Up in the Air

After any given publication in which I have either a feature article or a cover, like The Chicago Tribune, Flight Journal or Outdoor Life, goes to print, I generally receive a large number of emails from around the world telling me how lucky I am to do what I do. They are completely right, but little do they know what goes on behind the scenes.

When I create high-quality air-to-air photographic imagery, it starts out with numerous telephone calls to set the “stage” for what is to come. Various pilots have to be called to check their availability and to coordinate the schedules for both the shoot plane and the platform plane from which I shoot. And, as always, we are all at the mercy of the weather, which, more times than not, simply does not cooperate. High winds aloft, low visibility, haze or even light that is “too bright” will stop production.

If we have good conditions on the day of the shoot, we all meet at the designated airport to be briefed on every conceivable aspect of the flight during shooting. I speak to [the pilots] on the maneuvers I require, safety issues, emergency procedures, altitudes to fly at, frequencies to speak to each other on the radio once aloft, forward speeds to maintain, areas where we want to shoot, compass headings and a host of other items. Once that is completely gone over and fully understood, we then head out to the aircraft for departure.
My aircraft is then stripped of the co-pilot’s door to allow an unobstructed view for shooting. The co-pilot’s seat is also removed. I then attach two bombproof anchors from the floor of the plane to my harness (chest and waist, independent of each other). A bombproof anchor is stronger than any possible load that could be placed on it. This becomes a redundant system, which means if one system fails, I still have a backup.

I then make sure that every piece of my equipment is attached to additional tethers, whether it is the camera, camera bag or other items. A speeding airplane with no door and no seat is not the place to be looking for things, especially when you are flying at breakneck speeds and are at least 1000 feet above the ground. Something flying out the door can also cause a crash so I go over this many times before we leave.

I am careful to tape all loose-fitting clothing with duct tape; the forward speed of the craft is usually around 100 miles per hour. However, in order for an airplane to fly, the propeller has to produce winds at twice the forward speed, which means a 200-mile per hour prop blast is hitting me as I dangle out of the airplane. It is extremely violent. The horrific flapping of the loose material caused by the extreme winds hitting me full force has burned me.

Because aircraft windows are not optical grade glass, I cannot shoot through them, as it can severely degrade the image. It is the same way when the aircraft has Plexiglas windows. It is very important to maintain the largest parameter of shooting space available. Because of the inherent instability of aircraft and flying in general, there is a lot of bouncing around. Planes in flight do not simply move forward, they move in three other axes: pitch (up/down motion), roll and yaw (right to left or left to right). The sky is not a place one can stop. There is always movement; it is abrupt, sometimes exceedingly violent and always very cold.

When photographing planes in flight, it is sometimes impossible to frame the target aircraft because of the movement and wind. Every detail has to be in order; every command through the headsets has to be adhered to. Nothing can go unchecked and you must have, as a team, the unique ability to go to plan B at a moment’s notice. Conditions will change dramatically. In just one hour, you will have traveled over 100 air miles, which by automobile might mean a two- or three-hour drive. And the background that you wanted for the shots may be very far away now.

Wingtip to wingtip, the best images are shot with the shutter speed no faster than 1/250 of a second. The reason behind this is to eliminate the chance of the propeller from “stopping” in the picture. Any speeds slower than 1/250 and you are safe. The problem this creates though is that shooting slower means you are more prone to having images with camera shake—most likely they will be throwaways. It is very expensive to produce photographic imagery from aircraft and as the minutes tick by, so does the cash out of your wallet. It is not uncommon to pay from $400 to $1500 per hour just for the aircraft rental here in Alaska. But, in the end, if you do it right and things go your way, the results can be spectacular. My daughter once asked me about my work after seeing me hanging out of the aircraft over Seward, AK, and I replied that I had the best
seat onboard.

To see more of my aviation photography visit www.joltersdorf.com or view my recent documentary about Alaska’s Bush Pilots at www.alaskasbushpilots.com.

Jim Oltersdorf lives in the far north country in the wilds of Alaska. He shoots and writes for some of the largest magazines, companies and publishers in the world. When he is not on assignment in Australia, Africa or Costa Rica, he enjoys his lakeside log home on the Kenai Peninsula. Oltersdorf shoots with Nikon digital cameras. He has been featured on the History Channel, Discovery HD Theater and ESPN Outdoors. He is the author of a book titled The Outer Edge, a behind-the-scenes look at extreme and high-risk photography.