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Jody Dole's Gulf Stream Hatteras Photo Shoot
View Jody Dole's Bio
Jody Dole has always been a technology enthusiast. After using conventional film for the first several years of his career,
in 1994 he became the first photographer to shoot the cover of American Photo using a digital camera. Earlier on, he got
his break into advertising photography by experimenting with low-cost, thousand-speed film that he used to produce a unique
grainy quality that blurred the distinction between photography and illustration. These experiments became the foundation
for a worldwide advertising campaign by Smirnoff Vodka. As Dole has continued to build his career as renowned fine art &
still life commercial photographer, he has continually broken through technical and aesthetic barriers to distinguish himself
from the rest, most recently in aerial and marine photography.
Digital Photography at 100+ mph
Recently, Dole traveled to Miami to shoot for Hatteras Yachts. The assignment, however, was not in the comfort of an air
conditioned still life studio. Dole was hired to capture several multimillion-dollar Hatteras sport fishing yachts in the
best possible setting: the amazing ocean vistas of the Gulf Coast. Hatteras wanted the photos to be taken at sunrise and
sunset, a short timeframe for a very expensive setup.
Dole describes the scene; "We shot from the air at sunrise and again at sunset. It was costly to shoot with a Hughes jet
helicopter and pilot, the yacht in the water, and the crew, not to mention the fuel that each vehicle consumes. Up in the
sky, it's a beautiful day, the light, the water, the boat, everything was just incredible. Setting out to locate the boat
off Miami, the helicopter was traveling at about 140 MPH. We found the yacht which was a small speck of white on a huge
canvas of blue waves, figured out where we want the shadows to fall and off to work I went."
Dole didn't just sit inside the helicopter clicking away - he hung out of the side of the helicopter, door removed, feet
planted firmly on the chopper's landing skid, safety harness attached. "I was leaning outside the helicopter and the pilot
and yacht captain would take direction from the client sitting up front via headphone radio. We circled the 65' Hatteras
like a fly around a honey jar"
By that time, the helicopter pilot had throttled back to 45 mph from the faster speed. Dole describes the physical challenge
he was facing, "I was tied in so taut in one position that occasionally I would feel muscle cramps and there was nothing you
could do. In that kind of extreme setting, there's no time or room to change film every 36 shots. Using digital I can shoot
100 images onto a 1 GB SD card, then simply reload and I'm shooting again in less than five seconds and I don't miss a thing."
During the first phase of the shoot Dole shot eight Lexar Professional 1GB SD cards. Less than an hour later he landed and downloaded that
morning's work to his G4 Powerbook, copied it on to his portable hard drive and reviewed the morning's shots before he went
back up for the afternoon session.
Dole describes the crucial role of digital in the success of the two-part shoot, "Lexar Professional 1GB SD cards saved me. We only
had 10-15 minutes at sun up and again at sunset which the client insisted on shooting a second time. I shot almost a 1000
photos in less than 20 minutes and then we would go back up and do it all again late that afternoon!"
Success for Hatteras and Dole
One of the photos Dole took that day off Miami has been selected to appear in the 2005 Graphis Photo Annual. Hatteras chose the
photos taken that day for an advertising campaign earlier this year and another was featured on the cover of the New England
boating publication 'Soundings,' edited by world-class yachtsman William Sisson.
"There was no room for error that day; I had a very short time to get the shot. Digital photography, empowered by Lexar's
high-capacity memory cards was the only way that I could have taken some of the best marine shots of my career."
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