JWilsonphoto wrote:
How did you like shooting from the Skyvan Douglas? How many photographers did they pack in with you. I've looked into renting one for a shoot, they go for around $3,000 to $3500 an hour. That is a bit less than a B25, but the perspectives are a little more limited from the Skyvan. Skyvans are quite a bit less likely to have mechanical problems though.
We had 10 photographers, 3 crew members from Aviation Photocrew, plus the pilot. The seating arrangement was:
1+1 (sitting at the edge of the open bay, not sure what the correct phase is), usually one of these two is a crew member
1+1+1 (second row from the bay door, sitting on the floor)
1+1+1 (third row from the bay door, sitting on bench)
The rest were assigned to benches by the windows, we could move around from window to window if not interfering others. And we could shoot behind the third row from the bay door when the planes were flying behind the photoship, but it can be challenging at times because the shooting angle is much narrower, like shooting through a tunnel and sometimes the heads/arms of folks in the first 3 rows may get in the way.
In the Tuesday morning flight I was assigned to the right side of the 2nd row, I got the middle seat in the 3rd row in the afternoon flight. For Thursday I was assigned to sit by the windows in both morning and afternoon flight. The window seats offered better angles for side profile when the planes were flying on the side of our photoship, but you are shooting through windows. The photoship pilot coordinated with the "showing" pilots so they flew on both sides of the photoship (not the same time) so those sitting by the windows on both sides could have equal opportunity to shoot. Again, it was a bit challenging for those assigned to the windows to shoot through 3 rows of other photographers when the planes were flying right behind the photoship, which was most of the time. The photoship also flew to Germany and Sweden for other shoots but I didn't go with them. I was for the Denmark shoots only. Getting to shoot the F-35s alone was more than worth the trip.
I wish I had the $$$$ to do this a couple times a year. Maybe I should get a job with them.
JWilsonphoto wrote:
I had a meeting with a client this morning and they ordered $10,000 worth of aviation display prints for their offices. I think that is the largest single order of prints I have ever had. My oil & gas guys generally order from $4,000 to $6,000 at a whack, but these guys almost doubled them. My lab is going to be so excited!
Thanks for the information Douglas. You certainly made the most of any challenges that arose. My missions are usually just me, and occasionally a friend or two so that helps. My challenges are the fact that I have set everything up, do the briefs with my pilots, safety crew, subjects, worry about weather/mechanical problems, etc. Once we are up in the air and in the groove, it's a little slice of heaven.................
JWilsonphoto wrote:
Thanks for the information Douglas. You certainly made the most of any challenges that arose. My missions are usually just me, and occasionally a friend or two so that helps. My challenges are the fact that I have set everything up, do the briefs with my pilots, safety crew, subjects, worry about weather/mechanical problems, etc. Once we are up in the air and in the groove, it's a little slice of heaven.................
Jim, how cool is that to have the rainbow shadow?!
From Thursday, June 6th. Enjoy!
ILCE-1FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS lens309mmf/6.31/2500s640 ISO+0.3 EV
ILCE-1FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS lens196mmf/8.01/2000s800 ISO0.0 EV
uncropped
ILCE-1FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS lens285mmf/8.01/2000s1000 ISO+0.3 EV
ILCE-1FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS lens145mmf/8.01/2000s1000 ISO+0.3 EV
ILCE-1FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS lens212mmf/8.01/2000s800 ISO0.0 EV
ILCE-1FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS lens132mmf/8.01/2000s1000 ISO+0.7 EV
ILCE-1FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS lens194mmf/8.01/2000s640 ISO0.0 EV
We were dropping down to try to get a few of Paul Bowen's signature cloud vortices. but there wasn't enough vertical development. When I saw our shadows start to show up, circled by the glory, I was pumped......."it's better to be lucky than good....."
I don't use windows any more and when I did, I used a clone of a UNIX program from the command line but this seems to get good reviews (although it's a subscription like most things these days). Might be worth trying it out (preferably on something you don't care about; sync programs can destroy things if miss configured ).
JAM11 wrote:
The whole series of photos are excellent!! Always look forward to seeing your photos.
Jon
Thank you very much, Jon!
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JWilsonphoto wrote:
He's definitely remarkable isn't he Jon!!
Thank you, Jim! I want to be like you when I grow up.
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Bill Gass wrote:
Nice Douglas...Love it when they are getting ready to cross.
Any more head on with that F-16 ?
Love it when they are loaded down.
Thank you Bill! I do have more F-16s.. Here is the Royal Danish Air Force's celebration of the 50th anniversary of the F-16. I personally love the metalic look of the paint scheme of the Danish flag.
I think I am done with the photos dump this week. Still a lot more files to go through.
ILCE-1FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS lens133mmf/6.31/2500s500 ISO+0.7 EV
uncropped
ILCE-1FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS lens391mmf/6.31/2500s500 ISO+0.7 EV
ILCE-1FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS lens309mmf/6.31/2500s500 ISO+0.7 EV
ILCE-1FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS lens152mmf/6.31/3200s800 ISO+0.7 EV
ILCE-1FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS lens265mmf/6.31/2500s320 ISO0.0 EV
ILCE-1FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS lens111mmf/6.31/2500s320 ISO+0.7 EV
ILCE-1FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS lens229mmf/6.31/2500s320 ISO0.0 EV
ILCE-1FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS lens164mmf/6.31/2500s320 ISO0.0 EV
ILCE-1FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS lens265mmf/6.31/2500s320 ISO0.0 EV
ILCE-7RM5FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II lens50mmf/7.11/2000s400 ISO0.0 EV
ILCE-7RM5FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II lens70mmf/7.11/2000s400 ISO-0.3 EV
Flares and all...Some of the best you have posted Douglas...Incredible and beautiful pixs...Dam...
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Those F-16 shots like the 3rd one above, printed on metal would be amazing.
JWilsonphoto wrote:
Thanks for the information Douglas. You certainly made the most of any challenges that arose. My missions are usually just me, and occasionally a friend or two so that helps. My challenges are the fact that I have set everything up, do the briefs with my pilots, safety crew, subjects, worry about weather/mechanical problems, etc. Once we are up in the air and in the groove, it's a little slice of heaven.................
They are called "sun dogs" Jim! You beat the odds here in getting the jet in the circle!
SUPER!
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