A bird's-eye view
July 20, 2010
WINCHESTER
Greg Cromer's favorite perspective is through a viewfinder 1,000 feet above the ground.
Over the past month, he's spent 30 hours in his single-engine 1980 Citabria taking aerial photos of Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland.
"To me, flying is photography," he said. "If I go up without a camera, I feel like a hawk. I'm always looking."
Although Cromer, 46, enjoyed photography in college and has had his pilot's license for 18 years, the Stephens City resident didn't combine the two into a profession until 2008.
That's when he created Virginia123.com Aerial Photography, which is based at Winchester Regional Airport.
"I said, 'I've got my hobby, now what can I do with it?,'" Cromer said.
Before he discovered the wonders of aerial photography, Cromer was an advertising sales representative for both WINC-FM and WUSQ-FM (102) and a manager at Valpak.
Now, Cromer's a high-flying multi-tasker who keeps one hand, or two knees, on the gear stick as his camera pokes out the plane's window.
"It just flies by itself," he said. "It doesn't go left or right. It just goes straight. I love this Bird."
Cromer has photographed 150 towns and cities in the three-state region, with the goal of capturing them all.
He takes pictures of homes, businesses, restaurants, construction sites, and schools - all from above - while making his way across Virginia to photograph all of its vineyards and wineries.
Handley High School, Kernstown Battlefield, Abram's Delight, Long Branch Historic House, downtown Winchester, and Handley Library are a few of the local places he has focused his camera lens on.
He is currently working on a project to photograph area students forming a giant "2010" outside their respective schools - also part of a fundraising effort for them.
After taking his pictures, Cromer tries to sell them at craft shows on his website, or through door-to-door sales with people whose homes or businesses he has photographed.
"These pictures are passports into some miraculous places," he said.
Cromer prefers flying in nice weather when the haze and turbulence are low - because he knows what it's like to have wind break the Plexiglas window on his plane.
But that didn't keep him from getting back in "the Bird," his affectionate nickname for the aircraft.
Only 12 of 365 days last year were clear enough for him to take panoramic views of towns and cities, Cromer said.
"This summer's off to the same start," he said. "It's been a vast wasteland."
Cromer not only shows mastery with a camera, but also Photoshop, in case customers want to have a missing shingle from their roof "replaced" or the hose lying across their yard "removed."
He said he does it all to see the reaction on people's faces when they get a look at their hometown from above in one of his photographs. He especially remembers the time a woman cried after he showed her the aerial picture he took of her hometown of Elk Garden - a small, low-income area in West Virginia.
"She said, 'I didn't know I lived in such a beautiful place,'" Cromer recalled.
In the end, the pilot photographer sees it all as part of his legacy.
"This is something I'll be able to leave behind," he said. "There's something satisfying about that."
- Contact Rebecca Layne at rlayne@winchesterstar.com