Aug 9, 2013 | Aviation
Been home a few days and haven’t left the Mac Retina / Wacom 13 yet! I’ve crank through about 900 images so far, but I now know why I don’t do portraits for a living. My eyes are so tired from retouching, I can barely see this screen to type and I’m wearing my glasses! Really, how do portrait photographers do it? I know why they seem to all wear glasses though. With aviation photography, I push myself hard to get images finished and off to friends, pilots and clients fast if for no other reason than to say thanks. You’d be surprised how that one little word, thanks, can make all the difference in moving your career forward. Well, in the process of finishing, I tend to work starting with the first image taken and work through them in the order they were taken. It’s just a logic so I can find easily where I left off in my finishing. Well, after doing so many portraits, I find images I took that were, “What ifs” that I go and finish you could say, as a treat after hours of dealing with wrinkles.
These are two such images. I had rented a D4 from Borrowlenses.com which was my primary, on the strap, quick shooting body (others were attached to big lens and for video only). This D4 had the 18-35AFS all the time for shots like this. I just really like the B-25 “Devil Dog” so I’m always looking for unique static images since I’ve not meet the crew yet to take it further. This morning, I went for the “sun burst” shot forgetting the main rule, clean your front element first! Even though the sun was already up, I simply squeezed it under the tail at the same time shooting with the lens closed down. Then in post, I opened up the shadows with ACR8 and done. The other photo was taken with the D4 / 200-400VR2 is of the Ford Tri-Motor that basically flies all day taking folks on rides. Being a cool, old plane and with the skies, I used Perfect B&W (love that plugin) to make the photo look old by going B&W.
On a photographic side note, two things. Lugging the 200-400VR2 around for 15hrs each day, it gets heavy. I lighten the load using the Sun Sniper strap. And to protect the lens as you “bump” through the crowd, the 200-400VR2 wears a LensCoat. Both of these accessories make working the flight line just a little easier. And with that daily trivia, it’s back to retouching portraits. sigh….
Aug 8, 2013 | Aviation
6 June, 1944 allied forces were landing on the beaches of Normandy. The 8th Air Force along with many others had been bombing occupied Europe for nearly a year but now American, British and other countries were putting forces on the ground to battle the war. It’s hard to imagine the chaos, panic, fear, emotions and drive to take those beach heads. The soldiers on the ground would be attacked from the air as well as the ground. But how would they in the heat of battle be able to pick out the enemy aircraft from their own?
Quick, easy, obvious visual identification was required. All aircraft, enemy and friendly had lots of markings already from country, unit markings to camouflage, something was required permitting rapid identification saying it was friendly. A plan was hatched to apply large black and white stripes on the tops and bottoms of wings and on the fuselage. All aircraft except four engine aircraft (because the Germans had no 4 engine heavies) were to get what became known as “invasion stripes.” But the invasion was a massive secret in which Herculean efforts were made to protect. Approximately 2500 fighters, 700 medium bombers, 870 gliders and tow aircraft were given invasion stripes.
All these aircraft were painted in the previous 48-72hrs to the landing but up to that moment, to preserve the secret of the invasion, no one knew they were going to paint all those aircraft. There was no stock pile of black and white paint let alone brushes to apply it all. It has been estimated that 30,000 gallons of paint was used for the paint job. Mops were the common tool for applying the stripes. And there was no time to scrounge up all the supplies let alone to paint perfect strips, it was slop and go!
We see many of our warbirds these days with perfectly painted invasion stripes, and while the stripes are historically correct, their perfect nature is not. At Oshkosh last week, the Texas Flying Legends Museum brought history to life in what I still feel is one of the bloodiest cool things I’ve ever been a part of. Their newly painted C-53 was brought to Warbird Alley and the reinactors painted on the invasion stripes in front of the crowd just like they had done 69 years ago. Eric (of Aircorp Aviation) and vets did an amazing job relating the story of what we were witnessing. In just over an hour, the C-53 had its invasion stripes. Now when you walked up and looked at the stripes, you saw the horrible job it was with brush bristles and mop strings stuck all over. There were no straight lines and the coat was anything but thick and even. And once “The Duchess of Dakota” was in the air, the stripes looked perfect. It was history coming to life right before our eyes, one of the most amazing events you can imagine!
On the photographic side, it was like shooting fish in a barrel. I shot over 1000 images of the whole event with the D4, 80-400VR3 and 18-35AFS. As you can see, we had puffies floating by which provided great soft light. The C-53 was parked on cement which reflected up light filling in what shadows were around. The first half of the painting I was literally stuck in one place so let the 80-400 do all the walking and then on the second half of the aircraft, I was able to zoom with my feet. When it comes to the portraits, the reinactors quickly got into character and took to the task with the same intensity as must have been felt on the airstrips of England 69 years ago. The photos were in their faces, just had to look for the expression to tell the story. The best part was the response of the crowd who were present while history was brought to life. It’s just another small piece of the puzzle of why we have the freedoms we do to pursue the magic of photography today!
Jul 26, 2013 | Aviation
As little as possible! Seriously, when you walk 6+ miles each day, too much gear just kills so this is where less is more! At the same time, I need to have the tools for the known and unknown, for the given and the imagination. With that in mind, you’re probably going to think I have everything but the kitchen sink. I’d have that but I’ll be in a tent. Here ya go:
You might be wondering why I have both the 200-400VR and 80-400VR3. There are a number of reasons, the first being I can put teleconverters on the 200-400 and easily work. Next, the 80-400 is a dust pump (dust pump is an old term (cause I’m old) that dates back to old Vivitar Series 1 zooms. it refers to external zooming lenses) and when it comes to carrying a heavy lens vs. some post dust removal time, I’m torn which to take. 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 & Contours and app on the iPhone & iPad. And all of this has been cleaned, tested and gone through this week before being backed to go. Hope this helps if you’re going. And if you want some shooting ideas, give this 10 Tips – Putting Action into Your Stills a gander. It might help as well.
Jul 26, 2013 | Aviation
Jake & I head out tomorrow for one of the funniest events of the summer, AirAdventure in Oshkosh, WI. This will be my third time to Osh and really looking forward to it. I’ve gone for the first part, I’ve gone for the last part but this time, we’re going for the WHOLE thing! I’m volunteering to shoot for EAA Warbirds so really looking forward to getting into the trenches doing some spot assignments. There are many of YOU heading there and I would love to shake your hand! So if you see me, please introduce yourself. If you have questions, please feel free to ask. Just understand, and you might not realize it, I might actually be working when you see me. So if that happens, my apologies, just bare with me. But please say hi!
Being where internet is so impacted, I have all of next week’s blog posts up and ready for you. Each day is a new critter blog with video, stills, text and gear. In a way, I’m hoping you don’t like them because the time to produce each post was really, well, it took most of this week for have them for next week. Hopefully though they will educate, enlighten and inspire. Hope to cya at the greatest airshow on the planet! Have a great week, be sure to fill them pixels with passion!
Jul 10, 2013 | Aviation
As the sun slipped below the horizon, the Waco & Cub were tucked back in their hangar and the mosquitoes took over the skies. I feel in love with the North Dakota landscape! While it seems flat, there is a lot of topography to it and its placement on the continent, lots of weather forms around it. I was to soon learn that as the sun slowly slips down (sunrises and sunsets are real slow that far up), start looking for the photograph because you’re in for a show. Warren has probably the only Meyer MAC-145 that’s flying so I checked it out (they have a Oscar stuffed animal in the back window, I’ll let you figure that one out). This funky lookin aircraft is actually pretty darn cool. While its shape isn’t your classic looking aircraft, it had a ton of potential for a great subject for the sunset. So I waited.
Armed with just the D4 / 18-35AFS (an amazing lens!) and a giant fly swatter, I watched the color form across the west. Based on the balance of color and light, I choose the angle for the photo. Being true to the Meyer wasn’t the goal, I was working it more as a sculpture out on the prairie than an aircraft. I liked the challange, taking industrial art to create more art.
You might be wondering if these are HDR as that seem the norm anymore when you see such images. Nope, these are one image clicks finished using just ACR 8.0. The key to making this work is three fold, shooting with the D4 with its six stop range, knowing how to expose to make the most of the Shadow / Highlight Slider in ACR. The color is from Mother Nature, I have twenty witnesses to its beauty that night, all I needed to do was concern myself with shadow and highlight detail. It’s pretty easy stuff when you ask yourself “What’s the subject” and then “What’s the Story?” and shoot accordingly.
I shot for about a half an hour, having a great time (except for the biting bugs as I was wearing shorts) working this crazy lookin plane. As the sun faded away, totally different opportunities appeared I needed to react to. Is there one image that I liked more than the rest? Sure, I like the ass shot, I just have a thing for ass shots. I really like this funky aircraft and being a “one of a kind” in a way, love having the opportunity to photograph it in a unique way. When you have an unique subject and special light, photography just happens.
Jul 9, 2013 | Aviation
“Wanna go flyin?”
When Warren Pietsch asks standing next to his Waco at his airport, you grab your camera and go!
“Wanna see the world from a different perspective?”
Winner of the 2005 “Bill Barber Showmanship Award” asks this, of course you say yes!
“Want to see my favorite canyon?”
It’s gorgeous with all sorts of wildlife
“Why don’t we do a quick join up?”
Sure, a little air to air with a 16Fish sounds like bigtime fun!
“Let’s have a little more fun”
As if the whole experience hasn’t been totally amazing already!
“How was that?”
More fun than one can ever imagine or express!
Photography has afforded me more amazing opportunities like this than one could ever expect in a lifetime. While being in North Dakota for the 4th was planned, being with friends was planned, all the great flying was not. All I had on the flight was a D4 / 16Fish, and that’s all I needed besides the good friends. In the wide open, private space that being in this country makes possible, this kind of flying can be enjoyed and with great pilots and friends, shared. It seemed only fitting on the 4th to have such a meeting with freedom!
