This Air Show is the biggest I have ever been too and the amount of aircraft present was unbelievable. There was so much that it was hard to find a good place to start. So naturally it made sense to start with the area closest to the camp ground. The Camp ground is in the north west section of the airfield and everything stretches down to the south, with the larger aircraft out to the east and the Museum to the west. The first place I came across when walking down the road is Warbird area. The warbird area is really large with more planes flying in as the week went on. We got there early so it was still some what quiet.
There was enough to play with even though it was quiet. There were Yaks, T6’s, T34’s, PT’s and a number of L series aircraft, from L2 to L5. I’m still learning all the names it seems like there are more and more that keep popping up. Of course the letters are more confusing than the numbers. You learn one plane type then there is the A model, then the B model, then the C, and D, and so on. It’s a heck of a lot of history to learn because everyone of those letter changes means an upgrade in the plane, usually in the engine.
I spent that first wandering around some of the L series planes which were designed as observation planes. They flew high and slow and would map out areas. They are a very cool aircraft that sometimes get overlooked. This one in particular caught my eye. It had Japanese markings all over it and I didn’t hear or find out anything about it’s history. It’s one of the planes that really intrigued me. It doesn’t take much but just knowing if they are real from the period or if they were added in a tribute to a pilot is really the intrigue meant of the plane. It was one of the first planes I found but definitely not the last to photograph.
Speaking of photography, when working in an Air show area like we were at Osh, the biggest consideration is the background. The hardest shot to get is those wide clean background shots. It’s not impossible but harder. The best solution is usually to just incorporate the clutter in the background as best as possible. Tight shots work well but showing the airshow is just part of the atmosphere. The one thing i would recommend is removing power lines when ever possible, grey lines going through a blue sky is really unattractive.
Images Captured with Nikon D3, AF-S 24-70, AF-S 200-400 VR, on Lexar UDMA Digital Film