Project AIR is officially COMPLETE (for now, at least!) and the book has been finalized and signed off!

It has been an intense, incredible, whirlwind year for me on this project (certainly one of the most satisfying and also most challenging of my entire career!). While I’m not ruling out further opportunities to shoot more cities, with the hard deadline for the book (which we successfully hit last month) and with commercial project commitments, I simply had to draw a line under this chapter of the project.

It has been an amazing journey – from the project’s initial inception after the New York images from the Men’s Health editorial published last year went viral, to those of you who followed and (literally) helped give birth and life to what the project became, it’s fair to say this was a complete first for me. The support for the project took the team across North America, Europe and even Sydney, Australia, and it’s been an incredible ride.

I’m excited to get the book out and into everyone’s hands now, and see what you all think of the images – it’s one thing to see them on a screen but it’s completely different to see and experience them on the printed page.

The book will be out in time for the November Holiday Season here in the US – don’t miss out and pre-order here to ensure you get your copy: http://www.laforetair.com/pre-order-book/laforet-air-book

Once again – thank you to each and every one of you who has followed, supported and provided positive feedback on the project – it has, without doubt, been a source of inspiration and motivation for myself and the project team through the year as we worked to bring more images from more cities to be able to share with you all.

More updates to come in the coming weeks and months. For now, feel free to check out the project site here where you can see more images, behind the scenes videos, buy prints and check out the store!

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The Importance Of Traveling Light And Secure

When you travel as often as I do, with as much gear as we often are transporting, you really start to value both lightweight and versatile designs for gear bags, and those that that don’t compromise protection and quality.  We’ve flown 150,000 miles this year on Project AIR which is scary.

For me, Tenba XL attaché roller cases have become incredibly useful on the AIR project. I’ve used two to 3 of them throughout the Air Tour, one contains all of our BTS video gear, including C300, lenses and audio gear as well as back up drives. The other contains our Kenyon gyros for stabilized shooting at night.

I have another two of these Attache rollers at home, one housing my RED Epic and the other containing my dedicated time lapse kit.

So – why Tenba? Two main reasons:

– Protection – these attaches are absolutely rock solid. We’ve had our Project Air BTS video case go through 8 legs so far, in the hold each time. The BTS case contains lots of glass and camera gear and it’s all been transported without issue.    The sturdy handle, solid wheels, and Fedex label pouch on the exterior are also perfect editions to an otherwise stellar case.

– Weight – we have 10 pieces of hold luggage for each leg of this journey. We have weighed each item to make sure it’s within weight limits because after paying up to $1000 a leg for excess baggage, you really don’t want to pay the excess weight too! These gear bags are being lifted for transport into vans and often carried, so a lighter starting point is always better.

Tenba also make a fantastic, low profile backpack called the Shootout. It’s a 14L sized pack that can hold up to 4 Go Pros (we currently are using 3 GoPro 4s as main BTS cameras for internal aircraft shots, as well as 1 Go Pro 3+ which is a back up). I’ve been using this not just for Go Pros but also for a low profile and sturdy solution to transporting my cameras and  lenses and accessories when I’m traveling and doing some shooting in cities on the ground.

Like Tenba’s HDDSLR bag which Dave my BTS video guy is using, it’s incredibly comfortable and fantastically designed so that everything stays where it should and provides easy access to the gear I need when I need it.  In fact – this backpack has become my GO TO BAG for almost all of 2015 – I carry my 12″ MacBook in it, and hard drives and/or a basic DSLR kit or Leica / Fuji X100 kit, and even a Hasselblad 503 with 2-3 lenses.  This is an EXTREMELY versatile bag due to the enclosed pouches that you can VELCRO inside and create natural partitions.

From the manufacturer:

Tenba has been building industry-leading hard cases for rental houses, studios and professionals for over 35 years, and the cases are still made the same way today, using ballistic and cordura nylon, YKK® zippers, seatbelt-grade webbing, welded-steel D-rings, and the most reinforced stitching that any bag has ever seen.

The Transport collection includes Air Case, Tenba’s patented shipping case that provides the protection of a hard case at a fraction of the weight. Air Cases are available in sizes and configurations to fit Apple Mac Pro Towers, 27-inch iMacs and Cinema Displays, Eizo monitors, Profoto, Broncolor and similar professional lighting systems, and every conceivable camera system in the world. They can be shipped, checked as luggage, flown, driven, sat on and stood on, and they will continue to protect the world’s greatest equipment.

TENBA SHOOTOUT is a comprehensive collection of sling bags and backpacks designed from the ground up for serious outdoor imaging. Each bag is built with the absolute best materials and hardware for all-season protection under the most extreme weather conditions. And innovative features throughout give you fast access to your equipment so you never miss a shot.

Shootout backpacks feature unique side pods that allow access to cameras and lenses without removing the shoulder harness, plus they include Tenba’s exclusive Multi-stage tripod carrier. And the sling bag offers the industry’s only rear access panel to maximize the interior layout and organization of camera equipment.

Each bag is made with water-repellant nylon, weather-sealed and rubberized YKK® zippers, Duraflex® clips, heavily reinforced stitching and expedition-grade harnesses and shoulder straps.

On another note, I’m EXTREMELY excited to announce that we just sent the final files to the printer for the  AIR book!   We’re looking at shipping the books in very early November – to find out more about the book or lithographs,visit LaforetAir.com

Thanks to incredible support by RODE Microphones and Atomos, I’m EXTREMELY excited to announce I’ll be traveling to Australia next month to deliver brand new, 2 day Sydney and Melbourne ‘Directing Motion’ workshops that aim to raise the bar from the successful US tour in 2014.

Sydney Workshop details and tickets – click here

Melbourne Workshop details and tickets – click here

Last year, I hit the road with MZed, and delivered the Directing Motion tour to over 3500 attendees across more than 30 cities in the US. It was an incredible experience, and we had a truly international audience with people flying in from all around the world to attend, and extremely positive feedback across the board. Without a doubt, the number one question I have received since then has been, “When are you taking Directing Motion international?”.

The two most requested countries have been the UK and Australia. Thanks to Philip Bloom and his Shadow and Light workshop earlier this year, I got the opportunity to deliver some of the concepts from Directing Motion to a UK audience. It was a fantastic event, I hope to be back there soon to deliver more of the experience.

Now, I get the opportunity to bring the full Directing Motion experience, PLUS an even more extended practical program, to Australia.

The main focus I wanted to build into this next iteration of Directing Motion is separation between the theoretical and real-world examples of my own commercial career that I will discuss, AND the practical work that goes into the construct, shoot and edit of a particular piece. It was very obvious that not everyone who attended Directing Motion was a film maker, or even a photographer. Some people just were deeply interested in cinema and the analysis behind camera moves. I want to make sure that I can cover the full spectrum, from those who are full time professionals and those who are just curious about why their favorite directors shoot and produce work in the way that they do.

This is why I’ve decided to offer up a 2 day workshop – with the option to attend either Day 1 or Day 2, or for those quick enough, a chance to grab a combo ticket at a reduced price for entry to both.

Day 1 will focus on the theory behind how, when and most importantly why we move the camera, as well as how we direct the action in front of the lens. It is a complete stand-alone presentation that takes you through all of the theory from the Directing Motion workshop, including my own experiences with some of the biggest commercial jobs I’ve delivered over the years. If you’re a photographer yet to explore the world of motion, Day 1 will be a perfect way to become familiar with the concepts that we use in the world of motion.

Day 2 is a new component focusing on the practical side, where I’ll take you through an entire day of how I plan, manage, shoot and edit a job that will highlight a local artist that we’ll showcase through a short film. We’ll be using REDs, MoVIs, sliders, cinema glass – it really promises to be a very fun day, and one which I know we’ll all learn from with the focus firmly on how the practical elements we go through can apply to your own work and projects.

My main motivation for you attending either day – whether you’re a photographer or film maker – is to simply be able to apply the learning directly to your own work as quickly as possible. Whether it’s a narrative piece, a wedding, a corporate shoot or a commercial spot, I want you to feel you’ve got a better grasp of why you are moving the camera – and critically – how best to engage and keep the attention of your audience through your work, which is the number one challenge we ALL face today, in the distraction age, where attention spans are measured in seconds.

It was a couple of years ago when I was last in Australia and I am EXTREMELY excited to be returning. I hope to meet as many of you as I can while I’m out there. More info can be found on the workshop site.

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