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NAS Oceana

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The recent ISAP symposium took me to Norfolk VA.  It is a short drive to Virginia Beach and NAS Oceana – the home of the east coast fighter squadrons for the US Navy.  The field trip for the symposium was going to include a visit to Oceana but, since I was there ahead of the event, I decided to pay a quick visit after my arrival.  A slight delay due to travel complications and then the passing through of a pretty significant storm meant I was a little later than planned but no great problems resulted.

The weather was not great so the light was a bit sparse.  Combined with a cloudy sky, photographing grey jets is always a challenge but I was meeting up with a friend from FenceCheck.com who lives locally so there was always time to chat even if nothing was happening.  However, after a pretty quiet period, a few more jets got up and started flying.  I was supposed to be leaving to go and pick up a friend from the airport but the storm that I had come through was not alone and his inbound flight was significantly delayed.  Therefore, I had the time to see what else would fly.

The activity kept going for a bit was the light was fading fast and my ISO settings were getting higher and higher.  Since the time to pick up my friend was now approaching, I decided to pack up my stuff.  Another jet arrived as I did so.  This didn’t bother me until I realized it was one of the CONA painted aircraft so the kit was rapidly extracted again and a few shots taken.  Then it really was time to go.

Thanks for the advice on the spot to those concerned and also for the chance to catch up.  Maybe not the most ideal conditions but still a fun way to kill an hour or two.

Lightroom 4 and ACR

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One of the guest speakers at ISAP this year was Scott Kelby.  Nikon have sponsored Scott to speak at ISAP in the past and it was good that they brought him again this year.  He had a longer slot than in past events and so was able to go into a great level of detail in what he discussed.  He also brought his normal style of presenting which combines a lot of humor with the educational elements.  I find him a good guy to listen to.

I learned a lot of little things from him during the course of his presentation but today I want to focus on just one thing.  This relates to the processing of images using Lightroom 4 and Adobe Camera Raw in Photoshop CS6.  As he pointed out throughout his session and for those of you that don’t already know, these two things are exactly the same.  The processing engine and the controls are identical and the images can be processed in either and get exactly the same results.

What I found fascinating was the level of aggressiveness possible with the controls.  Having used the previous three versions of Lightroom, I have become accustomed to just how much I can use the sliders without the whole thing becoming a total mess.  With Lightroom 4 there is a new processing engine available and the sliders have been changed in their functionality.  I have been getting used to them and experimenting a little with what they do.

What Scott showed us was that you can really be a lot more forceful with the slider use.  Previously, if you used too much of a slider, the image would begin to look really bad.  Now, the sliders are a lot better controlled and you can use far more of the available range without everything becoming scary.  Scott’s methodology through the sequence of sliders also helps out with this.  After his lecture, I went to the laptop and had a go.  It was true.  You really can be a lot more aggressive and the results are really good rather than horrifying!  This was a great learning opportunity and will significantly impact how I approach things in future as well as making me revisit a few previous shots!

128th ARW Open House

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A short drive north of Chicago is Milwaukee.  The main airport at Milwaukee is General Mitchell International and, aside from the commercial services that operate there, the Wisconsin Air National Guard also has a unit based on the field.  It has a fleet of KC-135 tankers operated by the 128 Aerial Refueling Wing.  Periodically, they have an open house  and I went up to the recent event.

This is not an air show.  The field remains open and normal flight operations continue.  However, the ANG unit takes the chance to show off what they do to the local community and let them know what is going on with their tax dollars.  They also invite others to bring aircraft in to give the visitors a variety of things to see.  These visitors include aircraft from other Air Force units, a helicopter from the army and a variety of vintage aircraft, many from the local area.

The event took place over two days of the weekend.  The Sunday looked better from a weather perspective so that is the day I went for.  It proved to be a good choice with plenty of sun but temperatures staying very comfortable.  What I didn’t appreciate was the additional benefit of it being Mother’s Day.  I got their early for the better light but most people were spending time showing their mothers that they love them.  Since I am 4,000 miles from my mum, a personal visit was a little impractical!  It did make for a quiet ramp for quite a while though.

As the day progressed, plenty more people showed up and they probably achieved their goals for sharing with the local community.  I got to chat with a number of interesting people and, since it was quiet, was able to have more than a passing conversation.  I also met a few people who might be interested in some follow up work for the magazine so the trip was productive as well as fun.

I got a few shots of airliners as well as the aircraft on the ramp.  We were also lucky that one of the based KC-135s launched on a mission while I was there so a shot of that flying helped out a lot.  Since it isn’t an air show, that was a nice extra!  I hope to get back up to the unit in due course and find out more about them and maybe put together a more detailed piece on their history and operations.

Theater With the Personal Touch

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Our trip to Woodstock included poking our heads into the Opera House on the square.  An old building that has history dating back to the early days of the town, we were nosing around the front door when a passing lady told us to head inside.  I was not going to bother but she was quite insistent so we did head in.  One of the staff was in the lobby and greeted us warmly.  He suggested that we should wander around upstairs if we wanted.

We headed up to the auditorium.  It was great.  A small venue so everyone was very close to the stage.  It seemed really cozy.  There was a balcony too so we checked that out as well.  They have a variety of acts throughout the year so the place seems very busy.  They had a musical on that evening but they also had music acts performing at varying times.

The restoration of the place was nicely done and it was in great condition but also felt suitable period.  While Woodstock is not a big town , it does appear that you could keep yourself entertained with the the various acts coming through on a regular basis.  Not only that but the friendliness with which we were greeted by everyone really made you glad to have made the trip.

One last picture of something interesting.  Some of the original seats are on display in the lobby by the box office.  Not a comfy as the present seats, perhaps, but they do have a feature that few seats have today.  Under the seat is a wire frame in which a gentleman can slot his wide brimmed hat during the performance.  Probably a common feature in years gone by but certainly a novelty now.

ISAP Here I Come

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It is that time of year again when ISAP members get together to share knowledge, learn knew things, see what each other have been up to and generally have a lot of fun.  Throw in some chances to shoot some great airplanes and you have a great time.  I can hardly wait.  Hopefully more to report from the trip.  We even have an air show tucked in at the end of the weekend so it should be fun.

You shall find out more when it happens – or a little while afterwards…  Blogging might be a bit sporadic while I am gone.

I Went to Woodstock – Well, Not That Woodstock!

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We may have lived in Chicago for quite a while now but there are still plenty of places to explore that we haven’t visited.  One of those places is Woodstock IL.  Nancy found out about it from a website on great small towns in the US.  We decided to pay it a visit.  The day was supposed to start out overcast and clear up into a sunny day.  That bit didn’t quite happen to plan but everything else about the town proved to be a success.

It was about an hour from home to get to Woodstock.  The GPS had a location with a parking lot close to the town square programmed in and that worked out to be perfect.  We were a short stroll from the square and a small farmers’ market was underway.  We are always suckers for good food at these markets and so were soon carrying a few bits around.  We wandered around the square looking for somewhere for lunch.  This is always worth doing when there is food for sale because you otherwise end up buying way more food than is a good idea!

The town square is a great spot.  The buildings are a mix of styles but all look pretty impressive and in good condition.  The old style of the place is obviously appealing to movie makers.  Have a viewing of Groundhog Day and you will recognize the town as Woodstock – a long way from Pennsylvania.  It had some other treats but more will come about that in due course.

In one of these shots you will see a crepe restaurant.  We stopped there for lunch and the food was really good.  There were other places around the square that had more traditional fare but this one seemed to have a different approach and we were not disappointed.  This blog has never really been a dining review place but here is one recommendation for you!

Lightning Up the Mood

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A little night shooting today and a confession about my role in what was going on. We moved to Chicago eight years ago. When we first got here, we were amazed by the storms we got. There seemed to be lots of them and they were really pretty spectacular. When looking out of the window we would see lightning all the time. Sometimes the storms went on for so long it was hard to believe that it was a storm and not someone planting an emergency vehicle outside the window – a neat trick at the height of our place!

Strangely, for the last few years, we have had very few storms. They seem to miss the city and go either north or south of us. Some people are getting a lot of them but not us. This was a bit disappointing to me because I love storms! They are so dramatic and very cool. They are, of course, rather destructive but watching them is exciting. This week we got a good storm. The sky was alive and it was a lot of fun. It was also rather late and I needed to go to bed. Consequently, I cheated.

My 17-40mm lens is not enough to cover the full view south of us so I went with the fish-eye zoom instead. I set the camera up on the tripod, added the intervalometer and basically set it on its way. The gap between the shutter closing and the trigger for the next shot was just long enough to allow the file to write out. Then I went to bed. The result is a LOT of pictures with almost all of them of no use. However, it did capture a couple of shots that I really like. I even tried using the new lens correction facility in Photoshop CS6. Our view is a little less impressive since the Trump Tower blocked a big chunk of the skyline but it still gives a nice look to the storm. Hope you like them too.

Lots of Work Down the Drain

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No pictures in this piece and that is kind of the point.  I have been working for a long time on setting up a photo shoot.  The plan was to get some pretty unique shots of a rare jet that is owned buy a great guy I have worked with for a long time.  The plan was to charter a camera ship that allowed some options to get shots that are harder to get normally.  I had found an operator of the right aircraft that was in the right place and was happy to do the job.

We had the pricing agreed and they had even sent me the draft lease documents.  I had made some amendments to these and sent them back to be finalized and then suddenly everything goes quiet.  I send a follow up and hear nothing for a while.  Then I send another email and the response I get is not good.  They have found a more lucrative job and I am no longer on their schedule!  How about that?  You spend time briefing what is required, discussing all of the details, agreeing the pricing and you think that you have it all agreed.  You are finalizing a lease document which includes a down payment so you think they are serious.  Then you are dropped like a stone.

I think it is fair to say I am really pissed off.  I am not going to name names because that isn’t going to help and one day I might need them for something else so I will keep the details out of this.  However, I try to always be professional in the way I deal with people whatever part of my work is involved.  I guess not everyone shares that approach.  If they found a better job, perhaps they might have tried to solve my problem as well.  They gave me a name for an alternative but this short a notice period is unsurprisingly meaning that an alternative is not available.  The other guys tried hard to come up with a suggestion and I am grateful to them for that.

Having ranted I shall now wrap up.  I was really hoping that you would see here the great results of what had been planned but I shall have to say instead that it just didn’t happen.  Now to see if there is something we can come up with instead.

Changing Your Name – Even if You Are a Building Pt 1

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This story comes in two parts (if the title didn’t give that away already!) and it is one that is a little bit of luck.  Regular readers know that I do a lot of jobs with Midwest Helicopters.  This was a job of theirs but not one that I was involved with.  However, it just happened to take place outside my window so I got to watch anyway.  There I was on a lazy Sunday morning (I was being lazy even if others obviously weren’t) catching up on a bit of TiVo viewing when a helicopter comes in to view out of my living room window.  Familiar shape and colors but what were they up to?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Turns out a building across the river from me was due to have its name changed.  The company had renamed from Unitrin to Kemper.  Unitrin was plastered on two sides of the building in large illuminated letters so they needed to come down.  The first week of the job was to take down the old letters.  I could have hurried outside and grabbed some shots but this was a lazy day (did I mention that before?) and so I just grabbed a camera and shot through the windows.

It was about an hour’s work to get the letters from each side of the building and drop them down to the truck on the street.  All of this from the comfort of my living room interspersed with a bit of Grand Prix watching!  Of course, if something comes down, there is probably something to replace it?  And so we shall progress to Part 2…