Capturing the Night. New York, Las Vegas vs San Francisco

Vincent Laforet raised more than 50 times to a helicopter at high hours of the night to obtain these images to 3000 meters on the level of the ground. Their weapons, cameras such as the Canon 1DX and the Mamiya Leaf Credo 50 MP back- both capable of shooting relatively clean files at 3200 & 6400 ISO and a series of f2.8 to f1.2 lenses including a few tilt-shift lenses. Through security, the cameras and Vincent were safely harnessed in at all times.

With his flights, he has created two series of images, on the one hand those of the compact city of New York and for other one, and photographed from a still major height, of the disperse city of Las Vegas.

How the idea was prepared?:

"I was recently on assignment for Men's Health Magazine and I proposed shooting the city from an unusually high altitude so that we could capture the lines that are formed by the streets of New York at night.  It was an article about psychology and I've always thought that from a high altitude the streets looked like brain "synapses" - at least to me."

"My cameras & I were safely harnessed in at all times. The pilot was top notch. The wind was… Well it was a factor."

"Armed with cameras such as the Canon 1DX and the Mamiya Leaf Credo 50 MP back- both capable of shooting relatively clean files at 3200 & 6400 ISO and a series of f2.8 to f1.2 lenses including a few tilt-shift lenses."
 

The result:
 

"The complexity of this city is even more impressive from above than it is from closeup on the ground as your can truly appreciate its incredible scale."

"These are pictures I've wanted to make since I was in my teens, but the cameras simply have not been capable of capturing aerial images from a helicopter at night until very recently."

"But the real scary part was that there's just simply nothing quite like leaning out of that chopper over the sea of darkness and light,  held in only by a full body harness… There is no chance that you will fall. But you DO think about the fall."

"I've flown on "aerial missions" over The Big Apple more than 50 times[…]and this was by far the most frightening flight of all."

"I was finally able to capture some of the images that I've dreamed of capturing for decades."

Future plans:
 

"Ultimately this is a flight I will never forget. These are some of the most unique images that I have ever photographed of New York City in nearly two decades... And I'm not sure if, and, or when I'll ever go back up that high above Gotham…"

"But something tells me this won't be my last flight up there... Just maybe not that high…"
 

For that they have remained hooked on Laforet's images, which do not fall in discouragement because he  has admitted, although it's too early to officially announce just yet, several sponsors have already expressed interest in taking this series abroad… even it is probable that we see some european city photographed.
 

• San Francisco, CA - Jan 22 & Feb 19 2015 - 6:30 pm - Altitude 7,200 feet.-

The first memory that I have of San Francisco is of the fresh pine smell from the Eucalyptus & Pine Trees at the Presidio. After moving to New York from Paris, San Francisco was my first real trip as a child and the city is burned into my memory.
 

• Las Vegas, NV - January 24, 2015 - 7 pm - Altitude 10,800 feet.-

I'm calling this series of Las Vegas images Sin City, but I might as well have called it Sim City after the popular video game.

It took us 45 minutes to get far enough away from downtown and to an elevation of 10,800 feet in our helicopter - or 8,799 feet above Las Vegas which itself is 2,001 feet above sea level.