Pic(k) of the week 2: The skydive elevator
Some of you might know that I spend the early years of my flying career in and around skydiving ("parachuting") operations. I've flown "left seat" in a broad series of skydiving aircraft; Cessna 206, Britten Norman Islander, GAF Nomad, Short Skyvan. Beside I also have "right hand seat" time in the Antonov AN-2, Let L-410, de Havilland DHC-4 Caribou, C130 Hercules.
A great skydiving aircraft I have never flown in is the Canadian built, de Havilland DHC-6 Twin Otter. This is the backbone of "Skydive Dubai", a sport parachuting club based in guess where... Dubai!
The image above of one of the club's two Twin Otters, was made at the second drop zone, SD2, otherwise also called the "Desert campus"; a fully equipped Skydiving center on the Dubai to Al Ain road. Skydivers need a minimum of 100 jumps (B license) to jump at the Dubai Marina drop zone (SD1), which is close to high-rise buildings and is surrounded with lots of water.
The aircraft had just picked up a fresh load of Skydivers and was on its way for another elevator ride to 12000 feet.
Image details:
Nikon D700 with 70-200 2.8. VR2 lens
ISO200, f16, 1/200s, @200mm
RAW development in Lightroom 3
Nik Software SilverEfex 2 for Black and White conversion
Happy shooting,
BJORN
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