I was out of town on assignment today, and when I got in my son called to say he was headed out to fly his Cub and would I come out? I hesitated for a minute because I left at 0'Dark Thirty this morning and was pretty shot, but what the heck. Ended up doing a little more experimenting with the MKIII, then went around the patch at Dobransky International with him a couple of times. He's turned into a pretty darn good tailwheel stick in the last month or so.
BTW, here's a MKIII shot, captured in a burst, shutter at 1/85th and panning in very subdued light. The autofocus seemed to perform pretty well. The problem is that I haven't been able to build a consistent technique where I trust it yet. With this series the lens was pretty much wide open so I expected the shallower depth of field, but what's sharp, IS sharp.
Good to hear from you. I had a dozen made up for AirVenture with my initials and "Jimwilsonphotography.com" underneath on the back. Gunny picked the image, which turned out to be the shot of the Mustang on take off that I shot for Pilot Journal. Got a lot of comments during the week. Are you planning to attend GML?
JW
No Jim, I will not be at GML. I have other committments unfortunately. Wish I had know about the t-shirts. I had not heard back from you from my initial thoughts about a JW t-shirt so I figured that it couldnt be done. I would have bought a couple.
Good luck at the show!
Dan
Hey Mr. JW, May I buy 4 T-Shirts, size Lge. You have a lot of fan-admirers in my circle of air enthusiasts! The will be drop dead envious when I show up with a "Jim Wilson" T-shirt! BP
I had Gunny order these shirts along with all the "Ruff Stuff" P-38 shirts. He chose a different image than the one you liked so I really just considered these a test. I'll take a couple of shots of the shirt and post them. Sorry you won't be at GML.
Thanks for your enthusiasm! I'm going to order some different images in different sizes. My shirts have JW in large font on the back and then underneath that Jimwilsonphotography.com I guess the shirts that I sell should be sans my initials, don't jou think? I'll post a shot of the shirts I wore at AirVenture and see what you think.
Vintage Cubs are soloed from the rear seat because of center of gravity restrictions. When Piper began making the higher horsepower Super Cubs, they required more fuel so they added a second fuel tank and moved them to the wings. This moved the center of gravity aft and allowed solo from the front seat. My legend Cub can be soloed front or back and behaves well in both configurations, although I still like flying it from the back. My Firebolt has to be flown from the rear solo for the same reasons. You can see in Jim's Cub, the fuel tank is aft of the firewall directly above the passenger's legs. It holds 12 gallons, which is good for about 2.5 hours endurance at economy cruise.
My son Jim has really applied himself to the task of becoming a competent tailwheel pilot. He's out at Dobransky International every chance he gets shooting landings. If the wind speed and direction change from what he has been used to, he'll go out and practice until he's comfortable in those new conditions. He's really gotten the feel of the airplane, I'm proud of him. Still a little scared, but proud.
Glad you're enjoying our thread. I think there's been a number of threads that have been longer, but they are the ones where there's a blanket call to show something like images of the photographer shooting or something like that. Every once in a while I go back to the beginning to refresh my memory. I'm very grateful for the he wonderful people I've had the privilege of getting to know through this thread. Just when I think it's run it's course, several new folks pop up and add something fresh to the content.
Is this the longest running actual thread? (Besides the feedback one in B&S, etc)
There are a handful of topics that older and/or bigger, but not a lot. But who cares about post-count or start date? It's content that matters, and oh, boy, this one keeps on delivering!
I'd think one would always be a bit apprehensive with so many variables in flyin'
I know I always pray for a safe trip for my kids just on the crazy highways and byways we deal with on the ground.
Thanks for the generous and patient explanation Jim .. I am really enjoying this thread - photos and sidebar information !!
I've attended a couple of small fly in's on grass runways here in MD ( Horne Point - Cambridge - believe it's part of the Univ. of Md system ) and the beauties these folks bring in simply amaze me. I'll have to find the link to some of the static planes I shot .. just beginnin' so they are just that .. static shots in the hot afternoon sun, but some of the planes may not be typical plane you'll see unless you go to the omygosh shows.
Thanks! And a big part of that is because talents like you take time to be involved. Hope you had a great weekend! Hotter than blazes here in The Lone Star State, but better shooting and flying days lie on the horizon.
Many people have a mistaken impression of the risks involved in General Aviation. Certainly, it is an activity that is intolerant of neglect in any area, but it really is relatively safe. I've been flying for 36 years and my familiarity with aircraft and the sky they ply has grown exponentially since the early days, but my respect for all of it hasn't diminished. I don't fly in aircraft I'm not rated and competent in, additionally, I fly with very, very few people. This includes something as simple as a lunch run. Maintenance, and currency have a great deal to do with safety as you would expect, but a couple of very simple things lower your likelihood of a problem. You won't believe it, but the number one cause of airplanes coming out of the sky is the fact that their pilots haven't put enough fuel in them to get where they are going. The second is flying from good weather to bad, when either the pilot, the aircraft, or both isn't equipped for the task. Mechanical causes are way down the line. Today's aviation with low cost (relatively speaking) GPS navigation, detailed satellite weather information overlayed on your screen, a little diligence and knowledge will go a long way in keeping the weather gremlins from spoiling your day.
John F. Kennedy Jr. is a prime case in point. Very capable aircraft, but a pilot who was ill equipped to utilize it. Easily avoidable tragedy, in fact, a knowledge of his autopilot would have saved him and his passengers lives, even though he flew them into a text book situation that is almost always fatal. That being said, just because someone drives their car into a bridge abutment at 100 mph, doesn't make the car dangerous.
On the other end, you'll hear pilots throw out the cliche that flying is safer than driving. The actual statistical fact is, flying in any general aviation aircraft carries eight times the risk that being in your car does. Attention to the items I mentioned above, lessens that risk some. The safety statistic they quote applies to scheduled airlines, excluding commuter flights. Still, minding your p's and q's can provide you with a lifetime of enjoyment and utility as a GA pilot.
Probably more than you ever wanted to know, but thought you might be interested in the analysis.
While I was at another air show, I overheard someone talking about an aerobatics competition at an airport about an hour and a half from me (Flying W) this weekend, so I decided to head down. Weather was pretty miserable in the morning, but cleared up around noon. Ultimately, though, the competition was pretty near impossible to shoot, but the airport did have a great view of the runway so I spent a few hours shooting takeoffs, landings, and taxis. Gave me a great chance to work on panning/prop blurring, and I got a couple of good shots out of it.
Great captures! Number three is the hands down winner, outstanding technique there. Going out on a limb slowing your shutter speed really paid off. The full prop arc and the motion you induced in the abstract background make this shot breathtaking, good job!
Aerobatic competitions are poor opportunities generally because of the altitudes the contestants fly their routines at. You picked the best place to be for that type of event. If you've read through our thread, you see my Buddy Joe Dobransky captured a number of times. I first met Joe 30 years ago doing just what you did at the competition, and I sold him a print. It wasn't until he moved to the fly-in community over the trees from my house that we became good friends, 27 years later.
Every had a situation where a demo of a aircraft just started, and then you just wished you would of put on a converter, but it was too late? Well I had this situation last weekend at a small airshow. It was my first weekend with the 1DMKII and 500 F/4L so I had a bit of trouble with the AF at first but I got it sorted out after a while. Here are a few shots:
And to end this set, the Super Puma demo. A demo i've seen many times but that I just love to see again and again. It's something about this big cat that just fascinates me. http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/6198/lx3u9593xf0.jpg
Also I could use yalls help:
What settings do you guys use on your 1DMKII & Ns in terms of AF? I had some trouble at the airshow, but then the big problem came yesterday at my local airport, The AF would always lock on to the winglets, or the gear and then the front fuselage would not be 100% sharp as the rest of the plane. I had the center AF on. I was shooting at F/7.1 at that time. Later I tried 11 Active AF points, I dont really know if it made a difference. In the late afternoon, (i had the camera a bit in the sun) the AF had trouble just focusing in general. My 350D which a friend was using was nailing them and I wasn't which just made me mad. Could you guys give me some tipps and tricks? I've got a few airshows coming up this weekend.
Great captures! Number three is the hands down winner, outstanding technique there. Going out on a limb slowing your shutter speed really paid off. The full prop arc and the motion you induced in the abstract background make this shot breathtaking, good job!
Aerobatic competitions are poor opportunities generally because of the altitudes the contestants fly their routines at. You picked the best place to be for that type of event. If you've read through our thread, you see my Buddy Joe Dobransky captured a number of times. I first met Joe 30 years ago doing just what you did at the competition, and I sold him a print. It wasn't until he moved to the fly-in community over the trees from my house that we became good friends, 27 years later.
Thanks. #3 is my favorite shot of the day, too. I've been trying for a while to get some good prop blur (though usually only with a Dash 8 or other turboprops, or at airshows) and this was one of the few times I was shooting in Av the whole day. I was prepared to have a lot of blurry missed shots, but I figured I'd have enough shots that at least a couple of the planes would turn out well. I was more than a little surprised to find a much higher than expected hit rate, and now I actually have to make judgments about which photos to keep!
