Hi. I'm Lee Smith with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
Right now I'm working on a television documentary
on the Gulf of Mexico.
As part of this project
we did some really cool aerial photography.
Let's check it out.
Essentially, I got a bird's eye view of the Texas coast.
From this perspective,
I was able to capture on video
the vastness,
the complexity,
and the beauty of this unique habitat.
Before we get into the details, how about a little background information?
In the old days, aerial photography was
done from the side door of a helicopter.
We just pulled off the door, strapped on a safety built, and hung out the side.
Over the years, things got a little bit more sophisticated.
Aerial photographers began using mounts to stabilize the camera
and take out some of the jitter.
This is the Tyler nose mount.
The newest in aerial imaging technology
is the Cineflex V14.
Not only is the gimbal mounted on the nose of the chopper.
It also uses the latest in gyro-stabilization
to keep the image super smooth.
Watch this demonstration of the gimbal in action.
We turned the gimbal backwards
so you can see the struts of the helicopter pitch back and forth.
Keep you eyes on the horizon. Now watch this.
As the helicopter pitches back and forth
the gimbal keeps the camera rock-steady.
Look at that horizon. Rock-steady.
This allows us to zoom and tilt and everything is just as stable
as it could possibly be. Like your shooting off the top of a building.
We attached the gimbal to the Eurocopter AStar B3.
This helicopter has superb manueverability
low vibration levels
and above all, it's the most powerful single turbine engine civilian aircraft.
With over 500 miles of Texas coastline to traverse
we needed a vehicle that could push it to the max.
Accompanying me on the trip
was the camera operator Ron Chapple and pilot Todd Degidio.
Ron is a professional photographer who's been shooting with the gimbal since
it was declassified by the military several years ago.
Todd is a senior pilot with the Houston Police Department
and familiar with flying choppers equipped with gimbals.
Law enforcement communities around the nation
use gimbal to aid in catching criminals.
With 21 hours of budgeted flight time
hundreds of miles of coastline
and a long list of must-have shots
I had a lot of numbers to keep track of as the shoot's producer.
We only had four days to make the entire journey up and down the Texas coast.
The trip would begin in Houston.
From there we would fly to Sabine Pass
then turn and fly the length of the Texas coast all the way to the Rio Grande
and then back to Houston.
We spent the first day getting shots of Houston.
To achieve this shot
we flew nearly 40 miles out
and then used the capability of the zoom lens
to blow up the sun behind the silhouette of downtown.
We're actually sitting above the San Jacinto Monument right now
and flying laterally.
We used the zoom lens to compress space
such as in this shot with the refineries in the foreground
and Houston in the background.
In reality, these locations are miles apart.
Day two was critical in terms of budgeting.
We needed to go from Sabine Pass all the way to Corpus Christi in time for sunset.
Along the way we shot coastal marshes
dolphins
the J.D.Murphree Wildlife Management Area
the Lower Neches
the seawall in Galveston
Galveston Island State Park.
Now even though I had this long shot list of things I wanted to get
sometimes you see something that you want to pick up along the way.
For instance, we saw a bunch of wild pigs.
Feral hogs are a very invasive species
and I knew I could use this shot later for some other project.
I had to revise the flight schedule
in order to take advantage of these opportunities
to capture wild animals or other things we saw along the way.
The gimbal aids immensely in shooting video of animals in the wild.
It allowed us to get steady shots from far away where we wouldn't disturb them.
Despite changes to the schedule, we still made it to Corpus Christi by 1:00
to set down and wait for the golden hour.
The golden hour is that warm light that happens
right before sunset or right after sunrise.
We got more amazing sunsets that evening over Baffin Bay.
To begin day three
we shot the morning golden hour over Aransas Pass.
Then we flew down Padre Island
to the mouth of the Rio Grande.
After coming back up the Laguna Madre
we sat down to wait for evening.
Unfortunately the clouds left us with a mediocre sunset
so I decided to keep the helicopter grounded for the evening
and save valuable air time for the final day.
With a few extra hours of flight time
we were able to get shots of a rookery island
and suburban sprawl on our way back to Houston.
When we finally landed
we had clocked 20.6 hours of flight time.
Just 24 minutes under budget.
It was a shoot of a lifetime, a huge success.
We came back with landscapes,
cityscapes
wildlife
and footage that will help demonstrate complex biological processes.
This aerial footage will give many viewers a chance
to see the Texas coast from a new perspective.
Much can be discovered by looking at the land and the sea from the sky.
Wow! What a ride that was.
Well, the show is going to air on Texas PBS stations in February.
So stay tuned. We're going to make some more announcements on Facebook.
Well, got to get back to editing. Thanks.