[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/DPA2AB1709731.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
Casey moved in and stayed in for an entire orbit! It was great flying and a killer photo opp especially with such a famous P-51D, Cripe’s Almighty!
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/dpa2ab1709331.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
Did I mention Casey stayed close and it’s a great plane?!
Photos captured by D3s, 70-200VR2 on Lexar UDMA digital film
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/dpa2ab170987.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
Then is was time for Mustang round up. You couldn’t find two more gorgeous examples then these two planes being piloted by father and son, Bob & Casey.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/DPA2AB170848.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
Shot at 1/45, there is no break in the prop arc. Go to 1/60 like below and there is a small space in the arc. Having them all solid or all with spaces gets boring so I would go back and forth with shutter speed selection.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/dpa2ab170873.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
Then Casey moved in…..and wow…mtc
Photos captured by D3s, 70-200VR2 on Lexar UDMA digital film
I originally posted this with no text, didn’t think it needed it but I got slammed with emails asking the question, “Why can’t I believe it’s my photograph? The answer is real simple, it’s an amazing opportunity that I never thought I would ever have!
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP43821.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
Hell, we didn’t know Bob was going to join us until a few minutes before we left the ground to shoot. Then bam…a Supermarine Spitfire joins the formation and the shoot. It would be like your heading to Central Park to shoot birds and all of a sudden a Black Bear asks if it could tag along for the fun of it. As photographers, it’s what we always hope for but it rarely happens. But here’s the deal, a photographer worth their salt is ready for when those moments do happen so they can make the image. I’m very grateful I had the opportunity!
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp2012.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
It’s Spitfire solo time. Like I mentioned we varied each orbit a little. Richard was on the mic calling the formations with Doug up front orchestrating the movement of planes. Like Jake, I really liked the Spitfire. While not an original from the factory, this gorgeous production is true to the original in every way except it’s made of wood and not metal. I sure didn’t stop be from shooting up a storm with it!
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP4412.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
This is a kind of classic “desert” scene which the Spitfire might have seen during the African campaign during WWII. The photo ship kept a pretty constant altitude while the subject planes would vary their position and altitude (as they felt comfortable to do so) in compliance to our photographic direction.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp2218.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
And before it split off for a while we had one last glimpse of the Spitfire in the setting sun. Wow!
Photos captured by D3x, 24-120AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/dpa2ab170669.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
“Lit’l Buddies,” that’s what some of the air crews nicknamed the bomber escorts over Europe during WWII. They were there to help defend the giant thousand plane armadas that went across the English Channel to bomb Germany. I really wanted that same escort for our B-17 and luckily, we got it.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp2007.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
Once we had a couple of orbits of the four ship formation, the B17, two P-51Ds and Supermarine Spitfire and then the B-17 peeled of and went back to base. After that, it was time to photograph just the three planes. Here is the Spitfire and P-51D against the Superstitious Mtns.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/dpa2ab170772.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
Here are the same two planes on the next orbit. One of the goals we teach at Air2Air is variety in the formations. This is for many reasons from editorial to keeping photographers interest.
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/dpa2ab170860.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
When the light level dipped I decided to go for broke by lowering my shutter speed. I had been hovering between 1/125 and 1/90 for prop blur but with the angle of the sun really lighting up the props, I went for 1/45 to 1/60. You can see the different here as the arc is nearly 360degrees. Man, this was a great shoot!
Photos captured by D3x, 24-120AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp1867.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp1889.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_bmp4160.swf, 585, 473, [/swf]
And then out little buddies showed up, two P-51D Mustangs and a Supermarine Spitfire. In air-to-air photography, you don’t have a lot of time with any one subject, plane. You have to choreograph the flight before you even leave the ground to make the most of ever minute of the flight. We had just 1 1/2 orbits with the B-17 and the Lit’l buddies, a classic European WWII view. With that knowledge I clicked around the entire orbit and liked all that I captured. It was an absolutely magical moment for me!
Photos captured by D3x, 24-120AFS on Lexar UDMA digital film