Dean Cully Photography

I'm a photographer specializing in aerial landscape and air-to-air aircraft portraiture.

With a small airplane of my own since 2002 and a background in aviation as a fixed-wing pilot with professional experience dating to early 1988, the landscape as seen from a place most others have very limited access to appeals to me-- partly, admittedly, because I don't like having too much competition as a photographer. I feel ambivalent about trying to be unique amongst the tens of millions of other photographers who every day are making photographs from a conventional terrestrial perspective. The aerial perspective is simply not readily available to the average individual wishing to conduct high quality image-making.

The usual aerial photo-platform is my 1947 Luscombe 8E, a two-seat light airplane with acceptable visibility from its side-windows (opened), when compared to other similar nose-mounted single-engine airplanes, and excellent handling qualities. Additionally, the airplane is of a true "stick and rudder" design; that is, the pitch and roll inputs are made through a "stick" extending from the cockpit floor, rather than a control wheel or "yoke" extending from ahead of the pilot's seat. This allows me to control the airplane with my knees and feet (on the rudder pedals), freeing my arms and hands for camera handling.

I live and work in Anchorage, Alaska as an air ambulance pilot flying a Learjet-35 and King Air 200. The Luscombe has been with me in Anchorage since June 2010 and in the coming months will enable me to resume my more serious photographic pursuits.