While working at Wrangell St. Elias National Park & Preserve this summer, documenting research and cultural events, one of the amazing things I was able to do was a flightseeing tour! If it hadn’t been for my summer job, I don’t think I would have gotten this chance as soon as I did because the flights are a little pricey for me personally at this point in my life. Luckily, our team leader organized schedules for us to fly with an awesome National Park Service pilot over the mountains and glaciers of Wrangell St. Elias!
Our pilot was the amazing, Lynn Ellis, who grew up in the remote Nabesna area and has been flying pretty much his entire life. At the young age of 16 he learned to fly from his father and has been flying ever since. As you can imagine, Lynn has a lot of intimate knowledge of the land. Growing up in the area has allowed him to create a unique relationship with the expansive landscape of Wrangell St. Elias, meaning a flight with Lynn as your pilot is quite the treat! To top it all off, one of my coworkers who came on the same flight as me grew up near the area and had known Lynn for a while. If it weren’t already special enough to be gliding over all the magnificent rock and ice, I was also extra fortunate to hear all the personal stories and connections these two had to the land.
This was the first time I had flown over the park and the first time I was able to casually fly in a small plane, but I had previously flown in a small plane for work. They were very fast, business flights though! Those first couple experiences allowed me to be more prepared for this flight, so I’d thought I’d share some tips in case you too find yourself fortunate enough to be soaring over gorgeous scenery and want to capture your experience.
Packing: Keep your gear minimal and in a small pack! My first time on a small plane was when I was flying from Yakutat to Dry Bay on a real quick, all business kind of flight. We had to shove everything underneath the plane, but of course I wanted my camera and my water bottle (I hate not having access to hydration, ha). I figured it was best to keep it to these two items and hold them in my lap. Turned out, juggling these both in my lap in the tiny front seat of our plane was a little trickier than I had thought! It would have been nicer to have a small bag or pack with me that I could set in my lap and either pull out my water or my camera when I needed. It can be hard to maneuver once your set up in the plane, so it’s nice to have everything right in your lap and contained so it’s not rolling around as the plane moves. On my flightseeing tour, this is what I did and it was a lot easier to coordinate my items.
Prepping: Prepare your camera ahead of time! Like I mentioned above, it can be pretty hard to maneuver inside small planes. The first flight I went on I didn’t want to move too much since I was in the front seat and could have easily bumped the pilot or buttons! Granted, pilots are professionals and are probably used to this, my way of operating during photography is always to minimize my affect on the experience. I like being a fly on the wall that captures reality as it unfolds and this idea tends to seep into my life even when not on a shoot. However, if your camera already has a full battery, cleared memory cards with lots of room, and a good lens on it, then you won’t have to worry about doing this in flight. Have it all set up before you even climb in that plane and you can fully focus on taking in the view instead.
Lens: Choose a wide lens or a zoom lens! I’m really stubborn when it comes to using zoom lens. When shooting portraits it’s super easy to stick a 50mm on my camera and move around when I want a different view. Shooting dynamic landscape photos are a little different though (much to past me’s disappointment). A zoom lens can be wonderful when you are limited in movement, but want a variety of views. On my first flight I brought my trusted 50mm, which did get some beautiful shots. Yet, I found myself wanting the chance to move around. Sure, you will fly over a new and exciting view, but you’ll want a different perspective. For this tour I brought my 28mm to 85mm lens. It was great to get variety, which brings me to my next point…
Switch it up: Video and photo, wide and close, vertical and horizontal, out the window and inside the plane. Get a bunch of different perspectives even if you are hovering above the same area. It’s been really fun for me to look at my photos as a set and see the different views I captured. I also really like creating films, so I made sure to get lots of video from this flight. I was able to use some of the footage in short videos I made for Wrangell St. Elias National Park & Preserve, that hopefully I will be able to share very soon.
Finally, don’t lean against the plane! I kept finding myself trying to make this work, but any small plane is going to have a lot of vibration. Your video shots will be a lot smoother and your photos will be sharper if you just hold up your camera yourself. No need to rest against the plane.
There’s the advice I’ve collected from my few times in a small plane. I hope they can be useful to you! These images feel a lot different to me than ones from a drone. Shots sourced from both techniques are gorgeous, and of course it’s not always reasonable to fly up in a small plane, but personally, I love the feel. Maybe it’s the memories they bring back or the glassy view from inside the plane. What are your thoughts? Do these shots feel different to you compared to drone shots? Let me know!