Coming Down is Hard to Do

Nov 17, 2011 | Aviation



Sharon & I have just finished a five week road trip in which all but one day, I was teaching while shooting. I enjoy that a lot but your mind is never truly, fully on your own photography. You never get to really go inside and have a good conversation with yourself and talk through a photograph. I thought I might go past the 2mil mark for digital files in my entire library this trip, but didn’t think I’d fly by in such grand fashion coming back with over 1.8TB of images for the 5 weeks. Wow, that’s a lot of clicks. Wow, that’s a shit load of images to finish (all landscape and aviation, no wildlife :-( )! And the very last day of our road trip was my day to do my photography for my own projects. It was simply an amazing day where all the months of planning came to be and executed to the T as planned. That rarely ever happen! What a rush, what a high!

Then we came home where there was a home to vacuum, dogs to walk, snow to move and mail to open. The day before I was chasing planes through the clouds and the next, the office. One thing I have never gotten good at in all these years is coming down from such photographic highs. Don’t get me wrong, I love home, it’s my favorite place to be and this time of year with a fire in the evenings, it’s great. But being a road warrior, I no sooner get home then the itch comes to be back on the road. The one thing I do once I get back home is to get the “work” done so I can “play” as soon as possible. The first work thing actually starts on the road. That’s getting all my images edited, filed and numbered so all I have to do is dump all the files on the network. That’s the work, the office organization stuff. Then comes the play. That’s taking those images and finishing them, printing them and sharing them. So now I’ve been home a day and the work is done and I’ve started the play and I’m feeling a little better. It might just be me but after great shooting, coming down is hard to do!

Planes: B-17G “Sentimental Journey,” T50 “Bamboo Bomber,” F2G-2 Super Corsair “#74”
Photos captured by D3x, 70-200VRII w/TC-17e

The Simple Rewards of Photography

Nov 16, 2011 | Aviation

If you follow the blog then you know my thing for the F2G-2 Super Corsair. I was very fortunate to not only spend a bunch of time with the Super G but also with the family who brought it back to life, the Odegaards. To say thanks, I’ve sent them a whole bunch of prints over the year. Well, I wanted one for myself, a special one I could share with others. So my good friends at Image Wizards worked their magic and made this giant print of the Super Corsair from Reno this past sept. I took the print with me to AZ and got Bob to autograph it. And it was fitting, he signed under the wing of the Super G. It’s such a simple pleasure, the print, but it makes such a huge impact. Share your moments, share your prints! Thanks Bob!

Why I Love Hangar Hanging

Nov 16, 2011 | Aviation

One of the really cool things about the AZ Wing of the CAF is the ability to hang around the hangars. I do it all day long! There is always something going on with aircraft, that’s the obvious photographic finds. But it’s the people who come to visit the Wing that are the real find. We have meet and become friends with many, most being vets from WWII. They come to see their old friends, the aircraft, and share some of their stories with their family. Well Monday we were hangar hanging with our good friend Bob at his Super Corsair when a docent came over and asked Bob is this 91yr old vet could sit in Stang, Bob’s P-51D Mustang. The gentleman flew them during the war. Without hesitation, Bob said yes and bounded over to Stang to assist. With camera in hand, I followed.

The gentleman hearing he could, started to approach the Mustang when he broke down. The memories came rushing back, what exactly they were, what his experience had been I don’t know but they were powerful. His family grabbed the gentleman steadying him. Bob then asked if the grandson would like to get up into the cockpit, experience a little of what his grandpa had long ago. Smart grandson, he was up and in in a heartbeat. After a little while grandpa had regained his composure and was being helped up into the cockpit. Once in, you could see he was back home, memories came rushing by and were communicated in his face mainly with big smiles. I asked if I could take some pics and they said yes with a very quizzical look on their faces.

Then I told the son and grandson to hop up on the wing for a quick portrait which they were happy to do. Then they all came off the wing and once grandpa was back on the ground, the emotions over came him again. And this is not uncommon in the hangar to the Wing or any time warbirds are out in public. To the men who flew them, they are more then just metal.

This is the reason I always have a camera with me when hangar hanging. After the family had finished with the Mustang and grandpa was back to telling stories, I passed them my business card telling them to contact me, I’d send them prints. Grandpa got all tearie eyed again. Odds of them all being together and with a P-51D again are pretty slim, the photograph though will always remind them of that moment. And that’s what photograph is all about!

Photos captured by D3s, 50f1.4AFS

My Favorite from the Hour

Nov 15, 2011 | Aviation

So then I tied it all together. Blowing the first 30min put the pressure to come up with an image that worked. Using the same reflected light off the wall, Walt was joined for a couple of minutes to make this shot. Same narrow f/2.8, lens selection and light and it was a slam dunk. Now if I had a week, I could have created a set, let it with a ton of flashes and come up with a really cool shot. But I didn’t have a week, I didn’t have an hour and knew I didn’t have the skill set to do anymore then what you see. So I went with what strengths I do have and made a click I really like. For Moose, it’s not a bad people picture. Can’t thank the members of the Arizona Ground Crew Living History Unit enough for a great morning!

error: Content is protected !!