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Skydiving Photography: Tom Sanders: A Flying Human Camera Platform
| Article
# : |
14422 |
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Section : |
LIFE
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| Issue
Date : |
6 / 1988 |
1,762 Words |
| Author
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Peter Skinner
Peter Skinner, an Australian journalist and photographer,
lives in Santa Barbara, California. He contributes to
photographic and general interest publications. |
Before Tom Sanders' first jump, he agonized over: Do I really want to go through with it? He could see the open door and hear the roar of the engine as he visualized himself hurtling downward, relying on cloth and cord alone for his safety.
He did go through with it. And what began as an exercise to overcome his fear of heights became an unusual career--that of a skydiving photographer, a flying human camera platform.
For Sanders, a quiet-spoken man whose outdoor sports activities include surfing, hang gliding, and snow skiing, this unusual form of aerial photography is both a profession and a way of life.
Skydiving initially served a very different purpose for Sanders. "I was doing a course in building self-confidence, and one of the assignments had to involve something you were scared of doing. I was petrified of heights, so my assignment was to jump out of a plane," he said.
In 1979 Sanders, who was then a carpenter, presented himself to the parachute center in Lake Elsinore, California. The apprehensive man was quite a different person from the one who now orchestrates and documents the thrilling free flights of skydivers maneuvering their bodies during 60-second falls from 13,000 feet or higher.
Floating to earth
Sanders says it took him about fifty jumps just to overcome his fear and gain enough confidence to progress further. He added that the training methods used, visual aids--videotapes and movies--and preparation given by competent instructors, were helpful. But he still vividly remembers that first jump--the pull of the static line on his chute, followed by the exhilarating feeling of floating to earth.
It did not take long for the then-amateur photographer to bring photography into the picture, first using an 800-mm lens (which he had used for surfing photography) on the ground, and then capturing students' first jumps with wing-mounted cameras. As his skydiving skills grew, and with about 175 jumps behind him, Sanders began to employ helmet-mounted cameras to photograph other free-falling skydivers.
Now, after more than 3,400 jumps, Sanders, who currently resides in Santa Barbara, is one of the most skillful of "flying camera
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