Notice: Undefined variable: splityear in /var/www/vhosts/fredmiranda.com/httpdocs/forum/viewtopic.php on line 99 Mustang Air to Air: The Sequel - City, Street & Architecture - Photography - FM Forums
Good Morning and Happy Mother's Day to all the Mom's!
We landed at 10:40 yesterday morning to great fanfare. Kind of hard to wrap my head around taking off from Bodo at 8:20 the same morning............. What an adventure, cannot adequately describe what the experience meant to me personally and professionally. We passed over 90 degrees North at 9:02 exactly the same time Admiral Byrd arrived 100 years prior. We all thought that it would be appropriate to be reading scripture verses at that moment, my good friend Matt Byrd chose Isaiah 40:31 "But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not be faint." After the readings the entire cabin went silent as each member of the expedition contemplated what the experience meant to them personally, it was an incredible experience and I was humbled and honored to be a part of it.
Oh, to cap it all off JIII was invited to join us for the flight from Perot Field back to Love Field, his first private jet experience. I think he enjoyed it!!
Jan Arie, you were right on the money , Bodo is a delightful little town. Everyone was very kind to us. We were given a VIP tour of the aviation museum, a great museum. We all wished that we had more time to explore the outer islands, but our mission didn’t allow it this time.The landscape views were beautiful as we flew in and out, the mountains were still coated with snow.
On Sunday, I left my house at 1:30 AM and drove 375 miles to MCAS Cherry Point for the airshow. The base restricted the size of lens to not longer than 200mm, unless one had "media credential". Well, I applied for a media pass for the very first time in my life, fully expected to be rejected. Miraculously, They issued me one. For this show, I had the 400-800mm lens on one camera, a Tamron 50-400 on another camera. At times the 400mm of the 400-800mm lens was still too long, but the 800mm came in handy sometimes.
Here is the first installment, the USMC AV-8B Harrier II Demo. They said this was their last demo flight. I sort of remember they said the same thing in 2024 too.. Heat shimmering was there sometimes.
gerov wrote:
Amazing, Jim. Very nice tonality in that one. Did you just take the Blad or did you also use your R5IIs?
Thanks Gerov,
I took both cameras and they performed beautifully.I have been going over the possibilities related to this assignment for several months. Just about every night since I was asked to join this expedition, I woke up at some point with an image in my head. I went through every possible scenario/challenge that I could imagine, it's just my way of dealing with the pre-assignment stress, always has been. One of the images that I imagined was a series of cockpit perspectives, daytime and nighttime using the Hasselblad and the R5II. Those shots are the reason I went ahead and acquired the 20-35E. Once I have delivered all the images to my client I'll post some of the cockpit shots. One that I just finished processing is a 3 second exposure of the flight deck as we departed Washington DC, at 10:30pm, sharp as a tack, handheld. Had I not put together the Hasselblad system months ago, it's unlikely that particular image would exist.
I gotta give credit to the R5II as well, we cleared the coast of Nova Scotia and headed toward Bodo, the cabin lights were turned off and everyone was drifting off to sleep. Everyone but me, as I looked out the big oval window next to my seat I was greeted with a deep blue sky awash with stars, contrasted by the black ocean below. Just above the horizon the Aurora Borealis danced along a faint layer of clouds. The icing on the cake was a tin ribbon along the horizon that was the hint of dawn in the direction of Norway. The whole scene was absolutely mesmerizing. I didn't hold out a lot of hope as far as capturing it, but I grabbed the R5II/24-105Z and took a whack at it. We were at FL410 doing 740 mph but everything seemed to be perfectly in sync so I spent the next 30 minutes capturing one of the most beautiful scenes I have ever been Blessed to witness. The shots are breathtaking.
Some interesting stats, we weighed 102,000 lbs. on departure from Bodo with 45,000 lbs. of fuel on board. That gave us the range to go from Bodo to 90 Degrees North, then on to Perot Field without refueling. The Gulfstream 650 ER is a dream of an aircraft. Look at other business jet wings and you will see strakes, vortex generators, aileron and flap hinge fairings. Then look at the Gulfstream wing, it is just beautifully clean, because it was designed correctly from the get go, no need for post design gizmos to make it fly better.
Douglas L wrote:
On Sunday, I left my house at 1:30 AM and drove 375 miles to MCAS Cherry Point for the airshow. The base restricted the size of lens to not longer than 200mm, unless one had "media credential". Well, I applied for a media pass for the very first time in my life, fully expected to be rejected. Miraculously, They issued me one. For this show, I had the 400-800mm lens on one camera, a Tamron 50-400 on another camera. At times the 400mm of the 400-800mm lens was still too long, but the 800mm came in handy sometimes.
Here is the first installment, the USMC AV-8B Harrier II Demo. They said this was their last demo flight. I sort of remember they said the same thing in 2024 too.. Heat shimmering was there sometimes....Show more →
Yes fantastic photography Douglas!
Many times "credentials" are not as hard as they make them out to be obtained.
All they can say is "No".
Glad you got in!
Great photography!
Dan
jlambros wrote:
Superb Douglas. Then again, we expect no less from you. Fantastic captures.
---
Jeff
Thank you Jeff! It means a lot.
---------------------------------------------
KevinJacksonUK wrote:
Superb Harrier shots Douglas, glad you got the media pass for those! Sundown is early June, you might want to try and get access for that?
Thank you Kevin! I just did a bit research on the Sundown at MCAS Cherry Point after reading your post. It doesn't appear to be a flying event but may have some takeoffs and landings. Some folks say they can watch it from outside of the base. Will do some more digging. Thanks for the heads-up. It's one heck of a drive from where I live to Cherry Point, 750 miles round trip. But I did it in one day last Sunday
---------------------------------------------
Danpbphoto wrote:
Yes fantastic photography Douglas!
Many times "credentials" are not as hard as they make them out to be obtained.
All they can say is "No".
Glad you got in!
Great photography!
Dan
Thank you Dan! Looks like the 4th of July flyover in DC will be huge! Besides most of the U.S. fighters and bombers, the British Red Arrows, the Canadian Snowbirds and the French Patrouille de France (I have never seen the French team before) are also joining the party. I need to find out where will be a good spot to photograph them. I am not a fan of shooting their bellies. Maybe the Netherland Carillon will be a great spot for the flyover AND the big fireworks.
Between now and then, I will have quite a few shows that I like to go:
1.Blue Angels at the Naval Academy on May 19, 20.
2. May 29-30, Atlantic City, F-22, F-35B, and a few warbirds and acrobatic performers.
3. Sundown at Cherry Point. Right now I would say the chance of me going to that one is 20%. Will need to do more research on this,
4. Ocean City, MD: June 13-14, Thunderbirds, French AF Patrouille de France. I will go to that one since it's only 3 hours drive.
5. Columbus, Ohio, June 19-20, Thunderbirds, F-35A, Canadian Snowbirds, warbirds including a P-38. They had the F-4 listed earlier but removed it now. I wasn't expecting it would fly anyway. This show is kind of far away but Friday and Saturday's shows are late afternoon/sunset shows. I love the lighting of these type of shows. So I will go even though it's 380 miles away.
7. Maryland Fleet Week in Baltimore, June 27-28, that show will have the BA, F-16 demo, Patrouille de France, and it's only 30 minutes drive away.
I have never gone to so many shows in such a short time. Will need a lot of Red Bull drinks and gas!
Douglas L wrote:
Thank you Jeff! It means a lot.
---------------------------------------------
Thank you Kevin! I just did a bit research on the Sundown at MCAS Cherry Point after reading your post. It doesn't appear to be a flying event but may have some takeoffs and landings. Some folks say they can watch it from outside of the base. Will do some more digging. Thanks for the heads-up. It's one heck of a drive from where I live to Cherry Point, 750 miles round trip. But I did it in one day last Sunday
---------------------------------------------
Thank you Dan! Looks like the 4th of July flyover in DC will be huge! Besides most of the U.S. fighters and bombers, the British Red Arrows, the Canadian Snowbirds and the French Patrouille de France (I have never seen the French team before) are also joining the party. I need to find out where will be a good spot to photograph them. I am not a fan of shooting their bellies. Maybe the Netherland Carillon will be a great spot for the flyover AND the big fireworks.
Between now and then, I will have quite a few shows that I like to go:
1.Blue Angels at the Naval Academy on May 19, 20.
2. May 29-30, Atlantic City, F-22, F-35B, and a few warbirds and acrobatic performers.
3. Sundown at Cherry Point. Right now I would say the chance of me going to that one is 20%. Will need to do more research on this,
4. Ocean City, MD: June 13-14, Thunderbirds, French AF Patrouille de France. I will go to that one since it's only 3 hours drive.
5. Columbus, Ohio, June 19-20, Thunderbirds, F-35A, Canadian Snowbirds, warbirds including a P-38. They had the F-4 listed earlier but removed it now. I wasn't expecting it would fly anyway. This show is kind of far away but Friday and Saturday's shows are late afternoon/sunset shows. I love the lighting of these type of shows. So I will go even though it's 380 miles away.
7. Maryland Fleet Week in Baltimore, June 27-28, that show will have the BA, F-16 demo, Patrouille de France, and it's only 30 minutes drive away.
I have never gone to so many shows in such a short time. Will need a lot of Red Bull drinks and gas!
Danpbphoto wrote:
More sensational images Douglas!
Your photography is so well accomplished!
RUMOR has it that the new POTUS "Air Force One"-Boeing 747-8 will make a fly over also. Qatari gift...
Dan
Thank you Dan!!
Last installment of the show from MCAS Cherry Point. I forgot to bring the cheat sheet for the Blue Angels opposing passes, ended up tracking the jet that got blocked by the other jet during the passes. Their maneuver might have changed this year too.
What an adventure, cannot adequately describe what the experience meant to me personally and professionally. We passed over 90 degrees North at 9:02 exactly the same time Admiral Byrd arrived 100 years prior. We all thought that it would be appropriate to be reading scripture verses at that moment, my good friend Matt Byrd chose Isaiah 40:31 "But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not be faint." After the readings the entire cabin went silent as each member of the expedition contemplated what the experience meant to them personally, it was an incredible experience and I was humbled and honored to be a part of it.
. Heat shimmering was there sometimes.
