Target Aviation Photography

Top Shots Gallery 3

A Beauty All of its Own...

Aerospatiale - BAC Concorde 102 (G-BOAE) of British Airways landing at London Heathrow on October 2003.

I was using my Canon EOS 10D with a Canon EF 100-400mm L IS lens at ISO 100, 1/100^th, f8 –1/3 EV and focal length of 400mm (640mm on 10D). It was always my dream to do an action shot of Concorde. I went to LHR for four days, with only one goal, to get a nice Concorde action shot! This was the very first and last time I could see her in action. Concorde retired two weeks later. The problem was that there were only two Concorde movements per day at LHR.

A departure shot was impossible as sunset was before it took off, at that time of the year. Therefore, I was quite anxious to get a nice approach shot, which was in the timetables for 18:00. This was also stretching the limits light wise, since she was often running late. On this day I had almost given up on the shot, since there was a low cloud base and little sun. However Concorde BA002 arrived 15 minutes early and as she got established on finals of 27L, the sun chose to set with Concorde in majestically beautiful evening light on her final approach. The dark clouds produced the perfect background to highlight the vortex over the wings! My best shot ever and a great photo to remember this beautiful aircraft.

Tornado F.3's (ZE764 /YD) part of 4 ship formation (c/s Scimitar 1-4) from 111 squadron based at RAF Leuchars. Taken from an RAF Tristar on 18^th December 2003.

The shots were taken 10 minutes apart, showing how we had turned from shooting into the sun to shooting with the sun. The aircraft had already refuelled and were waiting for the remainder of the flight before departing. The equipment used was my Canon EOS 10D with a Sigma 28-300mm lens at ISO 200. The left hand image was at 1/1500^th, f5.6 and 28mm (45mm on 10D), whilst the right hand image was at 1/1000^th, f4 and 48mm (77mm on 10D).

Mirage 2000C (121 / 12-KC) of EC02.012 French Air Force based at Cambrai. Taken at RAF Waddington when part of an ACMI deployment on 8^th December 2003 at 10:47 a.m.
I was using a Canon EOS 10D with a EF 100-400mm L IS lens. I was perched on top of my small stepladders on AV mode at F5.6 giving me 1/800^th shutter speed on ISO 100 with -1/3 exposure compensation on full 400mm (640mm on the 10D). It was a glorious day weather wise and I had been panning all the returning aircraft to catch the smokey touchdowns. This is one of the best shots for the day without a doubt. I was pretty pleased with the outcome of this shot but then Waddington is one of the best places in the UK for shooting active military action from outside the base.

Eurofighter Typhoon (ZJ802) landing at British Aerospace Warton, UK on Friday 18^th July 2003.
I was using my Canon EOS 10D and Canon EF 75-300mm USM lens at f6.7, 1/2000^th and ISO400. This was the first Typhoon in 17sqn colours, it had planned to leave Warton on the Friday evening before the RIAT air show at Fairford. Just after it had taken off the pilot reported a problem with its undercarriage, so after doing a couple of slow fly-bys of the ATC tower for inspections, the pilot decided to land back at Warton. It eventually left for Fairford the following day.

Mirage 2000C (95 / 12-KM) of EC02.012 French Air Force based at Cambrai. Taken at RAF Waddington when part of an ACMI deployment on 8^th December 2003.
I used my Canon EOS D60 and Sigma 50-500mm EX lens, at 417mm (667mm on D60) with a shutter speed of 1/320^th at f8 ISO 100, -1 exposure compensation. This photo was taken at 15:06hrs, pretty late in the day for December. The sun was getting low in the sky and beginning to turn into a beautiful orange sunset. The pilot slightly dropped his starboard wing, to adjust is approach, at just the right moment to optimise the effect of the reflected light and make this my best shot of the day.

C-17A Globemaster III (96-0005) USAF, taking off from runway 18 at Frankfurt (Rhein-Main) on the evening of 30th June 2001.

I was using a Canon EOS33 with Canon EF 75-300mm and Fuji Sensia 100 slide film, image scanned with a Microtek. I was lucky in that the sun came out just after a rain shower, which created this shot with spray and the humid air causing vapour over the wings. (I am now using a Canon EOS 10D with EF 100-400mm L IS lens).

F/A-18C Hornets of the Blue Angels, at Duluth Air Show at Duluth International Airport 20th September 2003.

I was using a Canon EOS 10D with Canon EF 75-300mm f4-5.6 USM zoom lens in 'sports mode'. I was looking for some flying shots for Airliners.net, expecting a dozen or so good images from my 2 x 1GB CF cards. I was basically lucky, with the sheer number of shots taken, the probability of a couple of good shots of the Blue Angels was on my side.

Boeing 727 (NZ7272) of Royal New Zealand Air Force, at the Warbirds Over Wanaka Air Show, Easter 2002. The Boeing 727's have now been replaced by Boeing 757's.

I used a Nikon F801 with a 70-210mm lens and Fuji Velvia film. The shot was taken at 1/250. I was involved in the 'book-of-the-air-show' as an official photographer and so was looking out for interesting and different shots.

A pair of Royal Navy Lynx HAS.9's, at RIAT 2003 display at RAF Fairford on 19th July 2003.

I was lucky to be in the right position to catch this angle. The equipment I was using was a Canon EOS D30 with a Canon EF 100-400mm L IS zoom lens.

Mi-24 Hind of Czech Air Force at RIAT 1995 at RAF Fairford July 1995.

I was using my Canon AE-1P with a Canon FD 100-300mm zoom lens, shot taken at 250mm 1/500 f11 with Kodak Gold 100ASA Print film. The ballet dancing of the Hind in front of the FRIAT Grandstand was easily to catch.

Back