Skydiving photography

padu

I used to be a professional skydiving cameraman / photographer. I was scanning some old photos recently and I found this one that reminds me why I have back problems now.
Fun times!



The thing in my mouth is the shutter trigger. The combination weights about 17 pounds. I use to curse the packer's mom when the opening of the parachute was whammy.

dogwood

That is wild-- is that still the way skydivers shoot photos? With an SLR attached to their head? Try that with a Canon 1D series and you'd REALLY have back problems!

padu

dogwood wrote:

That is wild-- is that still the way skydivers shoot photos? With an SLR attached to their head? Try that with a Canon 1D series and you'd REALLY have back problems!

Yes.

Here's an exageration. Norman Kent is the Ansel Adams of skydiving photography (IMHO).



Some more of his beautiful work can be seen at http://www.normankent.com/selected_photos.htm


But in most cases, nowadays people use small minidv camcorders and lighter dslr's.

moose135

Those are some amazing shots. I would think having a huge set up like that on your head would make it really hard on your neck when you land. Of course, I've always lived by the motto "There's no reason to jump out of a perfectly good airplane" :crazy

padu

moose135 wrote:

Those are some amazing shots. I would think having a huge set up like that on your head would make it really hard on your neck when you land.

Landing is not the problem as today's parachutes put you down very gently (though very fast). It's when you deploy your parachute. If it opens too fast, according to Sir Newton, the weight on your helmet will try to separate your head from your body... ouch!

Of course, I've always lived by the motto "There's no reason to jump out of a perfectly good airplane" :crazy

I strongly disagree with that.