I love the mix of projects I'm lucky enough to work on. From the studios in Manhattan to the salt flats of Bolivia to the Yukon river delta, I have really worked in a wild range of places and conditions... and I have a new one to add. Back in April I headed down to Panama for 2 weeks of production on a History Channel shoot with my friends at Radiant Features. We spent two weeks filming the new Panama Canal construction zone, which is the new set of locks being built to accommodate super freighters. The construction site is the size of THREE! Empire State building laid on its side. The best part was the fact we got to film in sections of the site, which once finished, will be under water for possibly the rest of human history. Pretty cool! The shoot was a blast, but also some of the toughest conditions I have worked in. We were essentially working in a cement plant the entire time (aka endless dust). We were also dealing with Central American sun and humidity, not to mention extremely dangerous situtations (ever been clipped in to scaffolding 14 stories up while guys are pouring cement next to you?). Hire me for a gig and I’ll tell you some more stories!
Home for 2 weeks.
With extreme sun and the fact ALL of our interviews were outside, we spent a lot of time putting up 6x silks.
A small sampling of the dust.
These are the new lock gates waiting to be installed on the Pacific side.
Canon c300 on the dana Dolly (as A camera) and 5d mkIII on a motion controlled time-lapse rig in the background.
We used my Matthews car mount rig to get some POV driving shots through the work zone.
More 6x action.
We choose to shoot dual card slot on the c300 due to such harsh conditions (dual slot lets you shoot a backup on another CF card).
These boots (RED WINGS by the way!) were cherry red before going to Panama!
Looking down the construction site on the Pacific side.