There I was under the wing of the Goose, legs stretched out taking it all in as the light, it was hard. Very hard! I was at the splash-in on Priest Lake. I was watching the 185 giving rides come and go and thinking, “what great color, what nasty light.” So there I sat in the shade just watching the clouds build in front of me. Then I bent forward and happened to look east and I saw, CLOUDS! Look at those bad boys, they are gorgeous! Dang, I needed to get off my butt and do something with them. The ride 185, where is it? I see it in the pattern, it’s going to be coming in for the next rider. If I can get low enough, I can put them spectacular clouds behind it. It’s red accents would pop in front of that white and black. I could walk down the ramp and get out in the water, don’t mind getting wet or what might think is risking the gear, but that was not a good idea. Pilots wouldn’t be able to see me, know I was there, that would be dangerous. There was a dock! I could use a longer lens, lay on the dock and shoot across the water! Off I dashed and soon I was a spectacle as I did just as I thought. I didn’t end up getting wet but I got them clouds!

The light outside the hangar changed, the hint of possible magic was on the far off horizon. There was time to grab the Z 8 / Z24-70f2.8, have one more cookie and wander out. Lessons from the past has taught me it’s easier to see if there is a possible photograph rather then learn later I had missed out. The top photo was taken just seven minutes after the image below. We just gotta get out and see what’s what because there is always the promise of the horizon!

Note: The WB was set to 10k in the Z 8, exp comp at -1 which is what is punching up the color and drama.

By their very nature, air-to-airs are dangerous! They also eat up money so part of the process to “cheat” both is to get the shots safely yet quickly. The total time for my A2A with the newly flying Pemberton & Son’s NAF N3N-3 was one hour, prop turn to prop shut down. That’s not much time to get real complicated. When you have a fresh out of paint, intake tube still chrome bright yellow plane for a subject, you just need a kiss of light and you have a great photo. In this case, you don’t need much making clean and simple work!

One concept that’s hard to rationalize in aviation photography is the background. What does it have to do with the aircraft? Everything! You can tell the whole story of the aircraft, its type, use in history, and much more with the proper background. And in the case of this client, use of the aircraft (surveyed the Alps) and time of year. While the snow makes one believe it was shot in winter, it was not. Here’s the secret which really isn’t a secret yet a concept that seems to get overlooked. Planes have wings and can fly, anywhere! As in, you can fly up to the mountains where there is still snow even in late spring or summer down in the city. With some homework, you can literally change the whole story with some air time traveling to where you can find the background you want. You don’t have to have urban if you want forest, don’t have to have fields if you want industry. Or in this case, don’t want summer, winter can still be found.