For those who have not been part of the Osh magic, you could think of it as the biggest, longest, baddest week-long airshow on the planet. That’s what it is filled with thousands of aircraft and tens of thousands of folks who love aircraft. My best friend Flyboy said I needed to get to Osh as I had literally just gotten into aviation photography. It was a sensory overload, to be honest with you. We flew into Osh in the 206 and camped under the wing. It was so much fun! The other side was I needed to produce from the week, a pressure I should never have put myself in but I did. Flydaddy was there with his A36 so I had a photo platform but I had no subjects. That’s when Jake introduced me to Chris and his L-5. I’ll just say getting off the ground literally was quite the ordeal. Once in the air, it was heaven but it cemented one of the most important lessons I learned early on in aviation. As it turned out we became close friends with Chris and done much more with him since. It’s all about the people making me so very grateful to that first Osh.

My first was in 2011 and I thought I’d traveled to Shangrala! There are so many planes with clean backgrounds, there are great arse shots everywhere you go!!! I like to start by being in Warbird Allery before the sun rises. I scout the possible subjects selecting my top pick. Before the sun appears I’ll be in place and once that shot is in the camera I head to my #2 and if the light is still right, then to #3. Then in the evening, I try to work the evening light like I did here with Duggy. I realize it’s hard to take your eyes off the skies at Osh as there is so much great stuff flying. But I’m here to tell ya, there’s great arse at Osh!

I wanted this image bad! I can’t remember now how many events I went to with the Tora Tora Tora performing and I saw that wall of fire only to capture an empty sky in the background. Then the lightning bolt struck and the brain engaged. It’s really simple math, so simple it went flying past me, literally!

Osh is around the corner where this series of photographs were taken and now is the time to get your game plan figured out. The first elements are the lens and body you’re going to use and practice proper handholding and panning. Osh is a long airshow each day so you must have some muscle, literally to get the shots all day long. With that in your back pocket, you head to Osh. There you need to WATCH not the planes at first but the folks and where they are setting up the pyro, the wall of flame. The vast majority of the time it’s show center, but not always. Then you gotta, and this is a BIG one, figure out the wind! With those two pieces of math, you walk the flight line so the wall of flame when it goes off, the plane is in front of it. In this case, I was at the far left end almost to Warbird Alley! That’s way off show center.

Once I figured this all out, no matter what event I was at, I could nail the shot. And man, is that fun to do! For now, that’s my first thoughts on Osh.

The pilot is one of my favorite guys, he’s the one flying the T-6 round Steptoe for us a couple of weeks ago. At the splashin, he spent the day giving rides in the N3N-3, a plane he loves to fly. i can’t thank him enough for flying around so Steptoe, I thought a sneaky portrait of him doing what he loves would be another thank you. What’s the sneaky portrait you ask? That’s my own title for taking a portrait when the subject has no clue it’s going on, none! In this case, he’s busy landing the N3N and even if he wanted to see me, he can’t. But with the Z600f4TC @840mm, I can see him. Planning the shot so I had the splash, an important aspect of the photo, hiding the passenger and so you just see him took a few landings. Luckily I nailed it, the perfect sneaky portrait.

What a great weekend at the splashin at Tanglefoot this past weekend. I was incredibly fortunate to be included in the ground crew for the N3N-3 which provided 20, 15-30 minutes flights to other pilots so they could experience this WWII trainer classic. All of those flights required the launch and recovery of the N3N which is an amphibian meaning, it can’t come on dry land. This kept me standing in the lake doing what I do best, being a post for hours. Yep, I stood waist-deep in a cold Idaho lake capturing, holding on to, and then pushing off the N3N. That was great fun! The best part was during the takeoff and landing, I would be standing there with the Z 9 / Z600f4TC photographing the N3N and all the other aircraft. Standing in the water, there was no one and nothing between me and the aircraft, it was perfect.