Digital camera interview

The Digital Camera interview

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* Jason Hawkes has

All images: Jason Hawkes

Jason Hawkes specialised in aerial photography since 1991. * He’s produced over 40 aerial photography books for top publishers, including the BBC and Random House. * Jason also shoots for major corporate clients and has put together an extensive stock archive, which features over 100,000 images.

Digital Camera April 2012

This top aerial photographer talks to Geoff Harris about shooting cityscapes, landscapes and more

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hy do some aspiring photographers enjoy soaraway success while others crash and burn? For top aerial photographer Jason Hawkes, much of it comes down to confidence as well as photographic skill. “I never really doubted I would make it as a photographer, no matter what kind of speciality I took up,” he admits.

“You’ve got to have that way of thinking, because you get so may knock-backs.”

After discovering the joys of cameras and darkrooms at art school (“I soon realised I couldn’t draw…”), Jason did a diploma in Digital Camera April 2012

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The Digital Camera interview

Jason Hawkes City of London, 2011 (Previous page)

“One of my best-selling images.

All the lights came on, but there was still light in the sky, so everything came together.”

Chrysler Building, New York City, 2010 (Far left)

“Shot for a book called New York at Night. It was so cold, the River Hudson had frozen…”

Olympic Stadium, London, 2011 (Left top)

“This was the first time the stadium had been lit up, so I grabbed the opportunity.”

Oxford Circus, London, 2009 (Left centre)

“Another chance shot. They were changing the layout of Oxford Circus and there were lots of people shopping, so it created a good composition.”

New York City, 2010 (Left bottom)

“Another iconic shot of New York, with the Empire State Building in the foreground and the Chrysler Building in the background.”

photography and cut his teeth as a studio assistant in London. Then, a spur-of-themoment flight in a microlight aircraft steered him in a different direction.

“I got interested in exciting sports, and started doing stuff like jet-skiing,” he remembers. “One day I booked a trial flight in a microlight. I only just dared to go up in it as they look incredibly flimsy, but I just loved it, and was totally amazed

“I booked a flight in a microlight and loved it. I was amazed by the incredible patterns I could see” Digital Camera April 2012

by the incredible patterns I could see from a thousand feet up.”

Jason was hooked, and a week later resigned from the studio and applied for a £20,000 bank loan to buy a microlight.

“I was only 21 at the time, but somehow I convinced the bank it was a good idea!”

Find a strong subject

We’re all in debt to the bank, as Jason’s developed into one of the finest aerial photographers in the world. His big break came when a now-defunct magazine called Photography published an eight-page feature on him, which led to further commissions from London publishing houses. “Random

“You have to work harder at night.

As the light drops you have to run through all the camera settings” House commissioned me to do a book called London From the Air, which went on to sell 160,000 copies,” he says.

Such success meant Jason could soon swap the microlight for a helicopter.

“Microlights are fun, and are quite good for shooting from as long as you’re in the countryside, but you can’t fly over anything that’s built up and they’re terrible in windy conditions. Of course, some brave souls have

flown around the world in them, but that’s not for me. Helicopters are the best thing to shoot from, but they’re expensive.”

For Jason, the key to success as an aerial photographer is finding a strong subject.

“I’ve always just shot the things I wanted to,” he shrugs. “Unless I’m shooting at night, the camera settings don’t even cross my mind.

All I concentrate on is finding a subject that will make a strong image. As for shooting at night, you have to work harder, because the light drops every three or four minutes and you have to run through all the camera settings to make sure it’s set up right.”

Despite this extra hassle, Jason reckons shooting at night is fun. “Flying over London

In the bag “I carry Nikon D3, D3s and D3x SLR bodies, and use a bunch of lenses – usually the Nikon 14-24mm, 70200mm and sometimes a 300mm. I also swear

by Nikon Global Positioning System (GPS) units. My helicopter of choice is the Eurocopter AS355, fitted with a very good harness!”

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Jason Hawkes Lido, South London, 2011 (Left)

“I shot this last summer, hoping The Guardian would use it for its Eye Witness page. They didn’t, but I still like the composition.”

Reservoir, East London, 2006 (Bottom left) “This reservoir is north east of the Olympic stadium. I really liked the clean, abstract feel.”

Water Park, Buckinghamshire, 2009 (Bottom right) “I often notice this park when I fly from Booker, which is my local aerodrome. One day they changed the pool colours, so I grabbed this shot.”

behind the image “Being able to add GPs Kit to my cameras is a huge help. I can’t imagine doing my job without it”

Camera and gear

Composition

Exposure

“I took this aerial shot of Hyde Park on a Hasselblad H1 with a digital back in 2007.

The Hasselblad was pretty slow, which is a pain in aerial photography, as scenes change so quickly (now I’d use a Nikon SLR). I took this with an 18mm lens.”

“I sell a lot of shots through my image library, and this kind of ‘concept’ shot – in this case, showing converging paths – is popular for annual reports and other types of corporate literature. This shot keeps on selling!”

“Obviously, this was shot in ambient light. The aperture was f/2.4, the shutter speed was 1/500 sec and I kept the ISO low at 100. I shot in Shutter Priority mode. I tend to do minimal processing in Lightroom – maybe rescue a bit of under-exposure.”

“I used to make notes about where and what I was shooting. These days I plug GPS units into the cameras” during the day is cool, but once the lights come on at dusk, the city takes on a different look and feel. New York City is fantastic at night, too. It’s one of my favourite locations.”

Seeing the Light(room) Al

While it’s expensive to hire a helicopter to fly above a big city or far-flung beauty spot, Jason doesn’t actually carry around a lot of Digital Camera April 2012

specialist gear. “I prefer to fly light, so I pack three Nikon SLR bodies – the D3, D3s and D3x – and five lenses. I also take three GPS units to attach to each camera body.”

Global Positioning System technology has been a big help to Jason, as he has to plan his flights to the nth degree, right down to the altitude. “In the film days, I used to have to make notes in the helicopter about where and what I was shooting, and often I couldn’t read my handwriting. These days, I just plug my GPS units into the cameras.”

Once he’s got clearance from air-traffic control or other relevant authorities, Jason usually shoots from a position next to

pro insight Jason Hawkes’ top tips for creative photography

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the pilot. He’ll be attached to a harness that enables him to lean right out of the chopper’s open door, and communicates with the pilot via two-way radio.

“The most frustrating part can be hanging around waiting for clearance to shoot, which is no fun when you’re hiring an expensive helicopter,” Jason notes. “That said, you can pretty much fly over anywhere in London,

“Hanging around waiting for clearance is no fun when you’re hiring an expensive helicopter”

with the exception of Buckingham Palace when the Queen’s in residence.”

As you’d expect, digital photography has made life easier for aerial photographers like Jason. “As well as powerful cameras with great low-light performance, the software’s getting so much better too,” he says. “The beta (early version) of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 now includes maps – it’s been a long time coming, but well done Adobe!”

Jason only ever edits in Lightroom, and only shoots in raw. “It took me a while to get my head around Lightroom, but I love it now,” he says. “The downside is having to spend more time in front of my Mac.”

Less is more.

Follow the great National Geographic photographer Jim Brandenburg (www. jimbrandenburg.com), who back in 1997 shot one (and only one) image every day. The results were spectacular.

Set yourself a project and try to shoot with only one camera body and a 50mm fixed-length lens, preferably within a mile of your home. You need to limit yourself to push your boundaries.

Always fill the frame with your subject.

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Swamp, South Carolina, 2006

“Taken for a book on the area.

There’s lots of scrubland and low-level swamps to shoot.”

Lorries at Port, Purfleet, Essex, 2009 (Above) “This kind of shot sells well for annual reports.”

Waterloo Station, 2007 (Above centre) “I fly over London a lot, but am always on the lookout for new shapes and patterns.”

Beach, Menorca, 2008 (Above right) “Even when I’m on holiday, I always hire a helicopter for a couple of hours, as I did to capture this beach shot.”

Digital Camera April 2012

Find your niche

Aerial photography isn’t for the fainthearted, especially when you’re hanging out of a helicopter in high winds, and Jason’s had his share of adventures. “The worst was over South Carolina about ten years ago. We were in a helicopter, about to land at a small aerodrome. A light aircraft, which shouldn’t have been there, came within 50ft of us. It was terrifying, but over almost immediately.”

As for the future, Jason’s keen to publish more books. “I’d like to do a book of the US or possibly Europe. I’ve done around 40 books to date, but you’ve always got to think big.” While it’s great that Jason has become the go-to guy for aerial photography, does he

“A light aircraft, which shouldn’t have been there, came within 50ft of us. It was terrifying...” worry that he’s become type-cast?

“No, not at all. When I was a studio assistant, I worked for a food photographer for a few weeks. She was getting quite a name for herself just shooting vegetarian food. I also like having a little niche and knowing everything about it!”

Visit www.jasonhawkes.com. Britain from Above (Dorling Kindersley) goes on sale in April