About

Related Photos below.

I have this photo website to not only keep my interest in computers as a hobby but to inform family and friends of my activities. This website is public in hopes that it may also be of interest to other viewers.

I am retired and have no interest in this website representing an advertisement for a business. It's stricktly for public entertainment. All the Photos and Videos are mine.

All my photos are coming up to many Decades in age and are all Historical. Most of the images have no resembelance to the present due to progress in building onto, or rebuilding the site. 

It appears after perusing through other photo websites that an “About” page is necessary as viewers would like to become familiar with the person and the topic. My website is on Scenic-Oblique Aerial Photography.

Now in retirement and with the advent of drones and the latest in technology, there is now a wide interest in Aerial Photography using UAV's. Since Drones became available to the consumer at reasonable prices, I have wanted to make the plunge and try it out.

I have been involved with Aerial Photography as a profession for over a half century and wanted to try the transition from film to digital. So I first purchased a beginner consumer drone to get familiar with the controls. Enjoying the experience, the following year I upgraded to a DJI Mavic Pro.

Where it all started…

After finishing school I searched for a career that would provide a lifetime interest. I tried many careers over a short period, Farming, Bank Clerk, Store Clerk, Oil Rigs, Trucker, Bus Driver, Heavy Equipment Operator and eventually settled on aviation.

At the time, the better paid positions in aviation were pilots so I took my Private (1954) and Commercial (CPL) pilot's licence (1956). Little did I know that flying involved a little more than just sitting at the controls. 

My first flying job was bush flying, supporting oil-exploration when it was first introduced in Canada's north.

A lot of time was spent away from home and I had a growing family so I applied for an Air Traffic Control (ATC) Tower position (1958). As ATC was shift work it left me with time to continue flying as a part-time job for additional income.

After 27 years in ATC and being middle age (1985) I decided to take the early retirement package and to supplement my reduced income I continued charter flying.

In a short time I found a need for “Scenic-Oblique” Aerial Photography. 

At the time there were no photographers in Canada who specialized in aerial photo, so I acquired the necessary cameras, (Pentax 6x7 for negs and Leica R4 for slide film). I designed a camera grip that enabled me to fly the aircraft and hold the camera simultaneously to take the photo. (a photo of the grip is in the photos link).

I opened an office (1983) in one of the hangars at Calgary International Airport, Calgary Alberta Canada, (CYYC).

I rented and flew only high wing airplanes and would either remove the door off the aircraft or open the window to get an unrestricted view of the site I was shooting. On many occasions, at the customers request, I used a Helicopter with pilot. 

I shot completely on speculation (on-spec), which enabled me to retain the copyright to the image and also entitled me to sell an image repeatedly.

The oil industry in Canada was booming back in the 1960’s to the 1990’s and Calgary being the oil capital of Canada there was an abundance of money available for the promotion of industry. Within a year my aerial-photo business was booming.

I shot sites for the Oil Industry, Marketing, Construction Industry, Residential Development, Tourism, Real-Estate and the Calgary 1988 Olympic Winter Games.

I looked forward to winters which reduced the demand for photos which gave me more time to travel. I had a long time desire to scuba-dive. Over time I found I now needed an underwater hobby to increase the excitement of SCUBA, so I purchased an Ikelite Underwater Housing and the latest Sony Digital Video Camera.

After my second year of scuba holidays I returned with many PADI SCUBA Certifications while in Florida and Hawaii. They were a ...

"Master Scuba Diver" certificate and an "Advanced Open Water" certificate.

Also certified for "Under Water Photographer" and "Underwater Videographer". 

(See Photo below, and video on the Video-Link)...

I backed off of SCUBA when I was offered a job in Australia doing Underwater Research as a Videographer. This was a little more demanding than an older-middle aged man like me could handle so I declined the position. My Aerial Photo business in Calgary was now in need of aerial photos so my long time Calgary customers took precedence.

I decided to expand my knowledge in video production and on camera. I went to a local Calgary TV station and volunteered as a camera operator in the studio as well as in the field. I learned a lot and also produced two TV shows.

"50th Anniversary of the Calgary International Airshow"

" Red Deer International Airport Air-Show"

Both these videos are in the "Videos"link in the Menu-Bar above.

I was now competent and qualified to shoot still and video in the air, on the ground and underwater.

Calgary had just been awarded the 1988 Olympic Winter Games.

With my TV camera experience I was invited to fill the volunteer position as an Olympic Mediator in Broadcast-Relations between ABC-TV, New York and CTV-HB, Canada. 

For the 16 days during of the Olympics my mediating shift was, during the mornings I mediated between all, Radio, TV, Magazines and Newspapers worlwide. During the afternoon and evening shifts I mediated at the downtown Calgary Olympic Plaza during the Medal-Awards. 

(photo of us volunteers below).

When I initially heard that Calgary received the 1988 Olympic bid, I flew to all the future venue sites and over the years did continuous "Progressive Construction Photography" of each Olympic site. No one else thought of this idea, so prior to, during and after, my Olympic Venue photos were in great demand for not only a record of development but also Historical.

Prior to the Olympics I came up with an idea. I took one photo of each of my Olympic Venue Sites and made a montage of them. I presented the idea to the International Olympic Committee as an Official Olympic Poster. They agreed and named the poster, “Olympic Venue”. The poster displays the Olympic-Logo, Olympic-Rings, Olympic-Snowflake, Olympic-Mascots (Hyde & Howdy) and the five Olympic Colours.

(photo of the poster below)

After fourteen years doing Aerial Photo and experiencing the thrill of my images being published worldwide, and so much in demand, I decided to retire for the second time. 

It wasn’t long before I was requested to return to aviation and continued flying charters.

With over 50 years of flying in Alberta, British Columbia and the Yukon Territories my flying experience includes Instructing, Crop-Spraying, Pipeline Patrol, Banner-Towing, Air Ambulance, Sky-Divers, Aerial Photo, Hail Suppression, and BC Forestry Forest Fire Patrol. Over the years I spent in the Yukon, I flew Geologists, Outfitters, Gold Panning Miners, mostly on float equipped aircraft. 

As a senior at now age 85, I decided to let my CAN and USA Commercial Pilots Licences (CPL) and my Glider (GPL) pilot licences elapse. I had a Block-Airspace, Instructor, Multi-Engine, Land and Sea endorsements and flew Floats and Skiis on a variey of aircraft. 

Over the years I owned a Cessna C-206, Aeronca Sedan (15AC) and a Glider.

Now in complete retirement I continue with my hobbies, tennis, cycling, golf, hiking and occasionally doing nature and landscape photography with my iPhone. I also do aerial photos and video with my DJI Mavic Pro drone. 

(See my YouTube videos on the "Video's" link in the upper Menu-Bar)

The photos below relate to the above story. 

I have donated all my many thousands of negs and slides to the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, as these are now all historical images. Over a thousand of them are up on the Glenbow website for public viewing.

As more space was required at the Glenbow my negs and slides were transferred to the University of Calgary Campus and more readily available. And are continuously being viewed by researchers and histrorians.

Click the "Glenbow.uofCalgary" url link below to view these Aerial Photo's of mine that are continuously being viewed by geographical researchers...

https://digitalcollections.ucalgary.ca/CS.aspx?VP3=DamView&VBID=2R3BXZ7D1MS5U&PN=1&WS=PackagePres

Click on each photo thumbnail for additional info and to enlarge photo -