It’s human nature when choices are available to side with the rare or sexy. This is real common in aviation photography where biplanes and warbirds overshadow your basic GA aircraft. A lot of the GA aircraft you see flying today were built long ago, like this Mustang from 1964. Recognizing the M22 is a rare bird, a plane I hadn’t photographed before, when I was asked to go up with it, I jumped at the offer. The challenge then is to make the “uncommon from the common.” The easiest way to do it in an A2A is to find clouds. Then, with a nice kiss of light, you have a photo that’s clean and simple, making the client very happy. And when you can do this with a GA aircraft, it tells all what you can do when you have that sexy plane in the viewfinder. The trick, keep in mind that the old can be new.

Part of the CAF, Georgia, I had done an A2A with this gorgeous plane the previous summer. I had sold an article, had it all written, but was missing the supporting B Role. Jake, Sharon, and I went to Georgia to get the rest. What a blast it was! The volunteers at CAF were over the top, moving planes where we desired, repositioning them as the sun rose, starting all in the dark. It was important to get the air brakes, 250 / 500lbs bombs, and undercarriage as everything else. Seeing that bald skies were coming, speed was of the essence. The volunteers, though, made it a cake walk. After two days of statics and A2A (had to fly, just had to :-), we had all the images and fun we could handle. It was a grand weekend with the SBD!

Barrel rolls and anything else you can think of when it comes to Acro is so much bloody fun in an AT-6. The Advanced Trainer for most pilots in WWII, many still survive as airworthy examples, honoring the pilots of the past. While I have flown and flown in the AT-6, I love it best when it’s in the viewfinder. I’ve had the good fortune to photograph fifty-one different T-6s at this point with every one of them being a favorite. I want to encourage you to at the very least, get a ride in one. You too will find they are nothin fancy, just cool! Good times, good time!

When we all look up to watch a passing aircraft, clouds are often in the background. They bring romance to so many aspects of photography, and this is very true for A2A. When the sun is rising and paints the landscape in long light, a background is in the book. When you have the coastal fog of the Bay Area receding back into the Pacific, well then, all is left if soak in a moment that rarely comes. Luck is such a huge factor in this that no matter how well you plan, you can’t plan the moment of fog. I just know when doin and A2A, I love keeping company with clouds.

A ton of drama can be added with a little tilt while you’re panning! Ah, Betty, I miss ya! We had the grand good fortune to spend many years with this grand old girl.This afforded me a whole lot of opportunities to try all sorts of ideas to bring her power and presence to the still image. The most effective, over and over again, was to simply tilt the camera body. Rather than keeping the camera body parallel to the ground, I would turn it to give a slightly different and more dramatic angle to the flight. It’s nothing more challenging than remembering to do it while you’re concentrating on panning, framing, and focus. Tilt baby, tilt!

For way too long, I took forgranted what I saw in my viewfinder. I thought foolishly that it would be there later. I could come back and photograph it, permitting me to turn my attention to some other subject. It took too many instances where life proved me wrong to realize to photograph it when I had it, and not later. The Cunningham Hill is an aircraft I knew nothing about, had never heard of it, the first time I saw it. Learning from past lessons, I photographed it all I could. We even were airborne to do an A2A with it when it was scrubbed as the Cunningham Hill had a mechanical. I’ve never seen it again. I know where it went, but it won’t ever fly again. Just passing along a hard-earned piece of life wisdom. Get it while you can!