DZDale 0 #1 March 12, 2002 To all you experienced Skydivers/Photographers. This is merely a question as I do not intend on doing freefall Photography just yet as I do not have the experience yet. I would however like to get into Skydiving photography though as photography is currently a hobby of mine and I would like to expand that into my Skydiving. When would the right time be to get into this discipline and what steps would you recommend in order to improve my flying skills, so that when I am really experienced enough I can get into this discipline effectively. All comments will be appreciated Cheers Dale Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
airdrew20012001 0 #2 March 12, 2002 Without knowing you personally that is a tough question to answer, people all progress through this sport at a different rate. I would hazard to say that you need to be rock solid in the basics: different types of exits, pull position, canopy landing, and proficiency in the discipline that you are going to be shooting. If I had to set a number I might say D license numbers (200 skydives) is a good approximation. When you move into shooting video/stills you introduce a lot of variables into the skydive. Your focus can sway from altitude awareness and knowing where everyone on the skydive is (are they above you? below you?) to framing the shot and distance from the subject. You also put stuff on your head that has weight and that changes your balence as well as being stuff that can get in the way and snag. Probably would be a little better if you had a cutaway already but shouldn't be seen as a requisite. I started filming at around 180 skydives. I felt that I wanted to shoot RW and that my skills in RW were strong enough that from the outside I could watch the skydive and not fly into it and be able to recognize where things were going. As time passes you will also find you can start to tell when the skydive is almost over just from the passage of time, that helps too. I saw a video of a freestyle dive where both the camera flyer and the subject lost track of altitude. The camera flyer pulled really low and ended up with a two canopy wrap that he took to the ground at about 35 - 45 mph. He walked away but was lucky. There is a actual cypress save video where both the tandem and the camera flyer sucked it down until their cypress' fired. The camera flyer had a 9 second canopy ride.Tell you what, I will set up a poll asking how many skydives people had when they started, check it every now and then and see the results.DrewDrewfus McDoofus Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nacmacfeegle 0 #3 March 12, 2002 In the Uk it used to be 200 jumps minimum, but as the Drewfus dude stated, you should be competant at the discipline you intend filming before starting to film. Jump numbers should NEVER be taken as an indication of cross discipline ability, ie 200 crew jumps won't make you a good Free fly camera jockey.etc......There's loads of good info about, and don't forget to befreind an experienced camera flyer and seek advice, it'll save you some pain, money , or even both!Happy snapping....D Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
airdrew20012001 0 #4 March 12, 2002 Quote Drewfus dude Yes, Drewfus Dude. I think I will change my name to that legally....Drewfus McDoofus Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
