Nick Gleis has been widely acclaimed as the best aircraft photographer in the world. His transcendent images of airplanes rise to the level of fine art, embodying a unique combination of masterful lighting, brilliant composition, and above all, a deep emotional quality that engages the heart of the viewer. He has earned the highest accolades from a host of prominent publications.
His outstanding work has been featured in such premier photography festivals as the Brighton Photo Biennial in the United Kingdom, and articles about his work have appeared in such international publications as Wired Magazine, Gulf Life (Middle East), Un Jour Magazine (France), Gawker (UK), China National Travel Magazine (China), The Telegraph (UK), Airplanista Magazine, Business Jet Interiors International (UK), and Playboy. He is a five-time winner of the highly distinguished Aurora Award for Professional Photography, and he has garnered many other national and international awards. He has also guest lectured at such prestigious institutions as The Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles.
Gleis took college photo courses over a two-year period, giving him a solid grounding in the fundamentals of photography. But what inspired him most as an artist was being trained and mentored by such world-renowned masters as Ansel Adams, Al Weber, and Jerry Uelsmann.
“I never graduated from high school,” he says with a smile. “School wasn’t my bag, but my father was a very powerful attorney in Los Angeles and he had his heart set on ‘Gleis and Son.’ He made a deal with the dean of S.C. Law School that if I took the LSAT’s (Law School Aptitude Test) and aced it, he’d admit me, but I’d still need to get a GED. I’m sure the dean thought I’d fail and he could tell my dad he’d tried. Oops, I aced it. Well almost. I was in the 94% bracket in everything but English. The dean said if I took English and English Literature classes at Santa Monica College and did well, he’d admit me. Two English classes were hardly a full curriculum, so I had a lot of time on my hands and I took a photo class. The only photos I had taken up to that time were shot with a Kodak instamatic, but I thought the ability to take a decent photograph might come in handy someday. The following year I dropped the English and began to study photography full-time. I never looked back.”
“During the two years I spent studying photography at Santa Monica College, I worked for a photographer as a lab tech,” Gleis recalls. “I got the job through a referral by Huntington Witherill, a truly great photographer and a close friend. We soon became engrossed in Ansel Adams’ Zone System and spent countless hours trying to grasp what seemed to be a very complicated system of exposure, development, and printing of black and white images. We attended many workshops held at The Ansel Adams Gallery in Yosemite Valley, or with Ansel himself as the instructor. I got to know Ansel quite well and eventually came to understand the Zone System. Soon after graduation, the photographer I had been working for decided to leave the area and I took over the studio. I was unskilled, under-financed, and young, but lucky, so that venture lasted about five years. A year later I went to work for Photographic Illustration Company (PIC), in Burbank, California as their Director of Photography. After four years at PIC, I went back to having my own business. By the time I started my own business again I had photographed a half dozen aircraft and secured AiResearch Aviation (the largest aircraft completion center at the time) as a client.”
Nick Gleis’s aircraft photography really took off after that point — pun absolutely intended — and it still soars high above the rest. For more than 30 years he’s provided exclusive photographs of private jets for original equipment manufacturers including Gulfstream, Boeing, Falcon Jet, Cessna, Bombardier, Eclipse, Lear, and others. He has also photographed over 900 private jets, ranging from the Lear 20 series to Boeing 747-400s. For his corporate jet clients, he has produced, managed, and delivered thousands of color prints for marketing and sales, and has also produced and installed large-scale custom-made photographic wall décor for hangars, corporate lobbies, and offices.
In addition, Gleis has provided exclusive photographic services to aircraft completion centers worldwide, including Gulfstream Aerospace, AiResearch Aviation, The Jet Center, Associated Air Center, Comlux USA, Falcon Jet, Gore Design Completions, Aloft AeroArchitects, and Jet Aviation – Basel. He has also engaged in many in-flight, air-to-air missions, capturing stunning images of aircraft in flight using such chase aircraft as a B-25 Bomber, a Lear 35 with special optics, and Gulfstream IIIs and IVs.
In short, Gleis has photographed more single and double aisle airplanes than anyone else on the planet. “It’s not as easy as it looks,” he says. “You need to know it all: the capabilities of the aircraft, the current electrical systems, the sophisticated lighting controls, what’s available on board from an aesthetic point of view, and what images matter to the aircraft completion centers and designers. It takes years and years to figure all that out. Inexperienced photographers are simply overwhelmed by the sheer size and luxury of the aircraft.” On the commercial side, Gleis has photographed products for such household name clients as General Electric, Mobil Oil, RCA, United Technology, International Aero Engineering, Warner Lambert, Asprey London Ltd., Coca Cola, Sara Lee, Whirlpool, Pennzoil, and Seagrams Corporation.
Although he acquired his chops during the analog era, Nick Gleis is also a world leader in digital imaging. Beginning in 1990, he worked closely with Miller Color Lab and Eastman Kodak to develop a method for transferring negative film-based images to digital form for enhancement – then back to negative film for photographic output. He has also developed a proprietary method for pixel-based image enhancement that is unequalled. Nick Gleis Photography was one of the first firms to make the transition to all-digital photography, and it continues to provide a level of electronic imaging expertise that few others can match.
Since early 2014, Gleis has aligned himself with various companies devoted to producing professional, state-of-the-art video and still photography using quadcopter drones as a platform. After hundreds of hours of training and experimentation, he has captured exceptional aerial images and videos for various commercial clients, highlighting their products in soaring, imaginative ways. In 2016, the FAA granted him a remote pilot license, allowing him to fly drones and unmanned aircraft for commercial purposes, and he continues to perfect his unique methods of drone flight.
Nick Gleis relies on two different cameras for most of his work—a Sony A7R II, his go-to camera when he’s shooting on a tripod for the best possible image quality, and a Canon EOS 1DX when he’s moving around and shooting handheld.
“I have a full complement of Canon L lenses ranging from the 14mm to the 600mm,” he notes. “I also have several Sony lenses, and a Canon EOS 1Ds Mark III that I carry as a backup camera. In addition, I have 12 GoPro cameras that are primarily used for time-lapse photography, and five drones that are mostly used indoors for capturing staging and lighting. I am essentially an old studio photographer so I have enough lighting to create my own aurora borealis. I use mostly Norman strobes and have many LED lights as well. I have a lot of powerful lights because I come from a film world where lots of lights were needed. The equipment is heavy and now often unnecessary, but who knows, someone might want a building lit at night sometime. I can do it!”
“After 30+ years of photographing more than 1,000 aircraft, my motivation remains the same as the first plane I ever shot,” Gleis continues. “I aim to produce an image that allows viewers to transport themselves to the interior. I want them to be able to smell the leather, feel the silk carpet and bask in the warm lighting and comfortable furniture. I don’t climb aboard an aircraft and take 25 snapshots to get one. I study the layout of the aircraft and discuss the features of the interior prior to ever seeing the actual subject. When I get aboard I have a shot list. My crew and I know exactly what each shot we will take to insure optimal results. Unfortunately, many clients have been seduced by the “more is better” factor and want to know why they should pay me for 10 photos, when they can get 25 for the same price. The erroneous conclusion is that more must be better. But you can’t do what I do in the time frame I do it in by just pointing a camera and clicking the shutter. That’s why my results are superior every time.”
“I was in the process of writing a book about my experiences when the driving force behind the book passed away, and so did the book about my life’s experiences,” recalls Gleis. “However, one of the chapters in the book is my Ten Commandments of Photography. Please refer to the Second Commandment, Previsualization is Paramount to a Great Image, the commandment that best describes how I build images and what style I use to bring each image to life. The overriding commandment that supersedes all others: Lighting is everything. That is the number one commandment.”
“Technology has a very sharp double-edged sword,” concludes Nick Gleis. “Technology has allowed photographers, including me, to create images they could only dream of just a few years back. On the other hand legions of phone zombies now wander aimlessly caught in the headlight of a small handheld gadget. That device has compelled us, or trapped us, into embracing mediocrity. No longer do you have to know anything about light, composition or exposure to get an image. Photographs all too often are just records of what’s there. Good photographs are not taken; they are created. Great images are compelling, and human beings respond to beautiful things, so a great photograph of something or someone is inevitably an emotional experience. All the photographs taken for my clients seek to achieve that goal. For the moment, the professional photographic world seems a harsh and cold place to be. The tsunami of images instantly available on the Internet combined with the general acceptance of mediocrity paint a dim light on the future. However, there will always be plenty of people willing to throw off the chains and produce truly exciting photographs. I hope to remain one of those people. “
To find out more about Nick Gleis and see more of his work, please go to: BizJetPhotos.com, NicksPhoto.com, and Nicksprints.com. You can also find him on Facebook, but he doesn’t publish much due to client confidentiality.
