Dumb luck meets a little knowledge. My buddy Keith arrived last Wednesday and we've been wandering about a bit on our bikes. We stopped at Coolidge Airport at sunset on the off chance there might be an interesting vintage plane or two still sitting out. Keith parked his '95 Honda VFR 750 and walked over to look at the old wooden hanger, one of the last of it's kind in the US, a relic now of WWII airfields. Coolidge Airport was a transit field during the war and old photos show B17 bombers, P51 Mustangs, and other great planes of that era filling the field as they made their way east and on to the European theater of war.
I happened to "see the shot" of the VFR when Keith parked his bike, red bikes and sunset are always a winning combo, the light was just right, I had a 20mm f1.7 prime lens on the Olympus E-PL1, and managed to not to shake too much for the 1/10th of a second shutter speed. The shot is actually a little soft from a bit of shake but I think the softness works with the light.
The light changes very quickly once the sun is on the horizon, a minute or two later it was effectively dark so my photo of the old hanger has quite a different look to it as the camera struggled with the white balance from the fading sunlight mixed with the artificial lighting on the hanger.
9 comments:
Very nice shots, both of them. I agree with you about sunset and red curvy objects. It works with cars, bikes, even certain women. Isn't light wonderful?
Can't help but notice a fully faired bagger of some sort in the hanger picture. Nice tease.
Doug:
". . . and we've been wandering about a bit on our bikes."
still waiting for you to spill your guts. When I first started reading I thought the VFR was your new ride
bob
Riding the Wet Coast
hmmm, thats a pretty hot honda.
and try and try hard as i might, i cant blow up the hanger pic enough to make out the other bike :)
Yeah, Doug, spill your guts. You sold your ride, but in this post, you're riding something. You're wife's scooter?
What are you riding, sir? ;-)
Brent
meter off the pavement (if it's in the same light as the subject) and shoot
or, meter off the sky 45 degrees from your main subject, recompose, and shoot
this advice presumes you are using a DSLR
Well friends, I'm still trying to come up with a picture that I like of the "new" bike. I wish the bike was something sexy and photogenic like an MV Agusta or '51 pan head. I hadn't planned to do anything suspenseful about announcing it but hey, it's good fodder for the blog!
Doug,
Like Bob, I thought we'd be congratulating you on a sound purchase! That's a great shot and those VFR's go on forever. That looks to be a beautiful example.
Man...makes me wanna' lick it. As usual, stellar photo ops. On a side note I still have not been able to see a real, in the rivets, B-17. It's one of those things you just have to see at least once. Still looking for even a static one to gander at.
Dave,
The next time you're in AZ head over to Falcon Field in Mesa (east of Phoenix). The Commemorative Air Force B-17 "Sentimental Journey" is based there. If you get down to Tucson, the Pima Air Museum is a must see place and has one of pretty much everything including a special B-17 exhibit.
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