Wild Blue Yonder

I was able to have a very cool experience Friday. I went for a flight in a World War II T-6 Texan warplane.

There is a small grass trip airport in Kokomo, Glenndale Airport. For the past 10 years they have held Glenndale Days which is a fundraiser for an organization that helps families with children suffereing from Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). The two day event features a bunch of Piper Cubs and Cessnas, along with military aircraft such as a T-6, P-51 and Stearman Biplane. Kids and adults can get rides in some of the planes and others are there for show or to put on aerobatic displays.

I've shot the event the past couple years, such as the Soundslide I did in 2007. It's a pretty fun time, see all the different aircraft. And I'm a big airplane fan, particularly the older stuff they have on display there. It's kind of like going to the Smithsonian Air Museum or EAA in Oshkosh, albeit on a smaller scale.

I had an email waiting for me, along with a phone message at the office when I started Friday afternoon. Steve Stants and his wife Laura run a flight school from the airport and I've talked to them several times over the years, taking their photo etc. Steve called to let me know that they were taking the T-6 up for a PR flight for a reporter from the weekly news ragsheet in town and was curious if I would be interested. Well sure.

 Pre-flight cockpit portrait, in my flight suit and strapped in.

Image by Erik Markov

 

I got to go up for a 20 minute flight in the second seat of the T-6, piloted by Laura Stants. Great day to fly with clear blue skies, do some barrel rolls. It was pretty damn cool. I've been up in Pipers, Cessnas, various helicopters, experimental garage built aircraft, hot air balloons, Stearman Biplane, a World War II B-17 bomber and an Air Force KC-135 refueler. But I think the T-6 takes the cake. You won't be doing barrel rolls or any real aerobatics in those other aircraft. It's the closest I'll come to knowing what a fighter pilot of any era feels. And it's nice when someone recognizes your interest in something and thanks you with such a nice gesture.

I'll let the images do the talking now.

Looking out over northeast Kokomo,

Kokomo Airport can be seen at the top left.

Image by Erik Markov

Looking towards the tail of the plane.

Image by Erik Markov

Halfway through a barrel roll,

looking out the top of the canopy

down at the ground.

Image by Erik Markov

After my flight.

Image by Erik Markov

Do easter eggs glow in the dark?

I had the first easter egg hunt of the year to shoot Saturday. This one was an adult easter egg hunt. Haven't heard of that too often. To make it a little more difficult, it was held just after the sun set.

I got to the park and was a little dismayed at what I saw. I saw a lot of eggs spread out over the large field. It reminded of this easter egg hunt from last year. Except that was a hunt for kids, not adults. From the map they had showing the "hunting grounds," it looked as tho all the eggs were out on the field, not in the woods as I thought they would be. How hard is that? I was pretty sure this was going to be a stinker of an assignment.






Once all the eggs in the field had been found people walked into the woods to look for eggs. I don't know how many eggs were there, if any, but it certainly made for more interesting images. I love being proved wrong about an assignment, it just happens so rarely that I've gotten used to that sinking feeling seeing a possible great assignment go bad. Glad that this turned out to interesting.

Let's try this again

Justin Kline pops over a wave as he knee boards on the Mississinewa Reservoir. Image copyright Kokomo Tribune 2008

I was out on a boat again Wednesday. When some of the editors at the office looked at the stuff I shot on Saturday for our Howard County Living magazine article, they realized there was a problem.

No one I shot who was in the water doing any sort of surfing behind the boat was wearing a life vest. In violation of state law. Doh!!

I didn't think of it, I'm not a boat person. Don't own one, occasionally spend time on the water, not enough to remember all the rules though. Showing someone not wearing a life vest in a photo, on the cover of a magazine no less, wouldn't make us look good. Big no-no.

The person doing the story, lifestyle editor Erin Shultz found someone she knew who was out on their boat so we could get some more art. She and I went back to the same area I was at on Saturday to meet up with the subjects.

I shot some kids and adults tubing, and the owner of the boat, Justin Kline doing some knee boarding. And everyone was wearing their necessary life vests. Fantastic!

Even though I wasn't scheduled to work, spending three more hours on a boat isn't a bad thing to be called in to do. And the art turned out great. Got some flips from the tube rides and some big air of the knee boarding.

And we now aren't advocating that anyone should break a state law.



The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

Comments containing off-color or hateful language may be removed.

Row, row, row your boat

As Bryan Saylers uses a board to surf behind the boat, Ryan Valadez drives, while upfront Kelly Vanglabbeek and Erin Saylers watch Saylers two-year-old daughter.

Image copyright Kokomo Tribune 2008

Spent part of today out on Erin and Bryan Saylers' boat in the nearby Mississinewa Reservoir for a Howard County Living magazine story on boating fun. Today this job was all fun in the sun. And the sun did appear later, contrary to what this photo looks like.

The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

Comments containing off-color or hateful language may be removed.

Signs make it easier

A goat at the Miami County (In.) 4-H Fair.
Image copyright Erik Markov 2008

I saw this on the wooden gate of the goat's pen, and thought well.... if it says to, I will.

So, I clicked. Its my job.

There are those days where it would be easier if there were signs at assignments spelling out exactly what I should do.

Blur....

Turn around....

Ignore....

Light....


Oh well, I'll just have to continue figuring it out on my own.


This photo illustrates a good point that took me a long time to learn, helped in part by the book Photosynthesis by Bryan Moss.

"Put the camera to your eye and take a picture of the moment in front of you."

I walked around the fair, and didn't find anything that inspired me for a feature. I saw this and thought it was kind of funny; stopped and took a picture. Little while later I was inspired by something else, which will be a future post. That second photo led me to a feature photo, while not a pulitzer, had some different stuff going for it that I liked.

The opinions expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer.

Comments containing off-color or hateful language may be removed.