Scott Dickerson

Category: aerial

  • Talent. Do you have it, or does it have you?

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    To succeed as a photographer you gotta have talent they tell me. Ok, talent, what are you and where do I go for a second helping? I turned to the dictionary and here is what I found: Talent is a natural aptitude for a thing. Aptitude is a natural ability. Natural is something that exists or is caused by nature, not made by human kind. Read– out of reach, unattainable by human kind.

    This search for talent looks like it might be a short one that already ended. But, I’m still curious how talent is defined in a photographer and where this natural ability makes its appearance.

    Some have told me that I have talent for photography. I believe that they say this because they find a photograph I created engaging, beautiful, or surprising in some way. When I look for the mysterious talent amongst the process of creating those images I’m hoping that there will be an ‘ah hah’ discovery that will unlock the floodgates of talent in my future image making. I’m also hoping to find proof that little me is actually Mr. Big Time the bearer of great talent. Instead I see that these examples of talent are merely the product of countless unimpressive little details all coinciding in a moment that I looked through an electronic gadget and pushed a button. Surely there must be more to this! There are two areas within this process that I suspect talent may be hiding.

    1. In the previsualization of an image. In order to be considered talented, I believe it’s necessary for an image maker to have images flash through his mind. These are ideas that are later created as photographs. I would define these visualizations as something that naturally exists beyond our control. As an artist I think we can make room for them, but really they come in from outside our minds. Think about food . . .did an image of pizza appear? If so you might have a talent there!

    2. The visualized images is just that, nothing more, without the production process. These are the countless little things that must happen for a photo to be created – organizing logistics, finding a location, arranging the subjects etc..These things are important no doubt, but I don’t think such individual feats as remembering to bring the camera battery is what we consider talent. However, the collection of all these things with the required focus, motivation, and dedication to bring them together into a photograph might be.

    The way I see it today – Talent is something that others say we have and something that we say others say we have. Really, in my humble opinion I think talent is a perceived and mysterious possession of an artist. The artist himself also finds this natural ability somewhat mysterious, but knows that if he does his work and sets the table, talent might just show up again.

    Unfortunately I couldn’t find any unquestionable examples of talent in my archive, so I’ve settled for a few aerial photos of a sunset over Kachemak Bay and the Kenai Mountains that I enjoy. Many things came together for these photos, actually ‘taking’ the photo was just another one of the countless required details. I could just as readily claim that I have a talent for living in a beautiful place as I do for photography. They are both things I thoroughly enjoy, but don’t claim ownership or title to.

    PS if you were hoping for the secret to success, I can show you where to find it. It’s here in a 3 minute video from TED.

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  • Air to air photos of MD 530 helicopter

    air to air aerial photo of MD 530 helicopter in flight

    I remember walking out of the post office and looking up to catch just a glimpse of the small yellow helicopter zipping by overhead. For the months since, anytime I’ve heard the beating of helicopter rotors I jump up and scurry to the windows with binoculars. This little fixation started before the MD 530 came to town, and it’s not just limited to helicopters. I love flying, and not surprisingly, some of this passion for flight splashed onto the machines that make it possible. I think it’s well understood that I’m always very excited by the opportunity to create aerial photographs. This particular shoot was a real treat being able to watch and photograph this incredible helicopter in flight. Special thanks to George and Charlie Mandes for working with me to make this a reality.  As an aerial photographer I’m very dependent on the pilots to help bring all the pieces together into a photograph.  As you can see, they both did a great job.

    Ingredient list for a big smile and some exciting aerial photos:

    • One fan of flight
    • One passionate photographer
    • Two skilled pilots with good communication
    • One beautiful winter sunset with mountains and alpenglow
    • Two cameras
    • One aircraft with opening windows (Husky A-1B)
    • One aircraft to model (MD 530F)

    Toss the ingredients for approximately 45 minutes. More results displayed below.

    air to air aerial photo of MD 530 helicopter in flight

    air to air aerial photo of MD 530 helicopter in flight

    air to air aerial photo of MD 530 helicopter in flight

  • Air to air photos of 1933 Stinson JR. SR

    Air to air aerial photo of 1933 Stinson Jr. Sr floatplane flying through Kenai Mountains, Alaska.

    Air to air photography is a favorite subject of mine and this was a great photo shoot of Mike McCann flying his classic 1933 Stinson JR. SR through the Kenai Mountains, Alaska in mid October. Thanks to Mark Munro and Mike Neese for making this photo shoot possible. Below area few more images of the Stinson from this flight.

    Air to air aerial photo of 1933 Stinson SR JR seaplane flying over Grewingk Lake and river, Alaska.

    Air to air aerial photo of 1933 Stinson JR SR on floats flying over Kachemak Bay, Alaska.

    Air to air aerial photo of 1933 Stinson JR. SR floatplane flying by Grewingk Glacier and the Kenai Mountains, Alaska.

  • Polar bears swimming amongst melting Arctic ice

    Aerial photo of a polar bear swimming in the Chukchi Sea among melting ice floes.

    The adventure started with a phone call last week from the World Wildife Fund – “Scott, can you be on Kodiak Island tonight for a flight to the Chukchi Sea?” Before I could think answered “Sure, what time?”

    Slowly I learned the details of the assignment as I packed my bags. Nine polar bears had been sighted swimming in the Chukchi Sea many miles off Alaska’s Arctic coast. Now there was a rare opportunity to fly with the Coast Guard and polar bear biologists on a survey to see firsthand the polar bears plight as the sea ice they depend on melts away beneath them. This was an impressive example of agency cooperation amongst the US Coast Guard, University of Alaska, US geological survey and the World Wildlife Fund. Steve Rychetnik, videographer with Sprocketheads, and myself were brought along to document the effort.

    Our team met in Kodiak, home of the Alaska Coast Guard Air Station. Next morning we were at the base meeting the flight crew and discussing the plan as we boarded a monstrous 4 engine C-130 rescue airplane that would take us over 1,000 miles North, stopping in Fairbanks for fuel, then onward to Barrow to pickup additional Coast Guard personnel. We left Barrow and flew out over the Chukchi Sea and spent five and half hours looking amongst ice floes for the signs of life. We would fly for 12 hours total before landing in Fairbanks later the same evening.

    Finding a white bear amongst an ocean of white ice floes while flying at 200mph turned out to be a challenge. Thankfully the flight crew let Steve and I shoot out an open side door in the back of the plane. Unfortunately, from that position we had no communication with the rest of the crew who where helping each other find the bears by talking through their headsets. In the roughly five hours of searching, five bears where spotted. Through a stroke of good fortune I managed to snap a few shots of one swimming bear. Not exactly the closeup photo I was dreaming of, but considering the challenge of spotting and photographing the bear in the 2-3 seconds that it was visible out the door, I’m grateful for what I did get. The take home lesson was that next time I’ll make sure I can at least hear what the pilot and rest of the crew are saying.

    The greater story behind this mission is the fact that the sea ice these bears depend on for food and habitat is melting. The distance between the year round ice pack and land is growing rapidly and the amount of suitable broken up ice floes between is also diminishing as the water temps rise.

    You can hear a great NPR interview here with Margaret Williams, Director for WWF’s Alaska office. Also from WWF, here is a news release about the initial bears spotted that was the big motivator for making this trip happen.

    Below are a few photos from the trip. You can see more photos from the adventure online here.

    Aerial photo of melting Arctic ice floes in the Chukchi Sea, Alaska. This disappearing sea ice is important habitat for polar bears.

    Aerial photo of melting Arctic ice floes in the Chukchi Sea, Alaska. This disappearing sea ice is important habitat for polar bears.

    Aerial photo of melting Arctic ice floes in the Chukchi Sea, Alaska. This disappearing sea ice is important habitat for polar bears.

    Polar bear biologist Steve Amstrup searches for swimming polar bears out the window of a US Coast Guard C-130 while flying over the Chukchi Sea in the Arctic above Alaska.

    Group photo of the people involved in a cooperative effort to search for swimming polar bears in the Chukchi Sea, Arctic Alaska. The Coast Guard Air Station Kodiak C-130 carried the searchers on the mission.

    Once again, you can see more photos in my stock archive here.

    For my fellow photo enthusiasts: Remember that when shooting aerials it’s very important to have communication with the pilot, especially when trying to photograph hard to find objects! I learned the C-130 is not an ideal air to land photo platform, despite the pilots doing everything they could to help. I wouldn’t hesitate to fly in one again, but my dream shot list might be a closer reflection of what’s realistically possible. The photographs were taken with both a Canon 1D mark III and Canon 5D, lenses ranged from a Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 IS on the long end, to a Sigma 12-24mm for some wide interior shots. The back of the C-130 where I spent most my time is very dark and I appreciated the great high ISO performance of the relatively new 1DmIII camera for shooting portraits there. Any questions, don’t hesitate to ask in the comment box below.

  • Air to air aerial photos of Homer Air

    aerial photographer - air to air photo of airplane in Alaska

    A local air service, Homer Air, recently had one of their Cessna 206 airplanes repainted- a great reason to get up and make some new aerial photos to show off the sharp new look. The photo above shows the plane flying over Kachemak Bay with the Homer Spit and the town of Homer, Alaska in the background. The blue ocean is a nice contrast for the white plane which turned out to be a challenge to photograph against the snow covered mountains this time of year. I’m looking forward to another aerial photo shoot with this plane when the mountains turn green and black later this spring.

    Tech notes: For this aerial shoot I was using the Canon 1DmIII digital slr with a canon 70-200mm 2.8 IS lens and a circular polarizing filter. The exposure was 1/2500 at f/4, nice and sharp. The two lenses I use most when shooting aerials are the canon 24-70 2.8 and the lens used here, the 70-200 2.8. Occasionally I also use a Ken-Labs gyro stabilizer, but on a bright sunny day like this it’s not needed.