Wake Turbulence! Since Lee is begging for a backstory that he already knows I'll write it again. I took this on a boring Sunday afternoon (March 31st, 2014, for those keeping track). I posted it online and it instantly went viral all over the world. It has sort of become one of those legendary internet photos, and has been reposted, stolen, and appropriate by the likes of everyone from Snoop Dogg to Bibi Netanyahu - it's crazy. The image is licensed, purchased, sold as an art print, or used in some capacity nearly every day / week. Actual income from the photo directly is hard to measure but I'd put it between 200-300k. Indirectly, which is impossible to measure, is also huge. I've been commissioned to take similar images for two of the largest airlines in the world and one major international airport, as well as privately commissioned by an art collector to make one at his home airport. Not to mention the indelible effect this has had on my career. I've had people I just met say "holy shit, you took that?!" when a friend tells me to show them 'THE PICTURE'. It was truly a global phenomenon. It's been on book covers, magazine covers, in museums, and god only knows where else. It was simply the best career move I've ever made and it was created completely on a whim.
Critique the Community
Submit Your Most Profitable Photo
Submission Deadline: Wed, 11 Sep 19 05:00:00 +0000
This contest has ended.
Voting is closed.
Congratulations to the winners!
This one is great. But I almost like the header image from Frankfurt better. Maybe because I hung around a lot at this airport since I grew up there. ;)
I also like the FRA image better but this will always be the original!
That is true. Ironically the LA picture introduced me to your work. ;)
😎 I’ll ask for Lee, how much has this photo made you.
Ya exactly, I personally asked mike to add this picture and tell the story and how much it's made and he STILL cannot follow the rules.
I love his "Lee already knows the story"...
Well the rest of us don't!
Where's the "paragraph-long" description? :)
It's amazing how they all took off at once like this!!!
I'm clearly joking for those who don't have a sense of humor
I wish planes would take off at once. Then I wouldn't need to sit on the runway for another 40 minutes. I already showed up 3 hours early. Come on Airport/s !!!
so, did you took each picture ot the plains seperatly and just stiched them together?
Thank you for sharing, I’ve always wondered about the person who made this photo and I had no idea it was the guy who does the fstopper reviews
I remember this shot from school, Chris Knight actually turned me on to this particular shot and I gotta say, I absolutely love it!
I can only imagine the amount of post-processing this must have taken.