Searching for Hailey...

So, I had a rare Friday off, and how did I spend the afternoon? Grocery shopping!! I know, incredibly exciting huh? So, as I'm walking down the canned foods aisle gathering ingredients to make my mom's recipe for homemade spaghetti and meatballs, I get a call from work asking me to come in they were searching the Abilene landfill and cadaver dogs had already gotten two hits in the search. My boss said he was trying to find a plane to hire to shoot aerial photos and that he'd call me back soon. So, I grabbed the couple of cans of tomato sauce I had left on the list and checked out while waiting for the return phone call.

As I was driving home, hoping to get my groceries put away before the return call, my phone rang. I had to rush to the airport (luckily you can get anywhere in Abilene in 10 minutes or less), there was a helicopter waiting for me to take me up shoot aerials of the search. SWEET!! I've always wanted to fly in a helicopter. I've shot plenty from airplanes, but shooting from a helicopter is completely different, and a LOT easier. First, the helicopter is slower and while we never stopped and just hovered we were going slow enough I could get all that I needed. Plus the door had been taken off, normally when I shoot from a plane there may be a tiny window to shoot through. With no door, I could pretty much lean out the door (I was strapped in with a 6-point harness) and shoot easily. It was pretty crazy to see, there were a bunch of people in hazmat suits sorting through trash that had been dug up by a hydraulic excavator. Overall, I was pretty happy with what I came back with, and despite the helicopter making a smart car feel like a Cadillac I'd still rather shoot from it than an airplane!!