The Story Behind an Image, Part 7

Ever since 2004, I’ve had a passionate love affair with photography. And come to discover that I have a fondness with photos that comes with a story. Over the years, I have shot a few of them. Here’s the next story behind one of my images.

Part 7: The image that makes me smile

Any aviation enthusiast and or photographer who has ever been to a NAS Oceana airshow knows in the morning you do two things, shoot statics and shop for swag. During the airshow weekend, most of the squadrons based at Oceana sets up rows of tents and offers tons of squadron merch. From T-shirts, Cruise DVDs, challenge coins, coffee mugs to photos and illustrations. In 2008, I attended the show with two fellow photographers, Shawn Yost and Craig Scaling. All weekend long we were cracking jokes, quoting “Top Gun” and all around enjoying each other’s company.

Saturday morning, Shawn and I made our way through security, and met up with Craig. We made our way over to the “Squadron Mall” to buy all the swag we could not live without. Shawn and Craig both fancy squadron cruise DVDs and challenge coins. Zaps (squadron stickers) are my jam. After spending an untold amount of money, it was time to figure out where in the hell we were going to put it all. Remember, its morning. We still have a whole day of shooting ahead. You can’t hold on to all that swag and shoot jets?! You got to pack that shit up! After packing our swag into every nook and cranny of our cameras bags, we headed toward to show line to figure out where we want to shoot from. If I remember correctly, Craig wanted to head over to the static to reshoot something. Craig took off his backpack to put his DVDs away. With his hands full, he asks me to hold his camera. He then processes to stuff his DVDs into his overpacked backpack. With a devilish grin on my face, I nodded to Shawn. He instantly stuck the pose and I quickly framed them both and press the shutter. Craig had his camera set to continuous shooting and it shocked the hell out of me when I heard his shutter blasting away. And as quickly as it happened, I lowered Craig’s camera and Shawn recomposed himself. Craig asks for his camera back. ”You’re shitting me, Right?!” I said to myself. He didn’t realize what just happened?! So, I handed him his camera as if nothing even happened. Trying not to laugh, Shawn and I were both amazing he didn’t hear the shutter snapping away or pick up on what we just did. Looking back now, it was beautiful! Craig went off to shoot statics, Shawn and I in disbelief found a shooting location. We enjoyed the show, packed up our gear, and headed to the hotel. While there, dump cards, charge batteries, shower, dinner and get ready to do it all over again the next day.

Sunday morning, we woke up, got some breakfast, and head to the base. Again, parked the car, geared up, made our way through security, shot the show, and met up with Craig afterward. I do remember, we headed over to my parent’s house that night for a home-cooked meal. On the way over, We figure Craig would have said something about Saturday’s little photo shoot, but nothing. At my parent place, we eat, and we laughed. Heck, my dad even broke out his old cruise books when he served on the Ticonderoga (CV-14) and Saratoga (CV-60). Back in the hotel, we chilled, and eventually off to bed. Come Monday morning, we all headed our separate ways back home.

According to the EXIF data from the image, it was 10 days from the time I shot it to when Craig found it and email it to Shawn and I. He named the image “ShawnandStevearedead”. Key takeaways are. First, regardless of what’s you are shooting, Have fun! And second… Never let me hold your camera when Shawn is around!  

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< The Story behind an Image part 6

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Weekend in Miami

Over the long Memorial Day weekend, I headed down to Miami for the Air & Sea show. I haven’t started sorting through the thousands of images from the show. But here’s a few phots of Downtown Miami, my hotel views, and South Beach. The sites & sounds, the vibe of the city and the Cuban cuisine, Oh man! I was blown away. And if I’m honest, was a bit overwhelmed at first but I was there to have fun and I didn’t let it stop me from truly enjoying myself.

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Until next post,

Steven

Air Power over Hampton Roads 2023

One can say that this was a return for both Langley Air Force Base and me, getting back to airshows. It’s been 4 years since Langley hosted a show and 5 years since I attended Wings over Houston back in 2018. And after such a long hiatus, I had one simple goal. To enjoy photographing an airshow again. To get reacquainted with the sites and sounds of modern fighters as well as iconic aircraft of World War Two being put through their paces. Surprisingly, my results were better than I expected. Without further ado, here are my photos from Air Power over Hampton Roads 2023.

Gear used:

Canon EOS 90D DSLR

Canon EOS 5DS R DSLR

Canon EF 24-70mm F/2.8L II USM

Canon EF 100-400mm F/4.5-5.6L IS II USM

Canon EF 500mm F/4.5L USM

If you like what you see, consider hitting the “Like” button and maybe start to follow my little blog. Until next post,

The Rhythm of Photography

Since I rekindled my love of photography, I’ve discovered it has an all too familiar rhythm. One that has been secretly and deeply embedding itself into my photography over the years but has just lately moved into the light of my passion. Looking back, this unrevealed rhythm has been consistently setting the cadence of creativity and exploration in my imagery. This rhythm I’ve been subconsciously marching to for years has been a driving force behind many aspects of my philosophy of creating unique images. And has spawned numerous adventures as a result along with a multitude of blog posts. This newly unearthed rhythm has 5 key notes starting with Envision, Chase, Capture, Process, and ends with Share. Let’s take a further dive into each.

Envision

It starts with envisioning an idea and setting it as a goal for yourself. It can be as simple as “I want to take some photos of flowers.” Or as complex as “I want to capture the USN Blue Angels sneak pass with a full vapor cone.” It truly doesn’t matter what your subject is or how grand of an idea it is either. You just need to have some direction, just a hint of a loose idea. Whatever you decide, don’t think that it has to be clearly defined with every detail known. Maybe you’re going on holiday, and you want to show a sense of location, or you are trying your eye in a different genre of photography. As long as you are not aimlessly searching for that “Great Shot”. I firmly believe that “Great Shots” begins with an inspiring idea from a creative standpoint and does not just happen. Don’t get it twisted, I’m not saying spontaneity hasn’t produced any mind-blowing images, because it has. But you shouldn’t expect Lady Luck to be waving her magic wand in your direction every time you push the shutter. It’s unrealistic and your results amounts to a waste of time.

Chase

That old saying “Knowing is half the battle” is relevant when it comes to chasing down your images. The knowledge of where and when your subject is available is tremendous. Attributes such as the time of day and or season you want to capture your idea. How you want to light your subject. How often is your subject available and how long will it be around? And being patient with Mother Nature because she loves to start tripping when you need her to behave. Chasing the image in your mind’s eye could take hours, days, or even years to capture. It’s paramount that you don’t lose sight of what you’re trying to accomplish. And it will test your resolve. Having a plentiful supply of vigilance along with an abundance of patience will aid you in mastering the chase. Remember, you will miss every shot you don’t take.

Capture

When the time comes and you see your image about to come to fruition, you must possess a healthy working knowledge of your gear along with an adequate understanding of exposure and composition. Knowing how to change your shutter speed, depth of field, focus point, or any other function without having to look and figure out what button does what. Developing that level of muscle memory only comes with time and experience behind your camera. How you’re going to capture the moment is just as important. What equipment along with what settings to use to successfully capture your idea. Will it require the use of a monopole or tripod, single shot, or continuous shooting to get the best results? Timing is a key factor as well. What amount of time do you have with your subject? You may be attending a multi-day event or just have a half hour with your subject. Regardless, you must make the best use of whatever time is available. Most importantly, how are you feeling? Even the slightest symptom such as headache, congestion, or fatigue can affect how focused you are on your task. Take care of yourself before heading out.

Process

Having an effective post-process routine is necessary for refining your digital images. Knowledge of your post-processing software is crucial, and YouTube, as well as Google, are helpful resources. Whatever software you have, you should know how to import and export your files, maintain a competent understanding of the tools, be able to adjust the exposure, modify the white balance, level the horizon of your photo, and the list of edits goes on and on. A frequently overlooked aspect of post-processing is sorting. Finding that adequate set of images that perfectly expresses your vision. Because the quickest way to lose your viewer’s attention is to show them multiple pictures of the same subject that visually has little to no difference from one another. Finally, file format and location of files are essential as well. Not every platform can recognize the variety of file formats from the multitude of programs.

Share

How you share your imagery along with who you share it with, is equally important. Receiving and learning from non-bias advice is fundamental for us to grow in life as well as with photography. Unfortunately, that doesn’t include family and friends. We all need someone who can offer us honest feedback and not give us sugarcoated responses. And the truth hurts sometimes. But that’s ok as long as we learn something useful from our experiences. On to how you share your photos. Sharing on dead platforms and oversaturated sites is not beneficial for growing your audience and gaining exposure. Knowing how to promote one’s images is not easy and doesn’t happen overnight. This too requires patience and consistency. With the numerous social media platforms, online forums to local photo clubs, there are countless ways to showcase your work and gain exposure.

This rhythm has been a major factor in my growth as a photographer. Relentlessly, pushing me further out of my comfort zone. It’s responsible for developing healthy photographic habits such as coming up with a shooting routine and help with the tedious task of image sorting. Not only has it altered my approach, but it continues to steer my journey into photography to this day. Time and time again, this seasoned rhythm has not failed me in any of my photographic ambitions. If you have been following this blog and reading my posts for any amount of time, you can see all the telltale signs of this rhythm. A prime example is Part Three of my “The Story Behind an Image” series. Where I share how I shot “My 11 Year and 16 Aviation Event Shot”. Each part of this rhythm is clearly shown from beginning to end. And I posted it back in June of 2017, 6 years before I wrote this post.

Until next time,

Steven

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