Monthly Archives: June 2011

Highland Games

The suburbs of Chicago had an interesting offering recently. A festival was held to celebrate Scottish culture (no Rob, don’t go there) and to hold Highland Games. I haven’t been to this event before and this year it had been moved to a new location which was supposed to be able to handle the amount on show better so we headed along.

It was hot and humid (not very Scottish) so not a day to hurry yourself. However, to add some authenticity, the recent heavy rains had left the field very boggy in parts. The vent was huge and I shall tell more about it in the coming days. One of the first things we went to see was the tossing of the caber! The games had already had a couple of events and more were due later in the afternoon. However, we got one fo the more famous events while we were there.

Competitors had come from all over the country. The men and the women were competing together (obviously with different cabers) and it was quite something to watch. All of these people looked like they could handle themselves in a fight! They were big people. A couple were school teachers so I suspect their pupils know how to behave.

The announcer suggested that the women had chosen too long a caber and no-one managed to get it over while we were watching. However, the men were having more luck and there were quite a few successes including some that were given perfect scores – do you know how to score this event?? A good start to the afternoon.

Victorville Flyby

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A while back, I found myself in Southern California with my buddy Pete. Pete is a pilot with about 15,000 hours on multiple types but he always wants to try out something new. He was renting a Cessna 172 for the day and getting checked out at a couple of interesting fields – Catalina Island and Big Bear. I was along for the ride.

He asked if there was anything I wanted to do while we were out and I wanted to take a look at Victorville. Victorville is the old George AFB and is now a place where a lot of airliners come for storage and often to be broken for spares. I had seen a few pictures of the place and wanted to see what was there to be seen. Pete had an added interest as there were some British Airways 747s parked up there – the type he currently flies for his day job!

I had been in the back for the first two legs of our trip a we had an instructor along checking Pete out. For this leg, I took the right seat to be well positioned for the photos and also to get a bit of time in myself. I had no idea how enthusiastic Victorville would be about passing light aircraft coming to take a look. However, when we called up the tower, they were very happy for us to make a pass. When we told them what we wanted, they even allowed us to break off from a low approach and turn north to pass the collection of stored airliners.

There was quite a selection of aircraft on the ground. Some of them were obviously temporary residents but a few looked like they were only going to be leaving in bits some day. Rather sad but it happens to us all eventually. Anyway, a fun distraction on our route (a great trip as a whole by the way but maybe I will save that for another time) and some interesting things to see.

As an aside, Pete was back here before too long to pick up one of the BA jets to return it to service.

Bye Bye JAL 747s

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When I was a small kid, I had a book called Pictorial History of Aircraft. This was the 1970s and so the Boeing 747 was still a relatively new kid on the block. It certainly wasn’t the times of the 400 series being knocked out at the rate of one a week. The pictures in this book showed Japan Air Lines (JAL) as an operator of both passenger and freighter versions of the jet.

As time passed by, JAL grew its fleet substantially and was for a long time the largest operator of 747s in the world. Therefore, it is hard to come to terms with the fact that the poor financial state of JAL combined with the introduction of more efficient big twins has meant the 747 has gone from JAL’s passenger operations. It is odd to know I won’t see one again (except perhaps at a storage yard). Every once in a while the airline industry has a big change – the end of Pan Am is one that springs to mind. For me, this is one of those moments.

Anyway, they are gone but I have a few shots of them to remember them by. I wonder what will be next to go?!

Browser Wars

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This isn’t much of a post unless you are a bit of a net nerd. I was recently looking at the stats of the visitors to this blog. One of the stats I can get is the browser people use to visit this site. The key data is that over two thirds of my visitors are using Firefox.

If you are reading this, the chances are you already know this since you are using Firefox yourself.

Swallows but no Amazons

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When trying to be smart and come up with an amusing play on words for a title, I realized I could be on dangerous territory with this one. Instead, I decided to play it safe but dull! Back to the topic…

I was sitting on the shore of Lake Michigan recently watching the swallows do their thing. I find them a fascinating bird to watch since they have a level of agility that is hard to comprehend. I guess when you eat by catching insects in mid air, you have to be pretty sharp. Catching a swallow on the wing is a trickier proposition altogether. They are hard to pan with and they are small so a long lens helps keep them visible but makes the panning so much harder!

Getting them standing on a non-moving surface makes for a far easier time. Of course, that isn’t so exciting. There is always the option to keep trying to get a bit closer without scaring them off.

Then again, you can always try and get the flying shot. These will never be published but they were better than I expected!

Flashing at the birds

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While hanging around up in Door County in Wisconsin, I have been taking a bunch of pictures of the local wildlife. Mainly a lot of birds in the vicinity of our hotel and that is always a fun challenge. To add to the challenge, one of the afternoons that we were back at the hotel, the weather closed in and it began to rain. There was a patch of grass outside our balcony that seemed to be a popular spot for some robins so I started taking some shots.

As you are probably aware, robins are quite bold creatures so, with a little patience, you can end up with them coming reasonably close in. However, with the light having faded fast as the weather deteriorated and the natural shade of the area, it was not looking good to get a good shot. I started out by bumping up the ISO but that was only helping so much and, without a tripod, I was still going to get mixed results.

At this point I decided to try something that everyone who shoots wildlife a lot probably does to some extent but that I had not tried before and that was using some flash to boost the excitement. I had no idea how much to use so experimented with a little extra FEC, then zero and ultimately one stop under on FEC. The latter seemed to have the best results judging by the quick view on the back of the camera – always such a reliable indicator!

I was using the flashgun straight with no boost like a Better Beamer (if that is the right name) so it was a bit of a raw experiment but the results seemed to be be pretty pleasing so this is something I will have to think about further in due course.

Chicago by Blimp (Apologies to Thomas Dolby)

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Hardly an earth-shattering post this time. Often, photographing aviation themes can be a case of frustration as you try and aim to be somewhere when something is happening. This situation is a little different. I was happily sitting in my living room when I looked out of the window and saw a blimp briefly pass between two buildings in the distance. Blimps do occasionally show up in the city, usually providing aerial coverage of some sporting event or other.

I decided to grab the camera and see if it came any closer. I got my gear and waited for the blimp to come up the shoreline towards us. Sure enough, it appeared between some more buildings heading in just the right direction. Then, it turned around and headed back the way it had just come. Crap! Where was it going next? I started watching the gap I had first seen it in. Nothing for a while. I got distracted by a shot of an Aston Martin parked in the front of the Trump and looked up to see it just passing out of sight in the gap I was supposed to be watching.

Now, can I be patient and wait for it to come back again? Sure I can. I waited – and waited – and waited. Nothing. I was beginning to think it had gone when I spotted its reflection in the IBM building. It was right behind us! This guy is sneaky!

Now I had to wait again. Would he continue on that course and come out the other side of us or reverse again? This time he continued in a predictable fashion and popped out amongst the buildings north and east of us. I grabbed a few shots as he headed south again and then returned to what I was doing. Hardly great shots and probably not worth the effort (unless DirecTV decide to give me something for publicizing their own publicity machine) but I guess I am a bit of a victim of anything flying. Also, I was surprised to see just how quick that blimp could be when he wanted to get moving!

Hovercraft Reminiscences

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Having taken the chance to shoot one of the LCACs while in San Diego the other week, I decided to have a trip down memory lane for some other hovercraft moments. I have some relatively recent shots of the hovercraft that operate between Ryde and Southsea. I also have some old scans of the massive SRN4 Super 4 hovercraft that used to run across the English Channel taken when I was about to make the crossing on vacation. No great explanations to follow. Just some shots if you want a look.

ISAP Field Trip – Part 3

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Back in the bus and it seemed to be running okay now – that is if you didn’t count the clunking that was coming from the suspension almost directly under my seat! Of course, there was still a question as to whether our driver knew where he was going. However, after a few wrong turns, we did arrive at our last destination of the day.

This was Gillespie Field and, more specifically, Bill Allen’s collection. Bill has developed a series of properties on the field that are combination homes and hangars. They are designed to have a really vintage look though and create a mini village at one end of the field.

Bill was an excellent host. Aside from making his place open to us and providing very welcome refreshments and food, he had some great aircraft on display including Stearmans and a Bucker Jungmeister. This was the day preceding the field’s airshow so a variety of interesting aircraft were arriving while we were there.

As I walked in, a familiar dace wandered up. Paul Dunn if Global Aviation Resource was there. Work had brought him to LA and he had taken the chance to come down and spend time with the subject of one of his articles, Captain Eddie, owner of an immaculate Fairey Firefly. Paul suggested I head around the corner to see it before too many people spotted it. Indeed it was a beautifully restored example and I grabbed a few shots.

We all then retreated to the grass near the Jungmeister. As the evening drew in, the light was just getting better and better. There was no urgency to shoot so we relaxed on the grass, occasionally hopping up if something new appeared. A beautiful evening in great surroundings with friends was pretty idyllic.

As the light finally faded we had a couple more treats. A pair if the Stearmans fired up for some dusk passes across the field. Meanwhile, another aircraft was staged for a lighting demonstration by Joe McNally. He put together the shot and built up a selection of flashes to light it, showing us the whole process as he went. Very interesting, even if I did feel a touch guilty running off occasionally when the Stearmans made another pass.

Finally it was dark and time to bid farewell to Bill and Gillespie and head back to the hotel. What a day!

Will they ever pay?

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Two years ago I was contacted by a magazine that was interested in running a piece I had been working on. The article related to the helicopter lifting operation to put the spire in the Trump Hotel and Tower here in Chicago. The spire was the final external construction piece of the building and its location and size meant that it wasn’t possible to use conventional cranes to assemble it. The whole process was going to be done using a helicopter. I had spent a considerable amount of time working with the helicopter operator to shoot the event and to build an article around it.

The magazine that contact me about using my proposal was PilotMag. They were interested in running the piece in their Oshkosh edition and were willing to pay a reasonable fee for the images and the text. I was very satisfied with the details they proposed and the article went into the magazine as planned. Shortly thereafter, I invoiced them for the work. That was two years ago. I haven’t seen a penny from them since.

I have had frequent correspondence with them since although not the person who commissioned the piece who is no longer with them. In common with a lot of print publications, things are tough for them at the moment. They are regularly advising me of how close they are in keeping the business afloat and how they will pay as soon as they can. They also suggest that they will pay in installments. At this point, I am looking for any sign that they will ever pay anything.

Why am I writing about this now? Because I am still mad about it and perhaps because I am looking for an opportunity to vent my frustrations. If they use Google to track their brand name, maybe they will read this and remember that they still owe me! Also, if anyone is contemplating writing a piece or submitting some images for this publication, it might allow you to go into that with your eyes open about the risks associated with getting paid by them. They may pay you before me since they need contributors to keep going. They may also want to contemplate how many people in this field I will be sharing my story with!

Come on guys. Stop coming up with excuses and start coming up with some cash!