Bill Larkins' Photostream

[Chris Kennedy]

If you haven't already done so, I would suggest that everyone here take a look at Bill Larkins' Photostream on Flickr.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/34076827@N00/with/5006698371/

Larkins has to considered one of the fathers (grandfathers?) of aviation photography. He has been taking pictures of airplanes since the 30's, and still is, although he is in his 80's. He has published many books of photos and maintains several specialized aircraft groups on Yahoo. Many of his posted photos are of unique aircraft.

Definitely worth a look.

[Joe Copalman]

One of my favorite streams, hands-down.  Really cool guy as well.  Check out his recently-posted shots of the NACA test birds in the late 50s.  Really good stuff.

[cpasley]

Yeah I added Bill as a contact on Flickr he has awesome shots ,I think there may be another guy you might like his work ,what I really love is he has photo's of P-51's based at Luke and F-100's with the AZANG back when they were based at Sky Harbor
http://www.flickr.com/photos/my_public_domain_photos/

[Chris Kennedy]

Yeah I added Bill as a contact on Flickr he has awesome shots ,I think there may be another guy you might like his work ,what I really love is he has photo's of P-51's based at Luke and F-100's with the AZANG back when they were based at Sky Harbor
http://www.flickr.com/photos/my_public_domain_photos/

I see that he has some very good photos too, but IMO he posts too many versions of each photo. It's kind of hard to find the best photos.

[jslugman]

It is amazing what he's collected. Love to see something new from him, never know what it'll be.

[Jay Beckman]

Amazing Collection.  How amazing to be in the middle of it all right at the peak of the transition to the jet age.

Interesting to see that major prop blur looks to have been reserved only for static shots that were probably done with a tripod.  His in-flight shots would probably all elicit a comment of "might want to slow the shutter some..."

[Joe Copalman]

I'm sure that even by the standards of the day, film wasn't cheap, nor could you squeeze 500+ shots onto a roll like you can with a CF card.  Chances are he was shooting conservatively to make damned sure he got the shot, but kept the shutter speed just slow enough to show movement.  I know I'll do that when I know I'll only get one pass of something.

[Jay Beckman]

He also didn't have IS / VR and so higher shutter speeds were certainly the norm.

(I wonder if a Gyro from that period would even have fit in a chase plane?)

[Joe Copalman]

Another photostream similar to Bill's, this one from Bob Garrard.  It's a gold mine of classic airliner shots, all originals:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23032926@N05/

[Jay Beckman]

Another photostream similar to Bill's, this one from Bob Garrard.  It's a gold mine of classic airliner shots, all originals:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23032926@N05/

Cool...  It's like a Time Machine.

Just move forward about 5-10 years from Bill Larkin's era.