Serious, this plane is called a Moose and it has nothing to do with me! It’s a kit and in this case, it was constructed by Thomas and his son Matthew and it’s gorgeous. You could think of it as a wide-body Cessna 185 with the ability to carry a moose. It was delightful to fly in and land at grass strips, riverbeds, and in the future, I hope at some amazing, remote fishing streams. And hopefully, I’ll do an A2A with it, a moose with wings!

It was a classic “just show up” situation. Bob said just be there, not why, just when and where. Being my mentor I did as advised. The photo above is just one example that came from just showing up. What has always gotten me about the shot is the juxtaposition of the Zero and the fall color background. I love the color, I love the action, it’s just, well, I’m not really sure what it is about the whole click. I know the pilots loves it, and many of you have said you like it. Perhaps for me, the photograph is all about the background story.

The Mustang, the epitome of fighters and the sky battles of WWII is a gorgeous machine. The D version which came near the end of WWII is the most commonly thought of and seen flying today. The D is the “bubble” version, the big canopy designed so the pilot had more visibility to see and pursue the enemy. That’s what the P stands for, pursuit. The “turtle deck” version of many fighters like the Mustang hindered that vision which is why they were phased out. “Boise Bee” was the first P-51C I saw in person and at the same time, photographed. I thought I loved the P-51D but when I saw the C, well, I fell for it! Then I came to learn how rare they are so the push came to find and photograph more. It’s taken twenty years but I’ve found a couple so now is putting in the time hoping I get time with them. Cause for me, they are sweet, the lines of the C.

We were enjoying the serenade from the Canyon Wren while having our lunch when we heard an all too familiar sound in the totally wrong place. Both Sharon and I jumped up and rushed to the balcony in time to see a C-130 up close and personal! It flew between The View & The Mitten eastbound going down in the valley proper. I saw it bank so I rushed back in and grabbed the rig in hopes it would make the same pass. As you can see, it went on the outside of the Mitten leaving the area. Sharon figured out it was in honor of a Navajo Code Talker who turned 107 that day. It was so cool to see the flyby in his honor, well played!

Yep, it’s late summer and much of the landscape has the summer browns. Yeah, you can find green like in this photograph, but brown rules the day. It’s not the best background color when thinking of aircraft, blue comes to mind. You have a number of options for working with it. In this case, I went with the slow shutter speed blurring it out to some extent and therefore blurring out the brown. I also used another option and that’s a bright color. The orange on the wings of the Pienthol works well with the brown background. Another option that I have used is simply not shooting when one can see the brown in the photo. It can be a challenge but something we have to deal with each here when there are the browns of summer.

I’d never knew of, seen, or especially heard of a WB-57 when the wind up of its engine occurred down the ramp. Grabbing the camera I headed out with the gang to see the Canberra take the active and the dark smoke filling the ground. This 1954 twin-engined, 570mph aircraft was designed as a tactical bomber and reconnaissance aircraft. The B-57 was built under license from the British English Electric Canberra, manufactured by Martin. With a maximum ceiling of 64k’, NASA is now the only one flying them, and that is for research. It’s a wicked looking plane and I’m so glad I had the opportunity and was in the right place to see it. And next time when I hear those engines, I’ll know what’s that.