(ABOVE: The bloke on his knees in the blue parka is yours truly, trying to frame his shot in faux-hurricane conditions before the crew shoots the scene. Above photo courtesy Rachel Jacob; all others James Gaffney Photography LLC)

Temperamental movie stars are par for the course in the intensely creative, insanely stressful filmmaking industry. Yet there seems something sooo prima donna-ish when the star steadfastly refuses to crawl inside a tipped-over trash bin. All the more so when it’s a key scene in the script.

But then this was no ordinary leading actor -- it was a trained raccoon. Bandit-mask eyes. Long whiskers. Cute as all get-go. And it wasn't just any ordinary scene. That is, unless you define ordinary as mammoth fan turbines churning out hurricane-force winds and firefighter hoses opened at full blast to simulate torrential, cyclone-like rain. All of this employed by a French film company to create a hurricane documentary.

In August 2012, Excelsior Productions beat a path to New Orleans specifically to film and document approaching Hurricane Isaac, a Category 2 storm that hit Louisiana causing 41 fatalities and $2.4 billion in damages. An estimated 4,000 Louisiana National Guard troops were activated for the occasion. Yeah, it was that bad. Needing additional storm footage, the crew returned to the Big Easy in April 2014 and spent two weeks shooting scenes under simulated hurricane conditions in Plaquemines Parish and downtown New Orleans.

When I was hired to shoot unit stills for the day of the hurricane scene in downtown New Orleans, I jumped at the chance. Little did I know what was involved in photographing under these conditions even in a parka and with my camera safely ensconced in a waterproof pouch. The wind turbines alone were nearly deafening (wish I had thought to bring earplugs). But holding one index finger in my good ear while using the other to click the camera shutter must have surely impressed the French and British crew as diabolically clever.

In between shoots it was fascinating to watch the crew and local special-effects team create what was, in every real sense of the term, bona-fide hurricane conditions. The pair of wind-generating fans (see below) were fixed on the block-long street that had been cordoned off for the shoot. A trio of water jets jutting into the sky mixed with street-level, firefighting-force water hoses worked in tandem to create the deluge.

Meantime the crew's uber-advanced video camera was safeguarded in specially designed plastic housing with handles that allowed the cinematographer to maneuver the beast with relative ease on a converted ladder dolly (see below).

With the wind and water at full throttle, the script called for the raccoon to run from its “mark” and crawl inside a toppled trash bin (which had food and water inside as a lure). But this mammal, best known for its intelligence, was having none of it, wisely opting to stay put. Truth be told I’m not so sure you could have coaxed me into the trash bin even if it had featured a lavish wet bar of aged Caribbean rum.

With available daylight clicking down by the hour, it was time for the crew to move on to the next set of shots that involved recreating the havoc Hurricane Isaac caused along a typical downtown New Orleans street. This meant new scene set-ups ...

... and, of course, more wind and rain.

In fact, I really can't remember the last time I've been so wet and miserable with a (protected) camera in my hands and yet so happy to be in the thick of things. Naturally, lessons were learned: Once, I stood up directly in front of one of the turbines to get a shot only to have the wind force nearly knocked me over on the street face first. Fortunately one of the executive producers standing behind me had the presence of mind to grab hold of my whipping parka flaps, literally keeping me from falling over while meantime I grabbed my shot. (Sigh, I do love working in a team.) For many of these shots crew members stood off-camera throwing all manner of things into the wind -- trash cans, aluminum downspouts, boxes, what have you. Only thing missing was a family-sized bucket of Popeye's fried chicken (see below).

By the end of the shoot the raccoon was none the worse for wear ...

... and, come to think of it, neither was I. My waterproof camera pouch had worked like a charm and provided all the hoped-for flexibility needed for shooting under a variety of conditions and with different sized lenses. Equally important, Excelsior Productions had provided this unit-stills photographer the opportunity to test his game on a challenging, sink-or-swim set (yes, pun intended). Best of all, the executive producers were happy with the images I captured. And that, friends and fellow shooters, is what makes for a good day's work.