Client: Booking.com of Mammoth Cave National Park.
Booking.com is a website for finding discount hotel rooms, flights, car rentals, house rentals and attractions all on one digital platform.
Mammoth Cave National Park is home to the longest cave system in the world.
Assignment:
Booking.com approached Snapwire (Snapwire is a recruiter for creative freelancers) with a request for images of U.S. National Parks. Mammoth Cave National Park, featuring the worlds longest known cave system, was on the list. Booking.com needed their own unique photographs to showcase the attractions, visitor experience and facilities of the park. I responded to the brief due to my close proximity to Mammoth Cave National Park as well as my travel photography experience. The brief called for just over 100 images that represented the specific visual style of the Booking.com brand. They desired a variety of authentic, editorial, timeless images.
Challenges:
The client desired editorial images that included visitors taking part in activities and points of interest within the park. Many challenges arose: Due to the editorial nature, people could not be recognizable in the images. Also, the park does not allow any of their employees or Park Rangers to sign a model release. Secondly, the photos needed to be timeless, therefore I could not have any technology, such as cell phones, in the shots. Furthermore, inside the cave system, tripods and professional lighting setups are not allowed. Lastly, all tours are guided and there is not much option to stop and take some time in any chosen area of the cave.
I took two cave tours the day of the photoshoot. The first tour was 2 hours long and had about 100 people on the tour (the park was very busy, with a lot of crowds that day). I photographed hand held, no flash, and on a high ISO setting (the digital sensors sensitivity to light). I had to be very aware of the positioning of lighting they already had in place within the cave. Most areas were simply too dark to photograph. I also had to pay close attention to visitors turned heads, movement (as this causes an unnatural motion blur) and the use of cell phones. I must say, I love a good challenge! And the cave was absolutely amazing to see and experience. It was a lot to photograph in one day but my schedule and budget only allowed for a one day photo shoot. More, when I arrived at the park, it was pouring down rain! Thankfully, by the time my first tour was over, the rain had let up a bit and by the afternoon I had blue skies and sunshine. Overall, I was very pleased with how the photographs turned out considering the number of challenges.
Final Product:
The client received all final photographs through Snapwire’s digital platform. All photographs are licensed with a copyright buyout from Booking.com
All images are Copyright © Booking.com All Rights Reserved.