Nighttime photo walk

October 9th, 2008

I teach a digital photography class on Tuesday evenings at Midland College. During our last class we went on a photo walk around campus for about an hour. It was fun and I think it amazed my students that spending some time just looking around and experimenting can actually yield some good photos. I love being reminded of the unexpected beauty in the mundane objects and locations that would othewise be passed up as uninteresting and unworthy of photography. Below are a few of my photos from that night.

CAF Airsho ‘08 (Day 3 - The pyro)

October 9th, 2008

Midland is where the CAF headquarters is located and so this Airsho is the “mother show”. Supposedly the Midland Airsho has the largest pyrotechnic show of any airshow in the country, which including a 600 foot wall of fire and an “A-bomb”. So what photographer wouldn’t want to be with the pyro crew for a day?

The day started before sunrise with a meeting with the pyro crew (I counted about 75 total). Then we headed out to the other side of the runway (opposite from where the crowd would be) where the pyrotechnics were to be set up. The morning was spent helping the pyro crew fill bags with 2-3 gallons of a gasoline/diesel mixture for the “bombs”. Typically, each bag of fuel was wired with dynamite and fertilizer (which together comprised a single bomb) to be detonated at different times during the show when the planes flew over. I am going to guess that there were between 80 to 100 of these single bombs.

Some explosions, however, were larger than just one bomb. For example, the “Wall” was a 600 ft line of about 180 fuel bags that were all detonated simultaneously to create a massive wall of fire and heat. Another mega bomb was the “A-bomb”, which was prepared by loading over 300 gallons of bagged fuel into a large pit that was surrounded by dynamite. It exploded straight up into the air with awesome force, the shock wave radiating out across the ground. The fire boiled high into the sky creating an unbelievable column of churning flame, and ended with a silently ascending black mushroom cloud. Wow.

So we obviously had an outstanding view of all the action, considering we were standing among all of the bombs and explosions and directly under where the planes flew. You can’t get any closer to the flying planes than where we were that day, and I had to stifle the impulse to drop to the ground when the planes buzzed our heads.

It was a long day, but I would not trade anything for the hands-on experience with the pyro crew, or the perfect location for photographing this event. Outstanding. After three days at the Airsho, I came away with 2500 photos and plenty of memories and stories.

CAF Airsho ‘08 (Day 2 - The show)

October 9th, 2008

This is the first real day of the Airsho and the day with the highest attendance. It is also the best day to photograph planes on the ground, since some leave before the show on Sunday. I have photographed this annual event numerous times before, but I had a new camera and lens to try out this year. My primary assignment was to capture “Gunfighter” and pilot in all possible situations: parked, taxiing, taking off, in flight, landing, etc. My secondary assignment was to get general photography of the other planes, the crowd, the show, etc. It was fantastic because, unlike previous years when I was merely an attendee with a camera, this year I had clearance to shoot in areas where the general public was not allowed. I enjoy the aircraft anyway, so photographing them from up close and even inside was a thrill.