Well the A-26B Invader just made its 30 minute shake down flight two weeks ago. That’s eleven years from when the photograph above was taken. The video of the test flight is below which is very cool to watch. The amazing Steve Hinton is at the controls. When you get the hunger for working on a project, there are lots out there that could use your skill and passion. Just remember though, it just take time.

Seriously I didn’t! I heard it though, those throaty engines you can hear from a long way off. I was literally lying in the sand having a great time photographing shorebirds like the Sanderling and Black-belied Plover below. Planes weren’t even on my mind, just birds. But then I heard the C-130 which we had seen a couple of days prior flying really low as we ate breakfast. With the sound, I took my eye from the viewfinder and saw it was coming right down the beach in our direction. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to stand up fast enough to make the shot and I wanted the shot so, I went into aviation photographer mode for a moment. I had to get my shutter speed down and fast to get prop blur. I needed to change AF mode. I cranked the aperture down to f/40 giving me 1/30 and I hit the i button and switched to AAAF. I then put the BIG bird in the viewfinder and until my chin was a couple inches in the sand panning with it, I shot. It’s a fun, simple shot I like and afterward, went right back to the little birds. The moral, gotta be prepared because often in photography, we didn’t see that coming!

Yeah, I’m not really a “modern” fighter kinda shooter. There are a couple of reasons for this primarily, I know I won’t ever get into a cockpit for an A2A to have all the images I’d want to tell the story visually so I put my time into those I know I can tell their story. And there are lots and lots of great images of these gorgeous aircraft out there telling their story. With that said, I want to add to my files some great shots of them just for my own satisfaction. The photo of the F-22 tells me there is hope for me when I look at the photo of the F-35 which blows chunks!

So I’ve committed myself to getting out in 2023 and work the skies to the best of my abilities to make those shots happen. For me, this means making the shot IN THE CAMERA and not on the computer! This means a couple of things. First, I gotta get my butt on some flight lines and more than just once! I’ve started that process. Next, I need to keep lifting my 10lbs weight to strengthen my left arm more. With that, practice, practice, and practice my handholding and panning. Finally, decide what rig am I going to shoot with. My first inclination is the Z 9 / 180-400VR. I love the balance, easy 1.4x addition, and of course the sharpness! But then there is the Z400f4.5 which is so light and so sharp. The first flight line is a month away so I gotta get to it.

It’s all in my wheelhouse, I just got to make it happen for myself. I’m telling you all of this because the same applies to you, your photography, and your passions! You’ve gotta find that subject, and go after it with the intention of doing better behind the camera! You’ve got to make the plans, do the practice then get out and do it. It’s how we improve our photography. At least, it’s how I improve mine. I will do better!

We all desire having that intimate time with an aircraft, on the ground or in the air. But how do you make that happen with the aircraft and its owner you don’t know? A bigger question in this process in your mind could be simply, “How do you stand apart from all the other photographers pointing their camera at the same plane?” I have the same problem but thankfully I learned the answer when I first started out. It’s the print! While there are a couple of owners I know who do live with their planes as the hangar and home are one and the same, they are rare. Most leave their “babies” at the airport. They can still enjoy it back at home with your print on their wall. How do they get that print? You hand it to them, for free, big and beautiful just like their aircraft! And where does that print come from? It starts with making that amazing photo of their plane as a static like you see here. Yeah, there were photographers standing on either side of me but I made the click in the camera and finished the image in the digital darkroom for the drama you see here. Then I made a print, a 24×30 and placed it in their hands. That’s how the photograph below came to be. Yeah, it’s that simple. Just show up, make the click and make the print as the print is your ticket!

One of the perks of winter is sunrise is so much later compared to summer. 08:20 compared to 05:20 is a huge difference especially if you have an aircraft you wanna photograph at sunrise but the owner isn’t an earlier riser. This is kinda an example of that where we got the plane out with the owners permission, but he wasn’t on the field at 0:dark thirty in the summer. I’ve waited a few winters to ask owners to pull their aircraft out for a sunrise shoot and you’d be surprised how many owners say, “glad this isn’t the summer!” It’s a simple an easy thing you might just want to try to get that sunrise static portrait you’re after.

Winter with its colder temps and gray skies are the natural time to be in the hangar working on projects. Many pilots do the annuals on their planes this time of year. Others pull projects out from the corner of the hangar where they are stored during the warmer flying months and go back to wrenching on them. Either case, it’s a great opportunity for the photographer wanting / needing to get involved. This is a the time to find these hangar rats and be apart of something great. What you see here is just that, the continuing N3N-3 on floats restoration project. I’ve been involved with this project for a year now documenting all the stages. How do you do the same thing?

You start by finding the project. How do you do that? You’ll find that information by looking at AOPA, EAA or CAF newletters, websites and meetings. You kinda just invite yourself to start, you have to go find them. They are there and finding them is a whole lot easier then you think. Next, realize you might be starting at the bottom, as in sweeping the floors. Don’t go expecting you’re going to get paid, quite the opposite. You’re putting in your time to just show up and take photographs. The sad truth you are more than likely not the first photographer to come along and you have no clue is the last photographer did it right, or wrong. While you’re sweeping the floors be thinking photography as you ask questions, lots of questions! Have your camera in your car at the ready. Have techniques up your sleeve like what I did in these two. I have a Profoto A10 on a click Octa nine feet up on a SmallRig stand to bring cleaned up light to the subject. Then when the time comes, make that one, solid photo to show your stuff. I guarantee if you stick with the project you won’t regret it and in the end, be in the air with the plane! Winter project are a gold mine!