Pictures are always appreciated, if you can video landings though that's even better if you arrange it so there's someone to debrief the landings with the jumpers if necessary. You can really make yourself useful that way if you can't jump for weather/money/whatever reasons, and try to sit in during the debriefs if you can. Anyway I spend a lot of time on the landing area myself, taking photos and videoing, I enjoy it and other people too
I would NOT have jumped at those conditions unless there are no obstacles around to create turbulence, like in Skydive AZ.
I would NOT have done it even at Skydive AZ when I had less than 250 jumps or so.
As a beginner jumper, your wing loading should NOT exceed much more than 1:1. That means that your air speed is about 15 mph. That means you'll be landing backwards in winds above 15mph even if everything else goes perfectly.
I have 5 years in the sport, but low jump numbers... I wont jump in anything gusting over 13mph... just my personal safety range. Especially for a recurrency jump (which I have many). IMHO, when you are getting current after a lay off, you should want conditions to be as ideal as possible, thats just one less thing you have to worry about, thus allowing you to totally focus on your jump.
