Rescue helicopter crashes wedding couple shoot in Iceland
Jul 22, 2016
John Aldred
John Aldred is a photographer with over 25 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter – and occasional beta tester – of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
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Everybody wants their wedding photographs to be interesting and special. This is probably why this couple chose to hire photographer CM Leung and shoot theirs in Iceland. It’s a beautiful country, which is why it has become such a popular wedding destination.
But, the shoot turned out to be a little more different than the couple had planned for. During the shoot, a rescue helicopter buzzed over the bride and crew.
The helicopter was there on a rescue mission to airlift a seriously injured person who fell down a cliff nearby. The photographer and wedding couple simply happened to be there at the same time.
When the helicopter took off mid-shoot, however, they were caught a little off guard.
The helicopter does appear to get very close to the bride. As photographers, however, we know appearances on camera can be deceiving.
Birgir Örn Sigurðsson of the Víkverji Search and Rescue was on scene during the shoot. He says that the helicopter was a safe distance away and didn’t fly directly over the bride.
Leung posted a behind the scenes video of the session leading up to where the bride needed to have her hair and makeup fixed.
It is speculated that the apparent closeness of the helicopter to the bridge was due to the manner in which it was shot. A trick of the camera like an accidental forced perspective. Still, it’s a hell of a downdraft.
It did result in a pretty awesome photo, though.
Photo by CM Leung, used with permission.
Update: The article previously incorrectly stated that the helicopter were there to help with shoot safety on the ground. This has been corrected.
John Aldred
John Aldred is a photographer with over 25 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter – and occasional beta tester – of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
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19 responses to “Rescue helicopter crashes wedding couple shoot in Iceland”
the brides dress looks grey.
looks like HDR gone bad.
i would not be happy with the result.
Aron, this is what you picked up from the story?
yes it´s the first thing i noticed.
the rest of the story is nothing that i think is interesting to be honest.
And the master in Douchebagery is for you!
if you can´t stand a opinion don´t visit the internet you dumbfuk.
epic
Too bad
Too bad
Wedding? O.o looks more like a fashioshoot for some magazine
The helicopter does nothing to make the image better.
Does the bride has to be rescued from the groom? Is he a wife beater?
And yes the Brides dress looks dirty grey.
I think it looks awesome WITH the helicopter in the frame!!!
That’s what I was thinking!
I don’t get what the helicopter had to do with the story. Cool, but I don’t get it.
Lots of work put in the final image to look fake. Without the video I would have sworn it was mad by a bored 12 year old.
BTW Chines go to the most extreme places to do wedding shots. Sometimes they just do the photos since there money is not enough for extreme enough photo shot AND an actual wedding.
Wonderful pic, such creative idea! Would love to welcome Photography lovers to apictrip.com to check out our authentic China Photo Tour (Beijing/Bashang/Sichuan/Yunnan)
Unless she’s a helicopter pilot or an aerospace enthusiast, a helicopter is absolutely unnecessary.
Man, wording! There’s a few hundred verbs better than “crashes” in this context. I scrolled by and thought some bride got squashed by a helicopter. :p
I mean… Photoshop feels a little safer, no?
The helicopter is certainly close to the bride – unnecessarily so. It’s difficult to understand why the pilot would direct the aircraft so close to the shoot, unless it was in fact done at the request of the photographer. People often underestimate the force of the downdraft from a helicopter’s rotors and there’s a price to be paid for that. I spent a good deal of time in and around various types of helicopters while in the army and I’ve eaten a fair amount of dust stirred up by them. I have a diver’s watch that bears witness to the wind power generated by a CH-47: the crystal is quite badly sand-blasted. I cringe at the thought of pro photo gear being subjected to the same treatment! ….Furthermore, I’ve just watched the video several times and I can tell you that the aircraft was far too close to those people as it flew past. There’s no trick of perspective at work here; that bird was almost on top of her. This smacks of a ‘stunt’ and was certainly dangerous to those on the ground. You don’t play around with helicopters.