Kingair capture by D4s / 80-400VR2
It’s wildfire season and that can literally stop flying. When it comes to A2A photo missions, the majority of the time we want bluebird kinda skies with a cloud sprinkled here and there. With smoke, that’s not really an option. The vast majority of the time pilots will simply not fly, not only possibly dangerous, it’s not fun. If they are willing to fly, you might previsualize the situation and you might not want to shoot. When it comes to making the call, often they ask, “Can we make good images?” This is when I go to the apps, and weather charts and look at how the wind is blowing, the density of the smoke and the light. There are times like in this photo when we flew just a little further than normal and got to clearer air and by shooting not at noon nor at sunset, had a light that made the smoke a more pleasant background. More often or not, we simply don’t fly cause then there was smoke.