Wings over Homestead

Anything aviation related has always fascinated me.  How they fly, how fast they move, and the men and women who fly them.  See, I have been a pilot since 1994.  I don't fly that much any more but I certainly never pass up the opportunity to photograph them.  Today, I headed out to the Wings over Homestead air show at the Homestead Air Force Base.  This is a show that comes every year or two and it is always entertaining.  

While it might not be a Sun-N-Fun or an Oshkosh it is a fun place to be when the jets rocket down the runway.  I would like to take this time to thank all those involved in bringing us this free air show.  More than that though I would like to thank the men and women of the armed forces for their efforts each and every day.

Take a look at some of my favorite from today.  Enjoy!

Sun N Fun 2012

Last Flying B-29 Super Fortress

This past weekend I (with the family) attended Sun N Fun in Lakeland, Florida.  I had heard about this "fly-in" for years but never realized just how big the event was.  There were thousands of airplanes.  Some dating back to WWII.  If you are into planes at all then mark this on your calendar for next year.  It is a week long event and my estimate is that it would take at least 3 days to begin to see it all.  It is the "Disney World" of aviation says my Wife.

Thunderbirds

Now, if you are both into aviation and into photography you may end up with sensory overload.  I have only gone through a fraction of the images I took but here are some of my favorites so far.  I was lucky to have some cloud activity which is almost always a good thing for photographers.

There is a very difficult aspect to photographing prop driven planes.  That is if you use too high of a shutter speed then the props are frozen.  The key is to show the props moving.  To do this you have to maintain a shutter speed of 1/250 or slower.  It is very difficult to get a good sharp image from a 300mm lens when the shutter is so slow.  In order to attain a sharp airplane but still have blurred props you have to pan with the aircraft.  It took me a good bit of time to get the hang of this but once you do the images look so much better.

P-51 Mustang

Remember to mark Sun N Fun on your calendars for next year!!!  I hope to see you there!  If you have any questions about anything photography related just shoot me an e-mail or give me a call.  You can find more information about Sun N Fun here at http://www.sun-n-fun.org/.

Thunderbirds