Pilotalltheway From United Kingdom, joined Dec 2008, 57 posts, RR: 0 Posted (1 month 2 weeks 2 days 21 hours ago) and read 1233 times:
Hi Guys,
Just a little question I wanted to ask. Do you take your pics for the ART or AVIATION side of things. I decided to bring this topic up as a good friend has just stopped doing videogrpaphy with a professional camera because all viewers wanted was to know the reg and see the touchdown, but he as interested in the ART side of things. He actually admitted that he found planes boring! So, I just wanted to know what your thoughts were....
Do you this type of photography for the ART or AVIATION??
Opso1 From United Kingdom, joined Jun 2005, 505 posts, RR: 1 Reply 2, posted (1 month 2 weeks 2 days 19 hours ago) and read 1195 times:
I take photos for both, it is documentation, but I also enjoy a "good" photo. Some photos become art in the eye of the viewer. I suppose that anything you print, either to frame or keep in a photoalbum, or use as a screensaver or computer screen wallpaper is what you classify as art.
I took these without thinking just to get the opertune images, but was suitable impressed with my own effort after downloading them to my computer. To me, they became unintended art:
Jalap From Belgium, joined Oct 2007, 181 posts, RR: 1 Reply 4, posted (1 month 2 weeks 2 days 19 hours ago) and read 1190 times:
That used to be aviation, no doubt.
Some 10 years ago, if you went up to the spotters and asked what was more important: the plane or the composition of the shot then I'm sure 90% would have answered "the plane".
Today, I think it would be the other way round. At least, that's the impression I'm getting from browsing this site lately.
Silver1SWA From United States, joined Mar 2004, 2916 posts, RR: 21 Reply 5, posted (1 month 2 weeks 2 days 19 hours ago) and read 1188 times:
I have loved aviation since before I could walk. Well maybe not quite, but you get what I'm trying to say. When I was a teenager and with a new drivers license, my first destination was SJC. For some reason, I had this interest in recording airliners with video and still cameras and so I started bringing them with me. I had never heard of plane spotting, or aviation photography. I just wanted to record them for me. It probably had something to do with the fact that before then, I rarely had the opportunity to go to the airport and watch planes. It was more of the get to watch them over and over at home factor...
Around that same time, my family got the Internet for the first time. Now with the power to search for anything on the web, I wanted to see more and more pictures of airplanes. That led me to this site. Then I thought, wow it would be SO cool to get my photos on the Internet! What a concept it was to have my photos viewable publicly! And of course, would you believe? Even in 1999 I was getting rejections! But I was determined.
Today, over 10 years later I am still here uploading. Thanks to this site, I became more serious about aviation photography over 4 years ago and my interests have since shifted to cover many other areas of photography as well. As far as aviation photography is concerned, I have gotten bored of standard, straight-forward side-on shots of airliners and have become more interested in finding ways to stand out a little. I guess that means I now focus more on the "artsy" side. I experiment a LOT. Unfortunately most of that experimentation doesn't lead to results appropriate for this site...but some do make it here. While I still enjoy shooting plain basic shots and uploading them occasionally, I try to keep myself from sticking with the same type of shot for too long. That is why I don't upload many shots from any particular outing. I take my favorites and move on. I do, however, like grabbing shots of any new, rare or unique visitors at SAN. That's about as far as I go for documentation though...
Anyway, not sure if you were looking for anything that in-depth, but it just shows how my interests have evolved.
[Edited 2009-11-03 02:32:20]
ALL views, opinions expressed are mine ONLY and are NOT representative of those shared by Southwest Airlines Co.
FX772LRF From United States, joined Apr 2009, 363 posts, RR: 2 Reply 7, posted (1 month 2 weeks 2 days 16 hours ago) and read 1144 times:
I bought my D-SLR with aviation in mind, but really didn't think about the distance between me and the plane.
Since then, I've done a lot of other photography, more nature oriented. It's just easier with the current equipment I own. I think after I get a job and save up, I'll buy bigger and better lenses, and aviation will become a co-focus of my photography.
JakTrax From United Kingdom, joined Jun 2005, 2397 posts, RR: 7 Reply 8, posted (1 month 2 weeks 2 days 15 hours ago) and read 1127 times:
My love of 'planes was first and the photography part seemed to go hand-in-hand. Recently (as in the past 12-24 months) I've started to be a little more creative - of course not with A.net's policies in mind. This has lead me to experiment with other branches of photography, particularly landscape and buildings, which I enjoy most while visiting foreign shores. A misty mountain trail or an ancient temple at sunrise really capture my imagination!
As for nature/wildlife photography I'm afraid it's just never appealed to me whatsoever. Come to think of it I also find portrait stuff a bit of a bore. Of course each to their own.....
Sluger020889 From United States, joined Mar 2005, 422 posts, RR: 5 Reply 9, posted (1 month 2 weeks 2 days 15 hours ago) and read 1110 times:
I use aviation photography as a means of explaining my passion for aviation and flying. When someone asks me why I love aviation so much, I show them my work.
Joey
I would love to fly a cargo plane full of rubber dog shit out of Hong Kong!
RonS From United States, joined Feb 2009, 419 posts, RR: 21 Reply 10, posted (1 month 2 weeks 2 days 14 hours ago) and read 1093 times:
Quoting JakTrax (Reply 8): As for nature/wildlife photography I'm afraid it's just never appealed to me whatsoever.
Karl, this does nothing for you?
For me it's a mix. Aviation has been a part of my life since early childhood and still is today. I've always carried a cheap P&S camera with me though and enjoyed taking photos. Be it museums, vacations, camping, sailing, etc etc.
As far as art, I just try making photos that are interesting and unique, and I think I've tried to do that for a while. I have two photos from my first trip with a camera to an airport in NH in the late 90's. I can't tell you where those photos are now, likely lost, but I did enlarge two of them for my wall which I still have. The first a silhouette of a distant KC-135 departing into the sunset and the 2nd Air Force 1. These two early photos of mine that I saved sum it up, part art with the silhouette and part aviation documentation with AF1.
Ron
All opinions expressed by me are my own opinions & do not represent the opinions in any way of my employers.
Pilotalltheway From United Kingdom, joined Dec 2008, 57 posts, RR: 0 Reply 11, posted (1 month 2 weeks 2 days 13 hours ago) and read 1084 times:
Hi Guys,
Wow, this feedback is awesome! To be honest, it all started with me loving aviation. Planes Helicopters... everything! It was a few weeks into my aviation loving career when I was on google typing in things like 'Planes' when I stumbled across 'Airliners.net'. Since then, I've had a passion for aviation photography. Visiting airports often and watching out of my window. As I am writing, a JAL 773 in the One World scheme has just soarn over my house on approach for London Heathrow. So, I do it for the aviation mainly, but I like to experiment. Ie, different angles and light. This is where the ART comes in. So, a mix really and as Opso1 pointed out, all shots are ART really, when you think about it! But for me, overall, it's for the aviation. Hearing them soar over your heads, getting that perfect shot to show your mates and the spotting community. That's what does it for me.....
JakTrax From United Kingdom, joined Jun 2005, 2397 posts, RR: 7 Reply 12, posted (1 month 2 weeks 2 days 13 hours ago) and read 1073 times:
I'm afraid it doesn't Ron. I'm aware that it's a great capture but a thumbnail wouldn't tempt me to open the picture. Again that 'each to their own' thing.
Now aircraft I can relate to, and my interest in them has lead to me trying to find different ways to express myself artistically. I used to sketch them a lot as a young kid and obviously that artistic streak has progressed into what I do today. I have to have sufficient interest in what I'm photographing basically.
I also have a passion for travelling, and I've now learned to successfully combine that with both aeroplanes and photography. The three go hand-in-hand; a perfect combination (for me anyway). Nothing more mysterious than the setting sun over the Pyramids of Gizeh - add a silhouetted 747 to that and that's my ultimate creative shot!
So to conclude, I enjoy photographing aircraft, architecture/buildings and landscape/water scenes - three things which interest me. I'm terrible for wandering around foreign hotels minutes after I arrive with my camera in hand; looking for something different to capture!
GST From United Kingdom, joined Jun 2008, 443 posts, RR: 0 Reply 13, posted (1 month 2 weeks 2 days 11 hours ago) and read 1053 times:
I first got into photography about 5 years ago with my first digital camera. It was the high end of the handheld market, but no DSLR. Good for point and shoot photography, where nothing more than 35mm is required, and compact enough to bring with me to Venezuela for a month, still giving decent enough pics. I have been in to aviation since making first airfix models as a kid, but tbh I just don't get the documentation side of it. Planes are to me a thing of beauty (and hopefully designing them will be a career too), and so I try to be more arty. I photograph anything that takes my fancy, mostly natural or aviation. Water, trees, wildlife, landscapes, occasionally buildings.
I am a glider pilot so getting up close and personal to the aircraft I like to photograph is easy, so arty shots are definitely more possible than standing behind an airport fence often allows, but my 5MP handheld with plenty of noise has only yielded for me a single acceptance to the database, and that was the least likely one in my opinion due to the small image size and large amount of essentially completely empty space.
I have just got my first DSLR, a Canon 40D, and the 28-135mm lens arrived in the post last week, perfect really for my needs as mega zoom isn't such a necessary (but will be nice when I have money), and the diameter is small enough to let it poke out a glider canopy's direct ventilation panel. Hopefully with the improved image quality available to me now, a few more shots of Bellarena and Camphill airfields in Northern Ireland and England will be turning up, and maybe even a few accepted. If anyone is interested, here is the shot I had accepted thus far:
OK Karl, you are of course correct. I think I said the same thing to you in regards to your airliner-cabins.net thread. Well you said it there to, but I said it again.
However, might I point you to a link in regards to portrait stuff to see if you still find this boring?
Oh yes...and still do. Love drawing the TriStar for some reason...!
Quoting JakTrax (Reply 12): I also have a passion for travelling, and I've now learned to successfully combine that with both aeroplanes and photography
I actually book all my trips around my spotting, sad but true, haha. The combo of sun, sea, airport, beer is most alluring!
Quoting GST (Reply 13): Planes are to me a thing of beauty
They're certainly appealing I'll give you that.
Quoting GST (Reply 13): I photograph anything that takes my fancy
Yes, definitely. In fact the camera hasn't left my side in months. And I'm learning new editing techniques too, (Orton, tilt-shift, HDR, Topaz...)
All of the above is me in a nutshell, so to speak. I have found myself changing back and forth from spotter/number cruncher, to spotter/photographer, to photographer, back to number crunching photographer and now an art seeking photographer. I shoot for myself and I shoot for A.net. That might upset a few people, but so what? I don't just photograph the same plane in one style, I'll do my own style on it and I'll A.net style it too. If I've got time that is! But A.net is a great way for me to share my work, so why not? I do a lot of print work too, and you won't find a side-on up on my walls.
So, for art, yes! For aviation, yes!
Spence.
Cpd From Australia, joined Jun 2008, 1597 posts, RR: 25 Reply 17, posted (1 month 2 weeks 2 days 3 hours ago) and read 971 times:
Quoting JakTrax (Reply 8): Come to think of it I also find portrait stuff a bit of a bore. Of course each to their own.....
Depending on how they are done. Try doing it with props in the background, and off-centre photos (rule of thirds). That does sort of interest me a little bit. Though I'd prefer to do this kind of stuff through work (where I'd have to use a Canon 1D or 5D2) - rather than as a privately done thing.
I'd never shoot weddings however - just not my thing. I recently knocked back one for lack of equipment (no suitable lens at the time), but I'd still probably think about knocking back one of those requests.
One thing I never do is the real plane-spotting thing, like taking a note-book, writing down registrations and dates, etc. I'll try to get the registration in the image if possible, or take a second photo just to get the registration details if I need to. I refuse to write them down.
JohnJ From United States, joined Jun 2000, 1303 posts, RR: 4 Reply 18, posted (1 month 2 weeks 2 days 3 hours ago) and read 965 times:
Aviation definitely. The artistic shots are interesting, but I like to think of myself as a historian of sorts. In 20 years time I suspect the "boring side-on" shots present here on the database, particularly those that include some recognizable background, will be of more value than a beautiful sunset shot.
Raedervision From United States, joined Jan 2009, 31 posts, RR: 0 Reply 19, posted (1 month 2 weeks 1 day 23 hours ago) and read 932 times:
I lean heavy on the art side but I'm glad others lean heavy on the aviation side and if you're really good you can kill two photographs with one shutter release and make it both. Usually takes me two and sometimes 10 or 50.
GPHOTO From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2004, 599 posts, RR: 25 Reply 20, posted (1 month 2 weeks 1 day 22 hours ago) and read 920 times:
AIRLINERS.NET CREW DATABASE EDITOR
Quoting Cpd (Reply 17): One thing I never do is the real plane-spotting thing, like taking a note-book, writing down registrations and dates, etc. I'll try to get the registration in the image if possible, or take a second photo just to get the registration details if I need to. I refuse to write them down.
He,he, me too! When I was a lad I used to go out to the airport occasionally and always took a notebook. Wish I'd kept them, they would have been full of early 737's, F27's and BAC 1-11's mainly with the odd something else every now and then. (I've never, ever, been able to enjoy aviation as often as I would like, even today. On the plus side, it does make any time spent near the airfield all the sweeter). Now, I never use a notebook (but always have one in my camera bag), but use the camera to record stuff. Bonuses are that it is less effort, there is less chance of making a transcription error and you look very slightly less of an anorak. Everything is logged later in spreadsheets. I use both an 'Observations list' and a 'Master list' , very useful for tracking down photos when someone wants a print or sales request or just following the fate of an airframe.
So I guess I must still be a spotter at heart, but I now have a 'reason' for doing it. At least that is what I tell myself......
So, to the original poster, why do I take photos? No idea really, just for the love of aviation I guess. I am very into history, generally, so combined with aviation I love the photos on here from the 80's and before. Bajcar, Freer, Canciani, Vandervord and several others are photographer's whose name I look out for. But never forget that what in the future will be history is written today, so record it while you can!
I don't have an 'arty' mind, so often don't think about the possibility of creating an art type shot. But very occasionally I do and have a go and that is fun too. It is interesting to try and force my brain to think in a way that is different than the way it wants to flow naturally and sometimes, I actually get a shot I am quite pleased with!
JakTrax From United Kingdom, joined Jun 2005, 2397 posts, RR: 7 Reply 21, posted (1 month 2 weeks 1 day 19 hours ago) and read 903 times:
Quoting Cpd (Reply 17): Depending on how they are done. Try doing it with props in the background, and off-centre photos (rule of thirds). That does sort of interest me a little bit. Though I'd prefer to do this kind of stuff through work (where I'd have to use a Canon 1D or 5D2) - rather than as a privately done thing
Sorry Chris, they just don't float my boat at all. Like I say, I have to be interested in my subject(s) (not that I wouldn't be interested in women of course but you know what I mean!)
Quoting Cpd (Reply 17): One thing I never do is the real plane-spotting thing, like taking a note-book, writing down registrations and dates, etc
I did it as a kid then thought, "What's the point? I've got nothing but a bunch of numbers in a book to show for it!". Reggie-chasing doesn't in my opinion capture the essence of it all. Besides, many (not all before someone flames me!) such chasers do it simply for the want of 'collecting' something - when they're done with 'planes they'll move on to other things (boats, trains, stamps, supermarket trollies.....). It's not really a passion for aviation.
Quoting GPHOTO (Reply 20): I don't have an 'arty' mind, so often don't think about the possibility of creating an art type shot. But very occasionally I do and have a go and that is fun too
I used to be quite arty-farty but eventually surendered to the side-on profile shot as it fitted the criteria I was aiming for. Over the past year-and-a-half or so however I've rekindled my love for creatives and have got comfortably back into it. In fact I'm always looking for opportunities again now and it's amazing how this style of photography can make boring 'planes interesting again!
Opso1 From United Kingdom, joined Jun 2005, 505 posts, RR: 1 Reply 22, posted (1 month 2 weeks 1 day 17 hours ago) and read 882 times:
Having been in the military for a good few years now, some of the photographs I have taken are quite "operational". They couldn't be placed into the public domain due to security implications due to the open nature of the internet, but hopefully, one day, they will be allowed to be released. The situations have changed so the shots could never be taken again- they are now historical documents. Think back to any air to air World War 2 photos you have seen. They were taken by the crews themselves, usually in the thick of war (or on the long transit to a target or the long slow slog back nursing wounds). Without these, we would only have side-on views of aircraft in the ground or taking-off or landing.
Some of us are lucky enough to have this fantastic opportunity and documenting history in the making is a humbling experience to be part of (although all photograph taking is historical documenting!). Part of the thrill for me is the understanding of the significance of the event and that I am the only one around with a camera to catch it. Sites like this allow the photographs to be collated in a single area for everyone's enjoyment, but also as a database for the future...
StealthZ From Australia, joined Feb 2005, 4168 posts, RR: 53 Reply 23, posted (1 month 2 weeks 1 day 17 hours ago) and read 882 times:
Quoting Cpd (Reply 17): I'll try to get the registration in the image if possible, or take a second photo just to get the registration details if I need to. I refuse to write them down.
Absolutely with you there Chris, almost every sequence I shoot(even if a single shot "creative") will include a rear 3/4 shot merely to record the reg., if such a shot is not poss so be it.
Back to the question.. why?
More for the Art of Aviation, rather than Art or Aviation in isolation
Cheers
Of course old planes are safe, how do you think they got to be old?
HNLPointShoot From United States, joined Feb 2007, 42 posts, RR: 0 Reply 24, posted (1 month 2 weeks 23 hours ago) and read 824 times:
I take and upload shots to A.net because I like making and seeing pretty pictures of planes.
That said, I like to experiment to make more interesting compositions when I have a good idea and the opportunity to make it real, but it doesn't happen often when I'm shooting aircraft.
A couple examples of non-aviation shots I've done (no idea if they're good or not, though):
Cpd From Australia, joined Jun 2008, 1597 posts, RR: 25 Reply 25, posted (1 month 2 weeks 19 hours ago) and read 803 times:
With my enforced break due to computer troubles (the Mac has editing software on it) - I'll be more than happy to get back into uploading photos here.
Just this morning, I was on my way to work and saw this Emirates B777-300/ER, just skimming the lower edge of clouds - with huge condensation and massive ribbon like streams of vapour leaving the edges of the wings... That would have made such a great photo - if I had the camera with me, and wasn't in the peak hour traffic.
28 RonS: Ahh, aircraft and sport cars, I can relate.
29 Cpd: Well yes, except for the traffic jam of all traffic jams.. Argh! And even if I did have the camera, waving it out of the window would have resulted i
30 GST: Rig a tank turret mechanism to your car to mount the camera on, with controllers on the steering wheel. Okay so that would be ludicrously dangerous,
31 PiloteAlpha: Hi, I do it out of passion. I just love aviation and aircrafts. It was back in 2004 when i came across airliners.net for the first time. I visited the
32 TMFRA: Since I´m eight years old I´m interested in aviation. At first in civil aviation but over the years it turned into aviation in general and therefore
33 A330Fanatic: Quoting RonS (Reply 10): Aviation has been a part of my life since early childhood and still is today. As far as I can remember, I'd always been in lo
34 Soon7x7: Just like the first day I remember seeing something flying over my head as a child, quite literally, the only moment I remember before I could walk, w
35 Cpd: I got a tripod today, and a decent head on the thing that makes operating a heavy camera and long lens combination very easy. This rekindled my enthus
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