed him the views on the camera screen plus  he also will be able to communicate with the head office on what we were getting. What we were getting were the slanting roof of the plant that were gray and not very pleasing in looks. I did some frames for building a panorama image, that through him we shared with the head office. They instructed that we should in any way go ahead with the aerial shots. The crane stayed put where it was, for me to go up again in the morning. Good thing as I got the feel of being taken up and coming down. It was comfortable. During the shoot another employee Mr. Bunty who was attached to me for carting my equipment, organising help, drinking water supply, etc. was a great guy. He was there all through the days of shooting. It was a memorable experience doing this industrial shoot. Though Bhiwadi where the units are based is not far from Delhi but the highway is one of the busiest. On a bad day it could take more than 2 to 3 hours. Doing up and down would have been very strenuous, carrying all the lighting equipment and other accessories every day would have been a nightmare. Missing to pack some piece of equipment also haunts us all. I remember I missed carrying my studio light reflectors to an out station shoot. It gave a miserable feeling, and the pressure builds up. Though one knows it can not be helped, but the feeling haunts and haunts through rest of the shooting time.

Missed a second camera, this one is with my mobile phone

Going up with the crane was a great experience. The platform swung slowly with the wind. One could see the pollution in the area. In the later part of the evening it was not clear for any possible shoot. There was smog that spread making every thing in the same gray scale. Oh yes the crane guys went missing for 2 to 3 hours. When we went to the second unit, they said that they would like to have a lunch break. Now one can not just say no for lunch. We too went in the canteen to have a quick bite. On coming out side we found the crane missing. They were supposed to be there and it was no courtesy but they had been hired at an astronomical amount. Bunty and the driver went around in their search and found them doing some work in another unit. Oh if they had not taken the lunch break, the rest of the shoot was for hardly 45 minutes only or even less. The crane had to be parked at the best possible place for an angle. One could not move around much with it as there were high tension electric cables. There were limitations, so I had to go up and just shoot various possible views or frames for the panoramas. It was hand held as there was hardly any space to to put up my camera on a tripod. The criss cross heavy duty belts left no space at all.

There was a large group of people watching the proceedings. I was wanting to shoot some frames, but avoided fearing running out of space on my memory card. I just have one as of today. While coming down at one site I saw this boy who sat in some industrial waste or some lime waste of wall peelings piled on the side. The side road we were on also had lots of loose black dust. I came down and tried shooting him with his face. But he hid his face but I think it was nice in a way. I had noticed some wild plants surviving through this waste and were popping out. A small yellow flower blossomed. I think all these things happen and get noticed quite quickly when one has been concentrating in finding angles, etc. Given the situation I think it has come out reasonably well. But I surely leave to the viewers to express their opinion about a visual. Every one has one's own interpretation, so why impose mine. I feel it also helps me in growing, maturing when I hear the thoughts of others on my visuals.

To sum up the four days of my shoot was nice. The guest house within the Bhiwadi plant at the entrance was very good. Nice food was cooked in the evening along with a nice breakfast in the morning. Though I did miss my fasts of Navratra, but on a job I am sure it is not possible. The industrial shoots are very demanding on energy, and with a fast I would not have been doing justice to a paid assignment by feeling weak during the day and that too for 4 days continuously. One can manage a day, but surely not 4 days at a go.

These were some musings of my last work.