Category: Aerial Photography

Shooting Farms in Wisconsin

Last week we shot for our documentary The Sweetwater Seas – North America’s Great Lakes up in Wisconsin to continue our story on the nutrient runoff affecting the Great Lakes. Greenbay has an algae bloom like Saginaw Bay’s and Lake Erie’s. In Greenbay there is almost an annual dead zone where nothing grows as a result of the algal blooms. Farmers are working with the Natural Resources Conservation Services as part of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative to mitigate the nutrient runoff. We were at Brickstead Dairy, a family-owned farm in its fifth generation that is a demonstration farm for other farmers and the public to see what types of different agricultural practices might help the situation. We were there to shoot them planting into the fields that were protected by cover crops all winter, which helps preserve the soil while improving its biology so that it more readily accepts the moisture from snow and rain. I have done a lot of farm projects over the years for CaseIH and Caterpillar Tractor, but now we were shooting video and using a drone to get the aerials we wanted. Even with 15-mile-per-hour winds the Solo drone by 3DR was rock steady in the air as we shot 4K video on a beautiful day. We also put a GoPro on the planter down low to see a different angle as the planter went through the fields of cover-crop rye.

Now to assemble all these shots into the storyline for this segment of the film. Stay tuned!

Cheers,

Richard


Richard Mack Photography Reel 2017

 

As the year starts you tend to not only look back at how last year was but to think about the upcoming year and put together a plan to accomplish your goals for the next month, 6 months, year or more. As part of this effort I put together a reel of video work we’ve done over the last several years for clients. It certainly does not show all the work, can’t usually be done in 2 ½ minutes. I left out some of the aerial drone work we’ve done for architects and corporations of their buildings.

As part of The Sweetwater Seas documentary team last year was a great year shooting many interviews of folks who live and work along the Great Lakes and some of the issues on the lakes and how they affect what they are doing. With the Great Lakes being 20% of the worlds fresh surface water, and 95% of North America’s this is a body of water most people take for granted. For most it is either something they know very little about because they live elsewhere, or we just turn on the tap and expect the water to be there. Most of the 40 million folks who live in the Great Lakes watershed appreciate their beauty and serene, spiritual affect as we work and play along their shores. It is this story we are telling along with the environmental challenges and solutions they face.

Also in the past I’ve done work for a wide range of clients including Acura, Abbvie, Over the Rainbow, Gourmet Destinations and many others.

Hope you enjoy this small look at some of the work we’ve done!

Cheers!

Richard Mack