“Do you do any air-to-air in the winter?” Ted emailed me this great question. The quick answer is yes, but as you might imagine, there is more to the answer than just, yes. On this particular evening shoot (the sun was below the horizon for our altitude when this photo was taken), it was -1 as I hung out of the 185 and that doesn’t include the wind chill. While that sounds really cold, keep in mind one of the weird things about me, I tend not to get cold.
The pilots, that can be a totally different story. Addison in the Speedmail, while he has the “heater” on in the cockpit, he is exposed out in the slipstream. He has on the classic airmail suit of past with modern materials so he was “warm” for the flight but we were only airborne for a little over 30 minutes. The pilot of the photo platform, Ryan, had the cabin heater going at full blast and was comfortable. So the comfort of all was fine but that is only part of the cold equation.
Ice and planes don’t mix! Icing on the wings disrupts airflow which has brought down many an aircraft. And before you even get in the air, the oil in the engine needs to warm up and if you’re not in a heated hangar, that can be a challenge and really mess up your timetable if not planned into the photo mission. And you as the photographer must have faith and trust in your pilots that they know all of this because safety is still #1 in a shoot. So the answer is yes, with a whole bunch that comes along with it.
The best way I know of saying in a photograph that it’s fall, that magical time of year, are colorful trees. When it comes to saying it’s fall flying season then is, fall color in the background. It sounds so simple. Well let me tell you, it’s not! There are many photographs in aviation I have at the top of my list to get, this is #1!
This photograph was taken back in the day in Maine when we were after Moose photos, not aircraft. We just happened to come around a bend in the road and saw this 206 taxing with great color. I made a couple of clicks and that was it. Ever since I’ve chased more but ….
FG-1D Corsair captured by D4s / 80-400VR
With this in mind, I headed to Maine a decade back to what I thought would be a slam dunk. Though the back story is lengthy, bottom line I was with great friends and aircraft in Maine in fall, what could go wrong? The fall color was late this year. We spent an evening around looking for a big patch of fall color to put behind the fleet. No joy. argh!
Wacp GXE captured by D750 / 24-70
Four years ago, had an amazing air-to-air and static shoot all lined up in Michigan. It included fall color, old red barns with fall color, and some great aircraft! We were all set to even create a classic old painting of a Stearman crop duster hopping over a classic barn just like in the painting. Days before we arrived as you can see, all the fall color was blown to pieces by a fierce wind-ice storm that lasts for days. Argh.
Then last year, I though I had it nailed. Over a half dozen classic, gorgeous, vintage aircraft were lined up for four days, four day of air-to-air photography over the Minnesota forest in fall. Remote stripe, great plane and pilots, four days, what an adventure. Two weeks prior to the shoot, a tornado came through and damaged the hangar with the aircraft. While the aircraft were safe, the hangar was so twisted that none of the doors could open, no aircraft could get out. Argh!
Then this year, well we all know whats going on this year. I’m up in Maine looking for opportunity cause the color is gorgeous. But that’s just how it goes with some ideas as this one continues to be the the fall aviation challenge!
Panning in its most basic form, is moving the film plane in sync with a moving subject. This synchronization nullifies the movement of the subject as far as the camera is concerned so we have effectively, frozen a moving subject. This is a very old technique and for it to be effective, as far as rendering a sharp, frozen moving subject, it must be practiced on a continual basis. I’m talking about a minimum of once a week in order to make it a took in your arsenal that will serve you whenever you need it. This is basic, human, muscle memory training which is what panning boils down to in its most simplest terms. These days of being “stuck” inside, you can’t let this skill you’ve built up slip away.
Waco UPF-7 captured by D5 / 180-400VR
But just capturing a sharp image cannot be an in point to our photograph. Panning is a technical tool that is reduced to this and what the world needs is not more technically perfect photographs, what it needs are more with passion. We must push our craft past that to panning becomes a means to art. These photographs of a B-17 are an example of what I’m talking about. The sky was a great blue and it had great clouds all being brought to life with gorgeous light. Shooting handheld with a D4s / 200-400 and D5 / 180-400 the shots are no accident. I put myself in position so when the aircraft make their passes, the gesture of their flight is set against that sky, the color making the clouds pop out with the light bringing it all to life. Yes, panning is why they are sharp but moving past the technique and to the art, panning is what brought all those elements to life in the photo. Push your technique and get out and practice even if it’s with cars so it is the building block to your art and then your photography will take life. Panning is more than a technique, panning is art.
Been cooped up for a while, looking for something you’ve not photographed inside your house? Yeah, cabin fever can really put a damper on the old creative juices. But you can’t let that happen, you gotta keep moving photographically forward. Perhaps while social distancing (driving around in your car by yourself) find that subject you’ve seen a million times and though it could be a photograph, it never has been, yet. The one thing it was missing was, light. Now might be the time to visit that subject with a longer lens at times of the day you’ve not seen it before. Like this photo, I headed out during a thunderstorm to see if the clouds would break in my favor to spotlight the hangar. Tucked away in the corner of nowhere, MT, this grass strip hangar has long caught my imagination but never my camera. Finally, the light worked in my favor and I made a click. While I think I could do better, I’m happy to finally have made at least one click. It will be easy though for me to improve, because it’s just around the corner!
Most air-to-air photo missions are all about the plane, less the pilot, and always about the moment. But this was my first where it was all about the flower! I have a well-earned reputation for not being a posey shooter. So when I received the request for a very specific photo mission over yellow flowers, I did a double-take! I love a challenge and working outside my comfort zone (the flowers, not the planes) I embrace but as always, what was in my mind wasn’t what transpired.
450 Stearman captured by D6 / 70-200f4
The Palouse in WA is green and gorgeous with many hills blanketed in yellow from the blooming Canola plants. From the road they appear vast, they even do flying overhead on a commercial flight. Yeah, not so much at 1500AGL doing 120knt indicated. We headed out with five aircraft to capture that brilliant yellow for a background which in the brief sounded pretty simple. Armed with the D6 / 70-200f4, I stared through the viewfinder wondering what I was going to do. Once in the air it was obvious to me that the time over the biggest Canola field would be less than 30 seconds. They aren’t very big or wide! The first pass was a bust as the yellow didn’t fill the background but I still managed to make some clicks. Next pass we went from corner to corner of the field providing the greatest coverage and for one or two clicks, the Canola filed the background. It was definitely a learning experience that next year, we’re going to do a whole lot better!
Harvard & P-51D Mustang captured by D4s / 70-200f4
Many are getting ready to take to the skies again with their camera and an aircraft in their viewfinder. Light is a big part of making a successful air-to-air photo mission. How can you get ready for that flight now while still down on the ground? Breaking it down to its most basic parts, you have a cylinder moving around a light source. In that travel, there is a time when that cylinder looks good and times when it looks bad. This goes for both the path of the light and the quantity of the light. You can mimic this on the ground and teach yourself to see the light that you can pass along to your pilots.
Head to your local hardware store and purchase a foot long piece of aluminum pipe. Get a piece of flat aluminum and attach it to the pipe. You now have a plane muck up you can teach yourself to see the light with. Like a little kid, “fly” that cylinder around in the light at all times of the day and look at the light on the cylinder (it will only work if you make airplane sounds BTW). Take your camera and shoot video of the plane at arm’s length and then look at that light. You will start to see when it’s better and when it worse. Once you have an idea, take photos of that cylinder and process them. What works for you, your story, your client, your passion. You can teach yourself to see the light on the cylinder!
