Who rents pickup trucks ?

[Ed Richards]

I have one of those old tall tripods, but I have not found a good folding ladder - any recommendations?

[Clement Apffel]

In France, such things can be found in any "tool shop".

To me, the best are the cheap aluminium ones. because they are very light although they might be a bit unstable and fragile as they are cheap.

the unstability can be handled if you are carefull and the fragile aspect... well I don't care as long as buying another one is still cheaper than a heavier pro version.
and in addition to this, "fragile" for a step ladder is quite relative...

"oh my god ! i scratched my step ladder ! I can't use it anymore !"

you got the idea.

The light weight is my top priority, and i know that all other parameter can be handled.
So that is the only thing I compare when buying one. and they usaly are the cheaper ones.
but I have no brand or precise model to submit here.


regards,

[Don Boyd]

Speaking of ultralights, who is the photographer (non-LF) who tows the trailer with the ultralight stowed inside with its wings folded? He just drives somewhere, unloads the plane and takes of in either a field or a road. Very cool.
Hollis, Adriel Heisey built an ultralight and photographed from it using a gyroscope attached to, first a Pentax 67, later a Pentax 645, and recently, I believe, a digital back affixed to a different medium format camera. He was a pilot for the Navajo Nation for a while and got frustrated at flying to high and too fast to capture what he was so much enjoying from the air. So, he built an ultralight and customized it so that he could fly it with his knee velcroed to the joystick while concentrating on his image making. He did trailer his aircraft and often took off and landed on roadways when nothing else was available. More recently, Adriel has purchased a fixed wing craft that allows him to both fly to his destinations without trailering it and that still fly slow enough to allow him to shoot with the doors removed at low speeds. His work is gorgeous.

I have put a sheet of plywood atop the rack on the shell of my Ranger pickup and sometimes shoot from the top of it. With no wind, it makes a fine shooting platform and the approximately 10 foot vertical distance (ground to tripod top) allows me to get beyond the roadway edge and get a fair amount of real estate in focus.