Sky diving in Mesquite, Nevada on April 3, 2010

It wasn't the greatest day for photography, with a high, bright, cloudy haze. Still, the eager jumpers came out by the planeload. There were seasoned jumpers and beginners, as you'll see below.

In the first shot, four jumpers exit the plane at 13,500 feet. Two have their drogue chutes already deplayed




In one of those grand moments, a brand-new student lands after his first jump. Just look at that grin!



The senior instructor, Jim Fonnesbeck, takes his new bride Jean up for a jump. What a smooth landing! Perfect technique!




In these shots, the plane is at 13,500 feet in that hazy sky (which doesn't give us nice, crisp definition in our photos). Rather than the focussed sunlight we get on a clear day, the light is bouncing in from all directions.

On signal, the jumpers emerge from the plane, their drogue shoots deploy and their main chutes open. In the first shot, the jumper is just passing the tail of the plane. In the second, a single jumper dives headfirst into the sky.




Our pal Vitaliy loves to do wheelies as he comes down. He also likes to nearly land on the poor photographer! As you can see, he came pretty close!





Here are a planeload of jumpers coming down like brightly-colored snowflakes. Snowflakes don't bounce, of course, butI'll still go with that metaphor...