Dream Job: On the Fly

Videography allows Chad Stevens to pursue skydiving, his life''s passion. Here, Stevens (left) captures footage of the descent for one of Skydive Elsinore''s tandem students. Photo by Kelly Corcoran

Chad Stevens says that when he finds something he loves, he tackles it with 100 percent of his energy. That's the gusto he has approached skydiving with. He took his first skydive about four years ago and has since completed more than 3,200 jumps.

But Stevens doesn't just leap from airplanes. He is an accredited instructor and skydiving videographer, one of an elite crew of “cameraflyers,” as they are known at Skydive Elsinore, in Lake Elsinore, Calif. Stevens freefalls up to five times a day, capturing footage of the exciting descents for the school's patrons.

After jumping, Stevens has about 45 to 60 seconds to record the exhilarating journey with his Sony DCR-PC105 MiniDV Handycam camcorder, side-mounted to his Brazilian-made Rawa helmet. In the top-mount position, he carries a Canon Digital Rebel XT, outfitted with a 15mm Sigma lens that allows him to photograph the sun without distortion.

A blow-switch device connects the still camera through a wire to Stevens' mouth, where he blows through a tube to take photographs. The MiniDV camera he simply turns on before leaving the plane and aims by pointing his nose at his subject. Most skydiving videographers, he says, use a ring sight that hangs in front of the eye, but he finds this tool too distracting. “I've just done it so many times that I know exactly where I need to move in the sky and where I need to be; I know what my pictures are going to look like,” he says.

Once on the ground, Stevens quickly edits the video through a Sima SFX-9A digital video effects mixer while simultaneously recording to DVD. Students typically receive their video and stills within 10 minutes.

According to Stevens, the learning curve for this type of “on-the-fly” videography is steep. “There's so much to learn, and you only have a certain amount of time once you leave the plane,” he notes. “There's no way you can learn everything overnight. It takes a lifetime.”

For more information, visit www.skydiveelsinore.com.