10 Years of X Mount: August Theme

Last day of August! Time to talk about this month’s theme for Ten Years of X Mount - ‘Extreme’!

I really should have gotten this up sooner, the problem is that I don't know I have necessarily done anything super ‘extreme’ in photography, but I do have this story to share as this was a huge moment for me as a photographer and easily one of the more intense shoots I’ve done.

On August 16th, 2021, I was tasked to do something that I had not done before - get a shot to be used as a poster. When I took on the job of stills photographer I knew this was one of the responsibilities I had, but this was the part that frightened me. I had never shot for something like this before. Day 16 of production was long, yet rewarding. We were out all day, filming near a lighthouse and had to be prepared for for this big shot during sunset. What made things worse for me was that I had some issues with my eye that day and after some hasty recommendations, I was informed to go to the ER quickly (this, fortunately, turned out to be nothing too serious, though it was thought to be a possible beginning of retinal detachment). With the stress of that and getting the shot on my mind, I was truly worried that I would not be able to get the necessary shot for the film’s poster. When sunset finally arrived, it was a forty minute shoot, - no talking, minimal movement, staying in a crouched position to get the sun in between Olivia and Paul, on a rocky decline leading to the shore. Those forty minutes could have came and went and felt like it was no time at all, yet in the moment - the 1,046 shots taken, taking up 60gb of space - felt like it could have lasted a lifetime. I don’t think I have ever stayed so still with minimal movement, with the exception of switching lenses, to narrow down all those photos to this shot which is currently being used as the poster for Hi.

Edited Image

RAW photo

Final Poster

Shot on the Fujifilm X-T3 paired with the wonderful 80mm Lens (1/250s, f/3.2, ISO 500), I switched from the 100-400 to this to open up the lens a bit more to get that dreamy background to compliment the story being told in the movie. While this may not be as extreme as hanging outside of a helicopter or from a speeding car, this was intense for me mentally and physically. I say physically because after we wrapped this shot, when I stood up I lost my balance and the X-T3 dropped from my hands, thinking it was safely around my neck which it was not, and both the camera and I fell onto the rocks. The X-T3 took a couple of scratches, but was fully operational. I was fine, though my back hurt, I was more concerned with my camera’s condition. So, there’s your extreme part I suppose. Overall, it was worth it to get the amount of shots that I took. It gave plenty to work with when sitting down with Olivia to pick the one she wanted for her poster. So, here’s the edit she wanted for the poster, the RAW file of it, and the complete poster. It’s a shot that I won’t ever forget.