It has been a good while since I posted my first blog. I thought this was something I would be able to keep up with but I can see I am not the consistent writer blogger type. Here I will attempt to pick up where I left off since my last writing in December 2018, almost one year ago.
I will discuss my photography and path taken me since that time. When I jumped into the sports photography scene I thought this could be an area I could make some good money. I believed in myself and the mentors I had around me to create awesome shots. I developed the confidence needed to do what I had to do in the arenas or field. However as we now know technology has pretty much crushed the need for photographers to be on assignments. Partial blame belongs to the digital media era and all of the technical advancements that comes with this. While there are still those cases by case basic where photographers are needed on the sports scene, the majority of those great assignments are nearly few to none.
I watch as my skills for shooting sports has improved greatly. There are those who ask me what publisher do I shoot for. Sadly at the present nobody. Now I have sent my work portfolio to several media outlets only received no answer (aka crickets). It now appears in reality that there is not much of a need for the sport photographer or at least not as many are needed to cover certain assignments. I also believe many publishers are holding on to those they already had on their rolodex for years… Those guys you see who look centuries old. As I like to kid to other sport photographers many of them look like they could be somebody’s grandfather’s father. While I can understand the years of skills they have acquired makes them trusted for the images deliveries, you dare say mine would not deliver?
Photo Credit: Jim Preston, Chief Photographer - NASM
Now in this blog I would move away from sports and walk into another arena, my recent selection to participate in an after hour photo session at the National Space and Air Museum at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy center located in Chantilly Virginia. I was excited to find I was selected along with sixty-nine (69) other participants out of three hundred (300) application submissions. Once I arrived I met with the two ASL sign language interpreters assigned to assist me the presentations and walk around the gallery. Someone I know calls ASL Interpreters “Hard Artist” for their poetic like motions.
The lecture centered on monochromic photography or black and white imaging. A method which produce enhancements of content and texture that color normally would not. In addition we were shown how red, blue and green creates different darkness when adjusted in post editing. I found it to be a very enlightening presentation. Afterwards we were led to the airplane and engine exhibits where we would be allowed to spend an hour or more photographing. Each participant was encourage to select up to their three best images to submit to the museum for possible use in an up coming issue of Air and Space magazine.
This experience was like Christmas morning where the excitement rise with each present opened. I was mesmerized by the sight of everything from the SR-71 Blackbird to the Horton twin engine German jet. It was not until I entered the room where the Discovery space shuttle was resting that I nearly dropped. The shear size of this aircraft was totally amazing. I nearly forgot to photograph it. Of course, one of my selections submitted to the museum was of the Discovery but I will enter one in this blog.
If you have a profound interested in airplane and their history of them I would recommend visiting this museum. Plan a day and take your time to walk through. I was fortunate to visit without the crowd but even with you will exit thrilled. Below are selections I manage to photograph during our tour of the exhibits area.
