Photographing an iconic landmark — Ben Harvey Photography

The reflective signage and underside of the pod meet

*all images shown are copyright of British Airways i360 & Ben Harvey Photography*

My take on Photography is that I photograph what I like, and if other people like it, great. And recently this has been paying off. It is the perfect scenario really, rather than catering to trends or what you think other people will like.

I shoot landscapes and architecture, because this is what I like to do, to get out of the house and away from the computer screen.

Sunstar peaking around the corner of the pod

Poker face

I was contacted by a marketing agency, with the promise of a challenge - but I had to agree to a non-disclosure agreement before they would tell me what the gig was. Of course, they peaked my interest, so I signed the document over a coffee and the team told me that I was going to be the official photographer for the British Airways i360 marketing campaign. I am not sure how much I managed to hold back my smile, but I think I would have lost that round of poker!

So, all of those hours spent photographing the i360 for fun has resulted in a commission. Essentially doing work for free to build my portfolio has resulted in a stronger body of work for my website, and that is how they found me. They showed me a selection of the images that they found on the internet when doing their research on photographers, some names that I recognise from local meet-ups and social media groups. But on this occasion I somehow won the project. There was some tough competition.

The red ‘after-burner’ lights remain on all night

So, what is the gig?

A variety of content, ranging from portraits, social media imagery, landscapes with the i360 within view, panoramic images for large media prints, shots within the pod, the views and video/timelapses. My client, the marketing agency, showed me some images of the i360 being struck by lightning and joked whether I could conjure up some lightning. Stay tuned for some magic!

I fire up the old hard drives and send them my back catalogue of i360 photographs (never published) and they find some images that suit the brief. Winning. They send through a brief for the first round of images, primarily being wide shots showing the scale of the i360 from all angles. Not just wide, but they said they wanted epic images…no pressure.

The i360 framed by the original West Pier columns to the south

A unique long exposure of the pod captured on it’s way up

I am told that one of my images will be printed around 14 metres wide, which I can confidently say is a personal best! My wallet starts to twitch and I wonder whether my 30 Megapixel Canon is going to be enough. Gordon Laing, a friend and camera tester, has the new Fuji 100 Megapixel camera on loan. “Gordon, any chance that I could borrow that camera for a shoot?” It’s already been sent back. I shoot some panoramic images with my tilt shift lens and stitch them together, it works a treat!

I have had this idea in my head for a while, blending the same composition day and night…

iDrop

4:30 alarm, get there for sunrise - the pod needs to be open and running for the general public as per usual.

The first of the portraits that I need to capture are those abseiling off the i360 for charity. They call it ‘iDrop. Today’s brave lot are from the MS Centre, Sussex. I am asked to get some photographs of the experience and also document the views in all directions. I had the added benefit of the eastern double doors being open at the top, therefore no glass in the way of the view.

The drop was a massive success and everyone celebrated when we collected at the bottom. I shared the images with them so that they could generate as much money as possible for their charity.

Back to my comfort zone

Next up, the marketing team requested some images of the i360 within it’s context. Longer landscapes, rather than close up wide shots. This is what I do for fun.

I head out a few hours before sunset and set up on the Palace pier, ride music playing in the background. The sunset is an absolute flop. The sun sinks into a bank of clouds on the horizon and puts out any colour that there might have been in the sky. I make the most of the situation and create the above long exposure. I have parked near the i360, so I head back in that direction and capture the below twilight images which turned out alright!

The i360 framed by fallen parts of the West Pier re-erected in the sculpture

Try and try again

I am not a quitter, so I return back to the Palace pier three times that week at sunset, the second visit was even worse and the third visit was not looking promising. But then the direction of the wind changed and all of the clouds got into position.

The image that is printed on to the front of i360 today.

I could keep on going back and back, but the client actually liked this one enough to have it printed on the front of the i360 - you will see that there today.

“We need you to photograph it at eye level”

How do you photograph something that is taller than everything else in the area? Some of the surrounding buildings are relatively tall, but in comparison the British Airways i360 is 143m high! You might say, use a drone Ben. This was a bigger challenge than it would perhaps be worth. Previous pilots that produced aerial footage/images of the i360 had launched from the beach, with the permission of the West Pier Trust, to then fly over the promenade and follow the pod up. The client wanted the view to the east to be in the shot, and they wanted the i360 to be occupied and look busy. Blue skies are a must also.

If you combine all of these elements, we would have to photograph it at sunset, otherwise we would be shooting into the sun. But at sunset in the summer, the i360 is very busy, as is the beach; making it an almost impossible task. This would take a lot of coordination, and I would have to bring in someone with a commercial drone license. I decided that we would be much better off talking our way onto one of the neighbouring roof tops and controlling the height of the i360 to suit the photograph. The hotels opposite have a great view of the pod, however the backdrop would not show any of it’s context - just the wind farm out in the ocean. I put a call-out on social media and another kind photographer provided me with access to the roof top of Embassy Court. More winning. But now I was quite far away from the i360 and I only had a 70-200mm lens. I get on the phone to MPB photographic and they have one Canon 100-400 in stock, “I will take it.” It arrives the next day and at sunset I am on the roof taking these images.

More abseiling…however

“This time Ben, we would like to you be harnessed up and dangle your feet off the edge and shoot the view down”. Sure, why not. I like heights! I am joking, I don’t like heights, but it was a challenge and I was totally up for it. The abseiling group this time had some fantastic fancy-dress characters, my personal favourite was Spider Man; seen here looking down and realising what he had agreed to!

The photograph of my feet was meant to be a sunset image, but one of the ladies abseiling was stood on the edge for 20 minutes contemplating whether she can do it. She didn’t jump, it was painful to watch. By the time everyone had ‘dropped’ it was twilight and it was my turn. It was a great experience, but the image could be a lot better if I had the opportunity to repeat.

Bring in the models

The marketing agency were looking for some updated people photographs, the usual shots of the family, kids, drinking champagne, looking in amazement at the views etc. They also organised a few surprises in the form of children in space-suits, a captains outfit and various fancy dress costumes to create some unique exciting images. The portraits were split over three different sittings, at first were the hired models, secondly I photographed a lovely family of four, and finally a small group of children that were enjoying their summer holidays off school!

Each of the photohoots came with their own challenges, but the team were there to help manage the children and keep their attention for long enough to get the photos.

Did I mention that there was lightning?

Yes, the client joked about conjuring up some lightning, but it actually happened in the window that I was working on the project. I live a few mile out of town, but as soon as I saw the storm kicking off, I grabbed my camera bag and rushed down to the seafront. I set my camera up on my lightning-attracting tripod and continued to create long exposures in the hope that lighting struck during the exposure. It did. Evidence below.

The ‘other shots’

I had some down-time before my next photoshoot, they suggested that I get a few images for social media posts, and I said that I had a few images that I wanted to get whilst I had my all access pass to the pod whenever I wanted. Tripods aren’t allowed in the pod, so this was my opportunity for some unique images that you won’t see anywhere else.

Yoga in the sky

My final task was to photograph some yoga instructors early before the pod opened to the public. It was a scorching day, and the air conditioning was being fixed whilst the photoshoot was happening. It was more like Hot Yoga!

The instructors were very used to being in front of the camera and they just cracked on with their routine whilst I snapped away. Much easier than working with the children models! We deliberately took the pod up half way, so that you could still see the view. Any higher and the backdrop would just be sky. Technically removing the reflections is impossible, a polariser will help, but it only removes glare, not 100% of the reflections. The reflections vary throughout the day, depending upon the weather conditions and whether you have the sun behind/in front/side. Curved glass is THE challenge of photographing inside the i360.

The end…

So, this project is over for now. The marketing campaign has definitely gone live, I was constantly being bombarded with my own images via social media - because I mentioned i360 so many times. Even writing i360 here will inevitably increase the amount of adverts again. Keep an eye out for these images scattered around London, Brighton and on social media and let me know where you spot them!

Thank you to all of the marketing team at the i360 and agency. I look forward to working with you again on the next project!

Thanks for reading.