Real Estate Photographer Nashville and Location Scouting
Real Estate Photographer Nashville and Location Scouting
You must wonder what the army real estate photography and location scouting have in common, but they're all tied together and complement each other.
I recently had the opportunity to do some location scouting for the new army commercials that you may be seen on TV this winter and spring.
As a real estate photographer in Nashville, I have many unique opportunities that you would not normally associate with doing real estate photography.
In the summer of 2018, the Army commissions and Ad Agency of New York City and a production company out of Los Angeles, California, produced the new army commercials and I had the honor of being the location scout for the project.
Later in the process, I was the photographer for the video shoots that were done at Fort Campbell's army base just north of Nashville, Tennessee.
Location Scouting Nashville Tennessee Area
Photography Location Scouting at Fort Campbell, Tennessee
It was a unique day doing the location scouting at Fort Campbell.
We had a team of representatives from Fort Campbell, Pentagon, and other military bases. Additionally, a creative person from the Ad Agency helped with coordinating the overall efforts of the event.
The day started extremely hot and muggy early in the morning. Location scouting at Fort Campbell can be an overwhelming task because the Fort Campbell army base is almost 300,000 acres of land in the north of Nashville, Tennessee, in the Clarksville, Tennesse, which is on the Tennessee and Kentucky state line.
When doing location scouting on a military base like this, you need special permission and clearance and transportation with guides to escort you to the different locations on the Fort Campbell military base.
I had been to Fort Campbell in the past for homecoming events to do photography for families and soldiers returning from Afghanistan and other parts of the world. Doing photography for military families at a homecoming event is always an honor and humbling experience. It reminds you of the sacrifice our soldiers go through and also the sacrifice the families experience.
As the day progressed with our location scouting, it went from extremely hot and muggy to excessively raining and storming the rest of the day.
At about 11:00 a.m., it started raining a downpour, and it seemed like it was never going to stop. I thought it might have been the tropical storm pushed up out of the Gulf of Mexico and settled right on top of our location scouting at Fort Campbell in the middle of the summer.
We had a late lunch break at the Burger King on the army base to dry off and reset an hour schedule for the day.
After that, we attended an exciting military meeting. We're about fifteen military leaders and discussed the details of the week-long video shoot that would be taking place in a few weeks.
Everyone went through the original notes and storyboard or the different commercials that would be filmed. Moreover, we discussed the various military assets and personnel that would be needed to help produce the commercials.
I spent most of the time taking notes and creating resources that would be used for my detailed location scouting report for the New York Ad Agency and the production company back in Los Angeles.
Many people were coming together to make this a high-quality marketing campaign to honor our military. But the details were far too many for just one meeting. Over the next several weeks, countless people pulled together to iron out the details and keep things moving for the Army advertising campaign.
I found the meeting to be quite productive for my location scouting report.
Then, I spent the next weekend to gather the photos, videos, and notes from the meeting to create a very detailed location scouting report for everyone involved in the project. I even took the time to explain some of the military terminologies that I learned from being at the Fort Campbell base that day and participating in the meeting with the Army leadership.
The Army used lots of military jargon to describe military assets and personnel that needed to be utilized in the filming of the advertising campaign.
Production Call for Still photographer Nashville Tennessee
After turning in the location scouting report to the Ad Agency in New York City and making sure the Los Angeles production company received a detailed location scouting report, I was asked to be a part of the video production to provide still photography. It was for the video shoot that would happen in July of 2018 at Fort Campbell army base just north of Nashville, Tennessee.
Pony Show Entertainment in Los Angeles, California, contacted me as I was doing real estate Photography in the Spring Hill Tennessee area by calling on my cell phone.
They asked if I could provide still photography for the filming of the commercials. They had seen my name on the location scouting report and needed a still photographer for the filming of the ads.
Then, they gave me a brief overview of requirements, dates, time, and the need they had. I was honored to be asked and very excited about being part of a large commercial production.
The director Peter Berg was leading the video production, and his team was handling many details to help create a successful ad campaign for the Army.
Still Photography for Peter Berg Army Commercial
Okay, let's just say it out loud. Being a still photographer on primary production is a very cool thing.
Much of the production crew was from the Nashville TV show that had recently just close down their set, and the team was available to help with the Army commercial production.
Some of the production crew lived in the Clarksville area and could drive into the set each day.
Most of us rode large transportation buses from the hotel where we were staying in to the different production sites for the day's filming.
Many crew members from the Nashville TV show said that this was one of the most massive productions they had also worked on. Due to how large all the military equipment and soldiers involved in filming in a short time, the overall production was more significant than some major Hollywood movie productions.
Each day at the Fort Campbell Army base, we had about a hundred people on the production crew. Excellent caterer and craft services were available for the week.
Some exciting things that happened while I was doing still photography for the Army commercial campaign at Fort Campbell.
Photography Helicopters and Blood
In one of the army commercials, there are "small bird helicopters" flying over a field swooping into fire weapons. Hence, part of the day we stood and a hot area trying to use umbrellas to create shade and do video and photography. We did this as the helicopters flew over at a very low altitude and fast speed hiring rounds of ammunition.
No live rounds were done in this part of the production. Still, the machine guns were releasing shells that would fly out of both sides of the helicopters. The soldiers fired the weapons to create realism and sound effects as the helicopters approached their target.
At one point, as the helicopters flew over, they flew right over where we were position doing still photography and video, and one of the hot shells came across my forehead.
At first, I was not sure exactly what happened until somebody behind me who was doing the video with a red video camera notice that I was bleeding and all the shell strike my poor head.
This made me feel better knowing that I now know what happened. It happened so fast I did not know if it was me flinching to the sound of the helicopters flying over so closely or something had hit me.
The wound was rather small, but the blood was flowing so it made for a pretty cool effect standing in the middle of a field with helicopters flying over and cameras in hand. I was able to take a short break and go over to the medical tent and get things cleaned up.
It also made for a cool story at the end of the week.
Photography Army Chinook Helicopter Hot to Cold
Towards the middle of the week, the filming required for Chinook helicopters to fly too high altitudes as soldiers parachuted out of the back of the helicopters into the field where we were filming.
Things Real Estate Photographer Nashville Learned
Working with a large group of army soldiers at Fort Campbell for eight days, I learned quite a few things about the Army that I did not know I had not picked up on when I was taking ROTC classes in college.
Most of the ROTC classes in college were management-related, and we're just part of our marketing business degree. I was not entrenched in the Army culture with only a few courses in college.
But after being around hundreds of soldiers (different ranks and different ages) for a week, I got more interested in them and got to learn more about them.
A list of things that I learned that I was not aware of before the video production at Fort Campbell:
Transportation/Logistics
Army transportation is a huge part of the Army. For every one soldier on the battlefield, there are hundreds of people supplying support for the soldier.
Chain of Command
Always follow the chain of command and respect the chain of the command system. Try to make those around you and above you but good.
Awareness
Soldiers understand what's going on in the world. And they also understand their role.
Respect
Always respect the individual, whether you like them or not.
“If there is not the war, you don’t get the great general; if there is not a great occasion, you don’t get a great statesman; if Lincoln had lived in a time of peace, no one would have known his name.” – Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States, and former U.S. Army Colonel
Special Thanks to the following:
Michael Gomez Westlight Studios
1106 Harpeth Industrial Ct, Franklin, TN
https://www.westlightstudios.com
Vanessa Purdom
My Wife
Peter Berg
Director, producer, writer, and actor
https://www.instagram.com/pberg44
Pony Show Entertainment
Pony Show is a production company producing commercials and brand content with directors including Peter Berg, Spike Lee & other Hollywood storytellers.
http://ponyshowent.com
McCANN NEW YORK
American global advertising agency network, with offices in 120 countries.
https://www.mccannny.com
Dury's
Digital cameras, photographic accessories, and studio
1027 Murfreesboro Pike, Nashville, TN 37217
https://www.durys.com
Paul C. Buff, Inc.
Professional Photographic Lighting
2725 Bransford Ave, Nashville, TN 37204
https://www.paulcbuff.com
Canon Professional Cameras
Sony Alpha A‑6000 Digital Camera
Fort Campbell
Army installation
United States Army Rangers
https://www.goarmy.com
Army Golden Knights
The Golden Knights are the United States Army's official aerial parachute demonstration team.
https://www.goarmy.com/events/golden-knights.html
Nashville TV Show
American drama series
Production Crew
