Behind The Scenes
Issue 71 / Mon 8th Oct, 2018
Dylan van der Meij takes us behind the scenes on the Flysurfer photo shoot in Mauritius, find out what it takes to get the perfect shot right here!
Dylan van der Meij gives us the inside scoop on what it is like to go on a photoshoot with a kite brand.
As an international team rider for Flysurfer Kiteboarding, I get to travel the world while doing the sport I love. Last September, I made my way to one of the most popular kitesurfing destinations; Mauritius. Located 800 kilometres east of Madagascar, I’ve always wanted to visit this tropical island, but somehow it just never happened.
Together with Jana Schader (team rider) and Gregor John (photographer) we were off to shoot new content for Flysurfer’s latest kites and boards.
Location
Picking a location for a kite trip can be challenging, and it's everyone’s dream for it to be windy and sunny every day. Unfortunately, Mother Nature doesn't guaranty those conditions but looking at the wind-statistics will point you in the right direction, literally. Generally once you’ve found a windy spot you just need to book the flights and accommodation and do a wind dance, for a photo shoot though things are a little different.
When scouting a location for a photo and video shoot, there are a few things you need to keep in mind. The scenery is one of the essential aspects of a striking photo, an interesting back or foreground will make a picture much more appealing to the audience. It doesn't always have to be tropical beaches and palm trees; a large industrial area can look cool too!
Another primary attribute while shooting is sunlight. Proper lighting will make the colours in a photo so much more vibrant. On a cloudy day, the photos will look dull, and the will need much more colour grading. Statisticaly, Mauritius is an excellent location for the shoot as well the fact that it offers a variety of riding conditions. There's a reef that surrounds the entire island, so you can go for a flat water freestyle session or rip it up in the waves just outside the reef, making it a perfect combination to create exciting content.
The Day Before
The day before flying to Mauritius, I still hadn't even picked up the new boards for the shoot. I was in a meeting with the international sales manager from Flysurfer, who is also an excellent photographer and did many of the shoots in the past. The wind was howling in Holland, so we decided to do a quick big air photo shoot with the new boards before packing them up for the trip.
We had our meeting at Wijk aan Zee; one of Holland’s most popular kite spots. The conditions where ideal along the whole Dutch coast, but we chose this spot specifically for its scenery. There are a lot of big ships going in and out of the harbour, which makes for a pretty an impressive backdrop.
While I was riding, I got a little disoriented during one on my kiteloop-late-backrolls and took a pretty hard crash on my ribs. I felt fine coming off the water, but on my way home, my pain got rapidly stronger. I went to see a doctor late at night to make sure I wasn't going to face any complications as I was flying the next day. Luckily my organs were fine and I ‘just’ severely bruised a few ribs.
The next morning I could barely get out of bed. I had to ask a friend to help me pack my boardbag since I couldn't lift anything. I was meeting the team in Paris, and from there we had all planned to take the same flight to Mauritius. Unfortunately, my plane to Paris got delayed by four hours, and I missed my connection flight. Twenty-something hours and many painkillers later, I finally made it to Mauritius, what a great start to the trip!
Shooting
When I tell people I am travelling for a photo or video-shoot, they always assume I am going on a lovely, relaxed holiday, do some tricks in front of the camera; well, sadly that isn’t how it works!
When shooting, we are usually on an extremely tight schedule. We have set goals before the trip, and we try our best to come back with rewarding footage but unfortunately, it almost never works out the way you planned, as we are dependent on the Mother Nature for that one!
When the wind is not cooperating, we try to be as productive as possible by shooting scenery and ‘lifestyle’ shots. A good kiteboarding video is never just kitesurfing action; you need a proper intro and all other kinds of shots to keep the video engaging.
Besides just shooting kiteboarding action, we usually have other product related stuff to shoot as well. On this trip, we took all the photos for the new Flysurfer clothing line, and on others, we have shot all the images for the user manuals or detailed shots of the latest features in the products.
A Typical Day
If I had to describe a typical day of shooting, it would almost always start with waking up early, usually before sunrise, as the light is best for shooting. A beautiful sunrise or sunset will create either a nice background or it shines a redder, softer light on the riders and the products. A photographer calls this time of the day the golden hour.
When the sun is near the horizon, sunlight travels through a greater depth of the atmosphere, and this reduces the intensity of the direct light, and more of the blue light scatters so the sunlight will appear more reddish. Waking up early also means beating the crowds to the beach, while shooting, it’s nice to have the spot all to yourself. When there is no one in your way, you can take off whenever you want, and you won’t have other kites in the background.
Before every session I briefly speak to the person behind the camera, discussing the best place to shoot and deciding what kind of shots we are going to take. At times, we want a specific area of the subject in the background, which means I have to take off precisely within the particular spot.
During the shooting, we have to be creative, and sometimes a full spot will limit your possibilities. We look for different locations to shoot at and this often means launching your kite in sketchy places. Launching a kite near power lines or partly on a busy road with unstable wind can sometimes be worth it to get the shot.
In Mauritius, we found a spot that looked very promising, but when launching my kite in between rocks and trees, I instantly noticed that the wind was super gusty and offshore. A few hundred meters out into the lagoon the wind was more stable, so we decided to shoot there.
To get the cameraman so far out was challenging and we thought about renting a boat. But in the end, I took him out on my back while kiting and dropped him in the middle of the lagoon, it took quite a bit of effort, but we did get the shots we wanted!
On one of the days, we had an early morning session, and it was one of those sessions that everything just flowed perfectly; the sun was shining, and we had the spot all to ourselves. While we were riding, something in the water stung Jana. She was in a lot of pain and could feel her lymph nodes in her armpit swelling up. We had no idea what stung her, which naturally made us worry. I drove her to the nearest doctor as fast as I could.
The doctor couldn't do much and told us to go to the nearest hospital to get an anti-venom injection and possibly more treatment. Driving like I was in a Formula1 race, we rushed to the hospital, which was about forty minutes away. Luckily, the pain got less when we got there, and the doctors gave her some medicine.
All symptoms pointed towards a relatively unknown marine animal, the Portuguese man-of-war. Officially it is not a jellyfish, but it does look like one. Their tentacles can be meters long, and the animal has a gas-filled balloon sticking above the surface, which they use to sail with the wind. Jana's body was sore for the rest of the day, but luckily it was nothing too serious.
Even though the Mauritius weather statistics looked perfect, we still got some days without wind and lots of rain; it's tough to be productive on those days. Photo and video shooting can be very tiring and a lot of work, but in the end, it is always worth it. Seeing the final video and photographs after so many hours of hard work makes you forget about the challenging moments and stoked about being able to make trips like this!
Videos
By Dylan van der Meij
