IN THE FIELD: Patience and Body Position

Here is another shot I had taken at the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum at the WWll Weekend Event. There were numerous brightly painted Stearman Bi-planes lined up on the tarmac where folks could get up close to the antique airplanes. I was walking around taking detail shots of the aircraft, when I noticed an interesting perspective of these three tail sections. I liked the color and shapes they formed when lined up in this manner.

Well, I couldn’t resist capturing this view, so I positioned my camera and tripod for the best angle. Which meant shortening the tripod legs and kneeling on the pavement.

I used my zoom lens to compress the scene somewhat and adjusted my exposure settings for the shot. I also set the focus point to be somewhere between the first two vertical stabilizers rather than on the closest one. This way, everything in the scene would go soft…somewhere in between in and out of focus…and hopefully it would have a more vintage feel. Then I had to wait a few minutes for folks to clear out of viewfinder range.

I did get some funny looks from many of the visitors to the museum that day. I was the only one kneeling or lying on my back to get photos of the airplanes.

But I think taking the time to find the non-traditional viewpoint and wait for an unobstructed shot paid off in this case.

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IN THE FIELD: Those Magnificent Flying Machines

I have a fascination with aircraft of any kind, and to me, vintage airplanes have the biggest attraction. There is something about a machine constructed of wood, fabric, and metal in perfect form and function, which allows a human to fly.

I was driving by a small privately-run airfield and noticed this biplane on final approach for a landing. It wasn’t easy to miss the bright yellow paint against the blue sky. I pulled over, grabbed the camera and ran up to the fence to get a couple of shots. I wasn’t in time to get photos of the plane while in flight, but I did get a few as it taxied back to the hanger.

This is a Boeing-Stearman. They were made in the 1930’ thru the 1940‘s and used primarily as training aircraft.