Former teacher takes shot at new heights
Allan E. Goldstein of Elk Grove Village is afraid of heights, like being perched atop a ladder or on a roof. But put him in the seat of his Cessna Skyhawk and he's at home. He feels safe. In fact, he's almost addicted. To flying, that is.
So the math teacher-turned-computer professional-turned aerial photographer has found his niche with his Aerial Images Photography and sister company, Gold Seal Photography.
He'll be the first to tell you that he and another licensed pilot enjoy their mission of recording everything from crash scenes to landscapes to news events for corporations, insurance companies or other clients.
“I know I'm not going to fall out,” Goldstein said, laughing. “We're all humans and as pilots, we're not barnstorming here. We won't take chances. We're very safety conscience.”
Goldstein has been a licensed pilot since the 1970s, even while he served as a Chicago high school math teacher. But he put that flight habit on hold after he got married and started raising a family.
Later, he was nudged by friends to take an airplane ride and he was hooked again, just like an addiction, he joked. And he later decided to continue flying on a regular basis and start the aerial photography business.
Goldstein has photographed a number of corporate events, but he also quickly jumps on major crashes or catastrophes, including the crash of a classic B-17 fighter plane that went down after leaving the Aurora Airport a few weeks ago.
He packs a Canon IDS Mark 3 digital camera and other equipment to professionally shoot such scenes for posterity, with an eye toward selling the shot to a company when the chance arrives.
“They're all newsworthy events,” he said.
Now, his greatest enemy isn't a fear of heights. It's clouds.
“They could just wreck the picture,” he said. “It could be perfectly clear, but you may get just one cloud that goes over the site and just won't move.”
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