UP UP UP WITH ASCENT

Ascent is probably one of the coolest companies to ever do anything at all with. Specially when you’re me. Ascent Safety are specialized in height safety, rescue and medical first aid. When they need photos this means it is NEVER boring.

A whole day of shooting in the Electriciteitsfabriek with my models Rob, Corné, Dennis and Michel was epic. I am still not over how relaxed, professional and together these people all were.

We started the day on the actual floor. With a briefing. Tessa made the schedule and we made sure everyone (mostly me) knew what was going to happen. So this is Michel, tasked with not only modelling proper radio behavior, but also making sure I got up to where I needed to be safely.

I wish I could tell you more about what is happening, but I can’t. There’s just so much knowledge and technique that goes into all this. Let alone the experience to be doing it all with a smile on your face. Meet Corné!

And there’s Corné again. This location was just great, not only gorgeous but it had a lot of stairs so I could follow the guys around quite well (it’s different when they’re on a building!).

Corné is inspecting the building for us here. Almost all shots worked in BW so well.

I tend to photograph everything from the big impressive wide shots to the details. I remember learning some knots, but now imagine having to know em so well you would put your life and others on them?

Speaking of! We did a rescue scenario as well. Here we see Michel rescuing Dennis. Don’t worry, Corné made sure I was not tumbling down any stairs. Did you know this is the company that also trains the height rescue team you’ve seen me photograph?

So this is the first time I’ve seen this with an actual person, and not a dummy! It gives the photo a lot more punch for sure.

Meet Rob. Casually chilling on this beam. I had just passed this beam going up with their ascender. I can assure you, it is not a casual beam.

When I say ‘their’ power ascender I do mean that. They invent their own products. What. The. Heck.

Dennis inspecting something, with aforementioned ascender. This means you basically get a personal elevator on a rope. WHUT!

This was one of the last scenarios of the day we did. Sometimes it’s not up, but down. In real life mechanics and people working in these types of places can fall DOWN something just as they can get hurt ON TOP of something. That means a whole different bunch of skills is needed.

When the shoot was over I was officially beat. I love getting into all types of different worlds and creating something with the people in them. For this team, this is daily life. And they rock it.

Thanks a TON, for making me feel safe enough to do my job.

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