Aug 31, 2015 | Aviation
Sharon & I were invited to spend the weekend with some really nice folks and their “fresh” out of restoration ’37 Stinson SR-9F. It was two great days with the Woods and their gorgeous plane in a part of California we’d never done an photo mission over. I was hired to tell their story. I’m still getting through the 5600 images taken during the air to air portion (shot a ton of statics & details shots as well). As usual, my primary gear was the D4s / 80-400VR3 which is killer for this. It was a first to have a Cessna 185 as the photo platform. It’s owner / pilot, Steve rocked it! A F4 vet, Steve was marvelous and key in making the main component of the A2A mission come true. The body of water you see here is San Francisco Bay as we’re heading towards the Golden Gate Bridge. Steve worked beautifully with ATC who cleared the skies for our photo mission so we could circle the GGB a couple of times to get the shot I wanted of the ’37 Stinson with the ’34 GGB. Well, I’ve got images to get back to, article to write.
Aug 19, 2015 | Aviation
In 1926, the Ford Trimotor changed aviation as we know it. Prior to that, folks flew but only a handful as air transport was not only scary, but no fun. There were many reasons for this and in order to introduce the public to the idea of flying from destination to destination, Henry Ford and others came up with the Ford Reliability Tour in 1925. The Ford Trimotor, the first plane with a co-pilot, stewardess and inflight restroom ushered in what we take for granted today (and complain about). In 1939, Roosevelt established the National Aviation Day to celebrate our rich aviation heritage on Orville Wright’s birthday.
The magic that is flight is still evolving. The Ford Trimotor (top image) opened the doors to flight to everyone. It along with a couple of other aircraft sparked the imagination of many a WWII pilot who took their aircraft on dangerous missions so we could enjoy the freedoms we have today. Right after the war, the battle were put aside and air racing picked pack up. The two Super Corsairs (middle image) were part of a new romance that rocketed aircraft design forward for all types of applications. And today, aircraft like the F-22 Raptor (below) and others still protect our skies. Aircraft make is possible for us photographers to follow our passion with our cameras to all parts of the world. Next time you get on a flight that might be late, delayed or is on time, count your blessings we have the system we do, imperfect as it might seem at times. You see a plane fly overheard today, wave and say thanks as they make it possible for us to follow our dreams!
Jul 24, 2015 | Aviation
We all put high standards when it comes to skies. Since they can dominate so much of our photograph, they can carry a huge weight in our visual storytelling. So when the skies aren’t perfect, we get the wigglies framing up the shot. Now bald skies suck in my book. Total overcast aren’t much better but they are a tad. But when you get skies like these, what do you do? Do you go tight to just get the little slice of red, go real wide trying to minimize the mixed skies or go like I did, somewhere in between. Shooting the D750 / 24-70, as you can see I went in between but the question is why? I love falling back on those famous and wise words, Light, Gesture, Color, in times like this. The light is real sweet on the subject, the Monocoupe 110 Special. The gesture of the plane heading towards the dawn brings you in and takes the plane out. And the color, the top yellow ties in with the yellow on the plane and the red wraps both sides. Did I think all those elements through before taking the photo? I did in the old days when this question went through my mind. After thinking about it for a long, long time, it’s more second nature than a though process. But you’ve gotta do one before you can do the other. Before you pass on a photo because there appears to be a possible problem, thing and feel it through first. More than likely something inside you thought it was worth stopping. You just have to prove it to the camera.
Jul 10, 2015 | Aviation
75yrs ago today the Battle of Britain began. At aerodromes spread around the country, at a moment notice planes would life off to meet the incoming enemy. It could easily be argued that it was a pivotal point in WWII that turned the tide. The Battle was fought over the skies of Britain flown by pilots from many countries in a variety of aircraft. The best known was the Spitfire but the Hurricane of other aircraft valiantly thwarted Germany’s invasion plans. If you want to read about this courageous battle from one who was there, Tuck, pick up a copy of Fly for Your Life. We owe a debt of thanks to all the citizens of England!
Note: photos taken at Duxford Aerodrome, England with 80-400VR3 on the D4s
Jul 10, 2015 | Aviation
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I spent months looking, more months planning and then finally, had all the ducks in order for our England Aviation Day Shoot. We would be working with the marvelous folks at Historic Aircraft Collection and their Spitfire. After a day of shooting, we were to have their gorgeous Supermarine MkVb Spitfire running up in the glow of sunset while it spit fire (get it …Spitfire spitting fire?) They have a really well earned reputation for spitting our fire from their stacks when they turn the engine over. I could picture it all in my mind and was so excited, I couldn’t wait!
The day was pretty overcast, that classic dark ceiling is well know for having. During the day a Supermarine MkIX Spitfire was out flying, doing many takes off and landings. The first time it turned over, it just turned over and went. The second time though, flames flew out and that grabbed out attention. The next time it was getting ready to turn over, we were the ready to capture the explosion. As the prop began to turn, the shutters ripped. It was a singing chorus as they all banged away! Shooting at 1/40 of a second (80-400VR3 on the D4s), we gazed at our images on the LCD now over the top excited for the coming sunset shoot with out Spit.
While I had done all that homework, I missed one key ingredient in the plan. As you can see above, the Spitfire does spit fire. But that’s only after the engine has been heated up, like in flying about. So while the clouds cleared and Howard did all he could to get our Spitfire to spitfire, since it hadn’t flown, it just wouldn’t spit fire (prop blur shooting at 1/4sec). But that was truly OK in large part because of the new friend we made in Howard. Howard was so kind to pull out their freshly painted Hawker Hurricane for us to photograph to our hearts content and before the run up of the Spitfire, photograph it all we wanted. It was a marvelous day and for me, an incredible indoctrination to the Battle of Britain.
Jul 8, 2015 | Aviation
At least this past week. D750 / 14-24AFS
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