High Flyin’ with Vincent Laforet

Last week I received a fun instant message from my pal Vincent Laforet (who until 6 months ago was my neighbor on the UWS of Manhattan) letting me know he was on a plane cross-country back to JFK for one of his infamous helicopter shoots over NYC. He asked if I wanted to fly along. I accepted….it was a no-brainer.

I met Vincent and his right-hand man, Mike Isler, at the 30th St. Heliport on the West side of Manhattan after being told only to dress warm. I had nothing to do other than observe, so I brought along my cameras and documented the fly-along taking mostly video of the shoot with my 5D2‘s.

The photo shoot was to take a portrait – while hovering from the helicopter – of a couple in the crow’s nest of a NYFD fireboat with the Manhattan skyline lingering in the background for New York Magazine’s year-end issue. (This couple met on the flight that crashed into the Hudson River last year.)

I really had no idea the planning and preparation that went into one of these shoots. Vincent and Mike have the aerial photo-shoot down to a science. They work with only a handful of first-class pilots and have all the proper safety and photo gear necessary to get the best possible shot.

Click here to see NY Mag’s video!

I was to the left of the pilot strapped-in with a four-point seatbelt (waist and both shoulders) into the front seat of the AStar AS350 B2 facing forward, which, due to my restraints, made it a bit difficult for me to see all the action that was happening in the backseat behind me.

Vince and Mike worked as a team in the customized rear of the cabin in which the door and backseat was removed in order for Vincent to sit, ass-on-floor, with his hands and legs hanging out the side. Harnessed in with a full body harness, Vince would shoot out the side of the aircraft while behind him Mike would pass forward requested gear and swap lenses. Mike worked out of a secured Think Tank roller bag containing the equipment. Vincent also had an assistant on a chartered NYC Water Taxi vessel with ProFoto strobes firing remotely with Pocket Wizards, so as dusk came he could light the subjects.

On top of that, they had to tune out Air Traffic Control and helicopter-to-helicopter chatter, while communicating not only with each other and BOTH vessels, but also directing the talent in the crow’s nest freezing their butts off!

God knows I certainly enjoyed myself!

Big thanks, as always, to Laia Prats for her help editing the video!

Some snapshots I took while flying:

High Flyin’ With Vincent Laforet – Blog – Images by Robert Caplin