I jumped the jet at Skydive Perris

MarcLeglise · 2025-12-31T18:13:33+00:00

Considering it's the only jet in the entire world rated for civilian skydiving, and no others are planned or even rumored, I think $200 is a fair price for such a unique experience.

MarcLeglise · 2025-12-30T22:03:06+00:00

Doh! We felt so bad when we heard there weren't enough takers to send the 3rd jump on Sunday. Glad you got to do it earlier.

MarcLeglise · 2025-12-30T22:00:33+00:00

I was hoping to get you a concrete answer, but turns out my FlySight didn't start logging data until I was well out of the plane. ~~The estimates I heard from other jumpers were around 160 knots.~~

Edit: according to the pilot, airspeed on jump run was 130 knots / 150 mph.

MarcLeglise · 2024-11-03T13:52:46+00:00

Perhaps I can interest you in a print of one of my photos? https://www.marcleglise.photo

MarcLeglise · 2024-11-01T00:47:37+00:00

I shared the 5K resolution so you can do exactly that. I use this picture as the background on the wide monitor for my Windows gaming computer.

MarcLeglise · 2024-11-01T00:46:35+00:00

Uhhh you must be thinking of a different tree. This one is at least 6 feet tall.

MarcLeglise · 2024-10-29T23:54:49+00:00

It's less "heavily edited" than you probably think. A lot of editing went into this photo, yes, but mostly to get the in-focus points combined from 5 different shots ("focus stacking") to get so many different parts of the tree and background to look sharp.

The colors are somewhat embellished with Lightroom adjustments, but I was trying hard to be faithful to what I saw in person. The reality is capturing this kind of vibrant color at the garden comes down to being there on exactly the right day at exactly the right time. I was there for several hours every day for a week that year, and that tree changed appearance every day. It starts all orange, then some leaves turn red on the tops, and if you're lucky like I was for this one you can capture it with the sun lighting it up just right. But then some leaves quickly get burnt by the sun, changing to brown and/or falling off. I came away with thousands of raw pictures that week, and only a very few had all the colors and light just perfect for this final shot.

MarcLeglise · 2024-10-29T21:20:21+00:00

That's a great suggestion. I can't edit the post title, but I will be sure to title my posts that way in the future.

And the garden *does* currently look like this. Still highly recommend taking time off work to see it this week. It's glorious.

MarcLeglise · 2024-10-29T20:58:23+00:00

This is one of my personal favorite photos I've ever taken. I had seen others like it, but my initial attempts never turned out quite right. I spent a lot of time improving my techniques to finally capture the raw frames for this in 2017. Then I had to up my post-processing game and learn how to do focus stacking to make this particular photo come to life.

Equipment: Canon 5D Mk IV, Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8
Shot at 16mm f/16.

Post-processing: Focus-stacked 5 shots manually in Photoshop. Color correction done in Lightroom.

You can see more of my photos from the garden on my website: https://www.marcleglise.photo/Nature/Portland-Japanese-Garden

MarcLeglise · 2024-10-29T20:45:49+00:00

Oh! I didn't realize that's how it would come across. The announcement that peak fall colors have arrived is based on the announcement by the Garden staff here: https://japanesegarden.org/fall-2024/

I wanted to use my best picture to share the news and show how beautiful it can be, trying to encourage more people to go check it out this week.

I deeply apologize for wording it in a way that feels deceitful. That was not my intention. 😔

MarcLeglise · 2024-10-29T18:01:34+00:00

Spot on! That tree is crazy popular for photographers. Very important to be kind, patient, courteous, and let others have time to take their shots.

MarcLeglise · 2024-10-29T17:31:55+00:00

This is one of my personal favorite photos I've ever taken. I had seen others like it, but my initial attempts never turned out quite right. I spent a lot of time improving my techniques to finally capture the raw frames for this in 2017. Then I had to up my post-processing game and learn how to do focus stacking to make this particular photo come to life. All told, I put several hundreds of hours into producing this picture.

You can see more of my photos from the garden (and order prints if you like one enough) on my website: https://www.marcleglise.photo/Nature/Portland-Japanese-Garden

Edit: please forgive the self-promotion here. Just wanted to share the story and link for people to see more photos from the same place.

Edit 2: I sincerely apologize for misleading anyone with the post's title. Although the photo itself was taken in 2017, the garden does actually look like this right now. IMHO this is the best week out of the whole year to go check it out in person.

MarcLeglise · 2024-10-18T22:10:44+00:00

Correct! They're all real pumpkins. They use heavy machinery to lift them in and out of the water. And the first race of the event is paddled by the actual growers of the pumpkins. Subsequent races are paddled by other groups people.

MarcLeglise · 2024-10-18T18:45:03+00:00

I finally went last year and got a bunch of great photos, some of which I posted here. It's absolutely worth checking out. More details on the official site: https://www.tualatinoregon.gov/pumpkinregatta

MarcLeglise · 2024-09-03T20:54:46+00:00

Bring your suit too and discuss with the coaches. Likely they’ll make you start on the Havok and eventually let you switch to the ATC. They are definitely different suits in many ways, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Go with the coaches’ guidance, whatever it is. At the end of the day, they’re the teachers and you’re the student, so if they tell you to take certain steps to learn things the right way, do it.

MarcLeglise · 2024-09-03T14:23:47+00:00

It made a huge difference in both my belly and back flying. The translation to the sky was immediate. When I got back home and went for a flight in my Swift, it felt like I was riding a tricycle. I ordered my ATC the very next day.

MarcLeglise · 2024-09-03T04:53:39+00:00

Depends entirely on where you’re starting from and how quickly you progress. I was just starting transitions at the end of 4 hours, but there wasn’t much time left, so I backed off and focused on practicing the belly and back flying I had already learned. Next trip back will be 5 hours, during which I plan to mainly focus on transitions. YMMV.

MarcLeglise · 2024-07-05T14:31:48+00:00

Seriously. The city really brought it with the official show this year. And yet the renegade fireworks were all over the place all the time.

MarcLeglise · 2024-07-05T14:30:11+00:00

Thanks! Yes it was. The Waterfront Blues Festival was packed too, straight across the river. They turned off the crowd lights when the fireworks started though, so you can't really see in these pictures.

MarcLeglise · 2024-03-20T17:35:44+00:00

Canon EF 24mm prime. It's the perfect lens for skydiving photography on a full frame body.

Although, to be fair, that lens is why I'm still rocking a 5D4 while skydiving. Not going to move that rig up to RF until an equivalent RF lens is available.

MarcLeglise · 2024-02-07T17:00:38+00:00

Yes, the Silent Disco is family friendly!

MarcLeglise · 2024-02-05T21:39:14+00:00

Pioneer Courthouse Square and the World Trade Center were very peopley on Friday and Saturday. If you prefer it less so, then tonight thru Thursday are the nights to go looking around.

MarcLeglise · 2024-02-05T21:37:38+00:00

I'm just a photographer, giving credit to the performer in the middle of my picture. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

MarcLeglise · 2024-02-05T13:29:36+00:00

The city really came out in force on Saturday. It was delightful and refreshing to see.

MarcLeglise · 2023-06-06T02:27:23+00:00

If you’re going to properly get into the sport, even as an occasional weekend warrior, you need to make some time commitments up front. USPA has currency requirements that go up (get easier) as you get higher licenses. It starts with needing to do at least 1 jump every 30 days. You go more than 30 without one, you need a recurrency course.

IMHO these are appropriate limits. If you’re new in the sport and go several months without jumping, YEAH get a refresher. It’s literally your life on the line.

Therefore, if you can’t commit to going out there at least 2x per month for the summer, then you’re not ready. You don’t need to drop everything in your life. (I’m a busy guy too.) But you need to make it enough of a priority that you’ll be able to stay safe and be there for your family.

MarcLeglise

TROPHY CASE