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.
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!
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!
We all gathered outside the Air and Space Museum to get on the buses for the second part of the trip. A few people got on the opposite bus to the one that they had come on. This apparently was a problem from a security perspective since our next stop was to be the Marine Corps Air Station at Miramar. It would transpire that some would be glad they got back on their original bus before too long.
Miramar is a short drive north of San Diego. Now it a Marine Corps base, Miramar has operated under the control of a number of services through its life. It is probably most famous and the center of US Navy fighter operations in the 1980s when Top Gun was filmed there. Fightertown USA now is home to some marine F/A-18 Hornets as well as a lot of V-22 Osprey tilt rotor aircraft. These have now almost completely replaced the CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter with the marines at Miramar.
We were to be hosted by one of thes tilt rotor squadrons. However, first we had to get there! As we headed up the freeway, the bus suddenly went rather quiet. We coasted to a halt, our driver/comic hopped out, disappeared around the back and before too long we were on our way again. This was not to last though. Very soon we repeated the process and this time we were sitting on the shoulder of the freeway.
One errant bolt apparently was killing the cooling fan and the engine, in full self preservation mode, was shutting down before any damage could be done. To add insult to injury, we were actually in sight of the base. While a rescue plan consisting of a mechanic to fix the bus and the other bus making a return trip to pick us up was put into effect, we got to stand on the side of the freeway and watch the Hornets bashing the pattern.
Eventually we were on our way and got to join the rest of the party in the Officers’ Club at Miramar. There was food left for us and fortunately nobody decided to try and do any Top Gun song routines in the club. With a little compression of the time at lunch, we were able to get back on schedule. Off we went to the squadron.
We were given access to the squadron hangar (at least most of us were until the security gate got over its concern about how 
many people were coming in and locked a bunch outside for a while). There were a couple of aircraft in the hangar we had access to shoot and the doors were open to the ramp although we couldn’t venture outside. Plenty of Ospreys were out on the ramp and there was some flying activity. A Super Stallion also came in and some Hornets and and Orion were also flying in the distance.
The sun was out and the vast expanse of concrete was throwing up a lot of heat haze. This frustrated any attempts to shot anything too far away but there was still plenty to look at. Unfortunately, as our time was running out, we gathered together for the group shot. Just at this point a bunch of aircraft returned. The security minders were most insistent that we stop shooting and head to the group photo which was a bit of a shame but never mind.
After the group shots it was back to the buses for the final part of the day’s fun. Another installment will be forthcoming soon…
During the ISAP symposium, we had a field trip out. The first stop on the trip was the San Diego Air and Space Museum. Located in Balboa Park, this is one of my favorite parts of the city – even before including a museum with a bunch of aircraft. I had been to the museum quite recently during a separate trip to San Diego.
We had an excellent breakfast laid on for us as soon as we got to the museum. The journey from the hotel included a running commentary from our bus driver. He obviously missed his true vocation (I’m just not sure what that should have been!)
The museum is circular and has a nice courtyard in the center which is glazed. With a selection of interesting aircraft, it is a very pleasant place to hang out. I did just that for a bit of the time catching up with some old friends and making some new ones. I also took a wandering around the museum. It is a touch tricky to photograph without a tripod since it is rather dark so I chose my subjects carefully.
Also, the basement area where much of the restoration work is done was available to us. This is normally off limits and provided an interesting place to explore. The people involved in the restoration were on hand and happy to chat.
Not a bad start to the day! More to come from the rest of the day…
I got to San Diego a day early for ISAP. There is often a chance to get out and about on the day before and some of the other attendees will do the same. Consequently, it is possible to hook up with a few folks and go exploring. I managed to get together with Bonnie and Gary (see the previous post about their visit to Chicago) as well as Larry.
As people who were heavily involved in the preparation for ISAP, there were some things that they were going to have to do to set up everything for the arrival of the majority of the attendees. That meant any trip we made 
would have to be back by mid-afternoon but that allowed us to make a trek down to the waterfront in San Diego to go around the USS Midway.
The Midway is a retired aircraft carrier that is moored in the harbor. It has a self guided tour that takes you around various parts of the ship to get an idea of what life aboard an aircraft carrier is. (Of course, wandering around a relatively empty ship in harbor is not the same as being at see with a few thousand of your closest friends for months at a time!)
There are a number of preserved aircraft through the hangar deck and up on the flight deck so there is plenty to see apart from the ship itself although that is fascinating in itself. Getting there shortly after it opened meant it wasn’t too crowded. Even as the time went by, it still didn’t seem that crowded to me and when I was on the lower decks, I was often the only person I could see.
The tour provided lots of interesting details about the way the ship operates along with a number of historical references to its time in service. Built shortly after the war, the ship has gone through a number of major updates to get to the point at which it was operating fast jets into the 1990s.
There are some nicely restored aircraft throughout the ship of varying vintages. The oddball for me was the F-14 since that was too large to operate from this class of carrier so it would never have been to sea on the Midway. However, that is really a minor issue. Besides, hanging out in San Diego Harbor on a sunny day is hardly a bad way to spend some time.
I had a lucky break which I nearly blew. Having grown up in the home of the hovercraft, one thing I like to see is hovercraft around the world. The Marines operate the LCAC hovercraft for landing ashore and have a base for the LCACs just up the coast from San Diego at Camp Pendleton. Given the opportunity, I would like to go up and photograph them at work. That wasn’t practical on this trip but, while up on deck, I heard a loud noise of a prop. At first I thought it was a sound effect from a display on the ship. It was only too late that I realized an LCAC was transiting the harbor.
If I had been quicker, I might have been able to move from the stern of the ship (closest to the shore) to something closer to the open water. Sadly, this was not to be. Instead, I ran to the LSO platform and managed to grab a quick couple of shots of the LCAC as it passed. Not what I would have hoped for but certainly better than nothing.
Once off the ship and getting ready to head back to the hotel, we bumped into a couple of other attendees for the symposium. Obviously, a sunny day by the water is considered a good idea by many!
Well, I am back on a plane heading from the delights of San Diego back home to Chicago. I need to catch up on a few bits a pieces from the trip so I can provide some posts with a bit more interest but, in the mean time, I wanted you to know that I hadn’t given up on the blog.
More to come soon!
While a wide swath of the Midwest was being hit by some terrible storms, the area north of Green Bay got a taster of what was going on elsewhere. Thankfully we were spared the worst of it but there were some pretty serious thunderstorms that crashed through the area. Elsewhere in Wisconsin some more damage was done but we were in an area that got a lot less of an effect.
As the storms approached, I saw some quite amazing cloud formations pass over our location. The skies were really churning – not something that can be easily demonstrated with stills – but the shapes that were forming were still interesting enough to warrant some attention.
I spent a little time outside trying to record these amazing clouds with mixed results. I 
also wasn’t too enthusiastic about staying outside when the storms really got going. I didn’t have a good location to set up to try and shoot them either and besides, we had a reservation for dinner! However, I did get a few shots and hopefully they will convey a small amount of what I saw. If not, at least they remind me of what was happening!
A weekend break has recently taken us up to Door County in Wisconsin. We stayed in a small town called Baileys Harbor. By coincidence, the weekend that we were there, the town was holding a parade of Scottish Terriers. His parade started off with a pipe band walking through the streets followed by about 200 Scotties been walked by their owners.
This might sound like a recipe for disaster. Scotties are hardly known for their calm temperament (I will resist making any comment on their fellow countrymen) so putting 200 of them together and adding some pipes might seem like it was going to end up being a noisy affair. However, it all went off very smoothly. The dogs all trotted along without any complaint – including no complaints about the outfits at some of the owners had decided they should wear just in case we hadn’t noticed they were Scotties. I really don’t think a dog deserves to wear a fake kilt with fake bagpipes for extra effect.
A lot of people turned out to see the parade. A couple of people asked us if we had come specially for it. It was certainly fun to watch but I don’t think I would make a five hour drive each way just to see it! Interestingly, a lot of people brought their dogs to watch the parade. I’m not sure whether they think that their dogs would be interested in something because it was dog centric or not but I don’t think the other dogs were really that bothered.
Okay, you have to forgive the theatrical title but it made me smile! It is not long now until the annual symposium of the International Society of Aviation Photographers or ISAP. This year it is being held in San Diego and I have to admit, I can’t wait. I have been a member of ISAP for a number of years now and find the annual symposium to be an excellent event. My first symposium was in Pensacola and I turned up knowing absolutely nobody. I couldn’t believe the friendly welcome I received from so many people and that is a continuing theme throughout ISAP for me.
The symposium is a very well organized event. We have two full days of presentations on different aspects of the business with a field trip day in the middle that takes us to some location that would not normally be available with access to great aircraft to shoot – all with a really great bunch of people. What more could you ask for?
The levels of the attendees vary greatly. Some are enthusiasts while others are long established professionals. Everyone is open to discuss the topics on offer and there are a willingness to share knowledge that is very refreshing. I have learned a ton of good stuff at these events. It is also an opportunity to share your work. Putting together whatever I want to take with me is something that I start thinking about long in advance. Having some prints put together for display along with any other presentational forms is both fun and a little intimidating. These are the best in the world that you are showing your stuff to!
Soon I will be heading off. For those of you interested but who have never gone, give it some thought. For those of you that are members already, see you there!
