I hit the brakes, went into reverse, and backed up to check what I saw. A small strip out in the middle of nowhere on The Palouse, a hangar door was sliding open. A polished Cessna 140 was being pushed out. By the time I had turned into the small airport, it had launched. The wife of the pilot was standing there watching her husband as I walked up to her. I introduced myself and asked permission to venture out onto the ramp to photograph the fun. I was out looking for landscapes to photograph and came across summer gold. It was a marvelous evening making new friends, and some clicks I really enjoy. I love summer flying!

I grew up with a dear family friend who landed on D Day who talked of just one aircraft, the P-47. It was ingrained in my romance of WWII stories. When I was first taken into the back of the hangar at KMOT and saw the fuselage of the P-47D sitting there, I was instantly sucked in. Recovered from the Pacific where it served, I was intrigued, especially with the holes. They didn’t look like bullet holes, and it was explained to me that they were where the natives had cut the aluminum to make fishing lures. That was thirteen years ago.

When “Bonnie” took to the skies, like so many, I fell in love with her. She is gorgeous! I’m very fortunate to be able to spend time with her, but it wasn’t until a week ago that I was able to be in the skies with her for the first time (that’s a long story). And that was a short seven minutes (an additional long story). It was long enough to get an “I was there shot” at best, and that was all. It doesn’t tell her story, it doesn’t show her off to her best, and it most definitely doesn’t encapsulate what I want in a photograph of a P-47 that served in the Pacific. But I am happy, it was a solid start, I will do better!

There are no words to describe the organized, whirlwind tornado that is the calm of Bernie. He is in constant motion, getting so much accomplished with the simplest of ease and all in stride. I am very fortunate to call him a friend, shot his wedding for him even. So he is kind and puts up with me as I ask question after question as he wrenches on aircraft. On this afternoon, it was changing tires on the Dakota Territory Air Museum‘s Hurricane and then working on the oil pumps. I hand him a rag, carry a ladder, keep folks back while doing the run up, and I love every second as he’ll answer my question so thoroughly and sincerely, adding to my knowledge bank. It doesn’t come often enough for me, but I love a little quality Bernie time.

Them skies, they be bald! What is it with me and bald skies? When they are in a photo, skies dominate the top of the frame. When they are bald, the eye can easily travel up and out of the frame, and you lose the interest of your viewer. When telling a story, that’s not good. Besides that, they are boring to me, so I do everything I can not to have them in my photo. The first solution for me is, don’t take the photo. Seriously! What you see here is my next solution, and it’s done in post. Yes, you can use a split-grad when you take the photo, but it will either not affect down to the horizon line or will affect the aircraft. In post, ACR to be exact, you can pull down the Linear Grad to where you want it, and if it affects the aircraft, just mask out the plane. At the same time, you can “tint” that Linear Grad. In this case, I added magenta. You can add warmth, blue, green, or just make it darker. This puts a visual “cap” to your photo so the viewer’s eye comes back down to the subject. These are my two go-to summer bald sky remedies.

In the matter of 1/40 of a second, time is frozen and a memory is recorded forever. Photographers have such power in their hands, do you realize that, and make the most of it? It most certainly puts the pressure on to get it as right as humanly possible in camera cause it might be the last record of that subject, that memory. Buildings, people, aircraft, critters, life … they can be here today and gone tomorrow. This PA-12 Faust was a gorgeous aircraft, and I had the good fortune to photograph it on many occasions. The owner / pilot is such good people we count our blessings to know them and spend time with them. This past weekend, there was a crack-up of the Faust, and fortunately, they swam away from the incident and are fine. The Faust isn’t as fortunate. It illustrates my point that we must take care with every moment we witness in our viewfinders. Share your passion, your clicks and remember that’s history in your viewfinder!

If there is one place that comes to mind when I think of great summer aviation flying, its Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome! I’ve only been there twice, but each time it was incredibly fun and produced some all-time favorite images. Now, personally, there is no way I would fly in one of the aircraft they fly because, well, I personally couldn’t fit in them, but they do look like fun. I had to shoot at 1/20 to get the feeling of speed cause these planes don’t go that fast. But your day will be photographing all their great aircraft. Treat yourself to something special and step back in time this summer.