In June 2006 I was contacted by the respected and often awarded architectural firm Suters Architects to supply an image for a feature wall in the King Street headquarters of the Newcastle Permanent. An aerial image featuring Nobbys with the city behind had been selected from my website. While the view and composition suited the design for the wall, it would be very evident when enlarged to 12 metres wide that the city’s skyline had changed a lot since the time the picture was made.
As we had some time till the image would be needed and the building activity across the city had nearly been completed I suggested they wait until I re-shot it. After consulting with the pilot who flew me for the original shoot and checking tide charts it was decided that sometime in August- September would have the sun hitting the front of Nobbys at the right angle. Because this only happens for about 2 hours a day and we needed a good sized mid to high tide to coincide with clear conditions I knew that, even with all the planning, I needed nature and the weather to be very co-operative.
With an understanding pilot I was able to hold the helicopter on standby for the 8 days when the best tide matched the 2 hour window. Opalescent, who were producing the panels, wanted the image ready in September to meet the builders schedules so, even though we had a good lead time, shooting opportunities were going to be limited. In reality, there are probably only about 16 days in a year when the sun and tides coincide to present Nobbys in its’ best light.
There were several 4 am starts where the pilot (Clive Lipscombe from Rotorway) would check the weather as I drove from Sydney and he drove from The Lake to the helicopter base at Nelson Bay. As it became light we were able to decide if the sky was clear enough to shoot. The first time I turned around at Hexham, the next time I got to Williamtown before we canned it. Another time I checked the the sky at Stockton while Clive readied the helicopter - the skies in Williamtown were clear but it was muddy over Newcastle. Finally, we got clear skies and beautiful smooth water - just a perfect Newcastle day. Using a small print of the original image as a reference we made several flybys of Nobbys to get the right angle. The large format camera I used had only four frames per roll and was very hard to reload with the wind rushing in through the helicopter’s open door.
I moved to Sydney two years ago for work and these spectacular views were making me quite homesick. I am also very proud and appreciative of everyone's contribution to the final result.
Suters Architects (Rob Macindoe) idea for the panel, Opalescents production and installation as well as Josh Fullerton (of The Carson Group - the project managers) were sensitive to my desire to capture Nobbys and Newcastle in it's best possible light. NPBS, who originally had intended to use an existing image, fully appreciated the planning and logistics that the shoot required and were prepared to wait to have an image that suited the grandeur of the refurbishment.
