Swoop

Hi Tiffany,

First off I am in no way a sport photographer but it seems to me that in an exciting sport like paragliding (edited: obviously not your opinion ;) you've done little to capture that excitement. A straight behind shot against an average sky does little to excite the viewer even though a "swoop" is being made.

Basically the shot just doesn't move me. I've been interested in paragliding for a number of years, looked at quite a few photos of it but there is nothing about this one that rejuvinates my interest.

Have a great day, I hope to see more aerial pics from you in the future.

the boneheads at photo.net deleted it. Here is the more terse, more rude version.

 

THIS IS SKYDIVING! NOT PARAGLIDING! IT WOULD BE DIFFICULT TO DISTRACT YOURSELF ENOUGH TO KILL YOURSELF WHILE PARAGLIDING. No sane person would hand-carry a Canon A-1 with 300mm f/4 lens with them into freefall from 14,000 above the ground. If my photographs don't "move" you, go get yourself a few hundred skydives FIRST and THEN tell me the best way to hold onto a Canon A-1 w/300mm f/4 through opening-shock (canopy deployment) and freefall. Then, I'll listen to your insightful comments. :-)

 

To photo.net, take a chill pill. He's commenting on MY photo (not yours) and I have a right to describe the difference between skydiving and the wimpy "paragliding" so he'll understand why I took the pictures from the ground. Geez...you people need some prozac or something.

 

T. Bloxom

 

Hello again,

My apologies for mistaking skydiving (something you are obviously very passionate about) with parasailing (something you seem to disdain). Still, in my opinion, the testerone factor has little to do with the asthetics of the photo.

Being the curious sort I took a look through a stock photo site at their collection of skydiving images. Some were *rather* impressive, exciting and not taken from the ground. Would these be from a helmet cam and/or telephoto shots from the plane?

Just curious in case I ever decide to try a few jumps and want to record the event :)

::My apologies for mistaking skydiving (something

you are obviously very passionate about) with

parasailing (something you seem to disdain).::

 

Skydiving isn't for everyone...apparently, parasailing is for the masses. :-)

 

::Still, in my opinion, the testerone factor has little to do with the asthetics of the photo.::

 

I want to see you hand-carry a Canon A-1 with 300mm f/4 into freefall and hang onto it through opening shock. Make sure your health and life insurance is paid up first though.

 

::Being the curious sort I took a look through a stock photo site at their collection of skydiving images. Some were *rather* impressive, exciting and not taken from the ground. Would these be from a helmet cam and/or telephoto shots from the plane?::

 

Those were probably done by professional freefall photographers with very expensive helmet mounts and LOTS of experience...i.e. several thousand jumps. Yes, *thousands* of jumps.

 

::Just curious in case I ever decide to try a few jumps and want to record the event :) ::

 

Yeah. I want to see the drop zone that's going to let you make novice jumps with a camera. Like I said, make sure your life insurance is paid up. It's no small task taking pictures in freefall. If you attempt this without having adequate experience, you will probably end up a lawn dart. Then again, it's a free country...go try it! :-) (I mean, there isn't quite enough stuff for you to be distracted by in skydiving -- like keeping track of the altitude, for instance...let's add a camera so we can make sure you're good and distracted so you'll forget about your silly altitude. :-) )

 

TMB

 

p.s. I seriously hope you were joking about wanting to "record the event" when you want to "try a few jumps". If you were serious about that, you really do need to make sure and have your premiums paid up, have a will made out, and make sure your dependents will be cared for.

 

 

Yes Tiffany, I was pulling your leg about doing a few jumps and taking pictures... hahhaha what goes click click click click splat? ;)

but thanks for answering my questions about the helmet cams... I was geniunely curious about that.

PS: I think the local skydiving school would probably let me take a camera up... seems every couple years they have a bouncer :(