What it was like taking photos of Vineyard Wind from a plane

The two-seat Cessna was rigged for skydiving, but as pilot Chris Siderwicz throttled it up, my only pre-flight checks were simple, stowing the cameras and a quick check to make sure the side window would open. The grass runway at Cape Cod Airfield in Marstons Mills was in fine shape after some dry weather. A steady tailwind from the north made our southbound journey a quick hop over to Martha’s Vineyard.

Before the plane was even off the Cape’s coastline our photo subject was visible over 20 miles away. The towers of the Vineyard Wind project were on the horizon. Even the Danish ship Sea Installer at 433 feet long was visible.

Vineyard Wind’s site is about 15 miles due south of the island. The turbines rise more than 800 feet from sea level to the tip of the blades. Each turbine, 62 in total when complete, are arranged in a grid spaced one mile apart. The two ships on site, the Sea Installer and Cade Candies, an offshore supply ship, at 309 feet, were easily visible from our high altitude. The smaller work boats operating next to the turbines were dwarfed by the structures.

Our flight took us first over the offshore substation where the cabling from all the turbines goes before heading to shore. Photographing from the left side of the plane took us on a continued path south along a row of turbines that had spinning blades.

Like any photography, aerial image-making is all about the light. The old adage keep the sun at your back works good for front lit subjects, but over the ocean, shooting back into the sun from a high altitude gives a sparkle to the water. Photographing out the window of a plane going 60 mph makes composing difficult, especially with the narrow field of view from a long lens.

Our flight made two loops around the project, the first time was more practice, figuring the best angles, and the second put us right over the Sea Installer that carried all the components for a new turbine, from blades to tower sections and the nacelle. Time is money with a chartered photo flight, so after two passes it was back to the airport.

The first time I photographed sea-based wind turbines was from a small, chartered fishing boat on the Irish Sea off Arklow Ireland in October 2005, too much wind and not enough boat made for a choppy voyage. Now the turbines were on home turf and a smooth one-hour photo flight brought back the images. But alas, there was no pint of Guinness at an Irish pub with the captain at the end of the trip.

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This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Photo Shoot: Cape Cod Times photographer flies over Vineyard Wind