Saturday, August 1, 2020

B17 Yankee Lady in the Wild

About the only thing going for me as an activity these days is attending horse related events, either barrel racing or hunter/jumper.  And today was no different for a Saturday.  I had plans to go to Ann Arbor for the morning to photograph a H/J event.  And only for the morning, as it looked like rain was forecast for the early afternoon.  If nothing else, I am a weather wimp.
I had some things to work on to improve my efforts from last time.  Mostly, I was looking to improve my backgrounds.  A lot of the 'good' shots I had last time have vehicles or buildings as a background.  I thought it took way from some good shots.  The way the event is set up, there will always be some form of background but spectators and other horses fit in better.
Next I wanted to work on varying shots.  Last time out, most of the shots came in three flavors.  
And to help accomplish this goal, I brought in some help.
Looking at the efforts from last time, I found that a number of shots were over 200 mm.  I should be able to put the monster lens on the D780.  That was one combo.  If I put the 70-300 on the D500 that would give me almost the same reach at the long end, and some room on the shorter end.  
And, is there a noticeable difference in the combos?
And why is the title of this post something about a B17?  Am I missing air shows so much that I'm seeing things?
I had been at the event for almost two hours, when I heard the sound of low flying piston engines.  Engines, as in more than two and not moving that fast.  Nothing sounds like straight pipes in the air.
And, probably less than two miles away and I'm guessing at 1200 to 1500 feet above the ground was the Yankee Lady.  Had to go to a horse show to get my air show fix.
The Yankee Lady is based out of Willow Run Airport in Ypsilanti, just over 20 miles to the east of where I was.
The Yankee Lady in the Wild:




Yankee Lady in the Wild
NIKON D780 Ver.01.01/200-500mm f/5.6
500 mm, 1/800 sec, f/5.6, ISO 100 (AUTO)
EV +.33, MANUAL Mode, Size FX

Yes, there is a lot wrong with this.  Shooting a prop subject with something other than prop settings will do that.  I was also shooting with a +EV setting for the overcast in the horse jumping area.  Spare me the obvious criticisms.  I got to hear 'the noise'.  Nothing else matters.
One of the other funny things I noticed, or funny to me anyway, was that only one other person I could see was looking at the aircraft.  He was an older gentleman, and he had some scoot going to get his camera ready.  I'm thinking he knew what it was.

3 comments:

  1. Any shot of the Yankee Lady is a good shot! I lived in Warren for five years and saw it fly over several times. Always a thrill. I even built a 1/72 scale model of it!

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  2. BEAUTIFUL! The nicest thing about being a beginner who doesn't know a whole lot is you don't see anything wrong with the pictures. It looks gorgeous. I did notice the differences in the horses with more variety.

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  3. Thanks! Will have more of a story with horse post either tonight or tomorrow. Still can hear the engines. Can I bottle that stuff?

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