News

Doug Coulter Delivers Aerodynamics in the Air and on Land

Mar 25, 2010

Doug Coulter created these images both as a personal project, and “parts” of the images for separate jobs. "I’m always amazed at things you can do when you ask and how people can jump on board to projects and ideas.", say Coulter.

"The bike shot was taken as part of an ad campaign for a bike distributor in the southeast. The bike at the time was considered the fastest bike made. It had amazing innovations in aerodynamics and functional design.

Coulter continues to describe the experience, "This particular bike was the prototype and we had to go through living hell to have the bike delivered. Surprisingly, it was delivered to a local bike shop. I wouldn’t have been surprised if a guy in a three-piece suit and white gloves delivered it. To get it to the studio I put it on my bike rack on top of my car. Driving down the street with a bike that was worth three times what my car was worth was quite an experience. The shot its self, is…a picture of a bike, which is basically all they asked for. However, I spent numerous hours doing multiple exposures to create a more 3-D effect. It was fun! I like challenges even when I’m only challenging myself."

The "Runway" image which was intended to be one element of a collage for another one of Coulter's client. "My best friend's dad was a commercial pilot so the concept of finding a runway didn’t seem to be a difficult task. After contacting every local airport I realized that it was going to be close to impossible.

On the last phone call, however, without even really explaining what I wanted to do they said “sure…come any time!” Not believing it to be true, I emailed some images I had so they could have a better idea of what I was hoping for. When I arrived to shoot, they had assigned me a prison trustee to drive me around the runways while they shut down the entire airport while I was shooting. They didn’t give me any time limit and I had the feeling the trustee was happy to not being doing whatever his normal job was.

While I was shooting my friend Paul saw some birds frantically flying around with a bald eagle chasing them. It was a spectacular sight. Luckily I came to my senses and got a few frames with the eagle in them. It amazes me the combination of things that can come together without being planned."