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
May 7, 2015 | Aviation
Tomorrow is a BIG day! The Arsenal of Democracy or the Washington DC Flyover of 50+ WWII aircraft celebrating and honoring the 70th anniversary of VE Day (Victory in Europe). This has been in the planning for a long time, I can’t believe it’s here. Many have been asking if we’ll be there. Jake has been with the Texas Flying Legend Museum for a week now documenting and working on a book. Sharon & I join the boys today to fly with them tomorrow. I’ll be in the B-25 “Betty’s Dream” shooting the formations from the sky, but many have been asking where should they be for the best shot.
Well, since this have never been done before and more than likely, won’t happen again, here are my thoughts on where you might want to be. I’ve posted four photos here of formation flying photographed from the ground. These shots were taken with a D4s / 80-400VR3 of formations you would see at an airshow, very similar to what you will see in DC tomorrow. The major problem with all of these images is, no sense of place. If you’re on the flight path tomorrow shooting up, you’ll get these exact photos. I think that’s an issue since there is, no sense of place! What’s special tomorrow are the formations OVER Washington DC! So the best place I’d think would be at the end of the Reflection Pond or with the Washington Monument so those well known monuments are in the bottom of the frame providing sense of place. And you’ll probably go longer than wider so being further away from those monuments than makes sense. Now just being there is very important to honor our vets. Making that great shot you can share is an even better way to honor them. Hope you’re there, we’ll be waving!
Apr 27, 2015 | Aviation
Time is blowing by already here in London, so much in such little time and it’s all been bloody brilliant! Everyday has just gotten better and better. Our Passion in a Click on Saturday had five countries present! Deeply touched and honored folks flew in to hear my $.02 on photography. Made new friends and saw some old, life doesn’t get much better. That’s until we meet at Duxford at Hangar 3 of the Historic Aircraft Collection. I am always amazing how photography transcends borders, time, languages because with a couple of emails and some photos, these brilliant folks opened the doors of their hangars to me and the group for a marvelous day of aviation shooting. From flying in a Dragon to photographing Gnats and at the end of the day, this gorgeous Hurricane fresh out of paint and a sunset shoot with a Spitfire Mkv. Our “guide” was Howard, well he was killer and like he told me at the end, he’s only a “handshake away!” So many stories already and so little time.
The photo above of the Hurricane, a little photo trivia. Howard towed the Hurricane and positioned as per my wants. If you look at the photo closely, you’ll see from the light the Hurricane is almost backlit. I like it that way for a couple of reasons. The main one is the background. If you’ve shot much aviation, you know that having a background like that so clean, so green and going for miles is real rare. It’s so English and that’s where this plane leaves. Next, shooting with the D750 / 24-70AFS, I knew that in ACR (9.0 is out!) I could easily pull up the shadow detail because there’s a big ass hangar door out of frame on the left bouncing light in. That makes the Hurricane visually pop while telling the story. Pretty simple when you think through camera craft with computer craft. And the great folks I spent the day were brilliant to share all this with. So with everything we’ve done so far including shooting the Hurricane, time is blowing by!
