Check this ballet out. My Buddy Paul Bowen is in the back of that C-130 art directing his shot of a formation of Mustangs with the Thunderbirds as a backdrop. If you haven't met Paul, he's one of the nicest, most unassuming people you can imagine, lying behind those qualities is a talent, that as far as I know, is unmatched.
I hate it that we all didn't meet up - I was looking forward to seeing Paul after all these years - yes he was the same unassuming guy back in the 70s. And i forgot to ask you for your number when we were swapping numbers - so I missed out. I knew you guys were workin' and my dad - being not in the best of health - kept me busy and out of the loop if I wasn't shooting or driving him back to the hotel.
I think you are right about making the Mark III work for focus. I noticed if i threw it completely out on a cloud and brought it back to a fighter, it would snap. The slower aircraft that I took longer pans of were very disappointing - due to keeping the tracking/panning steady - it allowed it go lose focus. I have better shots of the jets than the props.
That said - yours are tack sharp - in fact everyone's is... but mine seem a bit soft - even on the best of them. I'd be curious which of your images were done with what combination of glass/camera. I don't know how to get the exif data from the picts that are posted - if it stays intact.
We'll do it another time. Did your Dad enjoy the show? That was great of you to jump through hoops so he could experience it with you. I think we're on to something with the focus issue. If you let it hunt around on it's own it doesn't do well, but take it way out and tap the shutter and it pops in.
"Check this ballet out. My Buddy Paul Bowen is in the back of that C-130 art directing his shot of a formation of Mustangs with the Thunderbirds as a backdrop. If you haven't met Paul, he's one of the nicest, most unassuming people you can imagine, lying behind those qualities is a talent, that as far as I know, is unmatched."
Here is what it looked like from the c-130 courtesy of Eric Hildebrandt copied from airshowbuzz.com
man... that's twisted! that Bowen character needs to get a life!
now its affecting everyone around him before you know it - there will be tandom shooters hanging from ropes off the back of a C-130!
my dad said he had the time of his life. I've never seen him so excited about going or have so much enjoyment from the shows, as he did this weekend. He may not have been a flyer - but he was a part of the legacy and his generation. I'm glad I was able to make it happen for him and that Rodolfo gave up his seat so dad could have a place to sit down while I shot pics for three days.
Owwww great photo's everybody i had a blast 4 days in Mustang country.
Hey Jim were you on that C130 when it did a max Performance take off?
I think it was Friday Together with the photo's of Reno and GML i have around 40 GIG to go trough pfffft
but i have some great shots when i'am ready i will post some shots overhere.
Super shots from GML! Staring at them is wonderful. Keep them coming. I was there on Sunday and the sky wasn’t so great in terms of color and clouds. From the photos you all have been posting it looks like Friday had the best skies. But heck, I was so happy to be there Sunday. I had a wonderful time. I'm still smiling from that day.
So here are the first pics from my side hope you all enjoy them
1.Luscious Lisa
2.The Mighty F22 sorry i clipped the wing i didnt expected this i was already sitting down.
3.Longsome flyer P38 Ruff Stuff in the pattern ready to land
4.Closeup of the cockpit of Quik Silver
5.Sunset photographer
6. Vlado's highspeed pass at the end of the Heritage Flight
Nice work, as usual! Friday was a great shooting day, Saturday wasn't bad and Sunday had some nice skies. The challenge was that the orientation of the runways had you shooting backlit for most of the event, so you had to pick segments of the passes and routines at the points where the aircraft had some side lighting. The other challenge was the amount of corvus oil in the air, I took two showers Sunday night and could still smell smoke oil! Like you say, regardless, it was just a treat to be there.
Thanks for the kind words all. Airplanes sure seem to love a camera!
Jim, as always fantastic stuff. Someday, would love to have the chance to shoot something from the air. Looking forward to seeing the F-35 from you. I suspect you can make anything look spectacular. Have we mentioned you have a great job?
JBear, I'm happy for you that you were able to take your dad along. I would have loved to take mine, but he can't make it for an outing like that anymore. I'm sure you'll treasure your memories of being there with him far more than anything else. I was able to go to the AF museum at Wright Patterson about 8 years ago with him and my brother and it was a fantastic day for the 3 of us. He was in the AF in the early 50's and worked on B-29's. It was amazing to see the years come off him when we walked around Box Car and went through the cutaway fuselage they had on display. He just had that look in his eye of seeing some things up close he knew so well and had not seen in so long either. Well anyway, I hope you guys had a great time together. And I see you managed to snap a few frames. Nice stuff!
Jan-Arie, I really like those shots of yours. Especially the retro look of the P-38 shot, but really they are all wonderful. I think I may go back to some of the one's I tossed and play around with a little B&W with them.
Jon, nice stuff as well. No doubt you came home with something for the wall from the trip.
Mikko, interesting discussion of the prop blur. It's nice to have people put some serious thought into things like that and explain it in an easy to understand way. I've always gone for the more random "try a few settings until it works" method. Not always so reliable. Definitely picked up something there.
I was wondering what they were doing with the C-130 with the rest flying around so far away. Now I know! I might have to look into picking up a print of that, spectacular shot.
Thanks for the nice words Eric the P38 Photo is strait out of the camera i did nothing with it that was the light at the moment of the photo there were some cool photo's to be taken at sundown or first light.
The only drawback was that at the end of the show the police did a sweep and removed everybody from site that was a pitty.
But nevertheless this was a show to remember
Yes, thanks to Mikko for the prop blur discussion. This was my first real attempt at taking pics of planes and also thinking about prop blur. The first thing I found was that planes move really fast and are tough to get in the frame. After that I realized the slow shutter speeds for prop blur, coupled with the long focal lengths used (300 mm for me), make it tough to get sharp pics. It was fun trying to get the hang of things. Being able to look at the screen to see the results makes it much easier to learn technique. Must have been much, much more difficult with film.
JWilsonphoto wrote:
Good Morning Jan-Arie,
Nice work, as usual! Friday was a great shooting day, Saturday wasn't bad and Sunday had some nice skies. The challenge was that the orientation of the runways had you shooting backlit for most of the event, so you had to pick segments of the passes and routines at the points where the aircraft had some side lighting. The other challenge was the amount of corvus oil in the air, I took two showers Sunday night and could still smell smoke oil! Like you say, regardless, it was just a treat to be there.
JW
Yeah, shooting into the sun was not super but I tried to take more pics when the planes were at one extreme of the runway or the other, so they were lit a little better. As the day went on, the sun moved and it was a little easier to get some better lighting. I liked how the solo guy in the Stearman did two shows, one early and one late. The later show was much easier to get good shots because of the sun position. And that plane is so photogenic.
I didn’t notice the smoke oil smell… until I got home at about midnight. My gal gave me a hug and said “You smell like something burning, maybe gas.” I told her about all the smoke from the planes and how there was not much wind to carry it away. Then I said “I’ll go take a shower to wash off the smoke.” She said “That’s OK. You’re now wearing ‘man perfume.’”
Life is good. I’m pretty lucky to live driving distance from the show. I’ve got to look though my photos some more to see if there are any other half decent shots. Sooo glad I went.
Thanks Buddy! Looks like a great time was had by all. With all the digits expended during the event, there should be no shortage of things to "chimp" about on our thread for some time to come. I've got to have the best of the best in hi-res to Paul within a month for a book on GML 2007, better get busy. More images to come. I sure am grateful for the opportunity to talk with all of you on a regular basis. Who'd a thunk a few lines and a couple of Mustang pix would have grown into this?
One morning right at sunrise I found this model walking the ramp in perfect WWII garb. I snagged him, positioned him as you see him here and captured one of my favorite shots of the event....
that Bowen character needs to get a life! 
?
I was there on Sunday and the sky wasn’t so great in terms of color and clouds. From the photos you all have been posting it looks like Friday had the best skies. But heck, I was so happy to be there Sunday. I had a wonderful time. I'm still smiling from that day. 
