19.07.10
Gary Wainwright: Skydiving photography
Professional photographer Gary Wainwright has always wanted to be an action sports photographer. As a skydiving cameraman, he regularly falls to earth at speeds of 120mph and only has seconds to capture his images. Sean Samuels finds out more.
At the age of 10, Gary Wainwright would riffle through the journal of the British Parachute Association taking in numerous images of skydivers in mid flight hurtling towards earth. It would be 11 years before Gary would make his first jump, and another five years before he was able to take photographs with a camera strapped to the top of his helmet.
Skydiving photography is different from most sports photography because you have to be an active participant. To be allowed to jump with a camera in the UK you have to have done at least 200 jumps. Gary admits he is very much a skydiver first and a photographer second (he didn’t own a camera until he started skydiving) but he always wanted to be the one taking the images.
When Gary started out, he did so without any formal training in photography. Perseverance and a willingness to experiment were his guides.
“There are two main problems with skydiving photography: the first is that, once you are out of the plane and freefalling, you can’t change your settings. The other is composition, because you’re not looking through the viewfinder. Most photographers use a ring sight, but this is just a guide. What it all comes down to is practice, so you know you are pointing in the right direction.”
As freefall lasts around a minute, it has taken Gary some time to become familiar with the process. He has completed 6,500 sky dives and is now confident he knows when he has the elements he wants in frame or whether he has to move further away to get everything in the shot. To help him achieve this, he favours wide-angle lenses and manual hyperfocal focusing to maximise the depth of field and doesn’t like to shoot slower than 1/400th of a second.
“I want to show what’s going on in ways that make sense to people. I always think it’s more interesting when you can see clouds in a skydiving photograph or when you can see the ground and/or the aeroplane. I like filming the more experienced groups because they create more interesting formations and it’s the angles you are looking for.”
The bread-and-butter work for any skydiving cameraman is shooting tandem jumps. At Langer Airfield in Nottingham, Gary shoots video and takes photographs for the club. Jumpers are given 15-20 6 x 4 prints, which comes from shooting film when Gary would try to get two customers’ photographs from one roll of film.
His first camera was a Nikon F301, which he shot in aperture priority, set to f8 with ISO 200 film. He would use the aperture ring on the camera to focus. Today he shoots digital. His workhorse is a Canon EOS 350D, he also uses a Canon EOS 5D. He switched from Nikon to Canon because at that time there was no secure way of firing the Nikon D70 with a hand release, which all Canon cameras have. Gary needs this to use his Conceptus bite switch, which he operates with his tongue. Gary uses a variety of lenses. With film he used a Sigma 24mm super wide II, which he still uses on his Canons with an adapter. On the 350D he shoots with a Canon 15mm lens. The other lenses he uses are a Tokina 10-17mm fisheye zoom and a Canon EF 20mm.
“What I like doing is jumping with the 5D and 15mm lens. I can get incredibly wide shots with that set-up.”
One of Gary’s favourite times to shoot is at sunset. Skydivers in the UK are only allowed to jump in good conditions, meaning the light is always good, but there are a number of environmental factors that affect his images, which he finds interesting. The atmospheric temperature gets colder by two to three degrees for every 1,000ft ascent. Gary normally jumps at 13,000ft. In the winter months this has meant jumping in -25C.
“There’s a 125mph wind chill factor to contend with also and the cold definitely affects the recharge time of my flashgun. Because you can’t be sure when it has fully recharged, you get a range of outputs, which makes for some interesting images.”
The shot of a large formation (right) is 400 people exiting from five aircraft for a world record attempt. The job of photographers for something like this is to produce an image that will clearly show the judges the number of people in the jump so they can verify the record. For this, the skydivers jumped at 25,000ft. Something Gary didn’t want to do was chop off the legs of the people on the outside of the group. He was one of the first people to jump. In situations like this, excellent skydiving skills are a must.
To capture the image Gary had to affect his descent, something only experience can create. The formation broke off at 7,000ft, which meant it was complete for just four seconds. This was the narrow window of opportunity he had to get the shot. Speaking with Gary, it was clear he is passionate about skydiving and photography. The instinct he has developed for composition is inspiring. He has become a master of the decisive moment and his skills as both a skydiver and a photographer continue to serve him well.
Links:
British Parachute Association
www.bpa.org.uk
The busiest drop zone in the UK
www.skydivelangar.co.uk
Words of Advice:
- Most importantly, be thoroughly briefed by somebody who is already an experienced camera person.
- One of the biggest dangers is to become distracted from what is actually going on.
- People get so into trying to get a particular shot that they forget they are falling towards the earth at 120mph.
- Improve your skydiving skills. The best camera in the world will mean nothing if you can’t get yourself in the right position for the shot.
- Experiment. Play with all the settings on your camera and see what works for you.
- Jump at a busy drop zone where there are lots of things going on, so you have the opportunity to photograph lots of different activities.
- When you look at setting yourself up, start off with cheap equipment and move up to better kit when you have proved your skydiving skills and are less likely to damage it.
What’s In Your Kit Bag?
- Canon EOS 350D
- Canon EOS 5D MkI
- Canon EF 15mm Canon EF 20mm
- Sigma 24mm f2.8 super wide II (Nikon fit with EOS converter)
- Tokina 10-17mm
- Canon 580EX flashgun with off shoe cord
- SanDisk memory cards
- Conceptus bite switch
Biography: Gary Wainwright
38, has photographed skydivers for the last 12 years. As well as capturing first-time tandem jumps at his centre in Nottingham, he has also photographed world record attempts. His commercial clients include Sky TV, Honda, LG and Aerodyne Research.
www.garywainwright.co.uk
This feature is from the June 2010 issue
Back issues can be ordered by calling 01858 438840 or by sending an email to photographymonthly@subscription.co.uk
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