Great Time to Head Inside a Museum!

Winter’s limited hours of daylight, colder temps and in many locations, snow, can make it a challenge to find aircraft on the ramp to photograph. Photographing inside as a work around is obvious but finding aircraft in a hangar you can get access to (let alone an “attractive” interior) is truly difficult. At least, this is what I’ve experienced. So to take care of my aviation photography itch and to keep the mind sharp and improve on my photography, I head to aviation museums especially in the winter!

What could you learn shooting in a museum? Got an hour, I could start the list but not finish. Some of the biggies are background control, lighting patterns on flight surfaces, lens selection, elevation to stand for various aircraft, manufactures and models, history & backstory, and my favorite, meeting the right people! You would be surprised how often aircraft are rolled out of the museum and onto the ramp for servicing either the museum or the aircraft. By visiting often, practicing and sharing photographs, you meet people, often the right people who can open doors for you. Not only museum doors by aviation community doors. I wrote about one such encounter not that long ago which is a great example. Whether you want to work on aircraft portraits, detail shots, controlling a background or post production, a natural training ground awaits you this winter as it’s a great time to hear inside a museum!