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Pictures Of The Week
Week 13, March 2012
Clockwise from top left:
UKAR is proud to enjoy a strong relationship with the good people at the Newark Air Museum, and it's always a joy to be able to feature one of their aeroplanes as part of POTW. Our main image this week comes from Keith Campbell and is just the sort of shot that's to our tastes. Museum aircraft are among the most challenging to photograph, given the positioning and lighting in many cases. Here Keith has used the light to stunning effect, shooting one of the FOUR examples of the iconic Gloster Meteor in the museum's collection.
Image © Keith Campbell
We aim to reflect any major news stories in our weekly photographic digest, and there was no contest for "Story of the Week" these past seven days. Daniel Nilsson was lucky enough to be present at Satenas in Sweden, an airfield UKAR knows well, as one of the best-loved behemoths of the Cold War, the SAAB AJS-37 Viggen took to the skies once more. This example is operated by the Swedish Air Force Historic Flight, and is set to debut this summer. Come on British airshow organisers - be brave, book this!
Image © Daniel Nilsson
Nikon D300S + Sigma 120-300mm ƒ2.8 lensUKAR set a new record last week, for the most number of puns on "Bucc" and "Buccing". The reason was the glorious photoshoot at Bruntingthorpe featuring no fewer than four fabulous Blackburn Buccaneers, among them the newly restored and painted XW544. The weather, for once, played along, and UKAR Staffer Phil Whalley was on hand to juxtapose jet and sunset for this memorable image.
Image © Phil Whalley
Nikon D90 + Sigma 50-500mm lensNot often you see an Avro Lincoln, in this case RF342, was the focus of a magnificent Golden Oldies thread, featuring the photography of Cyril Parrish, and the scanning know-how of UKAR member Alan Charlton. The thread also features some rather lovely images of BBMF Lancaster PA474's past life, and we reckon is pretty much essential viewing. We were really drawn to the splendid quality of the scanning here, which makes these venerable images, dating from the early 1960s, seem as fresh as modern DSLR photography.
Image © Cyril Parrish (via Alan Charlton)
UKAR readers seem to be spoilt-for-choice when it comes to air-to-air photography threads. This time POTW regular Tom Houquet of AviationPhotoCrew appears with this image of a Finnish Air Force Hornet, shot from the rear ramp of their trusty Shorts Skyvan. The image was taken over the course of the Leeuwarden Opendays last September, with the Skyvan formating with the Hornets en route to the show.
Image © Tom Houquet (Aviation PhotoCrew)
Canon EOS 5D MkII + Canon EF 70-200mm L lensThere's probably no more hankered-after national display team for the UK enthusiast than the mighty Russian Knights, and their Sukhoi Su-27 Flankers. Sadly, they don't come cheaply, which is why British shows don't book them! Luckily, UKAR's members are a far-flung and well-travelled bunch, among them Helen Badger, who posted this superb image of Lt Col Andrey Alekseev's jet, taken in March this year at Kubinka airbase, near Moscow.
Image © Helen Badger
Canon EOS 5D MkIILastly, we go a little closer to home, and Heathrow to be precise. The ever-dwindling Royal Air Force has precious little of interest now to many enthusiasts, raised on heavy metal such as Vulcans, Victors, Canberras and Harriers, so we should make the most of gems such as the TriStar. Chris Lofting certainly had the best seat in the house to get this impressive top-down study - he was perched in Heathrow's tower, when this beauty arrived from RAF Akrotiri via Hannover, en route "home" to RAF Brize Norton.
Image © Chris Lofting
Canon EOS 7D + Canon EF 24-105mm ƒ4 L lens
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Pictures Of The Week
Week 12, March 2012
Clockwise from top left:
East Kirby in Lincolnshire is home to the Panton Brothers' Lancaster NX611 "Just Jane" and Keith Meachem's fine atmospheric composition reflects well on what looks to be an imaginative well organised event. Hopefully the monies raised from these events will ensure the continued restoration and upkeep of NX611.Future events can be found here.
Image © Keith Meachem
Canon EOS 5D MkIII + Canon EF 24-105mm ƒ4 L IS lensMildenhall KC-135s are sometimes taken for granted by photographers these days but Bob Tomlin's fine study in good conditions prove that memorable images are always on the cards (weather permitting.)
Image © Bob Tomlin
Another gem of an image from the event at East Kirby, this time focusing on the re-enactors rather than 'Jane. Clever and subtle use of post processing to create the impression of a 1940's style colour photo works well in this case.
Image © Nigel Machin
Canon EOS 600D + Canon EF-S 18-55mm IS lensThe lighting and positioning of airframes at Hendon has come in for a deal of criticism on these forums over the years.Jeff Garish used his imagination and a tripod to capture this fine study of the Vampire.
Image © Jeff Garrish
Canon EOS 550D + Canon EF-S 18-55mm lensSunlit snow covered Swiss mountains make for a photogenic background in Philippe Rey's fine study of a visiting Ramstein based C-21. Sion is a very photographer friendly location as the use of his 70-200 lens indicates.
Image © Philippe Rey
Nikon D300 + Nikkor 70-200mm ƒ2.8 lensSøren Nielsen's image of an agressor VMFT-401 F-5N was our pick from a fine selection from him illustrating a visit to MCAS Yuma. Colour, clarity and composition all combined to make this the stand out image from the post. It was taken during a Weapons and Tactics Instructor (WTI) exercise in October 2011.
Image © Søren Nielsen
Canon EOS 1D MkIV + Canon EF 300mm ƒ2.8 L IS lens
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Pictures Of The Week
Week 11, March 2012
Clockwise from top left:
Our top shot from this week goes to prove you don't have to be at a military airfield or training area to come up with a stunning action shot. Lloyd Horgan captured this pair of Army Air Corps Apaches at Halfpenny Green/Wolverhampton Airport from the café balcony, and the monochrome treatment works superbly in this particular instance.
Image © Lloyd Horgan
Nikon D300s + Nikkor 300mm ƒ4 AF-S lensTom Houquet presented us with a breathtaking set of air-to-air images of XH558, taken last summer after its display at the Abingdon Airshow. Captured over Brize Norton and the English countryside, the Vulcan was photographed from the cargo ramp of a Shorts Skyvan.
Image © Tom Houquet (Aviation PhotoCrew)
Canon EOS 7D + Canon EF 24-1405mm ƒ4 L lensThe annual World Economic Forum at Davos in Switzerland at the end of January is proving to be a popular venue for aviation photographers, whether it be to photograph the myriad government and biz-jets which attend from all over the world or the Swiss Air Force guarding the skies against potential threats to the event. Sion was the location for this nicely-composed shot of a Swiss F-5E being launched as the light was beginning to fade.
Image © Studer David
Sony A-700 + Sony 300mm ƒ2.8 & 2x TCPeter Reoch captured a little piece of history being made as XV249 negotiated the streets of Shifnal as it approached the RAF Museum at Cosford on the back of an articulated lorry. The Nimrod R1, one of four aircraft to have served with 51 Squadron over the years, will be re-assembled and go on public display in the near future.
Image © Peter Reoch
Canon EOS 50D + Canon EF 17-40 ƒ4 L lensThis pleasing study of a German Navy Sea King formed part of an unusual, but very welcome set of German military and pseudo-military rotary types by Michael Jacksch. The Marineflieger operates around twenty or so of the Mark 41 variant of the Sea King from their base at Kiel in Northern Germany.
Image © Michael Jacksch
Philip Preindl travelled to the idyllic Samedan near St.Moritz earlier this year in search of biz-jets in the snow, and he was not to be disappointed. The airfield is a popular destination for Europe's well-heeled skiers and race-goers at weekends, and this crystal clear image is typical of the shots one can achieve at this Alpine biz-jet haven.
Image © Philip Preindl
Canon 40D + Canon EF 100-400mm L IS lensOur second Apache shot from this week, this time a moody sunset image captured during the recent Exercise Pashtun Dawn/Pashtun Jaguar - one of several impressive sets offered by UKAR members from the action on Salisbury Plain.
Image © Cliff Ibell
Canon EOS 7D + Canon EF 70-300mm IS lens
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Pictures Of The Week
Week 10, March 2012
Clockwise from top left:
The sunset season isn't over yet! Jon travelled to the ever popular Salisbury Plain Training Area where exercises Pashtun Dawn and Pashtun Jaguar were taking place. Jon had been trying to take an image like this for many years and was very pleased he finally 'nailed it'! For UKAR's staff it was hard to pick a favourite from his topic as there were several images that could have easily made it into this weeks's selection.
Image © Jonathan Coombes
Sony A580 + Sony 70-300mm G SSM lensAlan Kenny was fortunate to sit out the approach into Chicago O' Hare International Airport on the jump seat of this Boeing 747's flightdeck. An opportunity he wasn't going to let go to waste, Kenny clicked away in some very challenging conditions and managed to take home an impressive set of pictures.
Image © Alan Kenny
Canon EOS 50DContinuing with the coverage from exercises Pashtun Dawn/Jaguar, UKAR regular Rich Pittman took advantage of the sunny weather to visit a forward refuelling point. During the exercise the refuelling point was used by Merlins, Pumas, Chinooks, Lynxes, Bell 212s and the Apaches pictured coming in for landing in this shot. The nearly month long exercise saw up to 10 helicopters airborne during day and night training sorties.
Image © Richard Pittman
Canon EOS 7D + Canon EF 70-300mm L IS lensStaying late at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol's runway 06 to take advantage of the setting sun this image is not what Kees had in mind but it works for us! Realizing that he wasn't in the desired position for the shots he did intended to take, Kees decided it wasn't worth relocating and opted to make the most of the spot he was at. This nice arty shot of one of Spanish low-cost carrier Vueling's Airbus A320s on approach is one of the results.
Image © Kees van der Velden
Canon EOS 60D + Canon EF 100-400mm L IS lensNext we move to colder climes for the second shot of the venerable Westland Lynx for this week. Simon Galloway joins the ever growing number of POTW contributors with this Lynx AH.7 over Bardufoss, Norway. The Commando Helicopter Force has been conducting cold weather training out of Bardufoss for some 40 years and Simon was fortunate enough to fly along during an air to air photo shoot. Though there had been an overcast for most of the week he still managed to get a bit of low winter sun, as this lovely image shows.
Image © Simon Galloway
Nikon D3S + 70-200mm ƒ2.8 lensAs we conclude this week's selection the POTW wouldn't be complete without at least one image of a fast jet. Paul Cameron ventured north to sunny superbase Lossiemouth where he caught this Tornado from an angle so typical for the Scottish base.
Image © Paul Cameron
Canon EOS 50D + Canon EF 300mm ƒ4 L lens
