Earl and the Parachutist

Sometimes as I work my way through the Woods photo library I discover utterly befuddling images. This photo was shot during our trip to Expo '86 in Vancouver; that's me in the car in the foreground, staring in what must be shock or awe at the parachutist descending to earth a few metres away.

I have no memory of this incident. In the high resolution version of this photo, You can barely make out that the man appears to be wearing only a bathing suit and tank top, as though he anticipated a water landing. At first I thought this was a parasailing flight, but he's flying toward the camera and there's no boat dragging him from that direction, so he must have jumped out of a plane. Six of his friends appear to be waiting for him to land - or perhaps they're like me, innocent bystanders caught in the middle of some unlikely stunt.

You'd think that this would have left a stronger impression on me than it did.