Tom Sanders made his first skydive in 1978 at Lake Elsinore CA. He noticed that there was no way to get a photograph while jumping out of the plane and a business idea was born. While a student skydiver Tom arranged with the manager of the parachute center to start a photography concession focusing on the student jumpers. There were a few expert skydiving cameramen filming the “Sky Gods” as these experienced jumpers were called but nobody was filming the students. Tom started "Sport Shots" in 1978 and a few years later changed the name to Aerial Focus. Originally Tom filmed from the landing area with an 800 mm lens getting great shots of the students descending under their open parachutes. A short time later Tom had Larry Perkins, the A&P mechanic install camera mounts on the fuselage of the jump aircraft. As Tom’s skydiving ability progressed he was mentored by Ray Cottingham a skydiving freefall cameraman and legend in the sport. The rest as they say is history.

We are in a process of updating this Portfolio and Photo Gallery.  As soon as older photos shot on film are scanned and ready, we will upload them here. Thank you for your patience!