Aerial Landscape Photographers?

[QDM]

Vito,

Kind of off topic for a photography forum but here goes.

To take off you simply lay the wing (chute) out behind the machine on the ground, get in, buckle up and start the engine. As you push the throttle forward the wing jumps off the ground and moves overhead as you roll down the runway. Open the throttle more and up you go in 50 to 300 feet total.

Once in the air the throttle controls your altitude, more throttle you go up, less you come down. There are two foot peddles to turn right or left. Push the right one it goes right, push the left and go left. That's about it.

The great thing about it is you don't have to worry about airspeed, angle of attack, or any of the other stuff that you have to think about when flying an airplane. You can set the throttle for level flight and the machine flies itself while you have your hands free to take pictures. You could literally take a nap and the machine would just fly until it runs out of gas.

Your speed is about 30 mph at all times which is slow enough to frame your shots. You can get really close to wildlife, drop down into canyons, do sloloms (sp) between the dunes, skim the ocean surf, etc..

Before I started flying I always liked to go to mountain tops or other high points to take in the view. Now my easy-chair moves in 3D and I can get any view I want.

Q

[QDM]

Here are some wild horses in Central Oregon. This was taken by my daughter from the back seat.

I should note that when we get wildlife photos, we don't stick around and run the animals. We'll make one low pass then fly off. If we don't get a good shot, so be it.

Q

[photosbyvito]

wow that sounds awesome! and easy enough to fly!
when i'm older i might have to try that (since i can control the height )