On Tuesday 15 May, I was asked by FilmCanaryIslands to join them on their film shoot taking place at Las Teresitas beach in Santa Cruz. They were filming an episode of a British TV reality show and needed me as the ‘Data Wrangler.

It was a blisteringly hot day with temperatures in the high eighties. I arrived there at 6.30am with the light just starting to change as dawn approached. There were a lot of trucks, vans and crew assembled already.There was a hive of activity as all sorts of equipment was set up and tested. The catering crew was in full flight as people took cups of coffee and snacks to start their day. It was a large crew which included everyone from the cameramen to security.

Various large reflectors were set up on the beach together with tents for viewing the scenes and helping people keep out of the sun. Two Red Epic cameras were being used. One was tripod and shoulder mounted, the other was a Steadycam.

My ‘office’ was in the back of a van which was a welcome relief form the hot sun. During the day, the disks from both cameras were given to me and the files were transferred to three back-up disks via the laptop. The scenes were ‘scrubbed through’ to make sure the footage was fine with no glitches or any other problems. Once all that was done, the disks were returned to the cameras ready for the next scene. This continued throughout the day.

The shoot lasted all day and finished about half seven. We returned to the Mencey hotel to drop some equipment off and retired to a tapas bar across the road for a well earned drink and snacks.

We had the fortune to be able to video the wedding of Heather and Glenn at the hotel Bahia del Duque on the 10 May. An American couple living and working in the UK, they decided to marry in Tenerife in a private ceremony which we streamed live over the Internet so family and friends in the States could witness the occasion.

The weather did not disappoint as it was a sweltering day. The live feed over the Internet was filmed with a webcam linked to a laptop, patched through to the hotel’s broadband. This left us free to video the ceremony with the Canon 5D II using a 24-70mm, f2.8 lens on a fluid head tripod and a Glidecam 4000HD, handheld (no vest).

We followed the bride in her preparations at the beauty salon having her hair and make-up done. This took about two hours, but Heather allowed us full access during her preparations. Meanwhile, Glenn was getting ready in their room, so we joined him for that time. Needless to say it didn’t take him two hours, as he said, “it’s one of the great things being a guy”.

Heather joined us in their beautiful suite. Their photographer, Phil Crean, joined us to take informal photos and we took more videos of their preparations for the big moment. Again, the couple were very helpful to make sure we captured the shots we wanted. On request, they repeated things so we could cover them from different camera angles.

With Glenn already having departed to take his position at the pergola, we followed Heather who looked stunning in her long white dress. It glistened in the sunshine as she made her way through the hotel grounds with the hotel residents looking on.

The couple met up at the end of the red carpet and sipped a glass of champagne. It was four o’clock. They slowly walked down the red carpet which was adorned with flower petals whilst a musician played a processional piece on his Spanish guitar.

We filmed the ceremony from all different angles being careful not to stand in front of the webcam situated in the corner. Our Rode microphone was being used to relay the sound for the Internet feed. This meant that any sound we were to use for the final video, would come from the camera in-built microphone, which was not ideal. After half an hour, the couple were man and wife and more champagne was sipped to mark their union. The heat and sun continued to beat down and as cameraman, I felt rather lightheaded. So, the Glenn, Heather, Phil, Ali his assistant and I, walked down to a local courtyard on the promenade of Fanabe beach for a sit down and refreshments. It was during this time that we asked questions about how they met so we could weave this into the final video. The nachos, chilli and drinks were a welcome relief to the work put in so far.

For the after the wedding shoot, we walked to the rocks overlooking the beach. The sky was clear and blue with the heat in the eighties. Phil and I took it in turns to direct the couple who were only to happy to help us capture the moments we wanted. After half an hour, the shoot was complete and we made our way back to the hotel for a well earned rest and more refreshments.

Over the next few days, the video was put together using the footage we had shot plus some of the photos taken by Phil. Glenn and Heather had provided us with a couple of their favourite songs to include as well. All in all due to the enthusiasm of Glenn and Heather to help us in our work, we had a fabulous day and were able to record their special day as we wanted. It was a real pleasure shooting their wedding and we wish them every happiness in the life together. The video can be seen at https://vimeo.com/42483263

Yesterday, Friday 6th April, we went to the airport (Reina Sofia) for the sunrise. The aim is to shoot a timelapse of the sun rising behind the radar dome at the western side of the airport.

We had visited the location the day before to mark the point the camera had to be for the sun to appear just to the left of the dome. We recorded the camera settings but our attempted timelpase was ruined by a lot of cloud.

Today, Saturday 7th, we returned to the same spot knowing it would be the exact point needed as the sun would rise a little further to the left. The camera was set up again on the Manfrotto tripod with the same lens and the Little Bramper.

The shoot was started at 7.30 with the sun due to rise over the horizon at 7.49. We find using the iPad app Skywalk helps us enormously to plan these types of shoots.

The Bramper was set to an interval of 8000 milliseconds, a bulb duration of 4000 ms, ISO 100 and f18. a Lee 3 stop (calibrated at 2.97) ND filter was on hand in case we needed to extend the bramping. In the end we didn’t use it.

We also had another camera set up facing the other direction for the moon which was due to set 8.03 with 93% showing. An intervalometer was attached set at taking a shot every 5 seconds. The camera was set on manual, ISO 200, f8 and shutter speed of 1/200th. This was set running but the cloud soon obscured the scene, so very little timelapse was taken.

The 5D was also running. Just at the point where the sun started to appear, a bank of cloud had rolled in from the south and totally blocked out the area the sun was due to run into. So the effect we wanted was lost.

We intend to try again tomorrow. The new position has been marked which is sixteen yards to the right to compensate the sun shift to the left.

Otherwise, everything else was set up for shooting the sun to be eclipsed by the radar dome. Test shoots on the previous days has shown the sun to be the exact same size as the radar dome. All we need now is no clouds we is going to be difficult with the weather as unstable as it is at the moment. We shall have to keep trying until we get the clear air we need to achieve the shot wanted. This will mean consecutive moves towards Los Abrigos. Eventually the hills to the left of the airport will move into shot behind the dome as the shoot angle changes. So we need to get the shot in the next few days.

We did our first wedding video shoot in conjunction with myperfectwedding.eu on Saturday 3rd March. Held at the Abama Hotel Beach Club, it was a perfect setting for this small ceremony. It was attended by around twenty guests.

The shoot started at 2pm although the actual ceremony didn’t start until 4pm and lasted until 7pm. The weather was superb with the sun shining brightly. This necessitated a polarising filter and a 3 stop ND filter on the Canon 5D. This allowed us to shoot at a low f number to achieve a nice shallow depth of field when required.

We used a shoulder mounted camera rig to reduce the ever present shaking and this helped to reduce the effects quite considerably. However, after a few hours shooting, the weight started to take its toll on the muscles.

We have another beach wedding shoot on the 15th March. This time we have obtained the services of a Steadycam rig courtesy of Film!CanaryIslands. This will aid the shooting process and the wear and tear on the arms and shoulders during the day.

We are taking along a Canon 7D hooked up to the 70-200mm IS lens for close up and personal shots, again with the necessary filters and a Manfrotto 701 fluid head tripod.

Today we shot two timelapse videos. The weather was perfect with clear skies, no clouds therefore uninterrupted sunshine and most importantly, very little wind.

 

Our subjects today were a pine cone and a cactus. The latter had long spines which we thought would resemble a sundial if shot in macro. So we set up our 7D with the Canon 180mm lens.

 

One side of the cactus leaf was stripped of its spines so it would lie flat and therefore have less tendency to move if there was a sudden gust of wind. The camera was mounted onto the tripod and set low to the ground.

 

The intervalometer was set to taking one shot every minute over a four hour time period. We selected an f13 aperture to achieve a reasonable depth of field due to the long spines, some of which pointed into the camera.

 

The pine cone was set in an upright position and we set it into a slight hole so that it too wouldn’t move if there was a gust of wind. It was surrounded by dead dry grass and gravel. Obviously the grass swayed with the wind as we couldn’t do anything about that, but it gave a nice frame of movement to the stationary cone. It was also shot over a four hour time period set at a minute interval on the Canon 5D II with the f2.8 24-70mm.

 

The sequences were shot using RAW as we wanted to have some control when processing the film.

 

Having processed the frames in Photoshop, they were exported as jpg’s and saved to a new folder. Then using Quicktime Pro, we batch processed them into a QuickTime movie set at 24 frames per second. As the sequence was shot at one frame a minute over four hours, we ended up with a 10second sequence.

 

These were then imported into Adobe Premier. We added the deflicker filter in case there were some slight fluctuation of light levels during the four hours. These two sequences were then added to a final film and set to music as part of a longer film sequence.

Busy editing photos taken through the week and month. Looking forward to the weather settling down to some prolonged steady sunshine, then we can get busy with taking more timelapse footage around the island. Plenty of locations already decided upon. Meanwhile, updating the website, loading and cataloguing images to keep things up to date.

We have put together a taster mini version of our website using Wix. http://www.wix.com/gord50/canaryphotostock

Bid Time Return
“BID TIME RETURN tells the story of the last family at the very end of time. Barbara and Ivan have a daughter, Tikki, who has Progeria, a rare disease in children which advances and accelerates the aging process. The entire population of the Earth has already evacuated through mysterious time doors. Time is reversing permanently on the planet. Everything will end. All memory will be lost. Nothing will remain. There is one possible last portal to open. Only one person can go through. Barbara and Ivan may have to make the ultimate sacrifice by saying goodbye to their daughter forever and send her through the time portal alone, praying there is a life and a new hope for her on the mysterious other side”. – Jon Sorensen, Writer and Director

The location on the first day of filming was Tajao, a small fishing village about twenty minutes from Tenerife south airport. It was incredibly windy, the sea was rough but it added to the atmosphere of the film. With the crew and actors assembled, the cameras were set up shooting in two locations.

We started taking photos whilst everyone went about their work under the direction of Jon Sorensen and Director of Photography, Andy McLeod. Carla Sanchez ‘Barbara’, Gadi Cimand ‘Ivan’ were portraying mum and dad to their daughter, Tikki, a special child with Progeria, played by Erin Alonso. Although we didn’t have a sound blimp for the cameras, we were able to reel off shots without disturbing the actors or the takes.

For the second day, we gathered in Teide National Parque in a car park in the area known as Lavas Negras. This is a straight road through the lava field which looks visually stunning.
Although we were there to take the stills, we also helped out setting things up when we could. The one thing we noticed straight away was the teamwork of Film!CanaryIslands and the special relationship with the director, Jon.

We took some marvellous photos during the scene where Ivan sits in the middle of the road to record messages to Tikki. Getting the camera low down on to the road, we were able to shoot an angle to get close in and personal to Gadi. To make the scenes possible, FIlmCanaryIslands crew members were stationed at either end of the road to stop traffic during the takes. Teide National Parque is an atmospheric setting where the temperatures drop off quickly as the sun goes down. Poor Gadi was in shorts, T-shirt and bare feet during much of the filming! His lemon grass tea made on his little calor gas stove for the scene, kept him going though!

Day three saw us Minas de San Jose in a car park viewing point. It is surrounded by Planet Mars landscape with sweeping hills interspersed with jagged rock formations. One such formation was chosen as the setting for the ‘portal’ which transported Tikki to her new time.
Various scenes were shot here using the Red camera, some with the huge 500mm lens and others in close up.

As usual, there was a lot of activity and we kept taking photos the whole time to record each important moment. Scenes included the moment that Barbara and Ivan had to let Tikki go through the time portal, a moment which brought about real tears.

A van was used where the camera is mounted on a hydraulic vertical pole which could extend to 100 feet. Again the traffic was stopped while the scene was shot. The camera van followed the family car driven by Ivan. The remotely operated camera captured a viewpoint as if taken from a helicopter. A visually and dramatic look as the car meandered through the landscape.

On Day four, we were back at the same location. A van was used where the camera is mounted on a hydraulic vertical pole which could extend to 100 feet. Again the traffic was stopped while the scene was shot. The camera van followed the family car driven by Ivan. The remotely operated camera captured a viewpoint as if taken from a helicopter. A visually and dramatic look as the car meandered through the landscape. We travelled in the van to take shots of the camera in action.

The location was then changed back to Lavas Negras to shoot various scenes including Gadi recording more messages to Tikki. Again we worked till night fall where the temperatures dropped again. All the time we were taking photos of the crew and actors working. Finally, all the scenes were complete. We had all our photos and were anxious to start editing them.

From the stills, we made a ‘Making of Bid Time Return’ which can be seen on Facebook on this link http://www.facebook.com/v/10150385051794801 along with the rest of the photos taken during the filming.

Jon Sorensen as the ‘Time Traveller’ and Erin Alonso as ‘Tikki’

One of the biggest attractions to Tenerife are the resident Whales and Dolphins. Climb aboard one of the many boat excursions to see these wonderful creatures in their own environment.