Aerial Photography From A Moving Airplane While Piloting Is Not Easy

Shooting still photography from a moving airplane while you are also piloting it is not easy.  

There are many things to consider when flying, especially when flying in rugged remote back country wilderness. 

Because I am usually camping alone when on these explorations I bring all my gear, food and emergency supplies along with protection from the wild critters (4 legged and 2 legged!) and my camera gear.  

Aside for all the aforementioned gear I also carry enough emergency supplies to last a couple of weeks if I have to make an unforeseen forced landing in the wild lands.  

Always when flying your head is on a swivel, constantly scanning the horizon all the way around to make certain there are no other objects in the air with me that could cause problems via collision. Airplanes, descending weather balloons that have run out of gas but still have a 40lb equipment package, flocks or birds and even single birds can cause serious problems if they collide with the plane.  

What you are seeing with images like the screenshot above (from one of my wing mounted cameras) are very small moments in time when I put the camera to my eye, quickly adjust focus and snap the shot. This takes a few seconds at best and even during this time I am still looking around for anything that could be a problem.  

The last thing to consider is a game most pilots engage in called “I can land there”. All the time, almost subconsciously, I look at areas around me that I could land on in the event of an emergency.  

My type of photography is not easy to do, it is not like I can simply pull over and park then take the picture, nor can other folks climb the trail and shoot the same shot again, this allows me to capture truly unique one-of-a-kind images. 

I hope you enjoy these views! I feel this expands the visual lexicon that we use to describe our world.  

Yehaw!