The Dakota Territory Air Museum is a one-of-a-kind collection of flying aircraft. We’re very fortunate they are opening their doors and collection to our cameras for a one-of-a-kind A2A Clinic! Possible subjects range from Spitfire to P-51D, P-47 to FM-2B with the possibilities of Staggerwing, Waco, Monocoup, and so much more. One of the world’s finest collection of flying WWII aircraft will light you passions and fill your viewfinder with magic! 

Some of the Details

Date: 08-10 May, 2026 / starting 18:00 Friday ending 12:00 Sunday

Location: Minot, ND (you’d fly into Minot)

It starts about a month prior when you’ll receive an extensive PDF on the art of aviation photography. This will get your creative juices flowing and excitement building. The weekend starts on Friday evening with intense classroom work at the Museum. Items to be covered during the A2A Photo Clinic are:

The art and craft of aviation photography

Safety on the ground and in the air

Gear for static / ground-to-air / air-to-air

Photographic techniques for aviation photography

Working from a photo platform

Working with pilots

How to organize your own A2A photo mission

Professionally finishing your aviation images

and so much more!

Saturday morning we’ll have a sunrise ramp static shoot, images that we’ll finish and review during the Clinic in preparation for your A2A photo mission. Then more classroom time prepares you for your flight. You’ll be shooting from a Harvard and Cessna 185, two of the best photo platforms. You’ll have an A2A photo mission Saturday evening and then another Sunday morning, timed for the best light weather permits. The price for the Clinic is $3800 which includes all instruction and flights (meals, lodging, and transportation not included).

This is your opportunity to test the skies, take your camera in the air, and learn from the best aviation photography team! To register or ask a question or two, give the office a call 406. 240. 3503 (9-5MT M-F) and we’ll put you in the seat for a photographic experience like none before! Moose’s A2A Photo Clinic!

(You will be required to sign a liability release prior to flying.)

NOTE: If the flying is canceled because of weather, there is no refund

I love hummers! My love of them goes back to when I was six at my aunt’s home, watching them out the kitchen nook window, feeding their young. They were literally one of the first nesting birds I photographed back in the dark ages, and I’ve jumped at the challenge of bringing their world to you ever since. Not having sharp wings is a big part of the story I want to visually express. The jewel quality of their plumage as well. Using biology and combining it with technology makes it a joy to photograph these miniature gems. Here’s how I’m doing it in 2025 (it has evolved continually for over forty years).

The Profoto A10s are all about color and typically set manually in the 3-5 range based on the ambient light. The ISO is set so I have a shutter speed in the 1/250 range, which blurs the wings. That ISO is in the 400-1600 range. I always shoot at f8. The Z 9 AF is Wide C2 bird mode. The HUGE upgrade this year is the Z180-600! Having an incredibly sharp lens is only part of it, that zoom is everything. Keep in mind that flash works on the inverse square law, the bottom line, the closer to the subject not only does the light wrap around the hummer smoother, the flash has to work less. This year at Madera Canyon, the Costa’s was the smallest hummer at less than 2″, and the Rivoli’s the largest over at 5″. Being able to zoom in for the Costa’s and out for the Rivoli’s is huge! The aperture doesn’t change since it’s set to f8. Flash exposure doesn’t change cause it doesn’t physically doesn’t move. The lens is focused down the “alley” as the hummers come to the feeders, just hit the AF-ON button and shoot. It’s not shooting fish in a barrel, plenty of images with nothing, literally nothing in the frame as the little suckers can move! But there are plenty of images where you catch them and that’s the fun, the fun of Hummer Rig ’25!

Just take a gander at that color, that sharpness, I can’t peel my eyes off it! Just back from a week working with the Z 9 / Z180-600f5.6-6.3 w/Z1.4x @840mm with the Profoto A10 and I just relish the results! The MFD of the Z180-600 permits one to get a large image in the frame, and that MFD makes the power of the flash even greater. Just a kiss from the A10 brings out the color of that Indigo so all the shades of blue sing out even though it’s in shadow while maintaining that plump gestor. To me, it’s the ultimate bird photography rig I’ve desired for a long, long time. Whata big rig, the Z180-600 & A10!

I came to Magee Marsh with the perfect rig, Z 9 w/180-600 wZ1.4x w/Profoto A10 on tele bracket attached on the Benro SupaDupa. I practiced with the rig at The Ranch last week, walking around photographing birds, and yet … mud! The one thing my practice didn’t take in was the dense riparian forest of Magee and the birds darting about. For the life of me, for the whole morning, I felt like I was always behind and not making the shot. It was a sick feeling to see all the great birds and not getting them in the viewfinder. By the afternoon, I was getting quicker, but still slow. Argh. I should have thought deeper about what I was practicing, which would have truly helped. I didn’t like the feel like I’m working in mud.

The Z180-600f5.6-6.3 has come to fill a hole in my system so perfectly that it is with me a majority of the time. Quite often, it’s just a body/lens and that’s all, and while it could ride easily in a roller bag or photopack, that’s a lot of case for just a body and lens. I went cruising the ThinkTank website looking for a single bag solution for just this combo. That’s when I came across the DigitalHolster 150v3. A few days later, the bag was in my hands with the Z 9 / Z180-600f5.6-6.3 snug as a bug inside. It’s like it was made just for that combo! It comes with a strap to carry it over your shoulder. You could attach it to a pack, roller, belt, and it will stay dry with the killer ThankTank custom rainshell for the holster. The outer pockets hold batteries, Z26f2.8, cards, and all you need for an outing. It’s just a killer kit now well protected with everything easily accessible in the DigitalHolster 150v3