THE IDEA THAT EVENTUALLY BECAME PACIFIC STAR BEGAN IN 2008 WHEN I THOUGHT ABOUT TRYING DIFFERENT METHODS OF PHOTOGRAPHY... TRYING TO PUSH THE LIMITS OF THE CAMERA. THAT FOLLOWING YEAR I SPENT A LOT OF TIME SHOOTING TIME LAPSES AND NIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY BUT I ALSO BEGAN RESEARCHING METHODS AND TECHNIQUES TO ACHIEVE A HIGH ALTITUDE BALLOON FLIGHT THAT WOULD BE ABLE TO TAKE BEAUTIFUL PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE UPPER ATMOSPHERE, PARTICULARLY THE CURVATURE OF THE EARTH. HOW FAR COULD I PUSH IT?

AFTER MOVING TO LOS ANGELES FROM BROOKLYN AND FINDING IT VERY DIFFICULT TO LAND A JOB IN THE CURRENT ECONOMY, I FIGURED I HAD MORE THAN ENOUGH TIME TO BE PRODUCTIVE ON THIS PROJECT SO I DECIDED TO GIVE IT A GO.

I SPENT THE NEXT SEVERAL WEEKS COLLECTING THE NECESSARY PARTS AND TESTING THEM FOR THE INITIAL LAUNCH. THIS MEANT TESTING THE ELECTRONIC COMPONENTS FOR COLD WEATHER SCENARIOS (PUTTING THE CAMERA AND GPS MODULES IN A SUB ZERO FREEZER!), REPROGRAMMING THE CAMERAS, DECIDING WHAT SETTINGS WOULD WORK BEST IN THE UPPER ATMOSPHERE, TESTING LOAD LINES AND THE PARACHUTE, AND THINKING ABOUT A WHOLE HOST OF VARIABLES THAT WOULD HELP MAKE THE FLIGHT POSSIBLE AND SAFE FOR OTHERS. THERE WAS A TON OF PLANNING BEHIND IT.

AFTER I FELT CONFIDENT WITH MY RESULTS, I DECIDED TO LAUNCH PACIFIC STAR...