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.
Click or tap (on mobile) thumbnail to view larger image.
Until next post,
Steven
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
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(n) a lover of rain; someone who finds joy and peace of mind from the rain.
There was a timid and slender soft-spoken teenager who was constantly bullied and preyed upon by others. One day he discovered that he could control the weather. And that rain brought him a profound sense of calm and relief from his abusive surroundings. He makes it rain every day and everywhere. From the first waking light in the morning to each long dark hour of the night, it’s nonstop rain. From Death Valley to the Sahara Desert, the rain fell endlessly for months. Rivers swelled far beyond record levels, new lakes and rivers form all over the world and the economic disruption eclipsed any previous calamity. His family and friends find out he is the cause and continually ask him to stop the rain. But to no avail. They reach out to various media outlets and start a global outcry for him to stop. Rain-soaked crowds demonstrate in front of his house, school and just about anywhere he goes. Always chanting “Stop the Rain! Stop the Rain! Stop the Rain!” Tragically, the years of constant bullying, abuse, and cruelty eroded his empathy toward others. As he peacefully walked away, he gives them the finger and absolutely refuses to stop the rain. Among the protesters is a classmate of his, a uniquely attractive young lady. She boldly stands in front of him and pleads with him. “You got to stop the rain. You’re hurting us” she says with sincerity and compassion. Unaffected by her stunning appearance and her plight, he instantly erupts with bitterness and discontent. “Why the Fuck should I? Nobody ever stepped in to help me. Heck, you and your friends make fun of me at every chance you get. On TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. From the way I dress, to where I live, and how poor my family is. You motherfuckers are relentless and shameless! No one stopped your boyfriend and his douche bag friends from kicking the shit out of me. Yeah, that’s right.” Revealing the cuts and bruises on his head, neck, and arms. “He did this!” She starts to see the true extent of the harm she along with many others has caused him. Realizing it is too late for any kind of reconciliation, tears uncontrollably trickle down her face as she softly repeats, “I didn’t know.” Unmoved by her tears, he nonchalantly turns away as if the rain spoke to him. Slowly looks up, the rain starts to intensify, and his sense of peace and calm washes down his bruised face. Still looking up, he pulls up the hood of his wore out raincoat over his head and starts to walk away. With the utmost calm and serene voice, he replies, “No, I will not stop. Go and enjoy the rain.”
You do not know what kind of problems people are facing. So just be kind to others. Until the next post,
Albert Einstein said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” These wise words are so true even in aviation photography. The repeated attendance of aviation events based on a list of demonstration teams and performers over an event with great lighting conditions is crazy to me. And let’s face it, we go to events to see and experience living breathing aircraft take flight. Shooting static aircraft is really just a matter of waiting for the right time of day. We don’t get to choose what flies or performs in whatever light we want. But we can choose events with better overall lighting conditions. That we choose light over available subjects.
Such stunning light in the late afternoon
In this episode of “Philosophy about Photography”. I want to talk about choosing an event with purpose over subjects of opportunity. After attending countless aviation events over the past 17 years, I’ve become very critical about what show or event I will attend. Just because there’s an event nearby, doesn’t mean I’m going to it. I have a tried and tested trifecta of reasoning for attending an aviation event. For me, it takes great lighting conditions, multiple shooting locations, and subjects I want to see. And having only one doesn’t cut it.
Light and location go hand in hand. The quality of light at an aviation event is directly proportional to your shooting location, show/crowd line, and the path of the Sun. There are numerous other factors that must be considered. Such as, where’s the show/crowd line? And what direction is it facing? Where’s the Sun now? And where will it be later? Does the event cater to photographers? How late can I stay after the show ends? Also, there are events with good light only for part of the day. Wings over Houston for example, the show faces east and at the start of the show, the light is garbage. The good thing is flying tends to start in the late afternoon. The first few acts are backlit but before you know it and for the rest of the show the sun is at your back. NAS Oceana is the exact opposite. The lighting conditions are good until midday and the Sun crosses overhead and then starts backlighting the event just in time for the Blue Angels.
My reasoning behind having multiple shooting locations is, I feel one cannot capture the feeling or present the experiences of a show from one location. There’s just too much going on to show from one point of view. When you do, all your images have the same perspective and tend to look the same. And you quickly lose the interest of your viewers and they either click away to some other interest or continue scrolling past the rest of your photos. My remedy for this stagnation is to shoot the first half of a show in one location and then the second half in another for one-day events. And for multi-day shows, to switch up locations on different days. The results tend to show a more complete picture of the show and I’m able to tell a more complex story with my images.
How many of my sought-after aircraft are supposed to be at one of these well-lit events? I may get to see two or three per show if I’m lucky. But for me, I’m in it for the long game. And with warbirds being my jam, I tend to gravitate towards the larger warbird events like the Planes of Fame air show in Chino California, EAA AirVenture at Oshkosh, and Thunder Over Michigan in Ypsilanti. And even when I make it out to a show with quality light along with the aircraft I want to see, there is still no guarantee that I will add any unique images to my portfolio. Events get canceled, Mother Nature likes to start tripping on show weekends, and unfortunately, accidents happen as well.
Yeah, you can use Lightroom and Photoshop to add filters and layer masks to correct for crappy light. But those images will not be as good as ones shot in superior conditions. And the workflow of processing a set of images from a poorly lit event is tedious and time-consuming. I’ve been there, done that and no thank you. But at least we can pick events that are more in our favor to produce better results.
While I was building my two phat Greek scooters, I needed a second build stand. Something that gets the model up and away from the chaos of the workbench. My first thought was to find the Etsy seller of the first build stand I bought and reorder another. And after looking at it, I figured I could just build one. Took some rough dimensions, gather the supplies needed and got to work. Here’s a list of supplies you would need. Some foam core, a straight edge, straight or T-pins, a ruler or scale, some form of writing utensil and a hot glue gun. I build in 48th scale so my base is 285mm long X 200mm wide (11 1/4in X 8in). The three supports are 100mm tall X 50mm wide (4in X 2in) with a triangle brace. You can scale your stand up or down to suit your build needs. I strengthened the underside with two strips of foam core crossing corner to corner. You can see the T-pins are used to connect the supports to the base. I did some layout lines on the bottom to find the centerline and spacing for the two wing supports. The only support I made different is the front one. I made a cutout for the nose of a model would rest in the cutout and prevent it from sliding side to side. For my scooters, the cutout was too deep. So, I put a little pad to raise it up. It took me about 20 minutes from start to finish. Thanks for looking!
