Air 2 Air Workshop

[Jay Beckman]

Some early edits from the air to air workshop in which I participated on November 13 and 14, 2010:

Sentimental Journey at Dusk:


Big Friend & Little Friends


Wingmen .. STANG and Jurco Spitfire


Cripes A Mighty


In The Overhead Break


A36 Bonanza At First Light


Van's RV-8


Red Baron Stearman "Ego Shot"


Gullwing Stinson Over Red Mountain


The View Out The Back Of The Sky Van (Even with just three shooters across the ramp, the field of view was sometimes very narrow.)


Comments & Critiques definately welcome!  I hope I did AzAP proud.
I'm posting these here before I've even started a gallery on the website so enjoy!!
If you're interested in participating in their next event (tentatively scheduled for March, go to www.air2airworkshops.com)

[Stephen Marshall]

I can see how that would be worth the money! Excellent shots Jay!

And since when has there been a spitfire in AZ, and why have I not taken photos of it yet?

[Bubak]

 Excellent shots Jay!

[BillOz]

Jay,

Those are some very well done awesome shots. 

[jslugman]

Wow, great shots Jay. You done good!

[Matt Ottosen]

Really AWESOME, Jay, I love the "In The Overhead Break" shot of the Spitfire!

[Joe Copalman]

Solid set of shots Jay.  I agree with Matt - the overhead break shot just kills it.  For the low shutter speed you were shooting at (1/80?  1/100?) and all the bumping around, everything is just tack sharp.

Actually, how bumpy was it?  Matt remarked on his Air-to-Air with Maid in the Shade that he got bumped around a lot and his keeper rate was pretty low.  Just wondering if you ran into the same problems with a more robust platform like the Skyvan.  (My aerial experience is limited to two air-to-ground shoots from an R22 with my 150-500, Pretty rough conditions given the platform and the needs of the client - close-up aerial shots of a beer festival.  Both vibration from the helicopter and wind blast were frustrating, but things got MUCH easier once I asked the pilot to hover).

Also interesting to see the contrast in the warmth of the evening shot to the much brighter morning shots.  That pollution out to west is a very nice filter.

-Stephen, the Spit is actually a kit-build.  It's been around for a while, and is supposedly now based out of Coolidge.  So we may see it next month out there.

[Jay Beckman]

Thank You for all the positive feedback.

The ride was very, very smooth.  Our PIC had never done a photo shoot before but he was a smooth stick and with some coaching from Doug Rozendaal (if you went to Willie or Marana to see Collings, Doug was driving "Betty Jane" that week) he kept the orbits consistant and on the money.  We hit a little chop out by the Superstitions when we had the fighters without SJ but it wasn't too bad.  I wouldn't want to try this at 2pm in July though.   

It was the station keeping of the subject pilots that amazed me.  Russ in the B-17 was awesome as was Casy Odegaard in Cripes on Saturday evening and the A-36 (which actually belonged to one of the workshop participants) on Sunday morning.  Richard would give them a hand signal or Doug would ask them to move a little on the radio and "boom", they'd move five up and five left or right and stick it there!  Everyone flew the brief perfectly.  We only missed two shots we wanted: 1) SJ taking off behind us (too much traffic for us to make a circuit and pick them up on the roll and 2) SJ landing (we couldn't keep SJ for the entire Saturday hop and she came home before we were done.)

Bob DeFord in the Spit just toyed with us on the way back to Falcon on Saturday evening.  Couldn't have gotten the over the runway shot if he didn't just stick right to us!

Was it pricey?  Yeah, I guess but the return on investment is through the images captured and the people I met.

FWIW, there was a very strong feeling that this workshop should make FFZ a more or less permanent home.  They might do others in CA or FL, but AZ and the AZ Wing of CAF just offer so much in terms of facilities and photographic opportunities.

[Paul Dumm]

FWIW, there was a very strong feeling that this workshop should make FFZ a more or less permanent home.  They might do others in CA or FL, but AZ and the AZ Wing of CAF just offer so much in terms of facilities and photographic opportunities.

Lets hope this happens as it is the best new I heard all weekend. After seeing your photos Jay, I feel it would be worth every cent on the CC.

[Jay Beckman]

"Thunder On The Mountain"

[Bubak]

Wow, great shot Jay.

[Chris Kennedy]

Very nice!

[cpasley]

Im speachless ,so where do I order my calanedar ,id be terrified to shoot out an open Shorts Van but would still do it anyhow but my favorite shots are of the ex Red Baron Super Stearman I didnt think any of those had survived in their original markings

[Joe Copalman]

Red Baron guy flew a wacky approach into FFZ after this flight.  Did some really wide S-turns behind a Cessna that was landing, but still didn't put enough space between himself and the Cessna, had to initiate a go-around at the last second, came back and landed all regular-like. 

[cpasley]

Sounds like that open cockpit may have made his head too hot