One of the summer trips that were taken by me and my wife was an adventure to Lookout Mountain, Georgia - which is just minutes south of Chattanooga, Tennessee. This was our first trip to the area and had previously never known that such a place existed in the Appalachian Mountains, so we were pleasantly surprised about the views.
During our first night, while watching a mesmerizing sunset on the western side of the mountain, we learned that there was a popular spot for hang gliders just a few miles down the road from our bed and breakfast. One event-filled day later, after dinner and before another perfect sunset, we found ourselves at the jump-off with the hang gliders.
This is what we saw...
When we first arrived, we were lucky enough to catch a glider getting ready to launch. He had recruited a few kids to help him out and it turned out that they had never done anything like that before. This guy truly was a risk-taker.
I wonder if having completely amateur help adds to the adrenaline rush.
Success!
He didn't go crashing into the ground 1,000 feet below, so I'm sure he was pleased with the help.
Here's a shot just to get an idea of the height and views that we had. I unfortunately had not received my neutral-density filter before leaving for this trip, so the landscape/sunset photos weren't as good as they could have been. And it didn't help that we were facing west the entire time.
This was the landing area below. I took this photo with a 70-300mm lens, zoomed to the max. It was no small drop if the glider failed.
As luck would have it, another glider was ready to launch.
Some other gliders, mostly tandems, were being lifted from the valley and released from above us. They joined the other singles that were flying around.
This guy made several passes for the camera. What a ham!
"Two wild and crazy guys!"
I think their names were Georg and Yortuk.
Without a cloud in the sky (and no ND filter), capturing the sunset proved to be a bit difficult. So I did what I could and snapped these last few photos before the light faded.
I'll have to go back to Lookout Mountain sometime and take another series of photos with the hang gliders. The views really can be breathtaking and with the right amount of planning, I think I can capture some awe-inspiring shots. And this will give me an excuse to take my wife back to the bed and breakfast, which she loved!
It's a win-win-win for me!
Thanks for stopping by!
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