Welcome to the August 2014 issue of ISnAP! El Centro Steve Zimmermann Steve Burke Mark Bennett
Gary Edwards Mike Gagarin
ISAP Symposium XIII Wrap up at Sun ‘N Fun Return to Normandy - Commemorating D-Day 70 Years Later by Kevin Hong Meet The Members John Sepp John Ford Adam Glowaski Emmanuel Canaan
John Love Larry “Bubba” Harmon Mark Rourke Scotty Bruce
Marrakech Airshow 2014 by Mike Green 2014 Pacific Coast Dream Machines Show by Hayman Tam Planes of Fame 2014 Chino by Glenn Bloore Demo Team Schedules FRONT COVER PHOTO: José M. Ramos-Navarrete Commander ‘Dirt’ Knapp piloting VAQ-131’s last Prowler, Skybolt 500 while leading Fenix 546 over the Cascade Mountains. The US Navy’s Prowler days are numbered as the last three EA-6B squadrons will be in transition to the Boeing EA-18G before the end of the year. This will leave the Marine Corps as the only Prowler operator until 2019. Camera: Nikon D7100 Focal Length: 50 mm Aperture: f/7.1 Mode: Aperture Priority
Lens: NIKKOR 16-85mm F3.5-5.6G ED VR Shutter Speed: 1/500 ISO: 100 White Balance: Manual Daylight
BACK COVER: Larry Grace USAF Thunderbirds flyby for the MLB All Star Game held in Minneapolis MN. ISAP president Larry Grace scouted location around Minneapolis with the goal of capturing the Thunderbirds F-16 over Target Field and Downtown Minneapolis.From a roof top on the west side of the city gave the viewpoint he was looking for. Camera: Nikon D3S Focal Length: 44 mm Aperture: f/5.6 Mode: Aperture Priority
Lens: 28-300mm F3.5-5.6G ED VR Shutter Speed: 1/3200 ISO: 400 White Balance: Auto
IN THIS ISSUE ISAP members took part in photographing two major events, ISAP members also took part in a photo op at NAS El Centro, where the United States Navy Blue Angels held their winter training. For the first time, the ISAP symposium was held in Tampa, Florida and Sun ‘N Fun in Lakeland, Florida. There are articles from out in the field with our ISAP members from around the world. ISAP’s goal is to bring together our members who share a love of aviation, and want to preserve its history through their images. Through our organization, members can seek to enhance their artistic quality, advance technical knowledge, and improve safety for all areas of aviation photography while fostering professionalism, high ethical standards, and camaraderie. ISAP continues to help our members to better their photography skills, workflow, and set up resources to help with business questions that our members have. Updates are being made to the ISAP website and member portfolio section, and we are showcasing ISAP members’ images and accomplishments on our social media pages. Update or add your portfolio to the ISAP website. ISAP has received a lot of comments on our portfolio section and a few of our members have been contacted for job opportunities and image usage because of these portfolios. In this issue we are continuing to highlight ISAP members. I’m sure you will enjoy learning how your fellow ISAP members got started, as well as seeing some of their images and learning some tips. Remember that ISnAP is your publication to share your images, stories and tips with other members and the public. We look forward to each member sharing his or her stories with all of us. Enjoy this issue of ISnAP! Sincerely, Larry Grace, President Kevin Hong, ISnAP Editor International Society for Aviation Photography www.aviationphoto.org • www.facebook.com/ISAPorg
Brent Clark
w e l c o m e
n e w
i s a p
m e m b e r s
Christopher Ranney
Mark Magin
Betsy Aguirre
Arnol Swanburg
Mark Chiolis
Bill Ingalls
Richard Ruth
Daren Jaeger
Jason Archer
Theodore Avgerinos
Mike Fizer
Jared Morgan
Kasi Orr
William Hutchins
Mark Rourke
Lenardo Correa Luna
Kenneth Dono
Emmanuel Canaan
David Mills
Scott Leggo
Steven Serdikoff
Anna Wood
John Greene, Jr.
Daniel Birman
John Love
Sean Wilkerson
Angela Harris
Van HanNguyen
Adrian Romang
The ISnAP is a periodic publication of the International Society for Aviation Photography and is used to communicate news, functions, convention information, and other information of interest on the local, regional, and national scenes. The views and opinions expressed in this magazine are those of the authors and should not be construed as the views or opinions of the International Society for Aviation Photography.
EL CEN T RO
Text by Mike Gagarin
First impressions. Open space, clear skies, wind, and blowing sand. Welcome to the high desert and the home of the U.S Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron, the Blue Angels. Selected to represent International Society for Aviation Photography (ISAP) members at the Naval Air Facility El Centro photocall, was quite an honor. The ISAP group and about fifty other photographers were definitely looking forward to an exciting show by the “Blues”. But every now and then Mother Nature plays a mean trick. This time it was the wind. The wind event was strong enough to cancel the air show practice. Quick thinking by our U.S. Navy hosts and Kris Haugh, Deputy Public Affairs Officer, we were all able to photograph a limited number of tactical aircraft during takeoff and landing. The photo location couldn’t have been better! The Landing Safety Officers’ (LSO) shack next to the large runway! So what seemed to be a “minor” disappointment turned out to be a lot of fun for all that attended. Acquaintances were revisited, e-mail addresses were exchanged, and libations were enjoyed after the event.
ISAP contributing members Gary Edwards Mike Gagarin Mark Bennett Steven Burke Steve Zimmermann
S T EV E Z I M ME RM A N N
S T EV EN BURKE
MAR K B E N N E T T
G A RY EDWARDS
MI KE GAGARI N
FUN IN THE SUN I S A P S Y M P O S IU M X III P H O TO R EV IEW
RETURN TO
NORMANDY CO M M E M O R AT I N G D-DAY 70 Y E A R S L AT E R by Kevin Hong
For 10 days I traveled with Lyle Jansma to England and France to capture some of the untold stories of D-Day. Our journey and experiences gave us a small glimpse of what war was like and also the happiness of the French people appreciating what Americans did during World War II. We wanted to talk to people who were not glorified soldiers but talked with people in the villages and made major contributions to the war efforts. Along the way we documented events commemorating the 70th Anniversary of D-Day and wanted to share with the rest of America what normally doesn’t get published in the national media. We flew eight C-47/DC-3s across the English Channel and dropped paratroopers the whole week at locations in Normandy. From Utah Beach, St. Mere Eglise, and other significant areas where battles took place we were able to look at not only the landmarks and markers of when towns were liberated but also had a chance to relive history. Being able to listen and talk with some of the veterans who were there during the invasion gave me a chance to realize how fortunate we are to live in a world of democracy. On June 6, 2014 I did something I never thought I would do. 70 years later I was aboard a C-47 called Drag ‘Em Oot. This was not an ordinary C-47. She was a D-Day veteran and we dropped paratroopers over St. Marie Du Mont. To watch the paratroopers go out of the plane as the sun started to set was incredible. Flying next to us were other C-47s dropping paratroopers out as I glanced from behind the camera to see the different colors of the fields below. It was definitely the highlight of the trip. Since there were so many events commemorating the 70th Anniversary of D-Day I am working on a book with Lyle called D-Day Remembered. In the book will have stories and photos of our journey throughout the countryside and the interaction with D-Day veterans and some of the tourists who flew around the world to attend the anniversary.
MEET
THE MEMBERS who makes the planes, who keeps them flying, who flies them and who loves watching them. As for when I joined ISAP I would say I have been there since day one, literally. I have been fortunate to attend every ISAP since the first when if was help in Dallas. What keeps me coming back is not the field trips nor the symposium lecturers but the friends I have made since ISAP I. It is the camaraderie amongst people with the same passion, it is the exchange of ideas and experiences, it is the networking I look forward to every time. Get one in the can and then have lots of fun! I belong to a photography club at work and whenever possible I work with those who are new and want to learn. I am old school, I believe in getting the photograph right in camera so my drive and what I teach is do what is needed before the shutter is released. I ask you, would you rather spend time behind the camera or your monitor?
John Sepp
I am a semipro based out of Tucson, Arizona. I have been in to photography for over 30 years. I have not had any formal education in photography but have studied a plethora of photography books as I started out many years ago. I have often asked myself why did I get in to aviation photography, surely it was not for the money. I grew up living on airbases I was always fascinated by flight. So much so that my dream was to become a pilot in the air force. However that was not to be as I wore glasses. So I did the next best thing, I became an engineer. Don’t ask, it really makes sense in the end. I am a Nikon user but have shot with other cameras. I started on a Zeiss-Ikon 35mm pocket camera my father gave me of which I still have. Several of the photographs here were taken with a Pentax 6x7 using drum scanned transparencies. My first digital camera was a Nikon 950. I moved to a Fuji S2 then a D100 followed by a D300. I only moved forward on camera gear when there were significant steps in technology. In the meantime I kept upgrading my glass. Current I shoot with two D700 bodies using my 28-70mm f2.8 and my 70-200mm f2.8 as this gives me the greatest flexibility when photographing around an air show or aircraft in general. I find carrying the two bodies with lenses beats changing lenses in the field. I shoot both RAW and JPG. This gives a quick proof to use when culling the photographs. I can get an idea by quickly stepping through the JPEGs what to expect. I look for focus, composition and then exposure. If the exposure is not too far off then I can adjust in either Nikon’s Capture NX2 or Lightroom. I use Capture NX2 as it is built for Nikon products however I am moving to Lightroom to improve my workflow. After hearing presentations from the likes of Scott Kelby and others I am making the plunge and started last year. I joined ISAP to be around people who like aviation photography, all aspects of it, not just air shows or air-to-air. Don’t get me wrong, I love air shows but not all of us can be great at air show or air-to-air photography so I have taken the path of photographing things like
As for someone starting out in aviation photography I would say find what drives your passion and pursue it with your heart. I know it has given me many a joy to come back from a shoot and open the photographs for the first time. I find myself traveling back to when the shutter clicked.
As for someone starting out in aviation photography I would say find what drives your passion and pursue it with your heart. I know it has given me many a joy to come back from a shoot and open the photographs for the first time.
MEET THE MEMBERS
John Ford My love of aviation has led to over 30 years of photographing airplanes. After graduating from Brooks in 1981 I became an assistant in Los Angeles, eventually working with over 150 photographers. During that time I was able to build my own photography clientele which included Fender Guitar, Nissan, Eastman Office Products and Air New Zealand. I use a Nikon D300 and I primarily use the Nikkor 17-55mm and 80-200mm lenses. I shoot in RAW as it provides me with the maximum control and flexibility during the editing process. I use Adobe Photoshop CC and spend hours expanding and creating images that are beyond what was ever possible with film. I joined ISAP in 2012 because I wanted to mingle with and learn from people involved with aviation photography. My advice to aviation photographers is to literally turn around. Because light, form and composition are a 360 degree experience, especially on the tarmac. I currently live and work in San Diego, CA.
MEET THE MEMBERS
Canon 5D MkIII, 70-200mm f2.8L (@ 200mm), f18, 1/125. Image of Julie Clark was taken from the other side of the show box looking toward the crowd. (Giant American flag crane actually broke shortly after this shot)
Adam Glowaski – Box5 Media I live in Clear Lake, Iowa with my wife Kristi and our two dogs. I am a professional shooter, with much of my business in the corporate marketing industry. Photography was always somewhat of a hobby of mine since High School, but was kicked into high gear during college and beyond. I have some journalism photography classes I took in college, but most of my knowledge has been learning in the field through trial and error. I am very hands on, so I glean a great deal from doing rather than seeing. Aviation photography started for me around the time I got my private pilot license 6 years ago and has grown tremendously from there. Access to the airplanes and experiences have been completely from the network of friends and acquaintances I have met due to having my license. Aviation is a little big town of people, most everyone is only a link or two away from each other – I absolutely love that part. Currently shooting with a Canon 5D MkIII and my “go-to” aviation lens is the 70-200 f2.8L. For airshow shooting I will often put a 2x extender on it to add some range, but I either like to be close, or I will look for other unique shots (rather than over extend my range) I love shots that look outside the box. I shoot exclusively in RAW for it’s editing performance/capacity to recover images that you may have missed. The large file size can be a hassle at times, but is well worth it in the end. I have been exclusively using Aperture for my image editing (and Photoshop when needed) but now that Apple has decided to drop support for it, I am planning on migrating to a Photo Mechanic/ Lightroom combo. Should make for a fun new learning curve! I joined ISAP a couple years ago with the hope that I could learn from others and help to grow my skills and photo community. I don’t currently belong to any other photo groups, but am always looking for new opportunities! I hope to get more involved with ISAP in the future. Whenever and wherever I can, I try to help those interested in photography (aviation or not) to grow and develop their craft. I often find I learn the most when I am teaching others and it is always rewarding to see someone growing as a photographer. One tip? Keep shooting – quickest way to get rusty is to stop shooting, especially if you think you aren’t getting any better. Don’t give up and keep getting out there and doing what you love!
Canon 5D MkIII, 70-200mm f2.8L (@ 130mm) f3.2, 1/80. This was a quick photo flight with practically no light. Taken over the Atlantic Ocean with airshow performer Skip Stewart.
Canon 5D MkIII, 70-200mm f2.8L (@ 115mm) f5, 1/250. A formation of two Twin Beeches over Georgia, the silver one (AT-11) is the oldest flying Beech in the world. (The red and black Beech belongs to Matt Younkin)
Canon 5D MkIII, 70-200mm f2.8L (@ 115mm), f5.6, 1/125. An odd formation of a Cobra and Twin Beech…this was the brain child of the Cobra Pilot and was one of those “huh, that was interesting” moments. The Cobra actually had some issues keeping up, but it was well worth the challenge.
Canon 5D MkII, 16-35mm f2.8L (@16mm), f11. Approx 4 minute exposure. This was a manual exposure of Bob Carlton’s Super Salto Jet Sailplane complete night act. Some trial and error on a previous act allowed me to dial in the right settings for Bob. A Fun thing to notice is that the night exposure was long enough to get celestial movement. (Blurry Stars)
Canon 5D MkII, 70-200mm f2.8L (@ 70mm), f5, 1/125. This was shot over Southern Florida and the boat in the slot position was not planned..
Canon 5D MkIII, 70-200mm f2.8L (@ 125mm), f5.6, 1/125. Shot after sunset prior to putting the Corsair to bed for the evening.
Canon 5D MkII, 70-200mm f2.8L (@ 200mm), f6.3, 1/250. Safety is key in air to air shoots, but when you are working with top performers/professionals, you can get a little more creative. Here Rob Holland cuts to the vertical through Matt Younkin’s smoke trail. It was a timed/cued shot, but was actually thought of during the photo shoot.
Canon 5D MkIII, 70-200mm f2.8L (@ 168mm), f22, 1/160. A Mustang covering the sunset on a shoot south of Houston. This shot could have also been edited a bit more to completely silhouette the aircraft, but I chose to keep some detail.
MEET THE MEMBERS
Emmanuel Canaan
Canon T4i, 70-300 f/4-5.6 L, f/7.1, 1/1250 sec, ISO-200
I’m an advanced amateur photographer located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. I’ve never had formal photographic training beyond a single-semester digital photography class I took in college. I’ve learned most of what I know through a combination of online resources, fellow amateurs in my local photography club, observing EXIF data in professional photographers’ images, reading books by professional photographers, and simply by experimentation in the field.
I actually ran into the current ISAP President at an aviation-related event a few months ago where he was hard at work. I found out that he was a professional aviation photographer and introduced myself. He promptly told me about ISAP. I looked into the group that very night, and I was stunned to see the impressive work of the other members, as well as see many names of professional photographers whose work I follow regularly. Once I saw that, I knew I had to join. I am not currently a member of any other professional groups beyond informal virtual groups on Facebook.
My desire to photograph aviation was sparked a long time ago via a life-long interest in aviation. It may have been my father’s early career as a crop duster that started it, but I was always the kid with his face pressed up against the glass of the airport or the window of the aircraft. I often wanted to go pickup visiting friends and family from the airport just to see the aircraft. I’ve always enjoyed capturing my memories through photography, but didn’t start to take it seriously until my first son was born four years ago. Determined to not become yet another parent who buys a DSLR and never learns to use it, I looked for subjects that interested me so that I could enjoy the learning process. I had spent part of my life working for the airlines, but after leaving that industry eight years ago, I found myself craving a way to get back into aviation. It turns out that aviation photography was a perfect way to do it. I discovered early on that photography was a terrible hobby to pick up if you’re on a budget. To manage my limited budget, I decided to invest my money first in the lenses, and later in the camera body. Today I use a Canon T4i DSLR along with a 24-105 L, and a 70-300 L lens. For subjects outside of aviation, I’ve really been enjoying the simplicity afforded by my fixed-lens, fixed-focal length Fuji X100S. At airshows, I typically use my T4i with the 70-300 L. I find that the 70-300 gives me a good amount of reach and is quite a bit more compact and lighter than say the 70-200 f/2.8 or the 100-400 that Canon offers. The T4i works well enough, but its Achilles heel is its inability to capture long bursts of images in RAW, and its relatively slow focus. These limitations are good for me though as they force me to find creative ways to work around them. I initially started off shooting in JPG, but it didn’t take long before I discovered the power of RAW image files. They allow me to recover so much more from the highlights or the shadows. I now shoot in RAW whenever possible, but sometimes switch to JPG if there is a fast moving subject that I really want to capture (like the Blue Angels). I prefer Lightroom simply as it was the first program that I took the time to learn and it does about 95% of what I need it to do. Now that Adobe has their Creative Cloud Photography plan, I have access to Photoshop and plan to start working with it more. I’ve only barely scratched the surface of understanding what Photoshop can do.
Yes, I do my best to teach others. I’m still learning myself, as I know I always will be, so I try to pay it forward whenever I can. Well specific to aviation photography, it’s very important to shoot propeller-driven aircraft at a slow enough shutter speed that you keep the prop in motion, and it’s even better if you can get a smooth prop disc. I made the mistake early on of stopping the prop with too fast of a shutter speed. Now I just look back at those images and shake my head. The difference is substantial when done right. I also recommend to avoid shooting aircraft against a plain sky (especially a drab overcast gray sky). Often it’s hard to avoid that at an airshow, but in those cases I try to make the photo interesting in other ways (such as using creative cropping). I see so many airliner images that are uninteresting because they have no context (though I have been guilty of making this mistake as well).
Canon T2i, 17-55 EF-S, f/16, 1/100 sec, ISO 100
Canon T4i, 24-105 f/4 L, f/10, 1/200 sec, ISO-100
Canon T4i, 24-105 f/4 L, f/18, 1/100 sec, ISO-100
Canon T4i, 70-300 f/4-5.6 L, f/7.1, 1/1000 sec, ISO-100
Canon T4i, 70-300 f/4-5.6 L, f/18, 1/500 sec, ISO-100
Canon T4i, 70-300 f/4-5.6 L, f/7.1, 1/320 sec, ISO-200
Canon T4i, 70-300 f/4-5.6 L, f/7.1, 1/800 sec, ISO-200
Canon T4i, 70-300 f/4-5.6 L, f/7.1, 1/640 sec, ISO-200
MEET THE MEMBERS
John Love I’ve always had an interest in things that fly. I live in Minnesota, in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, but I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. My father was in the aerospace industry, and we lived near a naval air station and a municipal airport. Naturally, I had aviation pictures and models in my room. As for photography, it was something of a family hobby and I received my first SLR when I was in my teens. We generally shot slide film, mainly when our family traveled. After college I didn’t do much photography until about seven years ago. A friend and I had started regularly going to airshows and I decided to pull out the old gear. Since then I’ve fully transitioned to digital. I primarily shoot aviation and nature, and also enjoy doing travel photography with my wife. I would classify myself as an advanced amateur. Most of my ‘training’ has come from family and friends, reading, browsing forums, looking at other photographer’s images, and practice. My only formal photographic training was a black and white class in college. I’m a Canon shooter. Reasons for choosing Canon included the lens selection and how I saw my potential upgrade path, as well a good warranty service experience, and the ability to ‘play’ with some of the old M42 lenses I have. (Although without auto focus I haven’t really used the old lenses for aviation.) I currently use a Canon 50D. So far all my aviation photography has been shot from the ground. I use the Canon EF 100-400L for its reach and flexibility. I supplement it with a Canon EF-S 18-200 ‘walk-around’ lens for wide angle and closer in shots. While I started out shooting JPG, once I learned the implications I switched to RAW. I just wish I had done it sooner. The control and capabilities in post-processing are invaluable. Presently I use Canon’s DPP software for my initial RAW processing, followed with Photoshop Elements and the Nik Software Suite. I anticipate transitioning to Lightroom as time goes on. I learned of ISAP a few years ago and knew that if I kept at this I would eventually join. In addition, being in Minnesota Larry Grace and I had met a few times and we had talked about ISAP. The idea of being able to connect with, learn from, and share knowledge with other aviation photographers drew me to ISAP. I joined this year.
I’ve discovered that when you shoot with a big white lens on your camera you get asked questions about photography. Luckily I enjoy helping others learn. I answer the questions, share info with those I shoot with, and am starting to share info on forums. My advice for new aviation photographers: Practice and don’t be afraid of mistakes. For instance I love props, but getting a beautiful shot of a moving prop powered plane can be difficult. It took a lot of practice, as well as learning my gear and understanding the principles of photography, to get the shots I’ve got so far.
MEET THE MEMBERS
Larry “Bubba” Harmon
Nikon D4, 28-300mm, ISO 200, 135mm, f/16, 1/200
When I am not chasing photos I hang my photo bags in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Harpers Ferry, WV. My father was a Navy officer so I was lucky enough to be around military aircraft and air shows most of my childhood in the 70’s and early 80’s. Even though I had plenty of opportunities for photography in my youth, I didn’t really get serious about taking photos until about 2008 when I joined the National Association of Photoshop Professionals. By reading photo magazines, attending trade shows, and watching online tutorials my photography skills have grown. I would have to classify myself as somewhere between Semi-pro and advanced amateur; while I occasionally make money at photography I do it more for the love of the art. I shoot mostly with Nikon gear but only because it is more cost effective to pick one platform. My primary body is a D4 for its ability to fire at crazy frame rates. I often pair it with a rented Nikon 200-400mm f/4G AF-S IF-ED VR II. For close-up ground shots, I am most happy behind a Nikon 50mm f/1.4 which is such a relief after hand-holding the big glass! I shoot 99% of all my photos in RAW. The extra data that RAW files provide allows for quick and easy tweaking in Lightroom. If I want to add more than basic photo corrections I will then finish a photo in Photoshop. Since I make a living supporting computers for a large government contractor I know my way around a keyboard. When Scott Kelby of NAPP blogged about ISAP back in May of 2012 I had to check it out. I have been a member ever since. I love seeing what other aviation photographers are doing and ISAP makes that easier. Sharing is the best part of photography. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Sure there are some grumpy individuals out there on the flight line but just move on to the next one when that happens. I always try to answer any question someone asks when I am out shooting. Life is too short to be grumpy.
Nikon D4, 28-300, ISO 200, 300mm, f/16, 1/80
Nikon D4, 28-300, ISO 200, 300mm, f/16, 1/80
Nikon D4, 200-400mm, ISO 400, 380mm, f18, 1/160
Nikon D4, Tamron 150-600mm, ISO 500, 600mm, f/6.3, 1/1000
Nikon D4, 28-300mm, ISO 200, 92mm f/5.6, 1/1250
Nikon D4, 200-400mm, ISO 400, 400mm, f/18, 1/160
Nikon D4, 50mm 1.4, ISO 100, 50mm, f/13 1/100
MEET THE MEMBERS
Mark Rourke
Swedish Air Force T-39 Sabreliner taken at RAF Northolt on 14th March 2013 on a 5 second exposure at F9 at 32mm on a 18-50mm Sigma lens using a Canon EOS 600D
My name is Mark Rourke and I live on the Suffolk Coast in England working at the Sizewell Nuclear Power Station. When I was growing up in this area I lived under the approach to RAF Bentwaters and became interested in the aircraft that regularly flew over my house. At the age of 17 I purchased a Zenith 12S with a 300mm telephoto lens mounted on a trigger type contraption. I then bought a Sigma 70-300mm lens to give me more flexibility. I joined the Royal Navy in 1997 as an Aircraft Engineering Mechanic working on Sea Harrier FA2’s. I served in Iraq and Kosovo with 800 NAS (Naval Air Squadron), spent 3 years on the 899 NAS Sea Harrier Display Team crew and was part of the Boeing Pit Stop Challenge team from 800 NAS that won the Tornado weapon loading competition at the Royal International Air Tattoo. I was also fully qualified to work on the Harrier T.8 as well as being a Plane Captain. This re-enlightened my enthusiasm for aircraft photography. My Navy career was cut short due to Diabetes.
If I can I will always help others when I am out and about, telling what works for me. My advice is that you should make yourself happy before anyone else – if you enjoy your pictures then that is all that really matters as you learn. Also do not be put down by others, just enjoy yourself!
On returning to Suffolk and volunteering at the RAF Bentwaters Cold War Museum as part of the Aircraft Restoration Team I decided to go digital, still as an enthusiastic amateur. I purchased a Sony A200 with a 70-300mm lens and got hooked on what the digital age could deliver. I currently use a Canon EOS 600D and Canon EOS 7D with a Canon 10-22mm Wide Angle, Canon 70-200mm F2.8L USM and Canon 300mm F/4L USM lenses plus a Sigma 18-50mm. I use both cameras at airshows choosing which lens as the subject dictates.
Republic of China Air Force Northrop RF-5E’s and a F-5F get ready to take off at Hualien Air Base in Taiwan in June 2013 using a Canon 7D at 1/320 sec F9 at 135mm with a Canon EF 70-300mm F4-5.6 IS USM
I use Adobe Photoshop CS 5 currently as my means of photo editing and though I still have a lot to learn, it’s been my method of choice for 3 years now. I shoot with RAW and Jpeg, jpeg to see easily which shots are worth editing, then using the RAW file as the photograph I actually edit. I joined ISAP to seek inspiration from fellow aviation photographers and to give myself a more professional look as I recently became European Correspondent for Taiwan’s Weapons and Tactics magazine. Before this my work has been published in Air Forces Monthly and Combat Aircraft amongst others. I learnt about ISAP from fellow member Mike Green and do not belong to any other professional associations. Tornado GR.4 landing at RAF Marham on February 2nd 2012 using a Sony A330 at F9 at 230mm on a Sony 75-300mm F4.5-F5.6
SAAB JAS-39C Gripen of 701 Sqn, Royal Thai Air Force taken at Don Muang AB on 11th January 2014 on an EOS 7D at 1/640 sec , F6.3, EF300mm F4 IS USM
Grumman S-2T Tracker of Republic of China Navy taken at Pingtung in Taiwan in June 2013 with a EOS 7D at 1/320 sec , at F5 on a 600mm F4L II USM
96th Boeing B-52H Stratofortress taken over Scotland from a 100th ARW KC-135R on 17th June 2014 using a Canon 7D at 1/250 sec, F9 at 32mm on a Sigma 18-50mm lens.
Westland WAH-64D Apache at Wattisham taken on 11th December 2013 using a Canon 7D at 1/400 sec at F5 ISO 250, 300mm F4L USM IS
Royal Thai Air Force HS748 of 603 Squadron lands at Don Muang Air Base on 17th January 2014 using a Canon 7D at 1/500 sec F9 ISO 160 with a 300mm F4L USM IS
Bell CV-22B Osprey at RAF Mildenhall on 18th March 2014 using a Canon 600D at 1/800 sec F4 with a EF300mm F/4L USM lens
MEET THE MEMBERS
Scotty Bruce My father earned his Naval Aviator wings in 1942 in Corpus Christi. I grew up listening to his flying stories and received my own Naval Flight Officer wings in 1989. After 23 years, 14 duty stations, 6 deployments, and hundreds of combat sorties, I recently retired from active duty and plan to remain in San Diego. I’m currently turning my passionate hobby of photography into a second career as a professional photographer. When I’m not shooting or traveling, I serve as a full-time volunteer director of men’s ministry, Rock Iron Men, at all four campuses of the Rock Church in San Diego. After learning to shoot sports action in college with a trusty Nikon F3 workhorse and a manual Tamron 300mm f/2.8 lens (late night darkroom memories!), I jumped over to auto focus with a 6.3MP Canon 10D. Now you’ll find me on an aviation assignment primarily hand-holding a Canon 1D MarkIV and 500mm F/4. Other favorite Canon glass in the roller bag is a 300mm f/2.8, 70-200mm F/2.8 II, and a 17-40mm f/4. I know, I’m the only one I know that doesn’t have a 24-70mm f/2.8! Maybe I’ll get one for Christmas, but higher on my list is a 5D MarkIII! I now capture RAW images exclusively. There was a day when I shot large events and amateur sports in JPG for the ease of rapid download and quick turnaround of hundreds of images, but with fast computers and cheap storage these days there are few downsides to RAW processing, and more data is a good thing! 95% of my post-processing is completed in Lightroom w/ occasional use of Nik plug-ins. I’m a Adobe CC subscriber and am honing my Photoshop CC skills one day at a time! I met ISAP members Jay Beckman and Larry Grace at Oshkosh AirVenture during the Centennial of Naval Aviation. It was my last airshow while on active duty, and all the ISAP folks treated me like a VIP. Thanks, guys, that was a memorable week! I’ll never forget my first experience in the Canon CPS shack (candy store!) and a trip out the Ditch to shoot one of the afternoon air demos. Thanks DeKevin Thornton for the cold lemonade on a HOT Oshkosh afternoon! Since Oshkosh I’ve kept in touch with ISAP members and traveled to Seattle for the 2013 ISAP Symposium – a FANTASTIC week of shooting, learning and fellowship – don’t miss a chance to attend! In addition to being a member of ISAP, I’m a member of the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP), which has a very robust support network in San Diego for advice, training, workshops, lectures and more.
I’ve always been a teacher and trainer, and yes, that has carried over into my passion for capturing and sharing images. I’m usually that guy assisting friends to think through the selection of new and used gear and teaching them to better utilize the gear they have. I would encourage any aspiring aviation photographer with same advice I give to sports and action photographers: shoot now what you can, and you’ll be better prepared for the money shot when that opportunity comes. Just like you don’t need to be on the NFL field at Qualcomm Stadium shooting the Chargers to hone your football skills (high school and college sports give you every opportunity, and sometimes more, to refine the skills you need). Similarly you don’t need to be in a WWII warbird air-to-air shoot to refine your hand-holding technique or your prop-blur skills! Shoot what you can, where you live, with the aircraft that are available, and with specific goals in mind so you can learn from each session! Then you’ll be more prepared when the call comes to jump in the back seat of that T-6 Texan for your first air-to-air shoot!
MARRAKECH AIRSHOW 2014 By Mike Green
The 4th Marrakech Airshow took place April 23-26th at the Royal Moroccan Air Force base of Menara. Held over a period of four days, the first three days of this biennial show were designated as trade and press days, with the final day being opened up to the general public. So it provided an ideal opportunity to get up close and personal with the Moroccan armed forces which have traditionally supported the event in good numbers. In recent years Morocco has spent considerable sums of money on modernizing the Royal Moroccan Air Force/Forces Aériennes Royales (FAR), with aircraft such as the Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 52+ Fighting Falcon and the Beechcraft T-6C Texan II being prime examples. Similarly, the Gendarmerie Royale and the Royal Moroccan Navy/Marine Royale have also been re-equipping with more modern aircraft. So with opportunities to photograph the aircraft of the Moroccan air arms outside of their own country few and far between, and with them historically providing the bulk of the aircraft on display at the show it was a great opportunity to photograph them in their domain. The show opened to the media and exhibitors at 9.00am on Wednesday 23rd April, followed by the official opening flypast in the presence of King Mohammed VI scheduled for 10.15am, allowing plenty of time to walk around the compact static display. The flying displays on the Thursday and Friday were very short and limited to a small number of aircraft each day, which is to say the least frustrating. The Saturday display, which was open to the public involved a larger number of aircraft and so we spent some time ‘off base’ to take advantage of the sun’s position. However despite the more advantageous position
outside the airfield, the extreme temperature, heat haze and harsh light made for less than ideal photographic conditions when shooting from distance. The show is billed as a trade show along the lines of the Farnborough International Airshow and the Paris Salon, but there was noticeably very little in the way of foreign participation. There were a number of civilian biz-jet types, but the only foreign military types in the static show were a US Air Force C-130J, a US Air National Guard KC-135, Italian Air Force Agusta-Westland HH-139A and an Alenia/Aermacch MC-27J. The flying display also included the Spanish Patrulla Aguila with their CASA 101 trainers, but other than that the displays both on the ground and in the air were dominated by aircraft from the Moroccan armed forces. Not that we were complaining, after all that’s why we were here. Now in its fourth cycle, it seems the expectation of Africa being an expanding market place for aircraft sales has not materialized. The worldwide recession has undoubtedly had an impact and corruption on the African continent is without doubt an ever present influence. Whether the Marrakech Airshow moves on from its present level is debatable, as at the moment it feels more of an opportunity to show off the Moroccan armed forces aircraft rather than a trade show. Unless major manufacturers such as Dassault, Boeing et al support it in the future, it is likely it will remain as it is, or even dwindle in size. Either way, at present it provides the only way to see large numbers of Moroccan armed forces aircraft anywhere in the world.
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2014 PACIFIC COAST DREAM MACHINES SHOW By Hayman Tam
Late April marks the airshow season opener for the San Francisco Bay Area with the annual Pacific Coast Dream Machines show held at the Half Moon Bay Airport. I was happy to inaugurate fellow ISAP’er Rob Edgcumbe to the experience this year. This year’s event started off with drizzly overcast skies that discouraged some fans, and visiting aircraft, to make the journey to this coastal locale. Although the weather improved dramatically later in the day, it was too late to many pilots to attend but did make it much nicer for the departing aircraft at the conclusion of the show. This is not really an airshow, more of a celebration of all things wheeled, winged, tracked, and in between. Imagine a fly-in, blended with a custom car show plus a dash of carnival atmosphere for the younger ones. A vast array of transportation vehicles were brought in for display and demonstration to the crowds of spectators milling about the airport grounds. Well over a thousand vehicles drove in to be placed on display. The aircraft were arranged on the North end of the field. A variety of aircraft were on display, warbirds and civilian alike. For those wanting a bird’s eye view, several businesses were selling rides. Nostalgic Warbird & Biplane Rides kept their 1930 New Standard D-25 busy all day while a long line of customers waited patiently to orbit the field in a Robinson R44 Raven. By far, the largest plane on display this year was a C-47 Skytrain all decked out in 1944 D-Day colors. The most powerful plane attending was certainly the 4,000 horsepower Hawker Sea Fury air racer “Dreadnought”. (Note: This aircraft was involved in a mid-air collision with their Cessna 210 support plane on their way home after the show. with the Cessna and pilot lost over San Pablo Bay.) The fastest aircraft would be the Czech Cold War era L-39 jet trainer in attendance. The oldest representation was certainly the 1909 Bleriot that Eric Presten brought from his base in Sonoma to exhibit.
Besides the Sea Fury, warbird lovers were rewarded with several P-51’s, a Yak-9, Yak-11 and a whole bevy of military trainers. Half Moon Bay’s own airshow star, Eddie Andreini, had one of his Yak-9s on the tarmac with his P-51, along with his one-of-a-kind Super Stearman. The Planes of Fame Museum (Chino, CA) flew up their P-38 Lightning and a F4U Corsair to nicely round out the WWII display. With the damp weather at the start, the quantity of visiting aircraft was noticeably lighter than seen in prior years. A pair of Quickie Q200’s were the most interesting aircraft on the apron, along with a very colorful Great Lakes Sport Trainer that flew in for the show. One rare bird was a Cold War era Yak-18T utility aircraft parked along the flight line. As mentioned earlier, this was not an airshow. No scheduled performances or aerobatics by anyone. Of course that did not stop folks from doing low flybys of the airfield after takeoff. Eddie Andreini took to the sky in his new P-51 “Primo Blanco” to conduct several formation flybys with fellow warbird pilot Kent Carlomagno in his Yak-11 “Blyak Moose”. Sadly, this would be the last time I would see Eddie fly as he was killed one week later in a crash of his Super Stearman at the Travis AFB airshow. Half Moon Bay Airport (HAF) is located right on the coast approximately 20 miles south of San Francisco. Originally built for the U.S. Army in 1942, it was acquired by San Mateo County in 1947.
PLANES OF FAME 2014
CHINO By Glenn Bloore
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ISAP Chairman
Larry Grace
ISAP Vice Chairman
Jim Wilson
ISAP Secretary Mike Collins ISAP Treasurer Bonnie Kratz
ISAP Board Member
George Kounis
ISAP Lawyer
J.R. Wilson Jr.
ISAP Chairman Emeritus
Jay Miller
ISnAP Editor Kevin Hong
ISnAP International Editor
Mike Green
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Kenneth Strohm
ISAP Code of Ethics I agree to abide by the ISAP Code of Ethics and pledge to honor the highest level of professionalism and conduct, with honesty and integrity at all times. I will familiarize myself with the rules and regulations of any facility that I visit and abide by them to uphold and dignify the reputation of ISAP and refrain from conduct that could harm any future opportunities for other members. I will treat others with courtesy and exercise good judgment in my actions. I agree to share my knowledge and skills with my fellow ISAP members to help increase the level of ISAP’s reputable knowledge base. If I breach any part of the ISAP Code of Ethics, my membership may be restricted or terminated by the ISAP Board of Directors. Contact us ISAP President / Board members • isapboard@aviationphoto.org General questions • info@aviationphoto.org or admin@aviationphoto.org Membership • membership@aviationphoto.org Website / Members forum • webmaster@aviationphoto.org Please submit photos as a jpg file, sized at 4x6 or 5x7 (200 dpi minimum), and text as a Microsoft Word file as attachments via email to ISnAP@aviationphoto.org
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