Senior Portrait for a Pilot

---

Did you know that 17 year olds can fly planes...solo?  Yeah, me neither...before I met Dylan that is.  "Was is scary going up all by yourself the first time?" I asked him.  "Not really," he said.  "It's a pretty standard flight path you take for that first solo.  What IS scary though is when you do a forced downward spiral."  Gulp.  Yeah, I bet. 

​So it turns out that, just like the standard parallel park for a driving test, the forced downward spiral is something that you have to prove you can deal with as part of your pilot testing.  ​You better be a pretty calm person in general before taking this on.  "Unflappable" is how Dylan's mom describes him.  I'm onboard with that one, and let me tell you why...

In addition to proving that he could deal with the downward spiral, Dylan also dealt with an ample amount of heckling during his shoot.  Dylan's uncle, the owner of this lovely plane, was around for the shoot and just so happened to be playing the theme song of Top Gun-- Highway to the Danger Zone-- on his phone pretty much the entire time.  Actually...it was kind of awesome.  Was Dylan phased?  Not one iota.

Sunset on the runway at the Livermore Airport.

  ​

---

Not surprisingly, Dylan is interested in pursuing aeronautic engineering.  ("He wants to be an astronaut," his mom said.  To which I replied, "Don't we all?"  But, um, he's actually working on it.) He's already been admitted to Purdue, but is still waiting on a few other schools.

---

Before Dylan's photoshoot I had never been to the Livermore Airport. I've driven past it a million times, but never pulled in and actually walked around.  There were several surprises.  First, I was totally floored by the fact that you can literally just walk right onto the runway.  No checkpoints, no gates.  You don't have to take your shoes off- heck, you don't even have to sign in anywhere.  Second, it turns out that there are actually a TON of great places to take pictures!

Thanks so much Dylan for introducing me to this fantastic location!  I can't wait to see you soon for your Cap & Gown mini session and find out where you'll be next year!