One aspect of the this job called photography I love is the unknown. Going after a specific critter and in that pursuit, finding an even cooler one. An unknown reward. Heading out for this landscape shot and finding a better, unknown view. An unknown reward. One of the greatest mysteries of our pursuit we truly never have all sewn up is the light. Light makes its appearance at its leisure whether we’re present to witness and celebrate it or not. And it’s that unknown that, while can be frustrating, can be the greatest reward when it makes appearance when we’re ready to capture it.
I went after “The Beast” and I got it. Had been planning the shoot for some time, the idea was to take a winter moonlit night shot of it in the snow. But as it turned out having clear skies with a full moon at sunset isn’t a sure bet in the far north in winter (ya, I knew that). And while I didn’t get “that” shot I got plenty of others that I was perfectly thrilled about making the whole venture worth while. And while doing the on site scouting during this shoot, I got to poke my head into another hangar and low and behold, there’s one of those unknowns!
Sitting there in the hangar was this rare, airworthy 1928 Waco GXE also know as Waco 10 (GXE is a 10 with Curtiss OX-5 engine). There are only a handful around and even fewer flying. This one you won’t find on any registry and has an amazing history which includes being owned and flown by a AVG, Flying Tiger! Well when I saw that gorgeous thing in the hangar, I instantly asked if we could pull it out to photograph. Next thing it was on the grass. With all of that good karma going, I didn’t worry about the gray skies overhead cause the wind was blowing. With the D750 / 24-70VR set up on the RRS Ground-Level Tripod, I just waited for the sun to make its brief appearance. Now what you see here are the three light levels that I shot that I like. They are all different, they all tell a little different story and all three are the rewards the unknown. So at the end of the day and we look at our photographic adventure, we need to be able to see through it all to exploit the unknown.