An aerial view of Los Angeles seen from the Goodyear Blimp in Feb. 2014. (Dan Marker-Moore)

“It has always been a dream to ride in the [Goodyear] blimp,” said photographer Dan Marker-Moore, who got his wish this year. The photographer not only took incredible photos from inside the blimp, he also got to test out his flying skills.

The Los Angeles-based photographer got to ride in the Spirit of America, one of the three blimps in Goodyear fleet. The Spirit of America is based out of Carson, Calif., 13 miles south of downtown Los Angeles.

When Marker-Moore took the ride he didn’t want to take your typical aerial photos, instead he wanted to capture the entire experience of what it felt like to ride in the blimp.

“I was looking to not just take landscape photos out the window, like most of my aerial photos, but instead share a unique perspective of the blimp and try to include as much of the airship as possible,” he told weather.com.

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The six-passenger blimp only carried Marker-Moore and one other passenger, so he was able to move around the blimp and even open the windows in order to capture the best views.

“The sky was clear in Carson, where the airfield is, but once we got toward the beach by the Port of L.A. we hit some dense fog,” he explained. “I was hoping for clear skies, but the moody fog was a real treat.”

Marker-Moore also got another unexpected treat, he got to be the pilot for a bit.

“Getting to fly the blimp was a great surprise. It’s pretty simple, you use your feet to steer left and right and a wheel at the side of your chair to change the pitch up or down.”

To see more of Marker-Moore’s work visit his website or follow him on Instagram.