Greetings,

I have seen on your website landscape photos from winter, spring and summer, which made me wonder: how is it for the Flyfoto.lt project when autumn arrives?

Fine. We have been engaged in aerial photography for 3 years. Each year we acquire new skills, we learn the subtleties of the genre and we try out ever-better photographic technology. It could be said that the project is still gathering momentum and that the best photographs are still waiting to be ‘born’.  We would like this to be an ongoing project and we hope that our enthusiasm will not wane for at least another three years.

 The creators of the legendary BBC documentary film about nature, “Blue Planet”, once gave an interview that made a real impression. They took few years to make that film. They accomplished next to nothing during the first year and they used only a small amount of footage from the second year; most of the material they used was filmed during the last years, once they had understood what they really needed to get the desired effect. We can say something similar about our modest efforts: our latest photographs please us the most. This dynamic should be felt in the spring when we start our new season’s work, after spending the winter doing such things as updating the flyfoto.lt website. However, we trust that this autumn we will not be short of good photographs ...

Flying and photography ... Which passion developed first? How and when did the idea arise of sharing your flights with others by means of photography?

Although we have been playing around with photographic equipment for some time now, aviation was our passion before we really took up photography. We are aviators who have become interested in photography, not photographers who have discovered the possibilities that flying offers.

We have often noticed how passengers flying for the first time and seeing the land from a new angle  are fascinated by simple things that no longer appear interesting to the eye of an experienced flyer. From this observation we have always thought: what would be the reaction if we were to show something really impressive and rarely seen? 

In your photograph collections no people are visible, the space is given over to nature with both its simplicity and its greatness. What stimulated you to dedicate your photography to nature? Was it a desire to purify the world back to its primal image or a means of seeing humans indirectly, in a different context, in a different way?

That happened naturally and in a certain sense arbitrarily. Lithuania is not a densely populated country, we have a lot of areas that are relatively very little affected by human settlement. We seem to be uncomfortable squeezed into cities; and when you fly away from these anthills for five minutes, you see vistas of vacant land with very few people around. Often, all you can see are the signs of human activity. This way of looking at humans indirectly is very interesting. 

In your view are the technical abilities of photographic cameras adequate for capturing the untold beauty of the natural environment as seen from the freedom of the skies? In producing the photographs, is much lost that is visible from the air to the eyes of birds and flying humans?

In regard to the technical aspects, aerial photography is a rather complex genre. In this field, if there is not enough light for a particular photograph, it isn’t possible to use a tripod or a slower shutter speed; nor can you combine  several photographs together to present a panorama of the whole field of vision.  In aerial photography – it’s here and now, taking photographs in whatever conditions nature provides at that moment. It all happens very quickly; your angle of vision and the light conditions can change instantaneously. Therefore, it is not surprising that it is not always possible to capture the image as it was at the moment you first saw it.

Every flight or fall consists of a succession of moments, with the film rolling and the moments captured on film. Is it easy to manage to spot things that excite you and speak to you? How do you manage to choose just certain moments and not to get overwhelmed by the torrent of images that you see, not to get overwhelmed  by them?

Luckily we haven’t fallen yet and we really hope we won’t J. But seriously, stopping a certain moment is indeed difficult. In the long run, after much flying and photographing one is capable to anticipate what will look nice not just in reality but also when transposed onto photographic paper. Sometimes it happens that a beautiful view does not present well as a photograph; and alternatively, it sometimes happens that a view which may not seem much to the untrained eye produces an outstanding photograph.

Photography from the heights is not so common, so there were probably some special reasons why you took it up. What were they? Were you looking to see things differently, trying to get up there away from it all to relax, perhaps trying to read earthly problems from on high, hoping to find answers in the images that suddenly confront you prophetically?

I would dare to argue that photography from the heights is not so uncommon. Aerial photography is a rather popular, even – sad to admit – an often banal genre. Most countries have their ambassadors from the sky with their cameras, who sell thousands of albums of photographs of places in that country taken from on high. As aviators and photographers we are only pleased that this genre is popular; and maybe eventually we will also get around to producing an album of our best photographs.

As for reasons and grand motives  – we have never thought about that. More than anything, it’s fun, a blend of several hobbies, an opportunity to surprise other people by showing them how beautiful our country is, presenting views they have seen many times before from an unusual angle.

When taking photos you enter a transition zone between heaven and earth. Does a wandering spirit ever take hold of you, making you want to go higher, to photograph the clouds? Are clouds really as humdrum as many people think? Maybe the migrating birds also keep looking longingly at the ground?

 We keep trying to think of something new. Looking higher up may not be a bad idea. There are never humdrum clouds or seas or hills; but sometimes the attempt to turn them into art falls short.

Most probably with all that flying you have seen heaps of fascinating things. From all your experience as photographers what view or glimpse most took your breath away?

It’s hard to say with certainty, we’ve seen so many interesting things. Nonetheless, perhaps the most breathtaking thing was one day in mid-September, when we saw birds gathering in the fields, preparing to fly away from Lithuania. They were there in huge, uncountable flocks. For several days thousands of cranes and other birds thickly populated certain meadows and peat bogs. The scale of this annual reunion of migratory birds was so unexpected. The first time we saw this spectacle it was hard to believe that it was really happening in Lithuania, not in a remote part of Africa. We tried several times to immortalise the scene on film, but unfortunately, as yet we have not been able to present this image satisfactorily as a photograph ...

What would you say to those who like your photography and are fascinated by it and who also try to immortalise the beauty of nature; and what about those who do not understand such photography and who are not ready to appreciate it yet?

To those who like our photography and are fascinated by it, we give our sincere thanks. Even though we do photography for our own satisfaction, it must be admitted that hearing positive feedback pleases and motivates us.

To our view-hunting colleagues we wish success in achieving perfect visual harmony and a distinction between sweet kitsch and bitter art in their searches.

To those who do not understand and do not see any sense in our work, we wish that they may find their own way of looking at daily life and the world that surrounds them from a different angle – not necessarily the bird’s eye angle ...

Algimantas Deikus
Vidas Kaupelis

Interviewers Karolis ir Milda (net.niekas.eu).

2009.09.19

Original tekst (Lithuanian)