Lansdown secures star photographer for new Nikon spot

The fashion photographer, Alastair Thain, has donated his services

free of charge to shoot Nikon’s latest television commercial featuring a

93-year-old pensioner.

The film, which was created by Lansdown Conquest, was shot using a

camera which takes only still - not moving - pictures. Designed to

highlight the Nikon F5’s rapid wind-on feature, it traces the simple

journey of an old lady along the seafront at Cleethorpes.

’You are watching a modern-day miracle,’ the voice-over says, as the

pensioner makes her slow but contented progress along the promenade,

’because this film was shot on a camera that only takes stills.’

The camera then moves towards a large mirror, revealing no cameraman -

just Thain wielding a Nikon F5. ’Technically the quickest camera in the

world,’ the voiceover concludes.

The film was written by Dave Bell and stars his grandmother, Eva

Bell.

It was art directed by Jim Bucktin.

Together, they persuaded Thain to shoot the commercial without the use

of special effects.

More than 200 rolls of 35mm film were developed for the commercial, in

rolls of 36 shots each. These were spliced, graded for colour and edited

by SVC Television, which also donated its time free-of-charge because of

the unusual nature of the project.

The commercial breaks this week on Sky Television and will run again

after Christmas. It is targeted at serious amateur and professional

photographers.

This article was first published on Campaign