Nashville Photographer Location Scout

This summer I had the opportunity to be part of a major commercial production for the US Army.

I was able to be the location scout for a US Army commercial and also be the still photographer for the commercial shoot at Fort Campbell.

Peter Berg was the director for the production.

Unit still photographer or simply, still photographer, My role was to document the production of the new Army commercials and also capture photos that could be used for advertising campaigns for the Army.

Some of the photos may be used for National ad campaigns in the newspaper and posters.

Exciting Things Nashville Photographer

It was an eighth Day video shoot at Fort Campbell the weather was extremely hot.

But one afternoon I had the opportunity to do some photography on a Chinook helicopter that Army parachute team was jumping out of.

The weather during the day was about 95 to 100 degrees and we had very few opportunities for shade.

But late that afternoon I had the opportunity to fly with the parachute team. They mentioned right before take off that it would be chilly in a few minutes.

The take off in the helicopter was one of the smoothest takeoffs I have ever experienced you hardly feel anything when taking off in a helicopter of this size.

The helicopter was loaded with about 15 soldiers that would be parachuting out of the back of the helicopter right after sunset.

So a few minutes after takeoff as we got to our jump altitude it went from about 80 degrees to 40 degrees.

My hot sweaty shirt from being in the sun became very cold. But I focused on the task at hand trying to get creative photos and not move around too much so I can stay out of the way of the soldiers parachuting out of the back of the helicopter.

There was a videographer getting the really good shots he was an actual paratrooper trained in videography so he was getting all of the good shots because he was jumping with the soldiers.

My photos focused on the soldiers getting ready to jump in the helicopter and the crew helping the soldiers getting ready for the dump.

Here are some final video edits from the production. The Army will be putting out more videos in the next few days.

Commercial Video Production Things Learned

Chairs and Tables

Still, photographers need to bring their own chairs and tables to a major video production that's going to last several days.

As a still photographer on a Major Video Production, you need to be able to set up a mobile office close to where the production is taking place.

This mobile office area may need to have a canopy to create some shade as you and your assistant or working throughout the production.

Power Generator

Have your own independent generator that certified to work with electronic gear. This way you can keep all of your camera batteries and drone batteries charged and not be over clue concerned about the batteries is going bad.

Transportation Commercial Photography Shoot

Have transportation that will support a commercial production type shoes maybe a van that can be used for setting up an office so that you have an air conditioning environment to work out of when needed.