Monday, November 14, 2011

Aerial Photography Adventures Pt. 1

When a client calls, it’s always a good thing…well almost always! In this case it was very good, a question I had wanted to hear from someone, “Do you do aerials?”  Now as I heard the words I was definitely yes in my brain. I have been wanting to add Aerial Photography to my offerings for a while.

Despite a mild fear of heights and not being a huge roller coaster fan…. helicopters are completely different to my brain cells! The last time I went up in a helicopter, I was hanging out with Kansas Air National Guard members in a UH-60 Blackhawk doing night vision training while back in my Topeka days. The KANG was getting ready to deploy for a tour in Bosnia and we went out over the fields of Northeastern Kansas to see what farmers and cattle were doing.

I needed to make a few phone calls, including to my insurance agent, a few more calls to make sure I was covering all my bases, then more calls to check for availability of helicopters and pilots.

After a few weather delays, the day finally arrived, We were also waiting for the leafs to turn to their penultimate colors. In the end,  based off of referrals and the size of the helicopter I chose to rent from Sun Aero Helicopters who fly out of Lansing (IL) Municipal Airport. We’d be going up in a Robinson R44 Raven II aircraft. It was a great day to fly, lots of visibility, mild temps and a nice pilot didn’t hurt!

We arrived on scene about 25 minutes after liftoff… did I mention how cool it was to fly… with the door off my side? I guess watching M*A*S*H with my brother all those years paid off! I made some nice pictures which shows the client’s campus in perspective to their downtown area as well as a view of the Chicago skyline in the distance.

If you want aerials of your buildings or property, let me know, I’d be happy to go flying again!