Nov 10, 2014 | Aviation
Last weekend at the Wings Over Houston airshow, NASA had their 377SG Super Guppy out on display (5 were made, this is the only one still flying). As a kid, I saw parts of the Apollo delivered in a Guppy so have fond memories of this bizarre looking aircraft. So with it parked literally right in front of the Texas Flying Legends hangar, I was transfixed by it. During the evening when the crowds were gone, I’d sit in the chair in front of the hangar with the D750 / 80-400 and just watch the setting sun in its huge reflection. I sat there and dreamt up photo ideas of aircraft I could stage and photograph in that huge reflection. It was great way to see the end of the day.
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Then came Monday morning and the airport was closed to the crowds and the airshow was nearly all tucked away until next year’s airshow. Jake and I greeted the morning on the ramp shooting statics with some great skies. We’d no sooner stopped and noticed our good friend Doug (in the Guppy left seat) was walking into the Guppy! Well Jake, Sharon & I beelined for that open door, stuck our head inside just in time to be invited in for the private tour! Oh man, what a great hour! I had grabbed the Df / 16Fish as I knew I would be shooting high ISO (handholding) and WIDE!!! For those who don’t know what this plane is all about, it flies “large” components around the globe. For example, the telescope portion of NASA’s Sophia fuselage was flown inside the Guppy. That’s a 747 folks! The bottom of the cargo floor inside is 13′ above the ground and it goes up 25.5′ from there. It’s a lot of plane and it was simply a great time in a very cool piece of our aviation heritage. I shot LOTS more then you see here, but hopefully gives you an idea of this cool aircraft. Thanks NASA for the tour, a boyhood dream come true!
Nov 6, 2014 | Aviation
There are those shots I go after that I know the odds of actually capturing what I want have very low odds. I call these the Low Percentage Shot. Now I have these is all genre of photography I tackle from wildlife to portraits. Why might I not capture the shot? It’s one of two factors. The most common is the subject I’ve going after just doesn’t want to play. I’ve come across that a lot but I still keep trying. Why? Because when I do find it, there is success even if limited. The other reason is I’m stressing the system to the point where it’s going to break. Breaking means, I’m not coming back with the photograph. Since that is the goal in all my endeavors, I’m acutely aware of those times when it’s going to be a low percentage shot.
Here’s the latest case in point and what made me think about writing about it. Shooting at Wings Over Houston, the V-22 Osprey did demo flights. These really cool, prop driven helos/airplanes really strut their stuff. But if you do a search on the V-22, you’ll see nearly all the photos with the blades frozen. That kinda shot drives me nuts because the illusion of flight is missing. Shooting with the D4s / 200-400VR2, handholding, I wanted those massive props blurred. To even start blurring the props, I shot at 1/30 (Shutter Priority). And while shooting at that low shutter speed, I was panning with the Osprey as they flew past. Getting a sharp photo (fuselage) with the blur I wanted in the blades at that shutter speed, I knew I had to blast. Blast means, I took over 200 images to get the couple dozen of sharp images that I like. These are just a couple of them. Because I wanted not only a sharp image with good blade blur, I wanted that good background and gesture in the Osprey. It’s a very low percentage shot but I’ll go for that every time over the “ho hum” shot otherwise available. Or you could say, it’s all or nothing with nothing being OK with me and all, incredibly rewarding.
Nov 5, 2014 | Aviation
Wow … what a weekend! Serious fun, serious photography, seriously behind! We’ve been on the run for weeks and will continue to be so until after Thanksgiving and loving every minute! This past weekend we were in TX for the Wings of Houston airshow but that was really only a small part of it all. Spent time with our dear friend Joe Glida, spent time getting caught up with other friends, spent the whole time with our friends at Texas Flying Legends Museum and shot WAY TOO many photos! And, packing right now to head to Yosemite for the week (it’s going to be gorgeous with the new snow!). More to come …
Oct 31, 2014 | Aviation
This weekend is the killer airshow at Wings Over Houston airshow put on by Commemorative Air Force. This will be our second time at this show and we’re really lookin forward to it. This is where we shot Warbirds and the Men Who Flew Them last year. We have a bunch of editorial work to get done, so we’ll be hopping! In getting ready, I thought I’d share some of the thoughts, techniques and gear I’ll have along for the weekend of work and fun. Let’s start with some thoughts and techniques to capturing the image. Here are two posts that go into that in greater detail
10 Tips – Putting Action into Your Stills
Ten Tips to Better Aviation
And here’s the gear I’ll have with me to make it all hopefully happen:
You might be wondering why I have both the 200-400VR and 80-400VR3? I love to use the 200-400VR2 for ground to air photography and the 80-400VR3 for all the static work. Why not just use the 80-400VR3 for everything? When folks see the 200-400VR2 on your shoulder, they give you a whole bunch more credibility and you just never know who you’ll meet. Why are the bags and straps listed? They are essential to make it to the event and than through the entire event. In the heat and humidity, carrying a lot of gear will beat you down (and one can only eat so much ice cream). This is of course the list of the main gear, there is as you might imagine a ton of support gear. Spare batteries for everything along with chargers. Mounts for the GoPro and app on the iPhone & iPad. And all of this has been cleaned, tested and gone through this week before being packed to go. Hope this helps if you’re going. And if you’re at the show and see Jake or me, say hello. And if you need help, please don’t hesitate to ask. Hope to see you there!
Oct 6, 2014 | Aviation
“70 years ago they were fighting for our freedom and today their roll is to cause people to remember that.”
Thanks to the overwhelming support of our Warbirds film, we are proud to release this commemorative calendar. Featuring the planes of the Texas Flying Legends, this calendar for 2015 also includes history on every page. Help us remember by ordering one today. A portion of the proceeds will go to The Texas Flying Legends in support of all they do.
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Oct 2, 2014 | Aviation
So were shooting at the Planes of Fame Valle facility. Our good friend and really darn great photograph Richard is with us. Now he’s out working the aircraft and you can see his smile. He then says out loud to me, “I just took my favorite shot of the day.” I walked over to see on his LCD, a really great image. The top image here is my poor rip off of his photo. The moment had past, I was too late but I really like what he had done, the thought he had put into the image. So still shooting with the D750 and 20f1.8AFS I popped open the LCD monitor, turned it down and put the camera up over my head to take the second photo you see. It’s then I realized the shot was from dead center on the MiG and to close down the aperture to get the starburst. And that’s how the last image was taken. I totally admit, and Richard was right there with me when I first tried to rip off his photo. What you see after that is the evolution of the shot getting to the shot I liked best. And that’s how it should work. If you have a vision but with the first click you don’t succeed, click, click again! You might just fine the photo will evolve for you not only giving you that one image you love, but a path for learning for next time.
