kerry m halasz

“Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return.” 

~Leonardo da Vinci

That is an incredibly prophetic reflection.  Leonardo da Vinci lived 400 years before the advent of human flight! How was he able to foresee the incredible lure of being up above the clouds, soaring over fields, mountains and oceans? Oh, how I wish he could have experienced it for himself.

He was exactly right, though.  Once you’ve been there, you will always long to return.  Each time my feet touch the ground after a return flight from one of my adventures, I look up and yearn to be right back up there.

Fortunately, Steve Jobs created a little device you might have heard of that makes it pretty easy to capture the sights from way up high. The iPhone. You’ve heard of it?  Yes, there are others, but I am partial to that one and love pointing its little lens out the widow, snapping up the beauty of the sky and the earth below.

I get a case of nerves while I’m reserving my seat on an upcoming flight, worrying that there might not be a window seat available!  I bring entertainment aboard but wind up spending the majority of my time peering out the window, snapping the light as it changes, the cloud shapes gliding by and the varied shapes on the ground passing quietly beneath us. It’s mesmerizing. Sometimes I worry that my seat mates, if not related to me, think I might be nuts as I stay glued to the small window, snapping picture after picture.

I take delight in using a variety of apps to capture the bliss.  I’ve used Hipstamatic, Camera+, KitCam, CameraAwesome and more.  I’ll play around with them in Snapseed and get antsy waiting to post a little gem in Instagram.  Maybe someone will hire me to do this full time ;)

One time, I photographed an entire flight from Atlanta to San Francisco with a particular lens/film combination in Hipstamatic with the intention of printing 20 of them in a grid for my office wall.  As soon as I get that done, I’ll post some pics of it. In the meantime, I do have a nice collage of them hanging up on the wall. It’s too small, though!

I’m heading back to Peru soon and of course have already reserved my window seat.  I can’t wait to get back up there!