Photosets

I have been tremendously blessed to join pilot/photographer John Scurlock on several 150-300-mile (1-2 hour) flights over the North Cascades. This table provides links to selected photos (and some video footage too!) from these aerial photography adventures, by photoset (left column) or by peak (right column). Plus, the map below shows the paths of these flights piled on top of each other and color-coded by month.

List and Links (Chronological Order)

Peaks and Lookouts featured in the above photosets  (linked to photoset)

Aerial trip reports

I have also joined John on some amazing aerial photography expeditions into the remote and massive mountains of British Columbia (including the Canadian Rockies, Columbia Mountains, and Coast Mountains), as well as an incredible one-day aerial tour along the Cascade volcanic arc from Rainier to Lassen. These aerial adventures merit their own trip reports—links are are provided in the table below.

Peaks featured in the above trip reports (linked to trip report)

Flying with John Scurlock

(I wrote this in 2011. I enjoyed several aerial adventures with John from 2008-2013, most of them when I lived in the Sedro-Woolley area 30 minutes from the airstrip in Concrete. The ebb and flow of life moved us apart but John will always be a good friend of mine.)

A bit about John

I've been fortunate to join John Scurlock on several flights over the spectacular North Cascades of Washington as well as over some incredibly rugged and remote mountain ranges in Canada. John is well-known for his aerial mountain photography, primarily of the Cascade Range in Washington, but also of the Coast and Columbia Mountains of British Columbia, the Canadian Rockies, Oregon, and northern California. Navigating gusts and peaks in his little yellow Van's RV-6 two-seater (which he built himself over the course of several years), and perfecting the technique of shooting through thick plexiglass, he achieves an amazing perspective and stunning photos of these rugged summits. His photos can be found at this link: http://www.pbase.com/nolock.

Seeing the summits I am usually below from above is a truly unique experience. Although John's website is the place to go to see aerial photography, this page displays some of my favorite aerial photos from my flights over the North Cascades. I marvel at how the rugged summits adopt different personalities on a whim, depending on the unique combination of season, time of day, weather, and lighting. Every flight has been unique. And spectacular.

Thanks John for sharing your aerial world with me.

The Challenge of Aerial Photography

Arial photography is a challenge. Careening past massive mountains in a tiny plane at speeds approaching 200mph, banking hard to get the wing out of the photo, all the while buffeted by gusts and fighting level horizon lines and air sickness, it's hard enough just to take a photo. Then there's the 1/4"-thick plexiglass to soften the image, collect bug splats, create glare, and reflect everything inside the cabin (Canon might like the free advertising of the ghost image of the camera's logo, but it doesn't make for the best photo). And, of course, there's also a plane to be flown.

Multitasking as both pilot and photographer, John has made aerial photography into a science. His consistently amazing photographs are a product of several years of problem-solving and experimentation with bank angle and flight velocity, exposure bracketing and shutter speed, aperture and ISO, camera orientation and lens hoods, black blankets and clothing choices. He has been very generous in sharing his hard-learned techniques with me. But as far as shooting photos and flying the plane at the same time, I will leave that to the expert.