A VISIT TO:
THE AIRPLANE GRAVEYARD –
a photo shoot reportage
Story and article by Loftus Viljoen [©Loftus Viljoen t/a qq
Africa Photography & Ngonyama Photography]
Lanseria International Airport is situated between Pretoria
and Muldersdrift [close to Krugersdorp] to the west of Pretoria. After seeing a couple
of photos of the “airplane graveyard” posted on the social media and blogs I
thought this is something what I wanted to do.
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| "The Last Requiem" |
As part of a Facebook group of photographers I asked the
question who wanted to join me on such a shoot. As always you have a large
number of people responding positively and without thinking, but the arranging
and organizing the shoot fell squarely on my shoulders. As soon as photographers
hear they must pay for a location shoot the “yeahs” numbers fall dramatically, be
as it may it did not deter me and I took the risk.
Some shoots are simple one-offs and for me a steam train
shoot, graffiti shoot and an aeroplane graveyard shoot are examples of fun shoots are unlikely to be repeated,
unless I am specifically commissioned to do a photo shoot.
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| "1-2-3" |
My biggest trouble was getting to the right persons in
charge and telling them who we are and what we wanted to do. The shoot was
possible but full details of everyone involved, from photographer to model to
assistant was required as the area where the “graveyard” was located was close
to a runway on a corner of the airport and they did not wanted anyone wandering
around without supervision.
After we got through all the red tape [security issues and
setting the date] and paying them
their fees which amounted to
R1,700.00 we were ready for the shoot on autumn Sunday in April. So if you ever working with a group make sure
that the costs are shared otherwise you will end up paying in the difference.
We arranged to meet the group and the security at the
parking lot and under escort we proceeded to the “graveyard” where they left us
with a security guard whose duties was to make sure that nobody wanders off
to restricted areas.
I
thought there was just a couple of “old planes” but to my surprise there were
more than 20 of them in various stages of derelict.
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| Mystery Woman in cockpit |
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| Boarding pass |
Some
of the photographers used the opportunity to do family shoots, some did model
shoots and others did just any shoot. I
was lucky to have my partner and co-photographer to play model for me. Using
the old planes as a backdrop can help you creating beautiful images.
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| Fire Drill Plane |
At
the end [or is it the beginning?] of the area where the graveyard it, there is
an area set aside for “fire drill” exercises by the aviation and probably the
local fire brigade and emergency services. I would have loved to photograph
such a “drill” – would have been very dramatic.
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| Picnic during a shoot |
With all the “ole flying birds” around has that
same feeling as letting a kid loose in a sweets shop – you simply do not know
where to start. Lucky for me I had an
advantage on the other photographers – I
did a recce a couple of weeks before to check out the scene so I opted for a large cargo plane where I saw that the
hull was completely still intact and which will have the best photo
opportunities.
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| Instrument controls |
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| Crash Landing |
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| Landing Lights |
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| "Oops" |
Fortunately
we could park our cars relatively close by and if you were going to shoot the
whole day it is a good idea to bring
along something to eat and drink, we usually make our shooting sessions an
opportunity to have a picnic. A couple of camping chairs and a camping table
usually does the trick.
There
is simply not enough time in a day to spend say, 30 minutes at each “wreck” or
scene to set up your shots so you will have to plan your shots bearing the time
of day in mind.
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| At the end of the day - a fitting finale for a wonderful photo shoot |
©2013 Loftus
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