Year in Photo 2016
Our Year in Photos for 2016
Every year I like to go through all of our favorite photos from the year and try to trim them down to a hundred or so. If they're of us, they become the Christmas Card collage candidate photos, and the others are just to remember fun times with friends and family. So here we are for 2016, back-posted at long last.
Our Year in Photos, 2016.
Enjoy! :)
St Lucia 2012
Four years ago this week, my wife and I enjoyed a blissful 5 days and 4 nights in St Lucia at the famous Ladera Resort, which has been recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site. We needed this so badly. We had been through complete hell. We loved and cherished every second of this trip. Something about being in paradise and on island time helping you to get back in touch with the one you love, and getting your love and romance burning at full force again after so much hardship.
Four years ago this week, my wife and I enjoyed a blissful 5 days and 4 nights in St Lucia at the famous Ladera Resort, which has been recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site. We needed this so badly. We had been through complete hell.
It wasn't just my cancer fight the previous year in 2011 that had been stressing us out. The year prior to that, my brother-in-law had been diagnosed with a rare neurological condition. He needed a few corrective surgeries at Stanford and was lucky to have survived, but ended up becoming permanently disabled and in need of full-time care. It was heartbreaking to see such a young man go through something like this and become disabled as a result. The year prior to that, my wife lost her elderly grandfather to cancer in Taiwan. We knew about his cancer, but it had been stable, only for him to pass just two weeks before we were set to make the journey across the world to see him. My wife was devastated. She had been extremely close to her grandfather, and to miss seeing him one last time by just weeks was hurtful beyond belief. And then came all of the challenges afterwards with her brother, job loss and then my cancer fight, and all of the new challenges after cancer. We made it through it all and our love for each other never wavered, but it was hard, life just hadn't been fair, and we needed to escape the world for a bit.
Without even telling me, my wife booked this little getaway for us at Ladera in St Lucia around our anniversary as a surprise, and it was one of the best things that we'd ever done for ourselves. This is the trip where we took care of ourselves for a change, and put our lives and ourselves back together. No work, no emails, no office, no kids, no cancer, no crazy world, no nothing. Just each other, in such a beautiful place, escaping a world gone mad.
We loved and cherished every second of this trip. Something about being in paradise and on island time helping you to get back in touch with the one you love, and getting your love and romance burning at full force again after so much hardship. There were rough times for me ahead. There was so much I'd yet to experience as a cancer survivor, and so much I'd yet to go through. No matter how dark things would feel, we would always have this trip, and we remember it to this day. What an amazing time it was, and it was from this St Lucia trip that we recognized the need for a couples only retreat every year. We needed this every year, for ourselves, for our love, and for each other. And so with St Lucia in 2012, a new tradition was started, and we always look forward to our annual getaway together. Life is really rotten sometimes. You don't need permission from anyone to go and enjoy, and indulge in life a bit.
As this is the photography section of my website, I figured I'd talk a little about that. I brought my Canon 5D Mark II on this trip, along with a 17-40L ultra-wide lens, 24-105mm f/4L IS mid-range zoom, and then a 35mm f/2 prime for lower light work, along with possibly a mini-flash of some sorts. This had been my world-traveling photography setup for a number of years, and there's not much you'll miss with such a setup, along with getting truly incredible landscape photos. For high contrast photos, no I didn't do HDR or multi-exposure photo-blending. I did it old-school, and used a good old-fashioned two or three-stop grad-ND filter! I've been shooting with a far more technically advanced Canon 7D Mark II for the past two years now and I've loved it, but looking back at photos like these has made me realize that there's an added dimension and feel to full-frame cameras that you just don't get with APS-C cameras. Full-frame photos are just sexier, and I'm actually going to be going back to full-frame for much of my photography!
Click the link below for the full gallery, or simply enjoy the slideshow at the bottom! :)
The Secrets to Getting Great Photos
All of my secrets are here. :)
I recently gave a quick presentation about photography to a neighborhood Girl Scout Troop, who were earning their digital photography badge. I brought in a small collection of favorite photos over the past few years, and thought I might talk a little bit about each one. Umm, well, lets just say that I don't think they were really quite at that level yet, so after I saw the eyes glazing over I just handed them my little Canon Rebel T2i with a 50mm lens attached to it, and suddenly they were super excited and went to town with it! 😂 They did have some good questions, so here were a few of them
What makes a great photo?
There has to be some "wow factor" to the photo. A gorgeous scene when the lighting is ideal, or capturing something at precisely the right moment, with the perfect expression. There's a saying that a great photo is great even at thumbnail size. Although technical image quality is important to a degree, it's more about what you, the artist, can imagine and capture with whatever camera you happen to have.
How much does it cost to make a good photo?
Photography is one of those things where you can spend as much or as little as you want. There's absolutely no reason why you can't take just an iPhone, and come back with tons of great photos from a vacation. It's not my style, but I've seen it done! Phone cameras have evolved to the point that they're pretty darned good, and it's a fact that highly competent phone cameras have pretty much put the compact camera market, and even cameras stores for that matter, darn near out of business. That said, larger dedicated camera, especially ones with interchangeable lenses, offer a lot more capability, far more artistic freedom as far as getting different types of photos, and different looks to your photos. If all you've got is a phone camera, it won't stop you from making tons of great photos. But yes, you can do a whole lot more with more advanced cameras systems.
What would you say is the best camera to use when taking a picture?
This was an excellent question, and it's one that even many advanced photographers struggle with. The answer comes in a few parts. First, the best camera to use is the one you have with you. If you don't have a camera with you at all, you're not going to get any photos. Cameras and lenses come in all sizes, shapes, and weights. The most advanced professional cameras and lenses in the land that are capable of the highest technical image quality, are also likely to be huge and weigh a ton. You might not want to carry such a camera system around with you everywhere, in which case, what will you take photos with? Your phone? If that's all you have or are willing to carry around with you, then a phone is the best camera to use! If you want more capabilities than what a phone offers, then you can certainly get it, but you have to be willing to lug it around with you. So there are tradeoffs to be made.
If you're at the zoo and want to get a photo of the lions or pandas, you'll certainly be able to get a photo with your phone, if that's all you have or are willing to carry, but it might not be the photo that you want. Ideally, the best camera to use is the one that you have with you and are willing to carry around with you, and that will get the types of photos that you want. An interchangeable lens camera with a telephoto zoom lens on it will obviously get better photos at the zoo than your phone will. So long as you're willing to tote such a camera system and lenses around with you most places, such that you can actually use it to take photos, that will be the best camera for you. You have to ask yourself what types of photos you want, what types of cameras and lenses will be capable of getting you those photos, and is the size and weight such that you'd actually be willing to carry such a system around with you most of the time, to get your money's worth out of such an investment.
This is all you need to get started making awesome photos!
The last point, especially for beginners, is that the best camera to use has to be one that you can actually afford. Here's a little secret. You don't need to save up for a year to get the latest Canon Rebel T6i for the better part of a thousand dollars, when there's absolutely nothing wrong with the few years old Rebel T2i that I let the Girl Scouts play with, and which you can buy from used camera dealers or eBay for under $300 with a lens! Digital camera technology reached what most people would consider maturity more than a few years ago now, where even the basic level cameras had more than enough performance to do whatever you might want to do. But hobbyists keep upgrading for the sake of upgrading, which means you can score these dirt cheap used camera bodies for next to nothing. You can save a whole ton of money by buying used! The best camera to use is the one you can afford and start making great photos with today, rather than the one you'd have to save a year for to get.
Now, onto making great photos! :)
Timing
William chasing his remote control Lamborghini. Check out his expression, and the fact that his legs are both in the air and surrounding his car. This was the perfect look and the perfect timing. :) Canon 7D Mark II and 100-400mm lens.
Timing can mean a lot of things in photography, but in the context of portraiture, you want to capture people in the midst of doing something at exactly the right moment, where they have the perfect expression, or they're at the perfect arc of a motion. Having a high-speed camera like a Canon 7D Mark II that shoots at 10 frames per second is a luxury that makes things easier, but it doesn't mean that you can't practice a bit and perfectly time your photos with a slower shooting camera that might only do a few frames per second. And it goes without saying that the first time a child is ever doing anything new, you need to have your camera out! That's when they'll be the most excited, and you'll get the very best photos!
Katie trying to fly with a set of wings. She's at maximum height and mid-stride, and her wings look just about perfect. Canon 7D Mark II and 100-400mm lens.
The "WillKat Classic". Canon 5D Mark II and 70-200mm f/4L lens. This was the first time William took Katie down a steep driveway in his Jeep. He was excited, she was terrified, and this photo is truly priceless! These expressions came and went in a moment. Timing is everything.
Lighting
For landscape photography, the most important thing to understand is that the period of time when the light is golden and will perfectly illuminate a scene, or those peak colors at sunset, might only last a minute if not for just a few seconds. The best time to get landscape photos are typically in the morning during sunrise, or in the evenings during sunset, when the sun is at low angles, and its golden light illuminates everything so nicely. During midday, the light from the sun is the harshest and tends to wash out the color from landscape scenes, which doesn't make for nearly as nice photos. So the time for the best light and resulting photos tends to be a bit inconvenient, also! You might have to get up extra early in the morning, or plan your dinner around when sunset or that ideal twilight lighting might be.
Paris in October 2006, with a Nikon D80 and an 18-55mm kit lens, 1 second exposure on a tripod. I had bought my Nikon D80 not even a month before, which was my first DSLR camera.
5 minutes before, the light wasn't nearly as nice.
5 minutes later, it had already faded!
Sometimes, the light doesn't cooperate with you, and you have to create your own light. Getting good people photos in the middle of the day can be a big challenge as well, as the high angle of the sun tends to create very deep shadows on people's faces. This is what fill flash is for! Flash photography isn't just for dark locations, it's for bright ones as well, when you need to use your flash for fill lighting to help overpower the shadows.
Canon 7D Mark II and 10-18mm ultra-wide lens, with critical pop-up flash for fill lighting. You can see the reflection of the flash in my wife's sunglasses. See the shadows on everyone's faces? They'd have been much darker and the photo wouldn't have looked nearly as good without using the pop-up flash for fill lighting in bright conditions with deep shadows.
Location and Perspective
Needless to say, it helps to have an interesting location to take photos from if you want to make great photos, but but having a great location doesn't necessarily mean traveling to far away or exotic lands. You can also change your perspective, and explore photography from the same location but in a different way. Rather than taking an action shot from a distance with a telephoto lens, put yourself right in the middle of the action with an ultra-wide lens, for example. Taking a photo with a waterproof camera right as a wave is crashing down on top of you is certainly an interesting location and perspective from which to take a photo, as opposed to sitting on the beach. Will you get more interesting photos watching a Hindu Holi spring time color festival take place from a distance, or if you're right in the middle of it? My waterproof (and dust proof) Nikon AW1 camera is a very deeply flawed camera in many ways, but I still love it because it allows me to take photos in ways, and from places that I can't take any of my other cameras. It's small, rugged, lightweight, stays out of my way, and goes anyplace that can, including underwater. In spite of its flaws, I get a lot of interesting photos with this camera!
Nikon AW1 at Rehoboth Beach, DE, as a wave came crashing down, with a perfect expression, and water droplets flying everywhere.
The Nikon AW1 does a Hindu color festival!
Nikon AW1 with 6.7-13mm ultra-wide lens, in our back yard. Motion-panned photo at 1/30s.
Nikon AW1 and 6.7-13mm ultra-wide lens taking in the Super Trees and Marina Bay Sands in Singapore at Twilight.
Good Luck and Persistence
Plain old good luck counts, too. Some stunning photographs of the "Yosemite Firefall" phenomena were recently circulated around social media. This is a natural phenomena that only occurs in late February due to the precise angles of the sun that are required to create this effect, and then still only occurs if it's been warm enough for the waterfall to flow due to melting snow, and then only if the western sky is clear for the setting sun to illuminate the falls. If everything comes together perfectly, the falls will illuminate during late-February only, making for a spectacular scene. If you've only got one night in Yosemite and want to capture this, you need good luck for everything to come together when you're there. Otherwise, you need persistence! Sometimes you have to make your own luck, by simply refusing to give up, and getting out there day after day.
And always have your camera with you and ready to go! You never know when you'll just stumble upon something amazing and breathtaking, like a tropical shower with a rainbow in the middle of it, while flying in the middle of the Caribbean! If you don't have your camera with you, or it's not handy, you'll mess spectacular photo opportunities like these.
Mt Rainier is almost never this clear, but the day we were there we lucked out with crystal clear weather. We had an amazing day hiking, and taking in all of the sights and sounds of Mt Rainier National Park with absolutely perfect weather.
A view off of my deck. How many times in nearly 10 years of living where I do had I seen both a rain shower and a sunset at the same time? Twice. And I captured the other one, too!
The famous Pitons in St Lucia, from the Ladera Resort. Lighting, Location, and Perspective are certainly in play here as well! The more things that come together in a photo, the more amazing it will be!
A rainbow in the middle of a tropical shower in the Caribbean from the air, and on our side of the plane. This only lasted a few seconds as we were flying by, and it was spectacular. Always have your camera with you and ready!
The Right Brushes
Portraiture and selective focus with a full-frame Canon 5D Mark II DSLR, and a 135mm f/2L prime lens.
Even the girls in the Girl Scout troop noticed how the background was completely blurred out in this portrait of my son, and asked how you do that. This is called selective focus, and is a matter of the format being used to take the photograph, and then lens physics. The larger the photographic format that you're using, the longer the focal length of the lens, and the larger the lens aperture, the smaller your depth of field will be (area in focus), which is what leads to these eye-popping portraits. This photo was taken with a full-frame Canon 5D Mark II camera (a larger format than most DSLR cameras, which are "half-frame" APS-C format), and I used a longer focal length large aperture prime lens, the Canon 135mm f/2L, which is about the best portrait lens that there is.
You can't get photos like these with a phone camera, or even most compact cameras, which typically use very tiny sensors and are extremely small formats. For portraits like these, you need an interchangeable lens camera system (which are much larger formats in terms of sensor size), and a longer focal length lens, preferably with a fast aperture, in order to achieve the razor thin selective focus required to create a portrait like this. These are the 3D eye-popping photos that I knew I wanted to be able to make before I even bought my first DSLR camera, and I eventually acquired the very best lenses to do this with. The snowflake photo below was also taken with this same Canon 135mm f/2L lens. The idea is to manually focus mid-field somewhere, and at a large aperture (to minimize depth of field), so that you have a razor thin slice of snowflakes coming down that are in focus, with everything else being yanked out of focus.
Canon 7D Mark II and 135mm f/2L lens creating selective focus. Only a very thin layer of snowflakes are in focus, and everything else in front and behind is blurred out of focus.
But you don't need to spend way too much money on high-end photographic gear to get photos like these! The little Canon Rebel T2i with a 50mm f/1.8 lens above is capable of doing the same, and is a great way to get started!
I've been acquiring and buying and selling DSLR camera gear for 10 years now, and I've never had a 400mm lens until now. It's a new focal length to explore, with new artistic possibilities. I've never been able to get detailed moon photos like these, and am loving this new brush in my bag. Super long lenses such as the Canon 100-400mm have also long been a favorite for those into remote controlled hobbies, as the huge zoom range allows for a relatively small object to fill the frame nicely. Want some really nice baby panda photos at the zoo? A super long telephoto lens will have you covered. ;-)
Moonrise, with a Canon 7D Mark II and a Canon 100-400mm lens.
Joint Base Andrews Air Show 2015, Thunderbirds Aerial Demonstration, Canon 7D Mark II and 100-400mm lens
Remote control Lamborghini Murciélago, with a Canon 7D Mark II and Canon 100-400mm lens.
Joint Base Andrews Air Show 2015, F-22 Raptor Aerial Demonstration, Canon 7D Mark II and 100-400mm lens
What's Six Inches Behind the Camera
The thing that matters most of all for getting great photos, is what's six inches behind your camera. That's you! :) It's your vision, and your creativity, and your desire to get to interesting places, or to explore other perspectives, that will drive your ability to make interesting photos. You can spend many thousands of dollars on photography gear, and take nothing but lousy photographs. Your own creativity and artistic vision are what drives everything else! If all you have or use is a phone camera, there's absolutely no reason why you can't get a ton of great photos just with that.
Photo Credit: Natalie L Way, iPhone 6s Plus
My friend Natalie took this photo of her daughter out in the snow with an iPhone, and I thought it was perfect. She's actually a brilliant photographer who has the knack, but her phone is all she ever uses, despite the fact that she has fancier cameras! Merely using an iPhone doesn't stop her from getting great photos. The composition is great, the timing is perfect with the snow being flung, and the lighting was wonderful too, with the sun near setting. A lot of great things all came together in this photo, taken with a mere phone camera!
Similarly, I was at a concert recently, and the only cameras that were allowed were phone cameras. I wished I could have snuck a fancier camera and some nicer lenses in, but I worked with what I had, and it didn't stop me from getting some pretty cool photos. A phone is not what I would consider a proper tool to photograph a dark concert with! But I had a great location above the crowd, paid attention to timing, the lighting, and eventually created a few decent photos through sheer persistence! I actually ran out of memory on my phone, and temporarily deleted a few apps so that I could keep taking more photos!
Run what ya brung! SLAYER concert in Silver Spring, MD taken with just an iPhone 5s. This is a very technically flawed photo, but it's still a pretty cool photo!
Photography is an art. There's no right or wrong answer. It's all about what makes you smile, and what works for you. The possibilities are endless, and the biggest limitation is not the brushes you have to paint with, but with the person holding the brush, their creativity, and what they can imagine.
Happy shooting! #photoglife
Steve
Snowzilla 2016
We got a record 3-plus FEET of snow here in the Washington, D.C. area from January 22-24th, 2016. So of course I was out with my cameras!!
We got a record 3-plus FEET of snow here in the Washington, D.C. area from January 22-24th, 2016. So of course I was out with my cameras!! I left the Canon 5D Mark II parked in my cabinet, as it doesn't have very good weather sealing. The 7D Mark II however, was built for some abuse, so out it went. I used just about everything I have. From ultra-wides to my 100-400L II super-telephoto, and then high speed primes of just about all lengths for low light and snow flake isolation shots. And of course I had my Nikon AW1 out too. I did all of the sledding photos with that, as it's easier to handle while managing kids. I did end up accidentally dropping it in the snow a few times, so it's nice to not have to worry about it. That's what it's for! :-)
Snowzilla was crazy! Hope you enjoy the pics!
DIRECT LINK TO FULL GALLERY
Year in Photos 2015
Our year in photos.
It was another incredible year, with a whole bunch of fun trips both domestically and abroad. We started off the New Year in Singapore of all places, and were then on our way to Taiwan on another adventure to the Far East. We went to Disney World over Spring Break, and then saw the DC Cherry Blossoms in full bloom as soon as we got back. We went to Longwood Gardens during the summer, and made a bunch of trips to Shenandoah National Park. We went to a few air shows, went to the beach a few times, and did a trip to Chicago and Wisconsin Dells. In the fall we went to SNP again to take in the fall foliage, went to Hershey Park, and miscellaneous odds and ends throughout the year, and now we're pretty beat! 2015 was an amazing year. Travel plans are already firming up for 2016. Looking forward to another amazing year. Happy 2016 to all! :)
FULL GALLERY LINK - YEAR IN PHOTOS 2015
Hiking Old Rag Mountain - October 2015
Old Rag Mountain is one of the most popular hikes in the entire mid-Atlantic region, and also one of the most strenuous and spectacular. It peaks at 3291 feet, has a total elevation gain of 2500 feet from parking lot to peak, and includes nearly a mile of rock scrambling to get to the top. It's an extremely challenging hike, but worth it for all of the spectacular views.
My long time friend Amit got me into hiking back in 2013, and I immediately took to it. Loved the fresh air, loved the change of scenery, and a great workout! We had wanted to hike Old Rag Mountain since 2013, and he'd wanted to hike it since as early as 2011. It's one of the most popular hikes in the entire mid-Atlantic region, and also one of the most strenuous and spectacular. It peaks at 3291 feet, has a total elevation gain of 2500 feet from parking lot to peak, and includes nearly a mile of rock scrambling to get to the top. It's an extremely challenging hike, but worth it for all of the spectacular views.
Last year came and went, and we just never got around to setting a date, but it was just as well. Having done this hike now, I can tell you with certainty that my body simply wouldn't have been able to make it even last year, as it just hadn't healed and recovered enough yet from all that it had been through. I had still been dealing with daily muscle fatigue and weakness issues, and struggled to get through each and every day. These were after-effects of the chemotherapy that I had gone through back in 2011 while fighting testicular cancer, and the extensive nerve damage that resulted. It's only because of my relentless focus on exercise over the past few years, in particular running, that my body has finally made the full recovery that it has and then some, and that I was able to do this hike.
Even today, having done this hike while in the best shape of my life, I struggled. The biggest challenge for me besides trying to figure out how to fit my 6'3" carcass through some challenging portions of the rock scrambling, was the fact that I was just plain out of breathe starting around 2500 feet. Your body is used to all of the oxygen down around 800 feet where you start from, but the air gets noticeably thinner as you climb. I had to pause for a few minutes at several points just to catch my breathe, but we finally made it! We started from the lower parking lot at 8:15am, and hit the summit at 11:45am, three and a half hours. That included plenty of stops for photos and selfies, so all in all we made pretty good time. Total hike time was five and a half hours.
A whole mountain view of Old Rag, from Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park.
It turns out that the smartest thing we did, per the advice of hikers on the Facebook Shenandoah National Park Hikers group, was to just take a day off and go during the week. Not only was the weather absolutely perfect, but the trail was clear! There was always a group a ways ahead of us, and another somewhat behind us, but not once did it ever feel crowded, which allowed us to just take in the mountain, and the spectacular fall foliage and scenery.
This is what Old Rag looked like that weekend!!!!!!!!!!!
So yeah... It was totally worth it to take a day off during the week, especially during peak times like this.
Camera Gear: While I'd have loved to have saved the weight and brought my much smaller and lighter Nikon AW1 cameras, these have fallen out of favor with me for landscape type photos like these. They work exceptionally well for the action and rugged/waterproof photography for which they're designed, but the little 1" sensor just lacks the acuity needed to grab fine details. I've heard you can get better results if you shoot in RAW and this and that, but I'd rather just use a more suitable tool. The other critical issue with the Nikon 1 system cameras is that the flash performance is extremely poor. 1/60s flash sync outdoors is useless, and the flash just doesn't have the power needed. In midday sun with deep shadows on people's faces, you need effective fill flash to get nice looking people photos. So what did I bring?
I brought my new Canon 7D Mark II, along with an extremely lightweight EF-S 10-18mm ultra-wide lens, and then my 24-105mm f/4L IS lens for wide-normal to telephoto shots. I had to switch lenses a lot, way more than I would have preferred, but the combination of the great image quality and powerful and effective fill flash just with the little pop-up flash, made it worth lugging all the way up this mountain. I've had trouble getting accurate focus with the EF-S 10-18mm lens, but was sure to use AI-Focus and the Single Point autofocus mode this time, not wanting to mess up these photos, and didn't have any issues. Just my usual out-of-camera JPEGs with Auto Enhancing in Apple's Aperture. That's how I roll.
I used my trusty ThinkTank Retrospective 5 bag, which is always my bag of choice. It's literally travelled the world with me, and now it's also climbed mountains! It's just big enough to carry what you need, never gets in your way, and the rugged build of the bag along with tons of padding came in handy on the trail.
Very pleased, and I hope you enjoy the photos.
To learn more about hiking and how to get started, check out The Foolproof Guide to Hiking for Beginners by my friends at MyOpenCountry.
View the Old Rag Gallery page directly at the link.
Old Rag Mountain Gallery page
Pete & Marnie - October 2015
My old buddy Pete, whom I've known for 20 years, finally got hitched last year! I was super excited for both him and his new wife, Marnie, but just wasn't able to make the ceremony. As promised though, and a little bit later than planned, I was happy to finally deliver my wedding gift to them of a professional engagement style photo shoot!
My old buddy Pete, whom I've known for 20 years, finally got hitched last year! I was super excited for both him and his new wife, Marnie, but just wasn't able to make the ceremony. As promised though, and a little bit later than planned, I was happy to finally deliver my wedding gift to them of a professional engagement style photo shoot!
This old sailor buddy of mine has been through a thing or two in his life, so to see the way Marnie could put a Texas sized smile on his face just melted my heart. I've known couples that you could not even tell were married, but there was no mistaking these two. You could just feel the energy and chemistry that Pete and Marnie share, and it was a wonderful thing to witness, and be able to capture for them.
Tools of the trade. A Canon 5D Mark II and two hot rod L primes, the 35mm f/1.4L and the 135mm f/2L. I've been singing praises of my 7D Mark II lately, but when you want really fantastic looking portraits, you need to be on full frame, and need to be shooting some really snazzy L glass. It just makes the photos come alive. :)
Joint Base Andrews Air Show 2015
A huge highlight of our summer was finally getting to go to the Joint Base Andrews Air Show on September 19th, 2015. I had been to the Andrews Air Show back in 2012, and thought it was fantastic. I couldn't wait to go the following year with the whole family, except 2012 was the year they went to every other year for this particular air show due to budget cuts. By the time 2014 finally rolled around, the sequester killed our DC area air show once again, and it took until 2015 to finally get another air show, and only for a single day. Thankfully the weather was perfect, and it was a picture perfect clear day. We went all-in and sprung for Flight Line Club passes for all of us so that we could enjoy the air show in style. Luxury trip. :-)
A huge highlight of our summer was finally getting to go to the Joint Base Andrews Air Show on September 19th, 2015. I had been to the Andrews Air Show back in 2012, and thought it was fantastic. I couldn't wait to go the following year with the whole family, except 2012 was the year they went to every other year for this particular air show due to budget cuts. By the time 2014 finally rolled around, the sequester killed our DC area air show once again, and it took until 2015 to finally get another air show, and only for a single day. Thankfully the weather was perfect, and it was a picture perfect clear day. We went all-in and sprung for Flight Line Club passes for all of us so that we could enjoy the air show in style. Luxury trip. :-)
I rented a lens for the occasion, the brand spanking new Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II lens from lensrentals.com and was so impressed with the lens that I ended up buying one. I'd rented the old push-pull Mk I version of this lens on several occasions, but totally fell head over heels in love with the Mk II. I loved the new twist-zoom action, the lens is sharper and doesn't slow down as much at the long end anymore (faster T-stop), and the new active stabilization mode worked great! Combined with my Canon 7D Mark II, there wasn't a better air show setup to be had. Those 500 and 600mm super-telephoto primes are swell, but there's no way I was going to carry them all around, and what about when you need to zoom out for wider or closer photos? :) I did shoot my old Canon Rebel T2i with the EF-S 10-18mm ultra-wide on it for a few photos, and grabbed a few with the 50mm f/1.8 also, but the vast majority of photos were with the 100-400.
Hope you enjoy the pics! It was a great day, and we definitely look forward to going again for the 2017 show.
Click Here for the Full Gallery, #JBA2015AirShow
