Ramps can be such great fun and a challenge, all at the same time which for me, makes them such a sought-after shoot. The fun is you just never know what aircraft might appear. The challenge is you just can’t park and walk onto a ramp with a camera. Funny thing, might just get attention for your photography you don’t want doing that. So, how then do you get access to the ramp? One great way is to take advantage of open house events. Many airports offer that, just Google the airport and read their website. Then go with camera and business cards and have fun. During that process, take just one clean image and meet the airport manager. Give the manager your business card, get their email address and follow up with an email and that one clean click. That’s how you have fun and open doors at the same time!

The grand old lady turns 150 today, a piece of our wild heritage preserved for us to love today. A mission statement was produced and released on its creation. In part it states:

Yellowstone is home of the grizzly bear and the wolf and the free-ranging herds of bison and elk … The National Park Service preserves, unimpaired, these and other natural and cultural resources and values for the enjoyment, education, and inspiration of this and future generations.

We owe a great debt to President Grant and that generation for setting aside Yellowstone and all those who came after them protecting this amazing part of our wild heritage. It’s now our turn to carry on that task, preserving while loving this unique landscape and its critters. Happy Birthday Yellowstone!

I just LOVE this annual event with Precision Camera and want you to join us! It’s been running for many years now, always sells out, and always produces some great photographs! We start Friday night in the classroom covering techniques and the latest gear for aviation photography, statics, ground-to-air and air-to-air. Then Saturday we’re at the airport with warbirds putting into practice what we learned. We add to all of this models, period reenactors making it a killer morning of fun and shooting. Join us!

Reaching out and sharing with others our good fortune is a really, really important. The goal of grabbing heartstrings is vital and makes sharing a little more challenging. And the pressure to come back from a shoot with lots of great images can really cloud these two very important facts. I thought I would share a couple of my favorite Ansel quotes that might just help with this.

“Ask yourself: “Does this subject move me to feel, think and dream?” – Ansel Adams

“There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs.” – Ansel Adams

“There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer.” – Ansel Adams

“The single most important component of a camera is the twelve inches behind it.” – Ansel Adams