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I normally strictly separate my professional photography from my art/hobby photography but I have decided to make an exception for these 3 images. The pics were taken when a group of soldiers were given the opportunity to make their first parrachute jump from the back of a Hercules aircraft into shark infested Nowra Bay. A water jump. About 60 diggers put up their hand...including one 60 year old reservist. Gotta admire that.
Initially I hoped to use the SB800 and the Lightsphere coupled with a 10.5mm lens. Unfortunately it was fairly turbulent on the back ramp and I feared losing the LS and the SB800. (I have never been happy with hot-shoe mounted flashguns and I believe there shoud be 2 or 3 points of contact for better coupling security.) Most of the diggers who jumped now have digital copies of the activity so in that sense theses images are in the public domain. I used 2 cameras...one with the fish-eye and the other with a 20-30mm F2.8 zoom. I occasionally used the pop-up flash and it worked a treat.

Great series of photos Matt. I'm sure the diggers will be very happy with your work.

I saw some of your shots at the mini meet and was impressed, and again looking at them... I just love the fisheye perspective, especially for the cockpit shot. Nicely done Matt.

Great shots....don't know about jumping into shark invested waters though

Nice series of shots, is it normal to wear sneakers in a jump?

Very nice!!!
I love them, thanks for sharing.

Nito
For a jump into water, yes.

Nice shots Matt... It's good to see some of your pro photography...
It brought back some great memories of when I flew in a Herc when I was 14... I've never felt so sick in all my life...

John
Even sicker than then you were at the anniversary dinner?

Matt, nice shots. I really like the fish eye in the cockpit. Did you get any of the nervous looking diggers before the jump? I got offered to do the same jump at Nowra PTS, I politely declined. I'd prefer to carry my 'house' on my back and walk to 'work'. I figured from you avatar you were a mil type.

Matt. These are great and look almost as good here as they did in print (a testament to your skills). How about also posting that great plane being washed pic too (please )

Matt. K wrote:John
Even sicker than then you were at the anniversary dinner?

I don't remember being sick at the anniversary dinner - I must have been bad

The first shot is incredible! I love the way the guy look as though he's still running!

Matt great shots fisheye is great for this type of work

thaddeus
I believe a couple of the guys spoke to the loadmasters beforehand and basically said, "If I freeze up or get chicken then please assist me off the aircraft".
I later heard that 2 required a touch of gentle persuasion. It takeas a lot of guts and faith in your mentors to jump out of an aircraft and into the ocean. I have a great deal of admiration for these folk and it says a lot for their training that injuries are very rare. And they get paid for this.

Fantastic Matt. I am green with envy.

Raskill
Next time you get the offer then take it! You get a free BBQ after they fish you out of the water. Putt a little fizz into your life!

The air walking with sneakers in the first shot is great. absolute classic.

Wonderful shots here Matt, the first one is especially adventurous and poignant.

Matt, sorry for being slack mate but yeh i think these shots are really cool. Gamer than me, throwing yourself out of a perfectly good plane over shrk infested waters is not quiet the turn on i would like, now if there was some action like a sharkey munching on a para jumper wuld make it interesting.
But these are good, keep it up.