First flying in 1940, the PT-19 Fairchild is a primary trainer for WWII pilots. Only about eight thousand were manufactured with truly not that many flying today. Unlike most trainers of the day, the PT-19 is a monowing that provides its students a more “realistic” flight to the advanced trainers and fighters they were training to fly. Its flight characteristics demand more precision and care. Its virtues were that it was inexpensive, and simple to maintain.

I wondered if I could light an aircraft with studio flash. My normal MO is when an “if” comes to mind, I follow it to find the answer to the question. It’s how I’ve learned what does and doesn’t work for my photography over the decades. The if of lighting a plane with flash while it might appear it worked, and it does photographically, it most definitely doesn’t work for me! Warren was very kind this morning to be at the field before sun up and get the Waco in place. The hangar is very special, it’s very old and was part of the Ford Victory Tour in the ’30s. Inside its wall are the routes, fuel needed, and pilot’s names written in pencil preserved. The hangar was as much of the subject as the Waco. Well, I had a whole bunch of Profoto B1s set up out front. Bunch of Profoto B2s inside and holding them all down were hundreds of pounds of sandbags. Profoto makes getting the exposure so easy nailing in seconds a synch; set up, and take down, not so much. After one long morning, I came a way with a photo, two blood blisters, and an answer to using studio flash on statics. Had to try it once.

With the sun low on the horizon, and winter storms trying to carve out a spot in our skies, now is a great time to spend a little time at your local airport. Commercial jets like this Alaska 737 are still planes and with that sweet, mellow light, are great subjects. At the very least you get some good old panning practice in. You might be wondering why I’m using such a long lens for this large plane at your basic airport. Well, the longer the lens, the more selective I can be with the background while photographing the plane further out. I want more of a head-on shoot than broadside. If you want broadside, use a shorter lens. You could go with a Z180-600 and get both angles cause heck, with fall, head to the runway!

The PT-17 “Goliath” is kinda of a legendary flying aircraft. I saw it for the first time just a week ago and the first thing that struck me was, that color! I wanted to accomplish two things in the photograph, communicate its name “Goliath” and make the color burn in your vision. The answer to both questions was accomplished in one action, lying down! Yeah, I went prone on the grass. That angle of looking up on Goliath made it have a more prominent stance on the taxiway. At the same time, that angle took in some green grass and more blue sky, those colors make the orange eye popping even more so. It was that simple to pop the color.

Sitting in the 185 in the warm-up area, the door was off giving me clear vision to all our surroundings. Taxing to the warm-up area on the dirt strip was one of our subjects, the gorgeous Curtis Wright Speedwing. As it spun up, the clouds of dust filled the air, the Speedwing backlit in the afternoon light. The resulting shot is an instant favorite of mine, resinating of days gone by.

Bald skies are hard to incorporate in a photograph as they tend to take up so much space with nothing to say. I like to arrange element to not only move the eye around the frame but also tell a story. What does a blank sky say much of the time? Nothin! But when you have access to a cool aircraft for just a day and you have bald skies, you can’t blow it off. You gotta as they say make lemonade from lemons. So I hit the ramp almost an hour before sunrise, when the light far off on the horizon is not even a glow yet. I then started to arrange elements by putting the Z 6 on a Benro table for an arse shot. Dialed in -2 exp comp, put the WB to 9000k, and made a click. I waited 10 minutes and took this shot. The vignette is natural, I did nothing in post, this is right out of the camera. What did I do for the rest of the morning? I had coffee and donuts with the guys and enjoyed being on the ramp. So with bald skies, go dark!