Photo 640.
Santa Cilia, Spanish Pyrenees (photo by Daniel Smallbone)
Location: Santa Cilia, Spanish Pyrenees
Glider: Duo Discus
Camera: Panasonic DMC-TZ7
My Dad and I were in Spain for one week of flying, and after three days of controlled descent, one good day in the blue, and one flight under a CuNim, we were left wanting just a bit more. The morning’s briefing of a huge wave forecast for the three days after we left the country was pretty gutting, and we were given a day which was in essence a repeat of Day 1, where we fell down twice in big rotor. Launched into a sky of rotor thermals after about an hour, we were able to make the transition into the wave, where we got this shot.
I think when you’re photographing from a glider, one of the most of important things to fit in the picture is part of the aircraft itself; it helps to give the shot some perspective, and distances it from any photographs taken on the ground. Opening the DV Panel (not sure if you use the same name in the US?) to stick the camera through is a perfect opportunity to do this, looking both forward and backwards, and if you’re lucky you’ll get some pretty impressive reflections off the canopy. To help me get easier shots like this in the future, I’ll be making a screw which is then attached to an extendable pole which can be poked out of the DV Panel with the camera attached, and the Drift can then take photos via remote control. Be careful to crop out objects that aren’t perhaps in tune with the rest of the shot, the yaw string or box shaped compass, for example.
