Douglas L wrote:
Hope you all are doing well Haven't done much shooting lately, other than some foliage stuff. Went to Conowingo Dam for the bald eagles yesterday for the first time this season. A lot of juvenile eagles, the wind was blowing the wrong direction so I got a lot of butt shots. Enjoy!
Douglas
Fantastic compositions Douglas! The high winds and a huge drop in temps have put 90% of the leaves on the ground. Some well due rain also helped. It looks like the beginning of Winter in Frederick County while down South to DC, there is still color and leaves.
I was at Arlington Ntl. Cemetery the past few days getting ready for the "Wreaths Across America" event on December 14th.
I look at my eagle images from many years ago and they just don't "cut it" with yours, Imagemaster(Tony) and others. Even with my old 600, 500 and 400 2.8!
My dslrs from then were not as crisp, clean and sharp as now nor of the same caliber of the new mirrorless bodies. But they worked.
Danpbphoto wrote:
Fantastic compositions Douglas! The high winds and a huge drop in temps have put 90% of the leaves on the ground. Some well due rain also helped. It looks like the beginning of Winter in Frederick County while down South to DC, there is still color and leaves.
I was at Arlington Ntl. Cemetery the past few days getting ready for the "Wreaths Across America" event on December 14th.
I look at my eagle images from many years ago and they just don't "cut it" with yours, Imagemaster(Tony) and others. Even with my old 600, 500 and 400 2.8!
My dslrs from then were not as crisp, clean and sharp as now nor of the same caliber of the new mirrorless bodies. But they worked.
Thank you Dan! great shots you posted! I am hoping to shoot Arlington Cemetery covered in snow, I think it looks more serene and haunting.
Went to Conowingo Dam for 90 minutes this afternoon. Pretty happy with what I got in that short period of time. The fight shots were very heavily cropped.
They are 3D looking Douglas. You can see separation between the eagles and the sky! Wow! Especially in the last one.
Yes I agree about Arlington and snow! The silence there is eerie in a good way!
Thanks!
Dan
Douglas L wrote:
Amazing footages, well worth the 15 minutes of watching. I was on some of these flights. A2A F-22 is on my bucket list!
Douglas just FYI...I talked to a colleague at the Pentagon yesterday and he told me that the F22 Rapto Team is based at JB Langley-Eustis in VA.F-22
Demonstration Team, 1st Fighter Wing, Joint Base
Langley-Eustis, Virginia
Maybe their media office can supply some info!
Here is contact info:
SSgt. Michael Bowman
(760) 200-6283
xxxxx
xxxxx The emails are blocked out by Fred. No problem..Check your PM's.
Dan
Danpbphoto wrote:
Douglas just FYI...I talked to a colleague at the Pentagon yesterday and he told me that the F22 Rapto Team is based at JB Langley-Eustis in VA.F-22
Demonstration Team, 1st Fighter Wing, Joint Base
Langley-Eustis, Virginia
Maybe their media office can supply some info!
Here is contact info:
SSgt. Michael Bowman
(760) 200-6283
xxxxx
xxxxx The emails are blocked out by Fred. No problem..Check your PM's.
Dan
Thank you Dan! The demo pilots are surprisingly approachable. I contacted the demo pilot of the Rhino Team (F-18 Super Hornet team based Oceana NAS) after I did the A2A in Florida in April and sent him the high resolution pictures of him flying in gorgeous late afternoon light. I think he was very pleased. Two years ago I saw some amazing slow motion video footages of the F-22 demo flying in beautiful sunset light, I learned that they were made during practice in Langley. I contacted the demo pilot, Capt. Larson via his Instagram account to ask if he could give me some ideas of his practice schedule, IF they were not confidential, because I wouldn't want to drive 8 hours round trip not knowing if I would catch the practice flight. He graciously sent me his practice schedule for the following week. But I never made it down there due to work.
For A2A flight, I am guessing it's more up to the pilot, not sure how much say the media person has in that type of stuff. I know for sure Aviation Photocrew works very hard on the relationship, based on the type aircraft they are able to get for A2A. They even had a B1-B flying for them this year. I jokingly asked them if they knew the Chief of Staff of the USAF.
Again, much appreciate the info! I think if I get to shoot in the F-22 in A2A, I will be done with A2A for a while.
---------------------------------------------
cs3is wrote:
Steller set Doug
Thank you very much! Not much to shoot around here between Nov-Mar., besides birds. I do love photographing snow and ice but they have been so rare in the last two or three years around here.
The amount of paperwork and approvals for any air-to-air dedicated shoot with Air Combat Command is insane, way too much for the individual to take on. In my experience the two ways you can achieve it is during the lead up to a airshow the Raptor team is at, that's how the Aviation Photocrew and a number of other photographers have done it, as the team has more leeway at these events if you have a cameraship. As you know Eric and they're doing more US projects I'd request with him to join a flight with a Raptor next year, I'm sure he'll do his best to accommodate you if he can.
The other way is to make a media request to fly on a refuelling mission with the USAF, in this case you would need a editors letter and a commitment to publish any articles or photos you get. There's a KC-135 unit at Andrews that no doubt routinely supports F-22A training missions.
In the end you either need deep pockets or media connections.
Good luck next year, I'm sure when you get the flight your shots will be right up there with the best.
KevinJacksonUK wrote:
The amount of paperwork and approvals for any air-to-air dedicated shoot with Air Combat Command is insane, way too much for the individual to take on. In my experience the two ways you can achieve it is during the lead up to a airshow the Raptor team is at, that's how the Aviation Photocrew and a number of other photographers have done it, as the team has more leeway at these events if you have a cameraship. As you know Eric and they're doing more US projects I'd request with him to join a flight with a Raptor next year, I'm sure he'll do his best to accommodate you if he can.
The other way is to make a media request to fly on a refuelling mission with the USAF, in this case you would need a editors letter and a commitment to publish any articles or photos you get. There's a KC-135 unit at Andrews that no doubt routinely supports F-22A training missions.
In the end you either need deep pockets or media connections.
Good luck next year, I'm sure when you get the flight your shots will be right up there with the best.
Thanks Kevin! Aviation Photocrew usually does A2A flights at airshow events (but not during airshow hours of course), often during arrival/departure, but some pilots are willing to get in the air specifically just for them, probably it depends how "cooperative" the pilots are? I can imagine how difficult it is to request A2A if it's not an airshow. However, when I was in Denmark in June this year, the Danish Air Power Show was cancelled, but the Danish Royal Air Force was still willing to send multiple F-35s and F-16s for 2 days for A2A, mostly right after their training flights. They just received the F-35As. The F-16 Demo in the Danish Flag paint scheme flew specifically for us, before they even released the new paint scheme to the public. According to Eric, European air forces are much more willing to show off their "toys" than the USAF, for the simple fact that there are so many air forces in Europe, it's relatively easier to find "willing participants". If I hit the jackpot I would want to do A2A at RIAT, Athens and Austria. I have seen some amazing shots there. Stateside, I have seen beautiful A2A shots from the California coast, Alaska and British Columbia, Canada. Both A2A shoots (Florida and Denmark) I did have flat landscape, not that I am complaining.
Yeah they've built up a great reputation in Europe and do many military flights away from airshows but they're now building up contacts and reputations in the US/Canada that will no doubt lead to more Raptor opportunities. I've only ever shot them from KC-135s during regular refueling ops that are great but nothing like orchestrating them from a Skyvan.
Just wrapped up a 4 day Photoshop/Video Editing marathon, 12 hours today alone, whew! Sure am glad that I got on the aerials when I did because we had a blistering front come through last night that blew a lot of leaves from here into East Texas. There is still a little window left, but the brown of winter can't be too far off. Learned a lot about the new cameras, what to do, what not to do. The R5 II may be a candidate for aerial video with a 6x6 stabilizer bolted on it, but it's own digital IS doesn't cut it. The C400 will work, but it will need to be on the cinema stabilizer rig that I built a few years ago, it will be outstanding with that set up.
Yet another thank you to Mike Brewington for goading me into launching my drone with the hope that it would return to me three or four minutes later after it's autonomous orbit, and then answering the phone when it came back and hung 4 feet in the air and wouldn't land...........
Jim, you made my day. After you called, every time I thought about it laughter would just boil up and could not be contained. “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine.” I treasure your friendship and love our adventures together.
Spent the morning meeting with clients and delivering all the imagery I post processed. Normally I don't have that big a backlog of files to tweak, these were huge projects involving complex video, helicopter, drone and still work, very involved, with 3d D overlays being done out of the country. feels good to have it finished and delivered. Now I need to concentrate on getting the airport FBO print order finished, it just keeps getting bigger.
The A1II has some nice improvement over the Mark I. The thing that disappoints me most is, after more than 3 years, the FPS doesn't increase. 30 is good but 50-60 FPS would be nice for certain situations if I want to increase the odds of getting the perfect shots (like opposing passes). I will buy one someday but not at $6500. It's over priced by $1000, IMHO, Canon's R5II and Nikon's Z8 are much better values. The reception in the Sony forum has been lukewarm. When the A1 Mark I was released out of the blue, 50 MP and 30 FPS was revolutionary! Now it's "that's it?? Canon and Nikon have been putting out some nice toys lately at much more attractive prices. I think the Sony A1 II is now the best all around camera in the market, but not for $6500.
Some more eagles shots from yesterday. The fight shots were heavily cropped. That's why the 24MP Sony A9III has little appeal to me even with the global shutter and 120 FPS.
Hi All - a friend and i are heading to the US from Australia and we are planning on attending the Key West Airshow and the Lakeland Airshow. Any tips on best photography locations for the airshows? I see that the Lakeland show has tickets to a photographer's section - is this worth the upgrade? thanks in advance.
Haven't done much shooting lately, other than some foliage stuff. Went to Conowingo Dam for the bald eagles yesterday for the first time this season. A lot of juvenile eagles, the wind was blowing the wrong direction so I got a lot of butt shots. Enjoy!
. Two years ago I saw some amazing slow motion video footages of the F-22 demo flying in beautiful sunset light, I learned that they were made during practice in Langley. I contacted the demo pilot, Capt. Larson via his Instagram account to ask if he could give me some ideas of his practice schedule, IF they were not confidential, because I wouldn't want to drive 8 hours round trip not knowing if I would catch the practice flight. He graciously sent me his practice schedule for the following week. But I never made it down there due to work. 
. I do love photographing snow and ice but they have been so rare in the last two or three years around here.
