Wild Horses - The Mustang

 This particular P-51 Mustang has been in the Planes of Fame Museum's collection for several decades. I remember seeing it in the mid 1990's. They seem to take very good care of it as it still flys quite regularly. My close up view of the aircraft reveals her glossy smooth appearance.

One of the truly wonderful things about being retired is that I have the freedom to visit these museums during the week and avoid them during the weekends. This means I am typcially visiting during slow times and I don't run the risk of getting in the way of other visitors and vice versa. I just setup my tripod and take my shots. As usual I draw the attention of the museum docents who are typically curious about what I do with the photos. When I show them examples of aviation photos on my blog they typically show a little sign of recognition but don't say much other than "Looks like you "photoshopped" that photo". The truth is while I once used photoshop extensively, I rarely open the application these days. I injest the photos into Adobe Lighroom and use Luminar Neo to merge my exposures into one HDR image that I then occasionally lightly post proecess them back in Lightroom. 

Staggering into Annual Inspection

During my recent tour of the Yanks Air Museum I came across a few exhibited aircraft that were undergoing their annual inspections. One of the unique things about the Yanks museum is that several of their aircraft fly. This of course requires not only regular maintenance but also an inspection that is a mandatory, comprehensive maintenance check performed every 12 months. It's designed to ensure the aircraft remains safe and airworthy for continued operation. 

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This Beechcraft Model 17 Staggerwing was one such aircraft. It was a rare opportunity to sort of pull the curtain back and get a peek behind the scenes so to speak. The aircraft had it's engine cowl removed and all it's cylinders were on display. The tools needed for the inspection were all spread out in front of it and since the inspector had wandered off, I took the opportunity to take a few images. 

The Passion and the Fury

During a recent visit to the Yanks Air Museum in Chino, California I had the opportunity to meet the general manger of the museum. Unlike most other visitors I often arouse some interest and frankly speaking some concern from facility managers. I think this is because unlike other visitors I typically show up with a tripod mounted camera which includes an external monitor and sunshade. Sometimes I have that tripod mounted on a rolling dolly as well. if this were not enough I often wear a camera vest with two more cameras hanging at the ready on my left and right sides. I also am pulling a rolling camera case with additonal lenses and extra batteries. As you can imagine, I in no way blend in or resemble the typical museum visitor. In fact, I tend to stand out quite a bit. 

I am quite used to museum managers approaching me and asking what I intend to do with the photos I take. As you can imagine, many of these museums want to control or at least be aware of the sale of any photos or videos taken on their property. Although I always pay my admission to any museum I visit, I understand this desire and have no issues with this. Paying admission does not grant me permission to ignore any rules put in place by the museum and I am not the guy who breaks the rules.

In any case, I met the general manager of the museum and had a couple of very nice conversations with her during my visit. I explained how I used the photos I take. I did feel compelled to discuss HDR photography and why I use this method. In brief, I want to capture the most detail I can including detail in both shadow and highlight areas and in additon, I want to control how much of the scene is in focus. Taking 9 images using a tripod gives me this ability. I showed her a couple of over exposed shots on my monitor and she could see so much detail on the FJ1 Fury aircraft shown below so I think I got my point across. She let me know that the museum would not want me taking photos on the property and then selling them. I understood this desire clearly and will comply. 

Most of the Yanks museum's exhibits are kept indoors and the lighting is good but not super bright. Given that I want to shoot in a manner that gives me significant depth-of-field I have to stop down my camera lens which of course limits the amount of light that enters the camera. This makes it impractical to hand hold the longer exposures which on this day were a long as 30 seconds. 

One happy note, I do still find that my techniques need improvement. This is typically most obvious when I return home and download photos to my computer and view them on my very large high resolution monitors. I note any shortcomings and make a plan to correct them. For this reason I am planning to return to Yanks next week to take better shots. 

I showed the general manager some images from my online blog of aircraft I have taken at the San Diego Air Museum, the USS Midway, and Gillespie Field. She expressed an interest in using some of the shots I took the day I visited. I sent her an email with a few shots taken at the Yanks Museum but have yet to hear back from her. I assume my email inadvertantly eneded up in her junk folder. 

It is definitely my passion for photography that compells me to lug around so much gear and on this day it brought me to the FJ-1 Fury aircraft on display at the Yanks Air Museum. 

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The 1946 FJ-1 Fury was the US Navy's first operational jet aircraft. Only 33 were ever built and only two survive today. Initially sporting a pair of unsept wings, the exploitation of captured German research into swept wing aerodynamics resulted in the follow on to the FJ-1, the swept wing FJ-2 aircraft. The aircraft's black paint makes it the perfect candidate for HDR photography as a single exposure will most likely leave that back paint appearing nearly featureless. You can see how much detail I was able to capture in this black paint using the HDR method.

A6 Intruder - Classic Design, Might Need Some Work

This is not the first time I have seen this Navy A6 Intruder aircraft. About 15 years ago, I was wandering around the Yanks Air Museum's "boneyard" in Chino California and came across two A6's . I photographed them then and posted them to my blog and my flickr photo stream.  This past March, I visited again and was somewhat surprised to find these same two aircraft still sitting there waiting their turn to be restored. My uninformed guess is that they will still be there 15 years from now. Aircraft restoration is a long process once it gets started and these aircraft show no signs that any restoration is in their near future.

Inside the Discovery Cube

This past March my neice, her daughter, and boyfriend stopped by to visit me just prior to a beginning a trip to Disneyland. Since they were celebrating her daughter's birthday we decided to visit the discovery cube science museum in Santa Ana California. I purchased tickets in advance so we wouldn't have to wait in line to enter. The museum had lots of interesting and engaging exhibits and I of course was carrying around my camera, well two cameras to be accurate. I think I was one of the only visitors carrying a real digital camera that day. Most people were using their cell phone camera. At one point we visited an exhibit about rockets which illustrated how rocket propulsion worked in relation to payload and fuel. This exhibit was located inside a giant cube which is the museum's most recognizable architectural feature. As we walked in, I looked up at the giant cube soaring above me and immediately decided to take a series of HDR sequences to later stitch together into a big panorama. At the center of the cube was what looked like a real rocket engine.

 

In Her Element - Kathy and the '57 Chevy

I get asked quite often how I generate the images I post. I've explained the process in detail before but for those of you who are new here, I not only unapologetically extensively post-process my images but also during image capture I typically use a tripod to steady my camera while taking between 9 to 11 exposures to capture the range of light I want to work with. This is especially important when the ambient lighting is low and long exposure times are expected. As you can imagine it would be impossible for me to hold my camera perfectly still for the full duration of a 30 second exposure. 

In this image I have not only captured the red 1957 Chevy truck, I have also managed to capture Kathy in her preferred element: Cool overcast morning, a classic car (or truck) in front of her, camera mounted on her tripod at the ready, and her camera bag. She is pictured wearing her hat with "Close your fucking hood" pinstriped across the brim. She knows what she likes and while she tends to be quiet and reserved, she isn't shy about expressing her opinions with a searing delivery. 

I wandered over to this truck just as the owner was parking it and immediately asked him if he would leave the lights on so I could take a few photos. He gladly obliged, initially leaving the parking lights on and afterward turining on the headlights. Seeing this, Kathy wandered over and also took a few shots. I backed my tripod up a bit so I wouldn't appear the images she was taking because I know from long experience she doesn't like that and will likely ask me to "move my fat ass out of the shot" or fire some other endearing comment my way. After 17 years we understand each other. I often do the "meet and greet" with the car owners while she makes the best images and writes the more compelling stories. I enjoyed conversing with the owner about the truck and was glad he braved the rain which fell intermittently. Kathy gave him a business card so he could see the photos we took of this beauty that early morning under stormy skies. 

'48 Pomona Blues

Toward the end of our time at the Pomona Auto Swapmeet this past March, I walked along the drag strip grandstands and came across this two tone, blue 1948 Chevy Fleetline sitting in the area generally reserved for cars for sale. I don't typically peruse the cars in this section since they usually have their hoods raised and for sale signs plastered on the windshield but while this car wasn't for sale the paint was amazingly reflective and the chrome was spotless and perfect looking even with the intermittent rain showers and threatening skies overhead. After taking four or 5 sets of images I took another photo with my phone and sent it to Kathy letting her know about it and where it was so she wouldn't miss it. Not sure if she ever has seen this particular car before but I'm sure glad I got to add it to my digital collection. 

 

Black Fleetline Under Stormy Skies

Kathy and I decided to go to the Pomona Auto Swapmeet at the Fairplex in Pomona, California once we learned that it wasn't supposed to rain until later that morning. Kathy's older brother and his wife happened to be in town, so we asked if they wanted to join us and they agreed. We picked them up around 4:00am and headed for Pomona. The drive to the event was uneventful with the exception of encountering a police car weaving back and forth across the freeway lanes ahead of us for a short time. Once we arrived, we saw that the line of cars waiting to enter was fairly short. I think many exhibitors and visitors decided not to show up due to the impending storm. When we arrived at the show area there were only a handful of cars for us to photograph but more arrived as time went by. One of those cars that arrived was this 1947 Chevy Fleetline who's owner was kind enough to leave the lights on for me while I took my shots. It began sprinkling as I took these photos and it wasn't until I moved to the rear of the car that I realized that the sky had become quite dark. We continued shooting lots of cars until it became obvious that we should go get some breakfast.

San Diego Air and Space Museum

San Diego has had something for more than 70 years that I have often wished Los Angeles had. A dedicated and comprehensive Air and Space Museum. San Diego has been the site of significant aviation milestones and events. In addition to being considered the home of naval aviation, it also was home to Ryan aircraft which was probably best known for helping to design and build the Spirit of St. Louis for Charles Lindberg's solo trans-Atlantic flight. 

Los Angeles also has a long history of participation in aviation and space flight. Lockheed's Skunk Works developed the first jet fighter, the first stealth aircraft, and the fastest manned aircraft. The North American company developed the Apollo command and service modules that took the first men to the moon as well as the space shuttle. McDonnell Douglas both designed and built passenger airliners in Los Angeles County for decades. 

Despite this impressive history, Los Angeles has never had a comprehensive air and space museum. There was once a small museum, but the exhibits were merged into a much larger science center. It seems the desire for a dedicated museum does not currently exist. The California Science Center is building a museum extension to house its collection of aircraft and spacecraft including the Space Shuttle Endeavour. It will probably be many years until this extension will open to the public.

For this reason and others, I love visiting the San Diego Museum. The entrance features two aircraft. The Convair F2Y Sea Dart and the A12 Mach 3+ spy plane. There are many additional aircraft and spacecraft exhibits inside. I have added several photos of these below. 

 

 

Above the Flight Deck

Kathy and I were recently in San Diego and once again visited the USS Midway Aircraft Carrier Museum. As always, she was patient with me and willingly waited for me while I walked around the Museum's enormous flight deck taking photos. It was a beautiful day featuring the scattered clouds and moderate temperatures common to the San Diego coastline. I have previously photographed the aircraft on Midway’s flight deck, so I was deliberately trying to identify a new way to capture them. I thought a new viewpoint might work. As usual, I was using my tripod and taking ten exposures for each (soon to be HDR) image. The use of a tripod to create HDR images was once an absolute requirement because it allowed you to capture those exposures without moving the camera at all. This ensured the post processing software could successfully merge these images into a single HDR image without generating unwanted visual artifacts. What I found was that the software has evolved over the years and has become much more powerful and capable, enabling me to try something new. I set a five second shutter timer on my tripod mounted camera and held it over my head, tenuously raising nearly $8000 of camera equipment about fourteen feet above the flight deck. Not being able to look through the viewfinder, I was trying to align my camera lens in the general direction of what I wanted to capture and to hold the tripod steady, which was exceedingly difficult. I failed several times but succeeded more times than not. I got a few stares from other museum visitors and volunteers, but I ignored that and pressed on, hoping to capture something good.

The photos below are the results.