American Heroes Air Show

So, many of you know that I like to shoot fireworks. And to shoot fireworks. (http://www.pyrotography.com/) A fellow pyro discovered that I also like to shoot air shows and asked if I would like to be one of the staff photographers for the American Heroes Air Show at Hansen Dam in northern L.A. county. And I jumped at the chance. There are two staff photogs and the other spot was from a fellow who had been shooting there already. Being a staff photog meant that I got to get a whole lot closer to the helos, although when they were in flight, I could not be under them or any closer than one parking spot from them. For non-staff folks, you had to be a minimum of 200' from the tip of either rotor blade.

So they also set up a photographer's pen. It didn't cost anything, but you did have to sign a waiver and permission form. My son was available that day to go to the show so I took him along. Graciously, they let him shoot with the photographer's in the pen.

My morning shots were pointed towards the sun - the pen had the sun over their shoulder. Oh well - it made for some dramatic shots from me.

It was a long, hot, tiring, sunburnt day - and I loved it. I also found out that whenever a helo is in the area, you also got stuff stirred up. Like dust, things in the dust, cut grass, pollen, trash - the works. Next time, I wear a dust respirator.

Kyle's shots are here:
http://tccphotography.zenfolio.com/p835965155

My shots are here:
http://tccphotography.zenfolio.com/p969671697

Fun stuff!

Bodie Ghost Town

I had some business up in Hawthorne, NV. You get there by driving up California 395 from the L.A. area, get to the north side of Mono Lake, hang a right turn, and in under an hour you're there. It's a small town, but it's claim to fame is that it is located amongst 2900 ammo bunkers. Yup, bunkers. Full of bombs, mines, missles, bullets, rockets - the works. The biggest of it's kind in the world.

On a previous trip, a couple of miles after making the turn, there was a sign to Bodie - a true ghost town now run by the parks service. I thought about going, but I didn't have the time. This trip, I planned a 3 hour stop over. A big mistake - I need about 2 days! What a great place! The interiors of the buildings can only be seen through the windows. (There's only a couple of buildings you can walk into.) They positioned a lot of items as if folks had been living there until recently - all covered with about 1/4" of dust and grim. The exteriors have been mostly sandblasted to bare wood by the wind and the dust. In the winter, it's not uncommon for many feet of snow on the ground. In the summer, the heat will get ya.

I poked and prodded around, mostly staying to the main part of the city. I didn't take the mine tour (I wanted to) or get to some of the outlying buildings (I wanted to). All that takes time. And time is pretty much forgotten in Bodie.

Becase of the age and amount of dirt, a lot of the images I took were rather colorless. Combine that with filthy windows (the kind of glass that's all wavy), and it makes for some very interesting effects - not all of them desireable. I punched colors where I could, but on a couple of them, I tried to age out the photo to match the age of the place. I used different techniques and all within Adobe Lightroom.

Because of the grime on the windows, I had to shoot through windows that were not in sunlight. Not all the buildings would allow this, and I tried different things to help. Mostly, it was holding the camera with my right hand and holding my hat (a dark, leather one I got in Virginia city) over the window as close to the camera as I could get it. If I switched around, I pre-focused the camera, then set the shutte timer. That gave me about 10 seconds to frame the shot with my left hand and hold the hat in my right. (You try this sometime!) I also tried, as much as possible, to flatten the front of the lens against the window. There's *got* to be a better way.

The road in from 395 is 10 miles of paved and 3 miles of very rough dirt. The road that goes to the south is about 10 miles of *very* rough dirt road. I did both in a Hyundai Sonata - but will NOT do that south road again unless I'm in a truck or 4WD. I was usually held to 5 mph (or less) because of the terrain, but that just added to the whole of the experience.

If you're heading up to Reno, or are going to spend some time in Mammoth (and the snow ain't too high - they don't plow the road), I'd encourage you to spend at least a few hours there. It's worth the trip alone.

Gallery is here:

http://tccphotography.zenfolio.com/p96642121