I was fortunate enough to be taken on by the NGO Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) as their official photographer for one of its recent missions. Usually they have a full-time filmmaker on board, but the NGOs directors understood the need of having high quality still images as well, and that those images could help save lives. Though I’d witnessed several rescue operations out at sea before, I had never managed to get up close until this day.
I joined the first responders sent out on a rigid-hulled inflatable boat to investigate the situation. I shot everything on RAW and used a high shutter speed, given that I wasn’t on the steadiest of platforms, often holding on to a railing with one hand and lifting the camera and shooting with the other. Usually I prefer to shoot on manual exposure, but given that we were bouncing around and the light was constantly changing, I decided to use the shutter priority mode set to a high speed. Any exposure errors I’d have made could easily be corrected using Canon’s Digital Photo Professional 4 RAW conversion software.

Canon EOS-5D Mk III
Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L II USM
Focal length 16mm
Shutter priority
Aperture f/7.1
Shutter 1/4000 sec
ISO 400