Adi Geisegger and Michi Maurer transformed the Bavarian city Munich into a ground handling studio overnight. “I had this idea during the lockdown, when Munich was quiet,” says Adi Geisegger. “I wanted to play with the glider in the city, with the city lights behind. I rang Michi Maurer and told him about it, he was thrilled. This was the start of a brilliant shoot."
A story provided by CrossCountry Magazin
BMW headquarter
The pair started at 6pm and went till 4am. They could for example shoot on the BMW headquarters. “It’s an unbelievable building, the colour of the light changes every 10 minutes.” Remarkably, no one arrested them. “We thought we’d have one shot and then we must run away, but we did it four times. Security wasn’t bothered.” The same thing happened when shooting on the steps of the Angel of Peace. “We shot this at 3am, watched by taxi drivers. The police arrived, asked a few questions, and said, ‘Have fun, carry on!’”
On the bridge
“The biggest problem was the complicated aerology. The one on the bridge was a hard shot! The wind is flowing through the streets and also above, it’s all turbulence. We had to wait for the right moment to get the right wind direction. “We tried three hours for the shot – there were just two minutes when the wind came from the right direction. The building is the Nymphenburg Palace, it’s like a castle in the middle of Munich.”
Munich Olympic stadium
The pictures that follows now are on a small hill above the Munich Olympic stadium. “It was one of the best spots, above all the buildings and a clean airflow. Michi could groundhandle there forever”, said Adi, "thats why we were up there for three or four hours, from 7pm until after sunset, groundhandling and playing with the wing. It was like guerrilla photography! It was an amazing day and night, exploring the city in this different way. The pictures we got are unique.”
The Equipment
The Team
Adi Geisegger
Adi has been flying paragliders and hang gliders since the early 1990s. Since then the photographer and filmmaker can frequently be found with his paramotor.
Michael Maurer
Michi is a test pilot for Advance and an enthusiastic Hike-&-Fly competition pilot. His first flights were tandems with his brother Chrigel Maurer, until reaching the age of 16 when he obtained a license and soon joined the contest scene.