[swf]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/_BMP6978.swf, 585 ,442 [/swf]
Ah, in Reno for the photography flight school for the air races. We had a great morning on the flight line, have just a moment to post before heading out to the pylons. More to come :)
There was no Moose Cam back then, but there was a video camera rolling. Here’s a small taste of the Reno Air Races 2008. For some unknown reason, I got stuck in front of the video camera to create this segment. It was totally on the fly in between sessions of getting gear out to photographers. It does give you a little taste of the races and why it’s so much fun. Be sure to watch the ending, it’s the best part.
Reno Air Races & Airshow – Nikon D3 Segment – TopFlight Aviation from TopFlightTV on Vimeo.
And if you want a recap of all my 2008 blogs from the races, head here. And yes, we will be at Flight School and the Races in 2009. And as a point of clarification, the content and creation of this video was all the idea of TopFlightTV.
If I wasn’t anxious enough to be back out photographing the Races when Josef goes and emails with the great news his book on the races is out. Josef is the nicest guy you’re going to ever meet, the friendliest and most helpful photographer I’ve come across in a long time, loves to laugh and dang if he ain’t a great photographer too boot!
You don’t have to take my word for the photography, you can check it out in his newly released book. I couldn’t find it instantly in the US, but I bet it will make it here. As for him being a nice guy and funny, those joining us at our New York DLWS will find out for themselves as Josef will be joining us.
When you run into Josef, ask him about chasing the solar eclispe around the North Pole in a AirBus. It’s a great story and he has photos to go with it!
[SWF]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/rarboys.swf, 585, 444 [/SWF]
As I write this, I’m rubbing my left arm and my neck is cracking, leftover from shooting for four days to bring back 6737 photographs from the races. Here is myself, our son Brent and Nikon’s Mark Kettenhofen shooting the F22 flight on Saturday. The 200-400VR, 70-300VR and 500VR are the lenses of choice at the races. This cool shot was taken by the keen eye of Sharon, looking for graphics amongst the shooters.
[SWF]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/stuntplane.swf, 585, 444 [/SWF]
The Reno Air Races are more than just planes flying really fast in a circle. Quite often in between races there are your more typical air show performances. These are fun with the media pass because you’re right under the action. The stunt planes are fun to watch but after seeing the F22 fly, they just don’t seem so agile.
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The Media folks at the Reno Air Race put on a first rate production. The large green bus is what the 25 morning race photographers take out to the pylon. Once at the pylon, the photographers spread out and take a position based on what they are after.
Some look for basic clean shots of single planes. Others look for opportunities with multiple planes in the shot while others go for photos of the pylon in the shot with the plane. You had photographers from all over the world at the race. it was a hell of good time!
[SWF]http://www.moosepeterson.com/swf_imgs/pylonflight.swf, 585, 444 [/SWF]
This is the typical massing of the first lap, in this case the T6 race on Sunday. It’s just out of the picture in the lower right corner, but that’s the pylon where photos like this are taken. You stand nearly at the base of the pylon and the planes fly right down your lens barrel with the roar of the props vibrate the sage scaring up the jack rabbits. As my good friend Rich told our son Brent who joined me at the pylons yesterday, “Once you experience the race here, there is no other place to watch them.”
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This was Nikon’s first time to provide full support at the Reno Air Races. Nikon pulled out all the stops bringing in their best, Scott Diussa, Bill Fortney and Mark Kettenhofen. The very first day they were out on the shooting platform checking out the location.
The majority of the time though they were in the Nikon Center either loaning out gear, helping with tech support or with the repair center. Photographers could bring in their gear and at no charge have their gear cleaned which included the sensors. This was a huge hit.
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This was my first time to be at an event where a full Nikon Center was up present. I was incredibly impressed by all that Nikon provided and know their support was greatly appreciated by the shooters.