Palladian had worked with Ahiflower before, with great success so when they contacted us again for a further shoot, we were only too happy to oblige.

Ahiflower operate within the health and wellness sector, and have a very close relationship with a number of Independent British farmers who grow their crop; the ahiflower. Their brand is built around a number of key concepts, but sustainability, the natural environment and healthy choices are at the heart of what they do. Therefore it was important that we reflected these values in anything we shot for them.

What’s the subject?

The majority of the filming would be of the crop itself; three fields in and around Cambridge.

Working with nature

Working with the natural environment, timing becomes integral, and all the more so when you’re responding to a brief in the multidisciplinary way we were. We’d be filming, shooting stills and flying the drone in the air, all at the same time. How? It always comes back down to good organisation and keeping your timings water tight.

For the crop we needed a dynamic light, and this was only going to happen at sunrise or sunset. Therefore during preproduction we had to look closely at each site’s orientation in terms of the light specifically, as well as factoring in set-up times (particularly for the drone) into our schedule.

As with any field, the Ahiflower crop attracts a lot of insects which help to pollinate the crop and the wider local environment. Insects are integral to the whole growing process, so we were keen to capture some macro action. However, shooting insects outside of a studio can be incredibly difficult and time consuming. In comes a specialist probe lens.

Specialised Gear

The Laowa 24mm macro lens

• Probably the most unique macro lens currently available.
• With its unorthodox design, it gives the ability to get very close to insects without disturbing them due to its extended barrel, meaning you stay further away from the action, but the lens can get into all those tight and hard to reach areas.
• Traditionally, macro lenses have quite a tight perspective, but the Laowa has a 24mm field of view, so you really do get a ‘bug eye view’.

We’d long had our eye on this lens, and with the production being more than ideal for making the most of its unique features it was a done deal.

You can watch the video we produced for Ahiflower below: