Aerial Photography Surprises

Although I have flown in helicopters many times over LA on assignment, I am still surprised by what we can fly over. The attached photo is by no means a great or even good example of photography, but it is taken right over LAX with active runways. My client who accompanied me on the flight was very surprised, and understandably nervous about it, but both of us were excited to have the priveledged view. We were flying at about 1500 feet, so the danger was minimal as planes are well under that on approach or takeoff, but still...! Fortunately, when we arrived in Santa Monica the sun peaked out for a few minutes during our shoot and the resulting photos turned out much better than this example. On the way back, we ducked down to 300 feet, and flew under the end of runnway. I had my video camera ready if a plane took off over us, but no luck. Maybe next time.