May 21, 2015 | Aviation
Folks ask what’s the one thing you can do to make it in aviation photography and I always tell them, “Just Show Up!” What do I mean by this? Pilots are an unique bunch, love them to death but calling and making an appointment just doesn’t fit them. But if you just show up at the field when they are there, magic happens. It’s never fails! This photo is from my visit last month to KMOT and a blizzard hit and I was hired to document all the activities during and after the storm and that was because, I showed up. Another example, we’re at Minot this week filming classes for Kelby Training and as we landed, my phone goes off with a text with a list of shots being requested of me, “since I’m here.” These include Pilot Portraits, air to air and then last night, asked to do a presentation on our recent Arsenal of Democracy flyover. So when you simply show up ready to work, work appears out of thin air. So if you want to advance in aviation photography, to accomplish this in all sincerity, just show up!
May 15, 2015 | Aviation
Then the planes appeared. People parked on the Washington Bridge, other lined the river and waved flags. Roof tops all across DC were packed with over 30k folks on the mall and the vets, many just cried! For us, it was sensory overload with not a dry eye amongst us. Overhead were our friends, collages and spouses, Sharon in the jump seat in the C-53. And surrounding us, the greatest generation. As the last flight passed overhead, Taps was played and the Missing Man formation flown. It was one of the greatest days, ever!
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May 15, 2015 | Aviation
By 09:00 we were at the WWII Memorial in DC after the ninety minute drive from Culpeper. There was a contingency of us Texas Flying Legends Museum ground crew present to partake in the ceremonies. We were fortunate to have seats reserved for us but in a way, it forced our hand photographically. Our movements were restricted since we weren’t press and not knowing we’d be doing this, hadn’t applied for credentials for this portion of the ceremonies. And as life turned out, it worked out perfectly. By now you’ve read one of the thousand accounts that have been broadcasted and printed and I can tell you they are not very accurate. That’s because the emotions that enveloped this event were beyond description!
The sun was brutal, the heat took its tool and being wedged into the granite memorial intensified it all. In looking for moments that I could share that might tell the story, I took many a photograph and of all of them, this one expressed the best that I could photographically the emotions of the morning. Hopefully you can hear the story without my telling it. It was just one of thousands of special moments amongst families and the generations gathered to celebrate what the greatest generation accomplished seventy years ago.
And one of the greatest personal awards for me was to watch our son Jake take on this tremendous project and just knock it out of the park! It was fun to basically sit in the back seat and watch him drive as he went after the big story, small story and the personal story of the entire week that would shortly be summed up in the big flyover. I will always be thankful for being there, on the ground and just an observer. All those memories are exposed forever on the thin emulsion of my mind.
May 14, 2015 | Aviation
Once the press were gone and the field got quite, pilots do what pilots love best, fly! So many jumped into their planes and went off for some fun. Jake and I were nearly alone and were afforded an opportunity to shoot the activity from the grass stripe between the runways. This not only put us close to the planes but down in a drainage ditch providing us a great view of the aircraft. And Jake and I took advantage of the location, light and clouds with glee!
Shooting with the D4s / 80-400VR3, it was fun and like shooting fish in a barrel. The L Birds first flew overhead in perfect formation and seeing the wind direction, we got in place knowing how the direction they were landing, how’d they taxi and where they wanted to head. So what I think of as a “very happy” plane shot came about. I call it happy because of those three elements Jay Maisel says so well are important in a photograph, light, gesture, color.
Now because of the direction of the light, I wasn’t worried about getting a full disk blur so I shot at 1/80. Now a slower shutter speed would have blurred the background nicer but standing on the side of the ditch, I didn’t feel stable with my panning so stayed with the faster shutter speed. I was shooting in Shutter Priority so controlled the shutter speed for those reasons. It was great fun and so enjoyable to watch and photograph what these pilots do so well. Life is good. mtc.
May 12, 2015 | Aviation
In the back of the B-25 “Betty’s Dream” of the Texas Flying Legends Museum, we launched for the practice flight for the next day DC Flyover. The B-25 wasn’t made for a Moose which is especially true of the small ass seats and wide safety belts but belted in I was. The side hatch cover was removed before flight providing a large access panel to shoot out. Once in the air, we asked the pilot Alan permission to move about and then the fun began. Now my flying this day was not an air to air mission, but rather seeing what the possibility would be for tomorrow’s giant DC flyover. It was obvious from the get go, flying in a plane to get the photos of the flyover was simply not going to work for me.
Flying in formation with other B-25s was a first for me. It was amazing and gave me some idea what those kids saw seventy-five years ago! We were flying in a Vic formation. Looking from the ground up at the planes, it looks like a V with one plane at the point and the other planes flying off its wing. We were in a flight of three B-25s and on the left of the Vic. This gave us a great view of the gorgeous B-25 “Paper Doll.” We flew for one hour, same time as the flight the next day but in that hour, the timing was perfected for all the flights which there were 13 over the Mall. So we flew orbit after orbit to simulate the time in route to DC. If you’re a photographer in the back of a B-25 with a gorgeous B-25 off your wing … what do you do with that time? :-)
Jake and I kept switching shooting out the side hatch of Betty’s Dream. How does this work? My good friend’s Adam’s video answers that question. I was shooting with the D4s / 80-400VR3 with trusted Vulture Strap keeping it all inside securely. As we changed the orientation in the orbit, I switched shutter speed from 1/40 to 1/125 since prop blur only happens when traveling into the sun and you can see the prop circle. While I confirmed that shooting from the air wasn’t going to work for me for the DC flyover, this one flight in the back of a B-25 photographing another B-25 was darn sweet. Our pilot Alan is one of the best and that made it just the more enjoyable. With landing, the stage was set for the next day’s big flyover. mtc
May 11, 2015 | Aviation
Months and months of planning were coming together at two airports, Mananssas and Culpeper. Mananssas was bomber base and Culpeper was fighter base and that’s where we were stationed. We were “ground crew” with our good friends Texas Flying Legends Museum (From Warbirds Movie). Sharon and I flew down from NYC and arrived at the field around 9AM, long after the field had come to life and the press were in force covering the event. The best part were all the WWII vets on the field who now had cameras pointed at them and recorders running capturing their stories and emotions being amongst aircraft they once flew as kids in war.
It was an amazing gathering of warbirds and media! Last I heard, over 120 news agencies were present and I forget how many countries were represented but it was staggering. Jake had been embedded with the TFLM boys for a week, being hired to document and create a book from the entire event so I was simply along for the ride. I had no official responsibilities which was a good thing since I had lost mu voice, I was just another of the fans there to help we needed and be apart of something that was bigger than all of us!
This is TFLM’s C-53 that was just one of the 56 warbirds taking part in the VE Day Flyover. You can see behind it just some of the public that was gathered around Culpeper to see the activity and the amazing planes gathered to honor our WWII vets. In the cabin of that C-53 is Sharon shooting video as well as every seat in the back, 23 filled with press corp. Every plane flying this practice day was filled with press which would be at least fifty folks with cameras in planes to the practice flight over the Virginia landscape.
Jake & I were riding in the back to TFLM B-25 “Betty’s Dream” with the FAA photographer. We were one of the last aircraft to launch and since we were parked right along the taxi way, we had the opportunity to photograph all the planes lining up down at the warm up. The excitement and intensity in the air you could slice with a knife! There is no way you can begin to understand the planning involved and paperwork required to fly down our Nation’s mall with 56 warbirds! This restricted airspace that runs through the airspace for Regan Airport (which was shutdown during the actual May 8th flight). All of this had just one purpose, to honor and say thanks to the WWII Vets who have done so much for our country. As Jake pulled the hatch closed on our B-25 ride, couldn’t help but be chocked up looking out and seeing all was being done to say those thanks. mtc
