Photos of planes at local airport

iWantWings

iWantWings

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Jul 31, 2011
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Southern California
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wingsIwant
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Here are some photos of airplanes landing at the local airport. Since I was not taking flight lessons (but had taken enough to solo at some point, and shortly thereafter I quit) I needed another hobby - a money pit - and photography was it.

So I ended up marrying photography and flying by scavenging the local airport for planes on short final and snapping away. I was practicing the panning technique (a method of illustrating a sense of motion by using a relatively slow shutter speed: keep the point of focus constant on the moving target - in this case the flying plane - while the shutter speed is open for maybe 1/50 of a second. Since the planes are moving, keeping the point of focus constant meant panning the lens along the path of the plane. This way, ideally, the plane is sharp while the background is blurry due to movement, et Voila!). Of course, easier said than done. I had a very low keeper rate, but was fun nonetheless. Here are some of the ones I kept (none are a very good example of the panning technique, but the idea is there).

Care to pick a favorite?

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Digging the first Mooney picture...looks like he is hailing arse....
 
Wow...got Ben off of the sidelines! Welcome my fellow North Carolinian!
 
Kelvin said:
Digging the first Mooney picture...looks like he is hailing arse....
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's the cool thing about panning - it can even exagerate the sense of speed. That was one of my faves as well. I have another version of the photo that I spent some time in post-processing and printed a larger poster - looks pretty cool in a metallic print.
 
Great photography! I like the Navion the best, and the C170 has a very interesting paint job.
 
Geico266 said:
What! :mad:

No experimentals? :dunno:


:eek:
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You're funny! Here's the story: Pilots of experimentals were considered by the airport manager to be so audatious that they were forbidden to operate, including in emergency situations (and ** especially ** then).

:D

I have no idea what i'm talking about, just kidding. Yeah, you're right, I didn't have any experimentals... hmmm... maybe they are so darn fast that i could not pann them?? So they were not part of my keeper rate?

(oh, and at the time, I had no clue what an experimental was - to me they were all planes). I'll dig through the archive and see if i can find anything for ya.
 
DC34ME said:
Great photography! I like the Navion the best, and the C170 has a very interesting paint job.
Click to expand...

Thank you, glad you like them. The Navion was also one of my faves: there is some panning effect while the plane is pretty sharp and in focus. Also the baby blue colour stand out from the background, and you can see the pilot and passengers pretty well.
 
Great shots makes me want to grab my camera and get to the local airport.
 
Very nice. I've got a plane load of Nikon glass and cameras and do the same thing as you. I started out with wildlife photography and got burned out. Then I started flying and now I'll take photos at the airport and combine the interests.

These are all very nive but the first mooney and the navion I really like.

Thanks for sharing.
 
The Navion made me gasp, kinda like the first time I saw a wild turkey fly.
 
iWantWings said:
You're funny! Here's the story: Pilots of experimentals were considered by the airport manager to be so audatious that they were forbidden to operate, including in emergency situations (and ** especially ** then).

:D

I have no idea what i'm talking about, just kidding. Yeah, you're right, I didn't have any experimentals... hmmm... maybe they are so darn fast that i could not pann them?? So they were not part of my keeper rate?

(oh, and at the time, I had no clue what an experimental was - to me they were all planes). I'll dig through the archive and see if i can find anything for ya.
Click to expand...

:lol:

You had me going for a minute! :mad:

:rofl:

Nice pictures.
 
The V-tail Bo is good, and my wife likes 82H. :)


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 
Next step, look up the n-number, send a nice letter to owner with small sample. Attempting to sell large framed/matted photo at a reasonable price.

Lawreston, on the Board, knows how to get the printed on canvas.
I know a local photo artist that can print to vinyl, bonded to metal, makes a nice magnet board, or "white erase" board.
 
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But you don't have one of my airplane. Meant that the quality was good enough that I would pay you for one of my aircraft.
 
BillTIZ said:
Next step, look up the n-number, send a nice letter to owner with small sample. Attempting to sell large framed/matted photo at a reasonable price.

Lawreston, on the Board, knows how to get the printed on canvas.
I know a local photo artist that can print to vinyl, bonded to metal, makes a nice magnet board, or "white erase" board.
Click to expand...

Funny you mention that - these photos were taken a number of years ago and some things (owners) have changed, and some of the planes no longer are (see my next post). But at the time I took these photos I did want to just give the photos away for free to the people that either owned the planes or happen to fly them at the time. I was not looking for any profit whatsoever, I didn't think they were that good and I would have been glad if someone enjoyed the capture of the moment, as weel as enjoy flying, enough to want a digital copy and do with it as they wish.

Although I had an idea how I could start tracking the owners or the pilots who happened to fly the planes at that time, I wasn't sure if that was intrusive or not, like a matter of privacy or just "not a nice thing to do". So I didn't do anything (had I been asked to photograph specific aircraft, than that would have been different).

But for now, they still reside on my hard drive, well, publicly on the web as well - but if someone claims to be the pilot or owner, I'd gladly give them the digital files.
 
I am sure there are some that would feel you were violating their privacy, but it isn't any different than the pilot/photograpfher that takes a picture of someone's farm and then sells them the aerial photo.
I would love to have some photos of my airplane in flight. All of mine are on the ground because I have taken them.
 
The sad story of N4008V

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At first glance this photo of N4008V isn't anything too special. It is nice, and I particuary like the light of the landing light as it reflects from the lower, spinning blade, just as the C150 is about to start the flare.

But it is the sad end of 4008V that makes that photo different from the others. I soloed in 4008V around 2001 (a few days before September 11, and then grounded for about 3 weeks or so, as I recall....).

Then, in 2009, 4008V was involved in a mid-air collision with another C172 in the same pattern that I often fly now. Not only did 4 people die (2 in each plane), but a 5th person died on the ground, while working in his office being struck by one of the engines that fell through the roof of the building he was in.

So that photo for me is an indirect reminder of my very first solo, as well as a reminder of what can happen with a chain of events go wrong.
( A bit more info:

In 2001 I had my first solo ever, but quit flying shortly thereafter.
In 2009 N4008V had the mid-air in the pattern.
In 2011 i resumed my training, did my "first solo" again - a decade after my "real" first solo in 2001 in N4008V. The solo from 2011 I have recorded from the cockpit and one thing that stands out is how my head was constantly on a swivel, look left-right-left-right for traffic that didn't exist. I posted that video either on this board or AOPA and someone mentioned how my head was on a swivel. I didn' tell anyone this but at that time when I soloed in 2011, N4008V was constantly in my mind and did not want to end up like it. Now I'm a bit more relaxed, but still have not forgetten the mid-air and I won't, 'cuz I don't want to end up like it.
)
​
 
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Beautiful work! If I could figure out how to take good pictures like that, I would carry my camera all the time!
 
Rose the DC-3

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The DC-3 was one of the more impressive planes (so i thought) that hung out at the local airport. On very hot days I used to sit on the ground right under the wings and had a perfect view of the first 1500 feet of the runway favored most often by the winds. Perfect spot to run away from home to ;) and watch planes do their thing.*

On some days, while at home, all in the house would hear this rumble, as if the air around us came to life. "It's Rose!" my wife would say and and we pushed our way into the backyard to see this slow motion flight, barely above the rooftops: Rose was putting on a show for the neighborhoods to see.*

There were times when the owner of the plane would take whoever happened to be at the airport, up for a flight; at no cost or a nominal fee. It was great. Of course, as my luck had it, I missed out on those chances - but nonetheless, i still got to see it land and takeoff in a way tha made time seem to slow and almost pause. I think it would not have had much trouble landing in the Walmart parking lot.*

A few weekends in a row I didnt get to see the DC-3. *Later i found out that Rose was sold and would have a new home somewhe in South America - I think it's in Brasil now. *I found a youtube video someone had posted of Rose's final takeoff from the local airport on its way to Sotuh America

 
I'd look up the tail numbers for the airplanes and send the registered owner a little teaser photo with a watermark on it, see if anyone would buy them. I bet they would - I would.
 
what technique did you use to create the illusion of speed around the navion ?
 
Panning with the aircraft and a slower shutter speed. It's also how he's catching the full prop arc on most of those shots and not a prop "frozen". Typically 1/125 shutter speed or slower, depending on available light.

(And it takes practice. At least one in four shots I attempted that technique on we're nothing but a blurry mess the first time I tried it, especially hand-held. A smooth panning stable tripod helps a ton.)
 
You missed my attempt at humor at the expense of North American

denverpilot said:
Panning with the aircraft and a slower shutter speed. It's also how he's catching the full prop arc on most of those shots and not a prop "frozen". Typically 1/125 shutter speed or slower, depending on available light.

(And it takes practice. At least one in four shots I attempted that technique on we're nothing but a blurry mess the first time I tried it, especially hand-held. A smooth panning stable tripod helps a ton.)
Click to expand...
 
JHW said:
what technique did you use to create the illusion of speed around the navion ?
Click to expand...


;) Feet firmly planted on the ground and hanging on for dear life - the wake of the Navion was a real hurricane!

In fact, the Navion was chasing this other speed demon

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(this shot was shot at 1/30th of a second, hence the exagerated sense of speed; the lens' focal length was about 120mm for olympus 4/3 system (for a "full frame", 135 format camera, that focal length would be equivalent to about 240mm). So the slow shutter speed with long focal length make this a very lucky shot).
 
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