Helos Around the World - Ned's Collection
 

As most of you know I have been travelling the world shooting these rotary winged marvels for a number of decades. Well after chatting with Senior Pilot am starting this thread which I will keep adding to during my world travels, showing the men/women and machines of this industry. Its a great industry to be a part of whether you are flying Robbies/Cabris at one end or the S92 and H225s at the other end. Each machine has its place and thats why we capture images from all parts of the spectrum. Thanks Senior Pilot and hope everyone enjoys the threads as I keep adding to it from both past and present images.

These first ones are from a shoot I did with Everett Aviation and Bristow in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. They were operating AW139s out to a drill ship off the coast of Tanzania down towards Mozambique.

Once we got back from the offshore stuff managed to grab a few air to air shots of my camera ship (The H145) and Everetts AS355N. The helipad is in the middle of Dar Es Salaam and on top of the Holiday Inn I think. We managed to find a taller building nearby and got permission to shoot from its roof as the H145 did some approaches and take offs below.

These few were from a shoot with Helisud Maroc in Marrakech, Morocco. Owned by some very good friends Auerlie and Daniel it went on to become Heliconia and they now operate a number of AW139s as well as a lot of light singles. This EC130 ended up with HeliFrance at their base in Paris for a while where I shot it again but not sure where it is now. Great country for backdrops to shoot against, especially up in the Atlas Mountains.

This was one of the more unique paint schemes I shot - a B3 in South Africa. I think it was Mike Bissit or Bissict that was flying it. Looked great over green backdrops.

These few images are from one of my trips to Afghanistan with the US State Dept - INL Air Wing crews and their Huey IIs. These specific images are from a few days in Kabul. Some amazing scenery.

This was a seriously awesome shoot. We were south of Bloemfontein in South Africa. Thys Potgieter was flying the 300 and the R44 over a couple of days doing dart work for a private game reserve. They were darting Rhinos, Giraffe, Kudu and some other animals. The Rhinos had trackers put into their horns which enabled the game farm to keep track of where they were at all times - essential when protecting them from the poachers. Bring up beside these amazing creatures when they were sedated was a pretty cool experience. Mind you one did wake up a lot quicker than they thought and I have never run so fast in my life :eek:

Awsome pictures Ned !!! Keeep them coming
Best regards

Spent a week with the team at OnAir Tours in Livingstone, Zambia a while ago. They had a couple of EC130B4s and an EC120. Such an amazing place to shoot over Victoria Falls. The flights at dawn and sunset were something pretty special. Sitting in the open doorway of the EC120 over the top of Vic Falls you had to pinch yourself to make sure you were awake. We shot both in the Upper Zambezi river and also did some low level stuff in the lower Zambezi. The tiger fishing is awesome there.

A few years ago here in New Zealand OutGro Aviation (MK1) had a couple of R66s on ag work. Spent a couple of days with the guys shooting down near Port Waikato. Was impressed with the R66 as an ag machine, there are a few of them here in NZ. Here they are spraying liquid Fert.

Have had the privilege to shoot this private owners helicopters in Dubai for many years now. These ones are from back in 06 when we shot the first AW139 they got. You can see the Palm still being built in the background.

Few years ago Columbia Helicopters had a Vertol 107 based in NZ doing utility work. I got to shoot them putting in some ski lift towers near Queenstown.

Lloyd Ferguson has a uniquely coloured MD500D here in New Zealand. We did an impromptu shoot of it along with a C model that was locally based back then.

If there is anything specific you would like to see from my shoots let me know and will see what I can dig out.

Brilliant photos Ned ... Thanks for taking the time to share. More please, as and when you have time! :ok:

what a great incentive! i'll be joining you one day in the next 2-5 years! :ok:

Few from the south of France.

Going forward just going to upload batches of 5 images from my travels - they could be from anywhere, could be artistic ones, could be anything. Better to post small batches rather than you having to wait for ages for 20 or 30 photos to load.

Cheers.

Ned

Few artistic images.

Batch of vertical format images, enjoy.

Another batch of vertical format images. Enjoy.

Todays Batch of Five. Enjoy.

Todays batch - posted from onboard Cathay Pacific A350 between Auckland and Hong Kong :ok:

Enjoy.

Thanks Ned...
Keep 'em coming.
What camera are you using and how much gear are you lugging around with you on your shoots?

Had the pleasure of flying Ned recently for a shoot out of our new B3 and I was pleasantly surprised at how little he carries considering the shots he manages to get!

Great thread Ned!

Thanks Ned, this is a real treat. Also very much enjoyed your article on "The Art of Helicopter Photography" on the latest HeliOps! :ok:

Helisecuritie's Bell 429 during a shoot off the coast of Saint Tropez. Always fun playing with new angles.

Flyting - I use a couple of Nikon D5 bodies, was using a 24-70 2.8L and a 70-200 2.8L Nikon lens but just bought the new Sigma 120-300 2.8 lens the other day so going to try that one out where I am shooting for the next couple of days.

A throw back to a shoot I did with Falcon Aviation a number of years ago. Their 412s in front of the hockey puck building in Abu Dhabi.

Military pic for a change - this was taken during visit to South Korea a few years back. Couple of UH60s with the yellow markings on them.

One of my all time fav pics. Out with Duncan Sutherland shooting him doing some burn off work north of Masterton in New Zealand. This was burning off the slash after a timber block had been felled.

waiting for the helifor series 500s in canada, Ned...

Sneak peek of what I am currently shooting :ok:

Kiwi based Lama I spent couple of days with. Now retired and being refurbished for a new aviation museum.

This was from a shoot I did with Bristow when they got the first S76D into their fleet.

This was from a shoot long time ago along the beaches in Fort Lauderdale. The 430 was owned by Wayne Heizinger and the EC130 was with a company called Helishuttle. I think it ended up being involved in an accident at Homestead Raceway when it collided with another helicopter while landing.

One from a more recent shoot with the crews at Babcock Australasia and their new H175s that were about to head over to Dili, Timor.