gthomas101

Thats the difference between a photographer that has spent the years and dedication to learn the craft of making a image and someone that screws a camera to a helmet and jumps out of a airplane. the dedication that comes from making a image with a 4x5 or a 8x10 takes time and mistakes, and more time and more time. But then again ive spent thousands of dollars learning the craft with film before digital came along. The photos are kinda boring without skydivers in it, but they do tell a story and thats what a image is all about, not showing off the egos of our buddies in freefall. but then again thats alot of fun also, so what the hell do I know. I thinks it pretty cool he set up a project, saw it though and has the respect of one of the top photogs in the world, he just wrote his ticket into nice career. gthomasphoto.com

I heard the only obstacles that gets run into at MRVS is Toms car. On a serious note though MRVS is the best place to jump in the midwest except oklahoma now theres a state with the best jumpers around. gthomasphoto.com

heres a couple recent ones! gthomasphoto.com

I have video of me passing by a guy close enough you can see the stiching on the canopy, at first i wanted to blame the other guy, even though he was not where he was supposed to be according to the dive plan, then after a couple hundred camera jumps later I come to relize I have a big red x and everybody is out to kill me if they are given a chance, I also have video of somebody dumping after a 8 way and they swore to me and the other 7 people they track long and hard then I showed the video on the big screen and the story changed. I sometimes get a hard time because I go over the plan ever single jump many times over and over and over and I always get the same thing" dont worry dude" and my response is I have a ten year old to go home to and yoour not going to be the reason Im not going to see her. I dont care if I have a rep for being anal about plans but if they want to see there faces on print then its my rules if not Ill sit on my ass and drink a soda. So its up to me to save my life everysingle time if somebody kills me I have come to relize its my fault for letting them do it to me. Im glad everything came out ok, way to @#$$ close. gthomasphoto.com

The only bad thing is now Im really going to miss every one of you guy, I want all of you bastards to think of me while your packing in a airconditioned building while Im getting @#$% red dirt up my ass. as usual the everybody showed up suited up steped up to the plate to put on one hell of a boogie, now if the SOB can control the weather he would be bullet proof. Ill miss MRVS and the knuckleheads. Gary gthomasphoto.com

Allright I can see where this is going, Im just warning anybody that wakes me up at 2 in the morning to go get pizza can kiss my @#$. gthomasphoto.com

Looks like the river rats are at it again. I think you forgot to mention the bus surfing event. Looking forward to the weekend. gthomasphoto.com

In the middle of the dive she unzipped her jump suit and pulled this camera out and took my photo, pretty crazy and a first for me and the TM. just another day at the dropzone!!!! gthomasphoto.com

As far as the drinking thing going on I dont know and cant say for sure, as far as a group leaving the dropzone after watching a 206 not have such a good day and going to another dopzone and doing there tandems there I can say 110% this happened, because well I photographed everyone of them and listened to the stories, some of the stories were typical non jumper stories, I dont know about you guys but I have seen my share of 182s jump started with a pickup, Ive seen planes blow engines , but some of the stories hit the nail right on the head. The reason I replied to this is the couple of threads attacking the reason for this post, is it politics to give a shit about the skydiving community in KC well maybe you can call it what you want, but ask yourself this since the tandem accident a few weeks back how many of you have been ask about this, 75% of our students know about it and ask about it, and that happend in another state, so lets say something happens in little old hickville MO just out side of KC at the largest dropzone in kansas city just how many of the tandems are going to give us a call and say hey did you here about somebody getting hurt and by the way can I come spend 200 bucks. so everybody that calls this dropzone politics can well for the lack of a better word F#%$OFF. this about keeping things real and making skydives in the safest way possible. Oh and if this post weems a little grumpy welp its monday and I jumped my ass off this weeked and Im tired and my ex wife has all of my money but I still stand on the F^$% OFF statement. gthomasphoto.com

ok ive been lurking for awhile so i thought i would post a couple. gthomasphoto.com

Description: The Kansas City Skydiving Center is the largest dropzone in the Kansas City area. We are the only full-time turbine dropzone, offering jumps from 14,000 feet out of our Cessna Super Caravan. The Kansas City Skydiving Center strives to be the most fun-jumper-friendly dropzone in the area, and offers free load organizing, events every weekend, and discounted weekday jumps. The Kansas City Skydiving Center is the place you'll want to call home. " Im looking for the weekday discount jumps as well as three people that are looking to make tandems for the first time that know I jump, they went onto the internet and found there sight and ask if this place would be better to jump at than the place I do because they are the largest one in the KC Area, I told them they may be the largest but without a aircraft to get them to 14,000ft its going to be kinda hard to make a tandem. This is the heartburn alot of people in the area are having and this is the point I brought up two months ago, these folks came in under the radar , promised alot and are not giving what they promised. They said the weather for the weekend was looking good and they were going to have another turbine, just like they said they are the largest in the area, these may be marketing issues but it is still not the truth and it only hurts the student and tandem bussiness in the area. As Ive said before you can put jelly on a shit sandwich but its still a shit sandwich. but then again its sunday and raining so Im bored. gthomasphoto.com

ok I think my post came off a little wrong, I should say that after I made my first jump I relized I had found something I had always looked for, I loved the smell of a canopy, I still love the smell of of a canopy, along with the cool air as the door opens, the view looking down towards the ground hanging off the step of a 182, everything about this sport and packing my own chute made me feel more like I was apart of it, and the DZO pushed learning everything about the sport early because after all jumping is only part of the sport. as for the most important part of packing for me is , the slider and the PC. As the DZO used to tell me, pack like your life depends on it!! gthomasphoto.com

What I find funny is that there are folks out there with 50 to 100 jumps that have only packed a few times, Packing is not a hard thing to do, remember we are skydivers it needs to be easy for us. On the other hand I was taught to pack after my second jump and I jumped my first pack job on my first clear and pull, but that was just the way we were taught, the buddy I went through my trining with did the same thing. Oh yea I also was spoting the airplane by jump 8, which is also a lost art these days. So I say throw it in the bag make sure everything is clear, smile as you leave the airplane. and remember jump numbers dont mean shit when your packing. gthomasphoto.com

"Clearly they played a bit with reality in describing themselves as a long standing place that was 'closed for winter' until April 1 rather than a new one. But that's marketing again." My ex wife did this and it cost me a hell of a lot, and as old boy told me once "the truth is the truth and when you just told me a half truth you just lied" but what the hell did he know he was my grandad and he had just caught me burning up the south forty. I agree I think this has gotten a little over the top but hey you guys are keeping me amused, but here is what I dont understand, the web site says hot showers, which by the way I dont give a shit about just ask the staff at MRVS on sunday, they also advertise alot and have none of it, somebody in another thread let use know that his money is going to the best possible place to jump, If I read the web sight threw my gear in the car headed out to find a shed in a feild, I might wonder a little about the rest of the operation, now if they had on there web sight a photo of a shed and didnt say they had these things I wouldnt give a shit, I would climb my fat ass up into the plane enjoy. my point being be truthful up front about the operation, let the people in the city know whats up, dont come in throught the back door. skydivers dont really give a shit about this stuff as long as they have 60 secs to flail around int he sky but the locals do becasue they are not going to get a pay off as we are. you can believe all of this because my exwife tells me im a smart ass all the time. gthomasphoto.com

bad, bad day, nothing but 14,000 ft jumps, tandems falling out of the sky with big smiles, experienced jumpers making killer dives and wonderful sunset jumps. Ill be thinking about you guys out there tommorrow having all that fun. gthomasphoto.com