The Jump Out and Free Fall
Definitely my favorite skydiving photo:
coming out of the airplane for my first-ever jump!
(That's me below the instructor.)
For an extra fee, you may have a video and camera record of your jump. The cameraman gets out of the plane before you do, and takes this great first picture shown above. He has a video camera in his hand and a 35mm camera strapped to his head and uses both as he tracks your free fall and parachute drop all the way to the ground. Definitly a must if you ever decide to do this yourself. Carol also made this jump but without a cameraman so unfortunately, there are no pictures of her in the free fall.
In the second picture, after clearing the plane, I extend my arms and arch my back, as instructed, and began the free fall. The first thing I realize is that my mouth is wide open and my throat is getting cold from the wind rushing in. I quickly close it. The air temperature is about 40 degrees. The cameraman, who jumped out first, is now close by with the video camera rolling, but I am oblivious to him as I am fixed on the scene below. The instructor taps me on my helmet to get me to wave at the camera, which I finally do. They are getting a big kick out of my amazement as I fall to earth at 120 mph.
We go spinning around and do some manuervering as we speed downward and the ground starts to rush upwards.
The airfield comes into view and the instructor signals it's time to open the chute. I noticed the cameraman positioning himself to get pictures of this event, the most important part of the jump.
