One Old Bird to Another......

Yesterday afternoon I went to Robins Air Force Base to photograph an MH-53M Pave Low helicopter that was being delivered to the Museum of Aviation for display. This aircraft began its flying career the same year I started working at the Telegraph. H'mmm, does that mean I am museum ready, too? Our photo opportunity was out on the flight line where two helicopters sat. One was to be donated to the museum, the other was to carry the flight crew back to Florida.



The donated chopper was to take some base employees on a short flight. I started photographing as the crew prepared for the flight. Pretty bland stuff, when you photograph a helicopter at a normal daylight shutter speed, you stop the rotor blades. I wanted to have some movement in the blades, so I dropped my ISO to 200, which is as low as my camera will go. That allowed me to shoot at 1/80 second and have some motion in the blades. Any slower and I would have washed out the image through overexposure.





I got the shot of the crewman taking the fire extinguisher out on the ramp, and then tried some tight shots of the blades. Made a kinda cool image.

When they took off I was afraid to shoot so slow, and kicked the shutter speed back up. I had noticed the C-5's out on the ramp, and was hoping the helicopter would fly low enough over them to shoot it between their tails. Worked out okay.

Too bad I didn't get a ride.

What??? Again.....

This week has brought up the old question of "How do you shoot the same event over and over and not get bored to death?" I shot the first day of school in Houston County Monday, and in Peach County today.



I guess if I let myself I could look at it like "Here we go again" but to me its another day, different people, and each minute something else is happening, and I am going to try to find a unique little slice of time to record. I just love what I do.

I went to Hunt Primary early this morning and found this Back To School sign soon after arriving. I really wanted a photo with the sign. I held the camera up as high as I could to make it dominate the frame, and tried to make it work with the doorway to a classroom. It never did work out, so I waited until I had some folks walking down the hallway. It was okay.



I went back to the main entrance where school staff were gathered to greet parents and students and help them find their way. I photographed Principal Chip Messer with this first grader. Great expression, nice moment. When Dr. Messer led the boy down the hall I followed, shooting from behind with my wide angle. They stopped outside a classroom and Dr. Messer leaned in and I got this really nice frame.

The first image is really nice, like I said the expression on the kid's face is wonderful. The second shot is my favorite image of the shoot, probably for the week so far. You can feel the first grader's apprehension. The light spilling out of the classroom separates them from the background. It just works.

Getting images like this are what motivates me, makes me so eager to shoot the "same assignments" over and over. Just anticipating what I am gonna get next time. The challenge of trying to it a little better. That's what keeps me going.