Love your eagle shots Douglas👍👍 As to the Blues and F4’s, we were just starting a project in the early 80’s next to Barbers Point NAS and had to endure several days of low level maneuvers as they practiced above us. It was really hard to concentrate on your task with such a delight above. When show day came I brought the family out. Our boys were 4 & 5 at the time. The oldest enjoyed it but the youngest felt betrayed. He thought he was going to see angels, not noisy jets.
I got this shot during the Blues' practice at the Naval Academy in 2021. The campus was still closed to the public due to the Xi virus restrictions. I found somewhere off the campus to shoot from and got this angle that I have never been able to duplicate when I was at the usual spots at airshows.
Douglas, first let me say that those eagle shots are probably the best I have ever seen!! If you don't mind me asking, where did you capture them?
Second; I like you had the opportunity to view a Blue Angels demo from an otherwise restricted position when I shot the NY Airshow for the local Tourist Bureau, and captured this shot. They were almost directly overhead, and moving so fast I could not follow them well at all. I just held the shutter down and this was about the only decent image I got. As you can see, I was too close with a 400mm to capture all, and missed the lead plane. But what I love is that you can see all 3 pilots with eyes on their wingman. I don't think there was any more than about 3 feet of separation from wingtip to wingtip. Their talent and courage is beyond me!
MBrewington wrote:
Love your eagle shots Douglas👍👍 As to the Blues and F4’s, we were just starting a project in the early 80’s next to Barbers Point NAS and had to endure several days of low level maneuvers as they practiced above us. It was really hard to concentrate on your task with such a delight above. When show day came I brought the family out. Our boys were 4 & 5 at the time. The oldest enjoyed it but the youngest felt betrayed. He thought he was going to see angels, not noisy jets.
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Ttown Aubie wrote:
Guys those shots of the eagles and the blues are fabulous!
I do not know why I am surprised by them. Douglas and Jim always bring their A game!
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Danpbphoto wrote:
All I can say is WOW!!! Douglas!!!!
Dan
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anthonysemone wrote:
chas, that shot is just extraordinary!!!!!
Douglas, was that Conawingo Dam area where you took your eagle shots? Amazing.
Thank you very much, gentlemen!
Chas, that BA shot is out of this world.
Yes, the bald eagles were all photographed at Conowingo Dam in Maryland. It had been very quiet until the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, then there have been some very active days. Often it's hit or miss in terms of eagle activities. I missed the two best days but I can't really complain since I live only an hour away. I know people from Canada, west coast, and even Asia, who come all the way to Conowingo to photograph the eagles diving, snatching big fish out o the water and fighting over fish. Conowingo is the Mecca for these types of actions.
How about a few more from last week? Usually the eagles there catch big fish and fight over the catch, but lately they have been catching small fish and eating them in mid flight. Some of these shots are heavily cropped.
Yesterday was interesting, I traveled 1,000 miles and didn't fire a shot. Well, I did shoot a half dozen iPhone shots to send to the client to show them that our project was not ready for prime time. Left home at 6am and fell back into bed at 11:30pm. I know "it all pays the same", but I really don't like it when I can't be productive. Like MacArthur, "I will return!".........................
JWilsonphoto wrote:
Yesterday was interesting, I traveled 1,000 miles and didn't fire a shot. Well, I did shoot a half dozen iPhone shots to send to the client to show them that our project was not ready for prime time. Left home at 6am and fell back into bed at 11:30pm. I know "it all pays the same", but I really don't like it when I can't be productive. Like MacArthur, "I will return!".........................
Wow, they didn't have someone on the ground to let you know they weren't ready?? A long day of practice traveling!
This happens more than one would think Chas, sometimes it's just a case of having to shoot around some unfinished areas and occasionally it's like yesterday, totally unshootable. The architect was flying in later in the afternoon but unfortunately I couldn't catch her before her flight took off. Apparently the project superintendent for the construction company didn't indicate that there was any problem. My guess is that everyone was so busy trying to keep up with what was on their individual plates that no one really stopped to consider what we actually needed for a successful shoot. I'm thinking that there will be some changes in the "verification" process from this point on.
Twenty years ago I had a client call me at 7pm with an urgent need. He wanted me to be in Tampa/St. Petersburg on the first flight out the next day. I called the people that I had booked and moved our shoot, stayed up half the night packing the appropriate gear/4x5/lighting/etc. I made walk on reservations for a 6am departure to Tampa, left the house at 3. The urgency was to get beautiful images of a new billion dollar multi-family complex for a presentation to GE Capital Group so the client could secure funding for another ten billion dollars in upcoming projects. I was booked to shoot for a week, "whatever it takes" was the order. Soooooo, I get to Tampa, shuffle all of my gear to my rental van and head to St. Pete. When I pulled up in front of the development I was a bit surprised to see a huge site, one clearly a year away from completion and "beauty shots". I thought that I had the incorrect address or something. A quick call to the CEO led to a string of never ending expletives the end result being he was somehow under the impression that this project was completed. Kind of gives one a little insight into just how detached upper management can be in some cases, we're talking billions of dollars in the mix and no one knows within a year how far along a major project is. Once the CEO was done venting, he apologized for putting me through the wringer for nothing, said "bill me for the week!" I headed back to TPA and flew home on the next available flight.
I'm tellin' ya, it's been an interesting ride since March of 1982. I could write a book, but no one would believe it. I wouldn't trade a minute of it for the world.
JWilsonphoto wrote:
I'm tellin' ya, it's been an interesting ride since March of 1982. I could write a book, but no one would believe it. I wouldn't trade a minute of it for the world.
Write that book Jim!
We here believe it! Screw the rest who don't!
If I wrote a book from 1982 till now...everybody would be laughing!...me..crying!
RD
Douglas, those eagles are amazing. Always wanted to check out that location since you started posting photos from there. Next time I need to go to Middle River, maybe I'll bring the 500L and book an extra couple of days.
Mark, the best time to go to Conowingo is usually from late October to the first week of January, then late March and April for the shad run. There are really hit or miss in terms of the eagles' fishing activities. During these periods parking can be a problem on weekends, in the current season some folks arrive there at 5:00 AM on weekends to make sure they have a parking spot and a good shooting spot. It's a bit crazy that it has become so well known that birders from everywhere have heard of it. If you are on Facebook, there is a "Conowingo Dam Eagles" group where people post their pictures and some report the activities.
Anyway, shoot me a message if you decide to go, I will be happy to share any info and may join you if time allows.
Those sunrise shots on the Eagles are beautiful.
It's funny as well to see them with a little/big fish in their claws tucked up under them flying or one of the other eagles try to grab it from them. Tulelake and Klamath have some excellent Eagle opportunities.
I joined the USAF in 1970. I found myself, a19 year old one striper working with a couple of 30 year olds wearing 3 stripes. I asked one if rank really takes that long in the USAF. He told me he didn't think so, but he had worked for Boeing in Washington. He said Boeing was laying people off left and right because they lost the bid for the cargo plane proposal that became the C-5A. He also told me when he was driving his family out of Everett (I think that was the town) there was a sign saying "Will the last one out of town please turn out the lights??. The Boeing decision to turn their cargo plane into the 747 passenger plane really turned things around.
Sorry, the only 747 I ever shot...but it does show the plane's versatility.
