Willie is just an amazing pilot, period! Such a good soul and friend with unbelievable knowledge of Kodiak. His flying skills are one thing, his knowledge of the terrain below is exceptional making every flight a once in a lifetime event. How do you sum that up in one click? I wanted to show his office, the cockpit of the Beaver. I wanted to show his home, outside the cockpit, Kodiak. He is such a romantic, that had to be part of the photo as well. That’s a lot to put into a story! The lens choice, there was just one choice, the Z14-24f2.8 at 14mm. This is such an amazing lens! The body, ain’t much room up front with the two of us so I went small, the Z 6II. In pushing myself as far back and in the corner as I could, I couldn’t step on any peddles, push on the stick. With all of that in mind, I asked Willie about our flyout. When he told me we’d be going to climb out to the north and them turn east to go up and over, I knew that’s when I had my moment. With the Beaver in a bank, I could get the sun and some light on Willie. I asked him to sit a little forward, pull is head back into his neck as much as comfortable and still able to fly, I closed the aperture down all the way for a starburst and watch the light. Just before it started to reach Willie, I started to click. The rest, well the story is in the click. That’s how I made the click and dealing with the wide effect.

The N3N-3 looks like it’s screaming by when in actuality it just splashed down and water slows down a plane really, really fast! By simply using a long lens (560mm here) with a slowish shutter speed (1/60) and being close physically to the subject and the subject somewhat close to the background, the “slow” landing appears to be fast. This very simple technique just requires great handholding and panning and the thinking through of the background. The Z 9 in AAAF took care of the focus. Floating out in the lake on a platform got me close. And talking with the pilot about what I needed to make the shot was all it took. You can do it to! Just say to yourself, go slow to show speed.

While we still have snow, you can have some fun if you head to the airport armed with your sense of humor. Above is an example of what I’m talking about. But here’s the rup, you kinda gotta know our audience. Not everyone is going to understand the humor in this photo, but those in the industry sure will and that’s who you’re targeting. You’d be surprised the doors this simple click has made for me in the past year. You gotta act fast though to look for that snow job!