I waited a long time to post this. In May of 2019 I photographed some work for Comair.
Most of this work never saw the light of day as far as I am aware, because of the issues within Comair and it eventually - as of writing this - shutting down because of bankruptcy.

I am incredibly proud of the body of work that was shot over 3 days and 2 months. Day 1 and 2 were the flight simulation images and the cabin crew. Day 3, which was photographed two months later was for their Travel & Tourism sector of the business.

As far as I can recall, we started Day 1 very early - 4:30am if my calendar is to be believed - because there are several slots booked each day where the pilots have to do their training and early morning was the best time for us to start. This was both due to of the availability of pilots we could use as stand-ins for the images and also getting interior images without training taking place.

This was the newest addition to the simulator as seen from outside. You can actually see it on your left hand side driving in the direction of Pretoria when you leave OR Tambo Airport

The simulator viewed from up-close with it’s hydraulics to simulate turns and turbulence . I recall being inside of it when the pilots demonstrated going through some turbulence. It is quite interesting and there is a weird sensory deprivation that happens whilst you’re inside

Day 2 involved the Cabin Crew being photographed in both the exterior and interior of a Boeing 737.

Day 2 was the longest of all the days. We had 11 subjects to photograph and they were scattered throughout the day. If memory serves they were all either in training to become Cabin Crew or had recently completed training.

Photographing inside the cabin was a bit of a challenge as you can imagine - which also reminds me - that was the trickiest part of the Simulator interiors.

That is one of the upsides of using small and compact speedlights and using your environment to your advantage. The cabin being mostly white inside, I could bounce the light and it filled the cabin with beautiful soft light inside. I also used a small beauty dish as a kicker.

Work needs to be both challenging and fun I believe. What I really liked about this specific job was the challenges it presented. Lighting small confined spaces with people and also lighting massive machinery, not only the simulators, but even the side of the Boeing in the hangar.

We used the SLOW in the City offices for Day 3. We shot this on a Saturday, because they were closed so we had free reign of the space.

Thanks for reading.