alexf Posted June 5, 2011 Share Posted June 5, 2011 For a long time I wanted to get invited to fly. After years, luck had it I met somebody with a plane, who invited me to fly and shoot. A biplane no less! I jumped at the idea. He has a Great Lakes, open cockpit biplane, so no dirty windows to contend with. He emailed me this week saying there was a fly-in at Homestead Jet Port (X51) and would I like to fly with him? You can guess the immediate answer. He keeps the plane at Tamiami (KTMB), only 11 miles from X51, a short flight. 1. Not having flown before I was unsure of what to take. Wanted to have only one camera/lens as it would be inconvenient to carry more than that, and the weight in a biplane. I settled for the D700/24-70mm. It turned out to be a good choice for statics as I expected but not a great choice for aerials. 2. I did not know at the time but a friend of his was meeting us there. He has a Super Cub. My most-favorite plane of all time, is a J3 Piper Cub, and a Super-Cub, its descendant - by extension. I had never seen one in real life before! This day I got to see a few of them (2 J-3s in a hangar and my new friend's Super Cub), which I got to fly in! 3. It was a beautiful Florida day, just a little windy (15kts but luckily right on the runway heading). We arrived at Homestead at noon. 4. Spent the day there with the people that flew in, having hot-dogs and talking aviation. Then my friend says he would like to have some aerial photos of his plane. I would ride in the Super Cub, which can open the windows (we would be at 1,000ft) and shoot unimpeded. 5. We planned the flight. We would fly over the bay to have better backgrounds. I told them I could not get closeups with the 24-70 as we could not fly too close together. We decided to try anyway and some other time I'll bring a longer lens. I did not do as good as I wanted on the aerials as I purposely used slow shutter speed to get prop-blur but did not account for the strong wind and my aircraft movement. I should been a tad faster. Most shots at 1/200 are not crisp. Some at 1/320 are better. They are shot at 1,000ft, doing 90mph Wish I had a longer lens with me. Here are some of them. 6. 7. over Key Biscayne 8. over Stiltsville 9. over Stiltsville Had a great day! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iain Emms Posted June 5, 2011 Share Posted June 5, 2011 Really made up for you alex it sure does look like you had a fantastic day to say the least my friend and those shots are great thank you for the story and posting. cheers Iain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6297j Posted June 5, 2011 Share Posted June 5, 2011 Perfect for the next Nikon Pro Magazine! Which lens(es)? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexf Posted June 5, 2011 Author Share Posted June 5, 2011 Perfect for the next Nikon Pro Magazine! Which lens(es)? You mean on this set? Like I said above 24-70/2.8 on a D700. Great for the statics (still have hundreds to process), but too short for the aerials as we wanted closeups of the plane, but could not come too close (obviously). I was not prepared as I didn't know the planes in advance. Left my longer lenses at home. Thanks for the comments. It was great fun. The rest of the shots will be posted at my gallery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew Kane Posted June 5, 2011 Share Posted June 5, 2011 Great shots Alex, Looks like a lot of fun Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajc Posted June 5, 2011 Share Posted June 5, 2011 Sounded like you had a great time1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek McAllan Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 Fantastic set Alex, your photos are always excellent. Looks like you had a blast mate, pic 6 sums it up for me nicely - the joy of flight. Cheers, Derek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjjallen Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 Looks like a lot of fun! Cheers jja Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Routley Posted June 6, 2011 Share Posted June 6, 2011 Shot 7 for me. Although the "rust" is impressive on shot 9 .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexf Posted June 6, 2011 Author Share Posted June 6, 2011 Shot 7 for me. Although the "rust" is impressive on shot 9 .. Rust? There is no rust. The plane is cloth over spars. It is in great shape. It is just an artifact of the light in that shot that makes it look like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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