Jun 13, 2013 | Aviation
Be it a new species, new location or new aircraft, if it’s new to me and I want it in my files, I don’t stop until I get the shot for that moment that satisfies that desire. I saw and got a couple of clicks of this F8F Bearcat a couple of years back, just enough to be very intrigued. Its paint job representing the historic first Blue Angels really caught my imagination. So when it came in yesterday to Stead at PRS, I never really lost sight of it. Now how do you cover such an aircraft? In the perfect world with lots of time, money and contacts, you would in every conceivable way but such is not the case for me right now. My only option at the moment are statics – parked on the ground. So then to make the shots, you gotta look for the light to make the difference because the aircraft itself ain’t changing. I started by going after the “drama” that sunrise can bring.
Now don’t get me wrong, the sunrise was pretty but shooting into a bunch of pretty colors with a Bearcat isn’t much of a challenge in creating an eye catching photo. It’s a good start, but I crave more. So shooting with the D4 / 80-400 I went for my classic “ass shot.” The light had already begun to shift and the skies were totally bald looking to the west but I shot it anyways. And personally when I look at the two, it’s the bottom image I’m more drawn to and one that would go into the profolio and the top one into the slideshow. Both are simply starts on the file of images I hope to create on just this particular aircraft but’s how I prefer to tackle the “new” until it becomes “old.” And for a subject to get “old” for me might just take a decade or two so the pursuit is on, the challenge before me and the best images are still to come. So tomorrow I’ll be out at 05:00 looking for them, again!
Jun 5, 2013 | Aviation
The subject is the one element in the frame we usually have a handle on. It’s the main character, the star of our photo, the reason why we stopped our lives to make the photograph. But what about the rest of the photo? That is where we typically stop in our track and the sweat begins to ooze from our forehead as we try to put the rest of the elements to come together. While we have a star for our photo, we need a stage for it to act on and tell its story. That is in large part our mandate as photographers, connect all these dots to tell a visual story. This was made painfully and thankfully obvious to me when I first started out in my career.
The stage we set in our photo is often the background for our subject. In these photos, I’m at the Chino Airshow a while back and the theme of the show was Lightning Strikes Chino, a play on the name of the P-38 Lightning. In this case, the photos needed to have editorial viability as much as be a pleasant photo. The photo needed to include more than one P-38 to say visually there was a gathering of them without any words needed to state that fact. This means that the star of the photo, a P-38 Lightning, was on a stage with other P-38 Lightnings and all of this needed to be on a backdrop of blah where type for the article could be placed without infringing on the subject of the photo. Phew…that’s a lot for one photo!
Shooting in the overcast skies of SoCal, needed to watch those skies for the first hint of burn off. I wanted the soft light to minimize shadows on the tarmac yet have enough to sparkle off the P-38s. Shooting with the D4 and 80-400 (top photo) which has become a standard with me anymore. I than started to walk the line and first went to the classic “down the nose” shot of all the aircraft. For sure, a cool shot and I’m glad I took it. And while it’s dynamic, it’s not dynamic enough. I looked at the background and while it said many aircraft, it didn’t make the P-38 “standout” as a standout, unique aircraft. The top photo makes it look like just one of the gang. So rather than shooting long, I switched out to the 18-35AFS. Then I moved in closer to the silver P-38 knowing the mind’s eye would grab on to its brightness and slowly moved looking at the neighboring P-38 to include it at what appears to be an angle. By changing lenses and position, I’m totally manipulating the background and so the photo and so the story. And by waiting for the overcast to start to break, I have a sky that is the perfect place for the article title. And that’s the point. The background is what makes the whole photograph work. The subjects were parked, they weren’t going anywhere but the background could be totally manipulated. Think about and look beyond your subject when you compose in the viewfinder and think storytelling and you can vastly improve the impact of your photos!
May 16, 2013 | Aviation
Getting better, that is a constant theme in just about everything photographic. Is it just human nature or is it just the nature of photographers? Whatever it is, getting better at our craft is a huge part of what it is to be a photographer. You know what I’m talking about. You do it, we all do it, that’s why you’re reading this blog post right now. You’re hoping that some pearl of wisdom will leak out of my pea brain that will help you be a better photographer. I’m just as guilty of it. I’m constantly looking for that piece of advice of a posting, that one statement in a video that will trigger a response in my head to send me out clicking. But quite often, I find some of my best learning comes right from my own files.
I was looking for a specific image of a specific aircraft for a client. They wanted a particular angle, which while important to the client, didn’t really excite me at the time I took it so it wasn’t one of the images I finished for myself. In the process of locating the image, I came across the original Nefs of the AZ Wing of CAF B-17G “Sentimental Journey.” A favorite of mine, I never was satisfied with the 24×30 print. I didn’t like the blue reflection of the sky in the fuselage. I didn’t like the gesture in the frame and I wasn’t satisfied with sharpness. The image, which is now almost 4yrs old, was selected as a favorite 4yrs ago. That’s a LONG time ago in the life of a photographer!
In my own files, I found what 4yrs later I think is a better image. Why is it better? Since the photo itself is 4yrs old, it’s not because I shot it differently. Rather, what in my mind as a definition of what makes a better image has changed. At the same time, while software offers more options, how I use those options has evolved as I’ve learned more. What I have learned (and has stuck in my mind) then affects how I see and how I communicate. By looking at my own files, I’m not finding “new” images that can be reprocessed, but can find what new lessons have taught me that can be put into action.
But more importantly, by looking at your own files when you put that camera to your eye, you see better when you go click. While I might fine that one file that I can reprocess to produce a better image, more importantly that one file might click in my own mind an important lesson I want to put into practice in the viewfinder. Ya, you run the huge risk of seeing images you’ll say quietly to yourself “that sucks, what was I thinking” but that’s OK, you learn from them just as well. Why is that? Because we are our own best teachers!
May 13, 2013 | Aviation
There were some GREAT reinactors at the Planes of Fame airshow, we’d heard about the German officer the day before so when I walked over with Steve on Sunday morning, I found him. He had a great uniform and presense and because of Steve, I had a few minutes to get shots of him in front of the Focke-Wulf Fw190. I had the same gear still, D4 with either the 80-400AFS or 18-35AFS. He was in demand and was being pulled every which way. So I waited until our eyes meet and when they did, the first thing I did was pull him out from the Fw190.
As always, you gotta ask yourself, “What’s the subject?” For me, it was the office and not the aircraft. The Fw190 is the background and the rest of the story to the portrait of the officer. So shooting with the 18-35, you can see in the top shot what he looks like next to the aircraft and in the second shot, what he looks like pulled away 15′ from the Focke-Wulf. He has an excellent lear that really comes across well on film.
Just for comparison, this image was taken with the 80-400AFS when he was against the Fw-190. You can still make good images with the pilot/model near the aircraft but the story telling completely changes. The subject isn’t so much the pilot but the moment. Now as always when I do this, and I am getting better at grabbing strangers and asking them to perform for the camera, when I get done I give them my business card and I take care of them with images. They add so much to a photograph and to the photographic experience at airshows. And, they are simply fun to be with!
May 13, 2013 | Aviation
I can’t get a sharp image to save my soul when I’m laughing! So last weekend at the Plane of Fame airshow, when I first heard “Banzai” exploding behind me, it at first startled me. When I turned around and saw this little guy in the perfect Japanese officer uniform from WWII waving the Rising Sun and yelling Banzai, I just smiled. I went back to shooting, that’s until the A6M Zero came around and Steve started to yell, “Kamikaze, Kamikaze off the port bow, shoot it down!” that I started to bust up.
But it’s not like he yelled just once, Steve at the top of his lungs did it for two days! He wasn’t more than 15-20′ away from us so he knew we were taking his photo and of course, that was the point. Reinactors put so much time and craft into their “dressing up” to be authentic, that they are a killer way to make more of the airshow experience. But Steve, well he just over the top. We seemed to hit it off pretty quick so for two days, we made the most of each other.
What really got me laughing was watching others when they first experienced Steve’s Banzai! It scared the daylights out of folks because Steve was so good at it, his intensity so intense, folks took him seriously at first. Watching those reactions and then trying to shoot knowing those reactions were occurring just kept us all in the Media Pit in stitches. It wasn’t until Steve started to yell Kamikaze that folks realized he was putting on a great show.
On day two, I caught up with Steve as he first came into the airshow. We talked and walked over to the Zero to take some photos of him in front of the Zero. Now his uniform is not that of a pilot, but that really didn’t matter. So with his voice not as strong as the day before and with him putting down his HUGE saki bottle that he was now carrying (he assured me it was filled with water), I pulled him out and away from the Zero to get some shot. He wasn’t too tall which we joked about. Photographically though, it required me to get down on one knee to shoot up on him. I wanted that angle to emphasize his posture. The overcast light was helpful because at this time, the gates were open and there were plenty of folks around. Steve was getting pulled from person to person to pose. Steve was great though and when I gave him the high sign, we would look at me so I could get the shot. With the conditions, I didn’t pull out the flash and just shot D4 with either the 80-400AFS or 18-35AFS (a great duo for airshows!). But even now, Steve knew I was an easy mark and had me laughing when I would put the camera to my eye. I like Steve!
Finishing was all done in ACR with the key being to bring up the shadows and bring down the highlights. The overcast light worked great! It not only made the shadows softer and more even, it really cranked up the saturation on the Rising Sun. By the end of Sunday, Steve’s voice was just about gone cause he gave it his all. I’ll never forget watching him leave. In the front seat of a golf cart with flag and saki bottle in hand, he looked at our group and with a big smile, tried to yell Banzai one more time.
May 7, 2013 | Aviation
I DIDN’T even see this photo! One of the BEST parts of the weekend was shooting with my favorite partner, our son Jake. He is always looking for the something different photographically to tell the story and does a great job of finding it. And thankfully, he shares with me what he finds. In looking for those photos that says Lightning Strikes Chino which is the theme of the airshow, this image does a pretty cool job of it. This is the P-38L “Glacier Girl” and the Chino tower just as the sun is thinking about making an appearance. It’s again another simple click from the morning, shot with D4 / 18-35 with the image right out of the camera. I just to thank Jake for sharing with dad what he sees and having the great willingness allowing me to take the same basic image. I realize he got the best one, but I like mine too ;-)
