It Took 4 Years to Capture This Perfect Adventure Photo

Photography Tips

This is the story of one photographer’s obsession. An obsession that took her four and a half years and six attempts to finally succeed. Meet adventure photographer Krystle Wright, an Australian who now calls herself “a child of the universe,” thanks to her global travels and a tax law loophole that makes her unqualified to be called a resident:

“As a photographer, to stand out from the rest you need to be thinking of new ideas and new angles.”

The shot she was after, looking down on base jumpers from a bird’s eye viewpoint as they jumped off the edge of a cliff, sounds simple enough. But envisioning something like that is actually the simplest bit of the whole project. Making it happen—ensuring everything chimes together perfectly—is the difficult part. There are a million different things that can go wrong, and they often do, as Wright found out on five previous failed attempts.

Wright hanging from a helicopter while making the shot

To make the shot possible she needed to strap herself to a helicopter and lean over the skid on one side while it hovered high above a cliff. Why? Because she doesn’t crop her images and this is the only way she could make a clean shot without getting the helicopter skids in the way. She would fire away on the motor drive as the base jumpers jumped off one by one. Pretty basic stuff!

So, what drives her?

“I find that when I do take photos I now come across this complicated situations and I love the process of trying to simplify, and through those simplifications it brings harmony. It makes me feel settled with the world for that brief moment.”