1 00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:07,000 Downloaded from YTS.MX 2 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,000 Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX 3 00:01:04,439 --> 00:01:06,816 Greg Davis: I got into aviation photography, primarily 4 00:01:06,858 --> 00:01:09,861 because my family had a military background, 5 00:01:09,903 --> 00:01:11,154 always around aviation. 6 00:01:11,237 --> 00:01:12,905 My grandfather would always take me out 7 00:01:12,947 --> 00:01:14,449 to Bergstrom Air Force Base, 8 00:01:14,491 --> 00:01:17,744 and we'd watch F-4s launch out of the base. 9 00:01:17,952 --> 00:01:21,039 Talk about a wonderful time, as a kid. 10 00:01:22,165 --> 00:01:24,333 Matt Ellis: My introduction to airplanes was my dad. 11 00:01:24,375 --> 00:01:26,294 One of my first memories of 12 00:01:26,461 --> 00:01:28,921 aircraft is being a very small child 13 00:01:28,963 --> 00:01:31,257 and being put in the seat of an F-4. 14 00:01:31,341 --> 00:01:34,218 And I remember looking around, seeing bunches of gauges 15 00:01:34,260 --> 00:01:36,346 and switches and canopy rails. 16 00:01:36,638 --> 00:01:38,306 And, at that point, I was hooked! 17 00:01:38,598 --> 00:01:40,641 As soon as I kind of became aware of airplanes 18 00:01:40,683 --> 00:01:42,852 and knew what a camera was, I wanted 19 00:01:42,894 --> 00:01:44,187 to take pictures of airplanes. 20 00:01:44,521 --> 00:01:47,815 So it's been a lifelong, uh, obsession, really. 21 00:01:49,651 --> 00:01:51,986 I was going to U.T. Arlington, here in this local area, 22 00:01:52,028 --> 00:01:54,656 Arlington, Texas, and I just got bored one day. 23 00:01:54,739 --> 00:01:56,324 So, I went out to Navy-Dallas, 24 00:01:56,533 --> 00:01:57,992 went over there just to watch planes, 25 00:01:58,034 --> 00:02:00,161 as a lot of people do, and I met a group 26 00:02:00,203 --> 00:02:01,537 of people out there that were really cool, 27 00:02:01,579 --> 00:02:03,372 that hung out there, looked like they knew what they were doing. 28 00:02:03,414 --> 00:02:06,542 Didn't have a camera, didn't have anything, but I saw they did 29 00:02:06,584 --> 00:02:07,919 and was watching what they were doing 30 00:02:08,002 --> 00:02:10,171 and said, you know, this-this looks like to be, would be fun. 31 00:02:10,213 --> 00:02:11,631 Better than just watching the planes, 32 00:02:11,756 --> 00:02:13,091 is-is maybe taking pictures. 33 00:02:14,134 --> 00:02:15,718 Jordan Dutton: Growing up because of his hobby. 34 00:02:15,969 --> 00:02:19,263 It-it kind of got me to, I was around aviation a lot, 35 00:02:19,305 --> 00:02:20,765 and then when I was about a sophomore, 36 00:02:20,807 --> 00:02:23,810 maybe a junior in high school, we went out to the DFW Airport 37 00:02:23,852 --> 00:02:25,061 and then he let me use his camera. 38 00:02:25,103 --> 00:02:27,105 And from that day on, I just got hooked. 39 00:02:27,147 --> 00:02:29,065 'cause it was something that I saw my dad do, 40 00:02:29,107 --> 00:02:30,483 it's like, and that's something that I wanted to do. 41 00:02:30,525 --> 00:02:31,734 It was just something that now, me 42 00:02:31,776 --> 00:02:33,361 and him have been doing together for 10 years. 43 00:02:33,403 --> 00:02:35,238 And it's-it's been some of the happiest times 44 00:02:35,530 --> 00:02:37,448 and, you know, to share that with him 45 00:02:37,490 --> 00:02:38,700 and to have all that fun, I just, 46 00:02:38,783 --> 00:02:40,827 it's been great ever since. I've enjoyed it. 47 00:02:42,036 --> 00:02:44,455 My dad took me to my first air show, 48 00:02:44,497 --> 00:02:48,126 I think it was in 1989, at Volkel Air Base. 49 00:02:48,168 --> 00:02:50,128 And that was the 10 year anniversary 50 00:02:50,170 --> 00:02:52,630 of the F-16 in the Dutch Air Force. 51 00:02:52,839 --> 00:02:56,509 And so it was, it was massive, you know, it was so packed 52 00:02:56,551 --> 00:02:58,428 with people, you know, boys and girls, 53 00:02:58,553 --> 00:03:01,472 and, and I was really fascinated by that. 54 00:03:01,890 --> 00:03:05,893 I'm an aerospace engineer, so I love the background 55 00:03:05,935 --> 00:03:08,855 behind the aviation, behind airplanes, 56 00:03:08,897 --> 00:03:11,858 the technology that goes into aviation. 57 00:03:11,941 --> 00:03:14,569 So, to be able to document that, 58 00:03:14,611 --> 00:03:17,071 in a picture, is fulfilling for me. 59 00:03:17,697 --> 00:03:20,241 Eric Coeckelberghs: I got into aviation like at a pretty young age. 60 00:03:20,283 --> 00:03:22,994 I think I was seven or eight, as far as I can remember. 61 00:03:23,036 --> 00:03:24,704 When I saw the Starfighters, 62 00:03:24,746 --> 00:03:28,249 the legendary jets, F-104 fly over my house. 63 00:03:28,291 --> 00:03:32,378 And ever since I captured that image, I knew like, 64 00:03:32,420 --> 00:03:34,255 "Hey, I love airplanes!" 65 00:03:34,297 --> 00:03:35,590 And the best thing you can do 66 00:03:35,632 --> 00:03:38,342 as the photographer in aviation is to go up in the sky, 67 00:03:38,384 --> 00:03:41,095 and catch airplanes in air-to-air photography. 68 00:03:41,179 --> 00:03:43,264 But that was very, very hard 69 00:03:43,431 --> 00:03:45,308 to actually get a chance to do that. 70 00:03:45,433 --> 00:03:48,227 And so, by the time I was a little bit older, I tried 71 00:03:48,269 --> 00:03:50,146 to create that chances myself. 72 00:03:50,188 --> 00:03:53,816 And yeah, it worked, uh, step by step, by step. 73 00:03:53,858 --> 00:03:57,904 My first air-to-air was in 1987 74 00:03:58,112 --> 00:04:01,157 when I had a chance to fly with the Alpi Eagles. 75 00:04:01,199 --> 00:04:03,868 That is an Italian team, flying four Marchettis. 76 00:04:03,910 --> 00:04:07,080 And so they took me flying, during the actual training. 77 00:04:07,455 --> 00:04:11,500 I never heard of G-forces, didn't know what a "looping" was, 78 00:04:11,542 --> 00:04:13,961 but when I looked up and I saw the cows 79 00:04:14,003 --> 00:04:15,296 there in the farm field, 80 00:04:15,380 --> 00:04:17,798 I knew, all right, this is cool! 81 00:04:17,840 --> 00:04:19,717 And I made some - some pretty good pictures. 82 00:04:19,759 --> 00:04:23,012 And ever since 1987 I've been doing it. 83 00:04:23,554 --> 00:04:26,766 Keith Snyder: My dad was a fighter pilot in the Air Force, 84 00:04:26,808 --> 00:04:29,560 and he had a camera at that time. 85 00:04:29,727 --> 00:04:32,438 And so I've always been around airplanes 86 00:04:32,480 --> 00:04:36,651 and just kind of developed the desire to see airplanes 87 00:04:36,693 --> 00:04:38,486 and then, got the camera bug 88 00:04:38,528 --> 00:04:43,032 and, um, kind of caught the disease at that point. 89 00:04:49,914 --> 00:04:53,209 Greg Davis: I got into photography pretty heavily in high school, 90 00:04:53,501 --> 00:04:55,169 loved taking pictures, 91 00:04:55,420 --> 00:04:58,297 did a lot of military stuff, uh, via a friend 92 00:04:58,339 --> 00:04:59,757 that was in the Air National Guard. 93 00:05:00,091 --> 00:05:03,511 And was introduced, uh, fairly early to, uh, one 94 00:05:03,553 --> 00:05:06,806 of the Air Force's top aerial photographers at the time. 95 00:05:06,848 --> 00:05:08,933 His name was Michael James Haggerty. 96 00:05:08,975 --> 00:05:11,727 And he was a photographer for Airman Magazine, 97 00:05:11,769 --> 00:05:14,063 and became a mentor of mine very quickly. 98 00:05:14,105 --> 00:05:16,107 And he showed me what the pros did 99 00:05:16,357 --> 00:05:19,568 and how they did it, not only to make great photos, 100 00:05:19,610 --> 00:05:20,820 but also to do it safely. 101 00:05:20,862 --> 00:05:22,488 He always stressed safety, uh, 102 00:05:22,613 --> 00:05:25,658 which has turned into my mantra as well as I- 103 00:05:25,700 --> 00:05:27,076 I mentor people now. 104 00:05:27,452 --> 00:05:29,704 I joined the Air Force in 1996. 105 00:05:29,871 --> 00:05:31,080 I walked into the recruiter 106 00:05:31,122 --> 00:05:33,916 and said, I want to be an Air Force photographer. 107 00:05:34,042 --> 00:05:35,960 And the recruiter actually laughed at me, 108 00:05:36,544 --> 00:05:39,005 and he said, "Nah, we're kicking people out." 109 00:05:39,964 --> 00:05:42,342 I actually had my portfolio in my truck 110 00:05:42,800 --> 00:05:45,720 and I walked out to my truck and I walked back in 111 00:05:45,762 --> 00:05:47,513 and I said, I don't think you understand. 112 00:05:47,764 --> 00:05:49,515 I wanna be an Air Force photographer. 113 00:05:49,599 --> 00:05:52,143 And I had, uh, about 10 photos that were mounted. 114 00:05:52,477 --> 00:05:54,520 And they were pretty exciting, dynamic stuff. 115 00:05:54,562 --> 00:05:56,689 And I slammed them down on the desk in front 116 00:05:56,731 --> 00:05:58,983 of him in a very cocky, you know, 117 00:05:59,067 --> 00:06:01,944 22-year-old way or whatever it was. 118 00:06:02,362 --> 00:06:05,698 Um, and I said, this is what I do, now. 119 00:06:06,199 --> 00:06:09,202 And the first one was two F-15s going straight up. 120 00:06:09,410 --> 00:06:14,415 So the recruiter looked at my portfolio, and looked up at me 121 00:06:14,457 --> 00:06:16,793 and said, let me make a few phone calls. 122 00:06:17,418 --> 00:06:19,170 And so, he did. 123 00:06:19,253 --> 00:06:22,548 And I had a guarantee in my contract, when I signed up 124 00:06:22,840 --> 00:06:25,551 that "if" I made it through basic training, 125 00:06:25,593 --> 00:06:27,595 and "if" I made it through tech school, 126 00:06:27,637 --> 00:06:29,472 that I could be an Air Force photographer. 127 00:06:29,514 --> 00:06:31,057 So it's been a wild ride. 128 00:06:33,434 --> 00:06:36,896 This was all, uh, grab a camera and try it. 129 00:06:37,563 --> 00:06:39,857 No formal training at all. 130 00:06:40,441 --> 00:06:44,528 I started out with Cannon AE-1 Program film cameras, 131 00:06:44,570 --> 00:06:49,075 which were pretty decent equipment, back in the early '80s and '90s. 132 00:06:49,117 --> 00:06:51,911 And, uh, it was a good platform to learn with. 133 00:06:52,078 --> 00:06:55,456 They were manual cameras, um, manual focus. 134 00:06:55,748 --> 00:07:00,211 And then, uh, entered the digital world about 2012 135 00:07:00,670 --> 00:07:04,048 when I, uh, bought my first Canon 7D. 136 00:07:04,298 --> 00:07:08,636 And that's basically what I'm using now, are 7Ds and Canon lenses. 137 00:07:09,303 --> 00:07:11,639 It's all self-taught. Everything I've done has been 138 00:07:11,681 --> 00:07:13,265 through trial and error, quite a bit 139 00:07:13,307 --> 00:07:15,768 of error when you start, especially, you know, working 140 00:07:15,810 --> 00:07:17,269 with the different types of films. 141 00:07:17,311 --> 00:07:20,106 Slide film was a bit of a-a learning curve for me. 142 00:07:20,189 --> 00:07:23,150 Started out, uh, shooting prints and then going to slides. 143 00:07:23,192 --> 00:07:24,360 Everything was a little bit different 144 00:07:24,402 --> 00:07:25,569 because of the, you know, 145 00:07:25,611 --> 00:07:27,154 the ISO settings and everything else. 146 00:07:27,196 --> 00:07:29,782 But it's through trial and error I became better and better. 147 00:07:29,824 --> 00:07:31,576 And of course, once the digital age hit, 148 00:07:31,742 --> 00:07:34,578 that changes everything as far as the ability 149 00:07:34,620 --> 00:07:36,122 to take many more pictures 150 00:07:36,497 --> 00:07:38,749 and find a couple that are good out of that. 151 00:07:38,791 --> 00:07:40,418 With slide, you couldn't afford to do that. 152 00:07:41,127 --> 00:07:44,630 Dan Dutton: Originally, back in the day, everybody shot with slide film. 153 00:07:44,881 --> 00:07:48,551 Some people would bring out 20 rolls of 36 exposure Kodachrome. 154 00:07:48,634 --> 00:07:50,177 I would have like five rolls 155 00:07:50,219 --> 00:07:52,013 'cause I was a struggling college student. 156 00:07:52,597 --> 00:07:56,225 So, when I took my shots, it was usually of a static nature. 157 00:07:56,267 --> 00:07:57,726 And the sunlight had to be really good, 158 00:07:57,768 --> 00:08:00,021 usually early morning shots, that sort of stuff on the ramp. 159 00:08:00,188 --> 00:08:01,772 Didn't catch a whole lot other than 160 00:08:01,814 --> 00:08:03,649 maybe a landing shot of stuff. 161 00:08:03,774 --> 00:08:06,652 So as things progressed, digital comes into play. 162 00:08:06,944 --> 00:08:11,323 Then I got to be more of a, uh, creative photographer in that respect, 163 00:08:11,365 --> 00:08:13,659 because I could deal with the settings post, 164 00:08:13,743 --> 00:08:15,161 you know, production type stuff. 165 00:08:15,328 --> 00:08:17,788 And so it took a lot more chances, got better lenses, 166 00:08:17,830 --> 00:08:20,499 so I was able to shoot more of the plane, the aesthetics 167 00:08:20,541 --> 00:08:22,710 of the aircraft, the lighting, that sort of stuff. 168 00:08:22,752 --> 00:08:25,087 So a lot of the courses I've taken in terms of photography, 169 00:08:25,129 --> 00:08:27,173 have been along those lines with like, Photoshop, 170 00:08:27,215 --> 00:08:30,009 things like that, to be able to draw that contrast out. 171 00:08:30,051 --> 00:08:31,469 So, used to be a backlit, 172 00:08:31,511 --> 00:08:33,012 throw it in the trash can, now backlit, 173 00:08:33,054 --> 00:08:35,890 no, I'll take something with that, make something pretty out of that, 174 00:08:35,932 --> 00:08:37,475 nice and aesthetically pleasing. 175 00:08:37,558 --> 00:08:40,352 So that's kind of the difference between then and now. 176 00:08:41,771 --> 00:08:45,566 Eric Coeckelberghs: The old style of doing stuff was a lot of fun, 177 00:08:45,942 --> 00:08:47,985 but everything was manual. 178 00:08:48,236 --> 00:08:52,406 The good thing is, you learn how to take pictures really well! 179 00:08:52,823 --> 00:08:55,660 And you have a maximum 36 exposures. 180 00:08:56,077 --> 00:08:59,747 So when I was still using that camera, for every 36 exposures, 181 00:08:59,789 --> 00:09:02,375 I had at least 25 really good photos! 182 00:09:03,000 --> 00:09:06,962 And strangely enough, even today, with the gun mode, 183 00:09:08,422 --> 00:09:12,718 I still do, like: I aim, I still do like, "chick, chick, chick, chick." 184 00:09:12,927 --> 00:09:14,929 While other guys take 50 pictures, 185 00:09:14,971 --> 00:09:16,889 I take like five or six! 186 00:09:18,641 --> 00:09:22,728 Switching from, uh, film or slides to digital, 187 00:09:22,853 --> 00:09:27,149 uh, I've-I've noticed that I shoot a lot more! 188 00:09:27,358 --> 00:09:29,902 So when I was shooting film, of course, it was expensive, 189 00:09:29,944 --> 00:09:34,282 especially for, you know, like a 14 or 15-year-old, right? 190 00:09:34,824 --> 00:09:39,036 So, going to digital, it was so much easier, you know, 191 00:09:39,078 --> 00:09:41,080 to just shoot everything that you see. 192 00:09:41,122 --> 00:09:42,748 And then when you come home 193 00:09:43,165 --> 00:09:45,376 and uh, you didn't like something, you know, 194 00:09:45,501 --> 00:09:47,670 you just delete it, you know, and move on. 195 00:09:47,712 --> 00:09:49,630 No, uh, no harm, no foul. 196 00:09:55,261 --> 00:09:59,848 To me, that's the fun part of photographing with aviation is, 197 00:09:59,890 --> 00:10:01,809 especially on the military side, 198 00:10:01,851 --> 00:10:03,102 is, it's just like hunting. 199 00:10:03,144 --> 00:10:04,395 When you go sitting in the stand, 200 00:10:04,437 --> 00:10:06,939 you don't know what you're gonna see. 201 00:10:07,106 --> 00:10:10,192 It could be nothing at all, to everything flying in the day. 202 00:10:10,568 --> 00:10:13,445 And, you know, I'm just looking, sometimes I'm just looking 203 00:10:13,487 --> 00:10:17,616 for something just to see F-16, F-35, especially around here, 204 00:10:17,658 --> 00:10:19,285 just to have something in the air. 205 00:10:19,327 --> 00:10:21,203 You know, obviously from the photography side, 206 00:10:21,287 --> 00:10:22,413 I would really look, you know, you know, 207 00:10:22,455 --> 00:10:23,831 for those banking shots, those nice 208 00:10:23,998 --> 00:10:25,916 low approach shots, things like that. 209 00:10:26,083 --> 00:10:28,127 But I really don't go hunting for anything in particular 210 00:10:28,169 --> 00:10:30,671 unless I know something is happening, obviously, which is very rare. 211 00:10:30,713 --> 00:10:32,757 It's, it's very rare that we're in the know of what's going on. 212 00:10:32,840 --> 00:10:34,300 But that, to me, that's part of the fun of it, 213 00:10:34,342 --> 00:10:36,802 is you don't know what you're gonna get when you go out there, 214 00:10:36,844 --> 00:10:38,345 which is the reason why we all do it, right? 215 00:10:38,387 --> 00:10:40,097 It's the reason we go out there. 'Cause you don't know 216 00:10:40,306 --> 00:10:41,599 what you're gonna see that day. 217 00:10:41,724 --> 00:10:43,183 And, I guess the best answer is 218 00:10:43,225 --> 00:10:44,476 I don't really look for anything, 219 00:10:44,518 --> 00:10:46,228 but you know, obviously 220 00:10:46,729 --> 00:10:48,314 as any photographer would you love looking 221 00:10:48,356 --> 00:10:50,608 for those beautiful, nice takeoff shots 222 00:10:50,650 --> 00:10:53,611 and nice low approach bank shots over you at the top, things like that. 223 00:10:53,819 --> 00:10:57,073 And, and yeah, just kind of enjoying from that end of it. 224 00:10:57,865 --> 00:11:01,452 As aviation photographers, aviation doesn't always come to you, 225 00:11:01,619 --> 00:11:04,997 especially nowadays, you know, you have to go out and seek 226 00:11:05,039 --> 00:11:06,832 that special aircraft that you're after. 227 00:11:07,416 --> 00:11:10,169 When I started, I was definitely a "plane spotter." 228 00:11:10,252 --> 00:11:11,503 If you got word, you know, 229 00:11:11,545 --> 00:11:15,216 that a specific aircraft was visiting somewhere, then, 230 00:11:15,341 --> 00:11:17,134 you know, you jumped in the car. 231 00:11:17,343 --> 00:11:22,306 You know, I started young, so for me it was, uh, bicycles and trains and buses. 232 00:11:22,348 --> 00:11:24,266 You know, try to get to an air base, 233 00:11:24,433 --> 00:11:26,394 try to catch whatever was comin' in. 234 00:11:26,894 --> 00:11:31,065 So, a good story for me, at least, one that I really, uh, 235 00:11:31,107 --> 00:11:37,196 you know, hold dear to my heart is going out with friends in about 1990ish. 236 00:11:37,613 --> 00:11:41,534 And, uh, we were after the USS John F. Kennedy. 237 00:11:41,659 --> 00:11:45,079 It was moorn in the south of England, in South Hampton. 238 00:11:45,287 --> 00:11:50,000 And so, we were driving at night trying to go across the channel, 239 00:11:50,042 --> 00:11:51,001 you know, from the Netherlands. 240 00:11:51,043 --> 00:11:53,379 And so a long drive after school. 241 00:11:53,838 --> 00:11:56,590 And, uh, so we ended up in South Hampton. 242 00:11:56,882 --> 00:12:00,594 And we were gonna camp in the wild, you know, just to save a buck or two. 243 00:12:00,636 --> 00:12:05,349 So we found this place that we thought, you know, 244 00:12:05,433 --> 00:12:06,809 was a, a park, you know, 245 00:12:06,851 --> 00:12:09,353 where we could basically pitch a tent, 246 00:12:09,395 --> 00:12:10,771 you know, and parked the car. 247 00:12:10,813 --> 00:12:13,232 It ended up being a golf course. 248 00:12:13,399 --> 00:12:17,486 And so when we woke up, we looked outside the tent, you know, 249 00:12:17,528 --> 00:12:18,904 and, and here's all these people 250 00:12:18,946 --> 00:12:21,573 that were already playing their game, you know, 251 00:12:21,615 --> 00:12:24,785 wondering what was going on with this tent, you know, 252 00:12:24,827 --> 00:12:26,454 on the, on the golf course. 253 00:12:26,871 --> 00:12:30,708 And there's a lot of those stories, that you go through, 254 00:12:30,750 --> 00:12:32,626 doing this hobby, I would say. 255 00:12:32,668 --> 00:12:37,798 Going out with friends and, uh, you know, just, just having a blast, you know? 256 00:12:37,840 --> 00:12:40,843 I mean, that's for me, you know, what it really is about, 257 00:12:40,885 --> 00:12:42,302 you know, just having fun. 258 00:12:42,344 --> 00:12:43,387 And then of course you get 259 00:12:43,429 --> 00:12:47,224 to watch these guys do their professional job in military aviation 260 00:12:47,266 --> 00:12:50,018 and admiring, you know, what they, uh, what they do for us! 261 00:12:52,021 --> 00:12:55,524 Going out and taking photographs of, of, uh, airplanes. 262 00:12:55,566 --> 00:12:58,360 It, I find very cathartic. No stress. 263 00:12:58,402 --> 00:13:01,530 I have no expectations, uh, when I leave the house, uh, 264 00:13:01,655 --> 00:13:03,908 unless I going to an event like an air show, 265 00:13:04,283 --> 00:13:05,492 a prearranged visit. 266 00:13:05,534 --> 00:13:07,411 And then, you know, the expectation is, well, 267 00:13:07,453 --> 00:13:09,538 you gonna hopefully, see something that, 268 00:13:09,580 --> 00:13:10,748 uh, catches your eye. 269 00:13:11,081 --> 00:13:14,126 If it's just a normal day, having a day out with airplanes, 270 00:13:14,168 --> 00:13:15,419 I have no expectations. 271 00:13:15,461 --> 00:13:19,965 As they say, any day shooting airplanes will beat every day at work, every time. 272 00:13:21,091 --> 00:13:25,846 A lot of my favorite photographs aren't necessarily of subjects which are 273 00:13:25,888 --> 00:13:27,556 that interesting. 274 00:13:27,598 --> 00:13:30,309 Some of the photographs are of interesting subjects 275 00:13:30,351 --> 00:13:32,019 that aren't terribly good quality. 276 00:13:32,353 --> 00:13:35,231 Uh, but each one has a story that goes with it. 277 00:13:35,689 --> 00:13:38,358 Having a good story, a good background behind the photograph 278 00:13:38,400 --> 00:13:40,694 where it was taken, the circumstances 279 00:13:40,820 --> 00:13:43,739 comes part of the way I look at my favorite photographs. 280 00:13:43,989 --> 00:13:46,742 One of my favorite photographs, uh, is of a, uh, 281 00:13:46,784 --> 00:13:52,414 an Egyptian MIG-21. I took on the ground in Egypt, at an Egyptian Air Force base. 282 00:13:52,456 --> 00:13:55,417 And it was probably the closest I ever went to going to jail, 283 00:13:55,459 --> 00:13:56,752 for taking a photograph. 284 00:13:56,961 --> 00:14:01,799 The Egyptian Air Force were very adamant that there'd be no cameras. 285 00:14:02,216 --> 00:14:04,343 And, uh, I had run outta film. 286 00:14:04,385 --> 00:14:07,679 I was on my last roll of 36 exposure Kodachrome 287 00:14:07,721 --> 00:14:10,599 and, uh, this MIG-21 came in and, 288 00:14:11,267 --> 00:14:15,062 and, uh, I knew I had maybe two shots left on the camera. 289 00:14:15,521 --> 00:14:17,648 The Egyptian security was walking up and down 290 00:14:17,690 --> 00:14:20,067 and I sneakily took a couple of photographs, 291 00:14:20,109 --> 00:14:23,320 and one of the Egyptian guards kind of saw me 292 00:14:23,779 --> 00:14:26,532 and I very, uh, delicately pressed the rewind button 293 00:14:26,574 --> 00:14:29,076 with my thumb and my hands were big enough 294 00:14:29,118 --> 00:14:32,246 that I could actually start to rewind the film back into the canister, 295 00:14:32,288 --> 00:14:33,914 while he was trying to talk to me. 296 00:14:33,956 --> 00:14:35,874 And he wasn't looking at what my hand was doing. 297 00:14:35,916 --> 00:14:39,211 And then at the end of it, he's, uh, "Open your camera!" 298 00:14:39,253 --> 00:14:40,504 And I was more than happy to open it, 299 00:14:40,546 --> 00:14:42,089 because there was a film canister in there 300 00:14:42,131 --> 00:14:44,091 that was already returned to its' slot. 301 00:14:44,425 --> 00:14:46,009 Now, that was a very memorable photograph. 302 00:14:46,051 --> 00:14:48,679 It's not a fantastic photograph, interesting subject, 303 00:14:48,721 --> 00:14:51,181 but the story behind it, um, is, 304 00:14:51,223 --> 00:14:53,225 is much more memorable for me. 305 00:14:55,019 --> 00:14:56,770 Keith Snyder: Targets of opportunity. 306 00:14:56,979 --> 00:14:59,815 First and primary is any aircraft 307 00:14:59,857 --> 00:15:05,321 that we don't see normally in this area, transient aircraft or aircraft types. 308 00:15:05,446 --> 00:15:09,283 And it's "pot luck," whether you will see that in a given day or not. 309 00:15:09,742 --> 00:15:10,993 With our local base here, 310 00:15:11,035 --> 00:15:13,453 Fort Worth there is the expectation 311 00:15:13,495 --> 00:15:15,873 of getting the locally based F-16s 312 00:15:15,915 --> 00:15:19,043 and F-35s flying out of Lockheed Martin. 313 00:15:19,418 --> 00:15:22,212 It's a mixed bag. You're hoping for new stuff, 314 00:15:22,379 --> 00:15:23,839 but you're expecting to get some 315 00:15:23,881 --> 00:15:25,924 of the local stuff at the same time. 316 00:15:25,966 --> 00:15:27,343 So you kind of plan on both. 317 00:15:27,635 --> 00:15:29,970 We actually have examples of a perfect, 318 00:15:30,512 --> 00:15:36,310 or near perfect photo day for our purposes, that happen here, occasionally: 319 00:15:36,602 --> 00:15:38,270 Hurricane evacuations, 320 00:15:38,896 --> 00:15:42,357 where a hurricane will threaten the southeast United States 321 00:15:42,399 --> 00:15:46,153 and most of those bases will evacuate their aircraft, rather than risk 322 00:15:46,195 --> 00:15:47,363 having them damaged. 323 00:15:47,613 --> 00:15:50,532 Navy Fort Worth is a prime location for some 324 00:15:50,574 --> 00:15:54,203 of those aircraft to "bug out" to. 325 00:15:54,954 --> 00:15:58,332 So, we've had occasions where we'll go out there 326 00:15:58,374 --> 00:16:01,710 and catch over a hundred airplanes 327 00:16:01,752 --> 00:16:05,172 that are not based at the Navy base, come in, in a day 328 00:16:05,673 --> 00:16:08,676 of multiple, multiple types from multiple bases. 329 00:16:09,093 --> 00:16:11,970 That's fun! And you know that a whole lot 330 00:16:12,012 --> 00:16:14,389 of stuff is coming in and a lot of variety. 331 00:16:14,431 --> 00:16:18,852 So, uh, that's a rich target of opportunity for our hobby. 332 00:16:20,646 --> 00:16:26,568 Favorite photos. There have been so many and so many different types, 333 00:16:27,111 --> 00:16:30,864 but I think my favorites are ones that I took of my cousin. 334 00:16:31,532 --> 00:16:32,741 I was, uh, flying 335 00:16:32,783 --> 00:16:35,285 with the Lone Star Flight Museum, outta Galveston. 336 00:16:35,327 --> 00:16:37,287 He was a chief pilot at that time, 337 00:16:37,997 --> 00:16:40,207 and I went up in their B-25 338 00:16:40,249 --> 00:16:42,584 and hung out a porthole on the side of it 339 00:16:43,043 --> 00:16:48,424 and took pictures of him, while he was flying B-17, in formation with us. 340 00:16:48,882 --> 00:16:50,008 And I think those were some 341 00:16:50,050 --> 00:16:52,803 of the most satisfying pictures I've ever taken, 342 00:16:52,845 --> 00:16:55,639 because it was an incredible aircraft 343 00:16:56,265 --> 00:16:58,016 and somebody who was close to me 344 00:16:58,058 --> 00:17:02,354 who was flying it at the time, that, that was fun! 345 00:17:02,521 --> 00:17:04,731 And I still look back at those photographs 346 00:17:04,773 --> 00:17:05,899 with a lot of fondness. 347 00:17:12,031 --> 00:17:15,367 For a photographer, there is nothing better than a "flex departure" 348 00:17:15,409 --> 00:17:16,952 at Nellis, during a Red Flag 349 00:17:16,994 --> 00:17:18,620 or even at Nellis Air Force Base, in general. 350 00:17:18,662 --> 00:17:20,497 If you're lucky enough to photograph out there. 351 00:17:21,081 --> 00:17:25,002 Typically during Red Flags, they uh, take off to the north 352 00:17:25,419 --> 00:17:28,839 and depending on the mission that these guys are flying, 353 00:17:28,881 --> 00:17:30,674 they either go straight out north and, 354 00:17:30,716 --> 00:17:32,801 and follow the highway into the desert, 355 00:17:32,843 --> 00:17:36,847 or they take a "flex departure," which, basically, makes a steep left turn 356 00:17:36,889 --> 00:17:40,642 over the motor speedway, that's located just north of the air base. 357 00:17:41,226 --> 00:17:44,813 Greg Davis: My experience with "flex departure," is asking for 358 00:17:44,855 --> 00:17:48,066 and understanding that you're gonna receive an opportunity to, 359 00:17:48,108 --> 00:17:49,359 as soon as the wheels come up, 360 00:17:49,401 --> 00:17:50,485 the gear's gonna come up, 361 00:17:50,527 --> 00:17:54,156 and you're going to head to your military operating area in most cases, 362 00:17:54,198 --> 00:17:55,699 in an expedited manner! 363 00:17:55,741 --> 00:18:00,620 So, that's often an opportunity to kick burner, pull a lot of 'G's 364 00:18:00,662 --> 00:18:03,832 going right out, and you get some vapors coming off the wing tips 365 00:18:03,874 --> 00:18:06,543 and it's usually a pretty exciting time for both the 366 00:18:06,627 --> 00:18:09,629 occupant of the airplane as well as people 367 00:18:09,671 --> 00:18:11,405 that may be photographing it down there. 368 00:18:11,965 --> 00:18:13,425 Jordan Dutton: Last year we went to Red Flag. 369 00:18:13,509 --> 00:18:16,636 We had an F-35 pilot who, I don't know, 370 00:18:16,678 --> 00:18:18,764 he didn't even have it, maybe a 1,000, 371 00:18:18,806 --> 00:18:19,931 2,000 feet above the ground. 372 00:18:19,973 --> 00:18:21,349 Kept it very, very low for us. 373 00:18:21,391 --> 00:18:22,726 And I mean, he turned that stick 374 00:18:22,768 --> 00:18:25,395 and he came right over the top of the car, shook the ground, 375 00:18:25,437 --> 00:18:26,730 shook the cars and everything, 376 00:18:26,772 --> 00:18:28,565 and it just sent a chill down your spine, 377 00:18:28,732 --> 00:18:29,775 when he yanked over the top of you. 378 00:18:29,817 --> 00:18:31,985 And that's a rare occasion, I'm sure you know that 379 00:18:32,027 --> 00:18:33,320 that doesn't happen all the time. 380 00:18:33,487 --> 00:18:36,948 But if a pilot feels gracious that day, he'll bless you 381 00:18:36,990 --> 00:18:38,617 with a really good "flex departure!" 382 00:18:39,993 --> 00:18:41,661 Keith Snyder: Got an airplane that's launching 383 00:18:41,703 --> 00:18:44,414 and then basically aiming right at you, 384 00:18:44,790 --> 00:18:47,668 in full afterburner, at a low altitude. 385 00:18:48,127 --> 00:18:50,712 And, at least, the local pilots who are there, 386 00:18:50,754 --> 00:18:52,506 who know the photographers are down there 387 00:18:52,548 --> 00:18:56,093 by the raceway waiting for 'em, are putting on a show. 388 00:18:56,844 --> 00:18:58,971 And if the lighting is right 389 00:18:59,179 --> 00:19:01,849 and you got the right type of aircraft, 390 00:19:02,224 --> 00:19:05,686 incredible photographs can be had out there. 391 00:19:06,019 --> 00:19:07,145 And just the thrill 392 00:19:07,187 --> 00:19:11,691 of having an F-35 go over your head at 200 feet in full afterburner, 393 00:19:11,733 --> 00:19:13,527 is just awesome! 394 00:19:20,450 --> 00:19:22,828 I am extremely lucky that my wife, 395 00:19:23,203 --> 00:19:26,039 not only does she let me indulge in airplanes, 396 00:19:26,081 --> 00:19:29,751 she actually encourages it, because she knows it grounds me 397 00:19:30,210 --> 00:19:32,879 and she'll join me, especially with the overseas trips, 398 00:19:32,921 --> 00:19:34,673 she'll come to all the air shows with me 399 00:19:35,132 --> 00:19:36,466 and she's all about the noise. 400 00:19:37,801 --> 00:19:40,720 and I'm all about the jets and the airplanes and the photography. 401 00:19:40,762 --> 00:19:41,805 But she's there for the noise. 402 00:19:41,847 --> 00:19:43,640 So she loves the fast jets 403 00:19:44,474 --> 00:19:46,852 and of course, she came out to Greece with me, for PhanCon, 404 00:19:46,894 --> 00:19:48,854 of course she's there for the noise of the Phantoms 405 00:19:48,896 --> 00:19:50,438 and let's face it, who isn't? 406 00:19:52,691 --> 00:19:53,942 She loves it as much as I do. 407 00:19:53,984 --> 00:19:56,653 So I have 100% support 408 00:19:56,695 --> 00:19:59,489 on pretty much everything I do as far as airplane's concerned. 409 00:19:59,865 --> 00:20:04,327 And my wife likes to fly, so, uh, she actually flies in Green Flag herself. 410 00:20:04,369 --> 00:20:07,748 So, uh, she's a sensor operator for Civil Air Patrol. 411 00:20:08,415 --> 00:20:12,127 My wife actually comments the-the same way, you know, 412 00:20:12,169 --> 00:20:13,670 that my mom used to do, you know. 413 00:20:13,712 --> 00:20:17,174 So, every time, you know, I get excited, you know, 414 00:20:17,216 --> 00:20:20,343 when I had a film, uh, developed and, uh, 415 00:20:20,385 --> 00:20:21,678 and pictures printed 416 00:20:21,970 --> 00:20:24,055 and you run over to your parents, you know, 417 00:20:24,097 --> 00:20:25,932 and you go like, oh mom, look at this, you know, 418 00:20:25,974 --> 00:20:27,267 and she's like, well, yeah, but 419 00:20:27,559 --> 00:20:29,102 that's the same one as this one. 420 00:20:29,436 --> 00:20:32,689 And you go like, no, but this squadron patch on the tail 421 00:20:32,731 --> 00:20:33,857 is different than that one. 422 00:20:33,899 --> 00:20:35,609 I'm like, okay, I don't see it. 423 00:20:35,901 --> 00:20:39,238 So yeah, my-my wife is essentially the same way, you know? 424 00:20:39,696 --> 00:20:43,575 So, uh, yeah, they don't see the differences, you know, 425 00:20:43,617 --> 00:20:44,785 that-that we do. 426 00:20:45,285 --> 00:20:49,247 And they don't get excited when we hear something on the radio "crack" 427 00:20:49,289 --> 00:20:50,540 and they're ready to go. 428 00:20:50,624 --> 00:20:52,459 You know, my adrenaline starts going! 429 00:20:54,127 --> 00:20:56,213 The family puts up with it. 430 00:20:56,964 --> 00:20:58,966 My daughter has zero interest in it. 431 00:20:59,299 --> 00:21:01,802 She knows I do it, and she has no problem. 432 00:21:02,135 --> 00:21:04,137 My wife, now, puts up with it. 433 00:21:04,554 --> 00:21:08,350 Uh, this hobby almost cost me my marriage in the '80s. 434 00:21:08,558 --> 00:21:11,645 You dive into it so much 435 00:21:12,104 --> 00:21:15,190 that you end up spending way too much time pursuing the hobby 436 00:21:15,232 --> 00:21:17,025 and not enough time on your family. 437 00:21:17,693 --> 00:21:19,945 I know a lot of photographers 438 00:21:19,987 --> 00:21:24,992 in the hobbyist category, who aren't married anymore, 439 00:21:25,367 --> 00:21:28,078 and it's specifically because of this. 440 00:21:28,412 --> 00:21:30,330 This is a time consuming hobby. 441 00:21:30,664 --> 00:21:32,874 There are hundreds and hundreds of hours 442 00:21:32,916 --> 00:21:36,253 you'll spend out in an airfield over and over and over again, 443 00:21:36,295 --> 00:21:38,255 trying to catch what you're looking for. 444 00:21:38,422 --> 00:21:40,840 And it's very easy to get caught up in that 445 00:21:40,882 --> 00:21:42,467 and your family suffers. 446 00:21:43,051 --> 00:21:48,556 Um, I found out, you know, in the early '90s that there's a balancing act to this. 447 00:21:48,598 --> 00:21:50,809 And I saved my marriage, but it was close. 448 00:21:51,226 --> 00:21:52,936 A lot of people haven't saved it. 449 00:21:53,687 --> 00:21:56,898 And uh, I think that's the point 450 00:21:56,940 --> 00:21:59,276 where some people get a little too serious in this. 451 00:21:59,318 --> 00:22:03,989 If you're willing to dump your family, basically, in order 452 00:22:04,031 --> 00:22:05,615 to go out and get an airplane picture, 453 00:22:05,657 --> 00:22:09,244 I think that's takin' the hobby just a little too seriously. 454 00:22:15,709 --> 00:22:17,043 There was a perfect excuse 455 00:22:17,085 --> 00:22:20,172 after 9/11 to say, well, 456 00:22:20,464 --> 00:22:24,968 security dictates we're not gonna let you onto the airfield or anybody else. 457 00:22:25,469 --> 00:22:30,057 Versus, being able to recognize, now's the time where we need 458 00:22:30,432 --> 00:22:31,975 to be telling our story more. 459 00:22:32,351 --> 00:22:34,144 We need to have local media come in. 460 00:22:34,186 --> 00:22:36,855 We need to have people that understand what's going on 461 00:22:36,897 --> 00:22:38,106 that can tell our story. 462 00:22:38,774 --> 00:22:43,904 A lot of public affairs officers almost consider local folks as adversarial. 463 00:22:44,196 --> 00:22:46,906 They all want to have the big TV station, you know, 464 00:22:46,948 --> 00:22:49,117 CBS News from New York come in and, 465 00:22:49,159 --> 00:22:52,371 and do a positive report on whatever their unit is, 466 00:22:52,537 --> 00:22:57,501 but they neglect and almost ostracize their local base, 467 00:22:57,709 --> 00:23:00,795 that are the supporters that get photos in the newspaper, 468 00:23:00,837 --> 00:23:04,216 that talk to pilots that are almost recruiters. 469 00:23:04,508 --> 00:23:07,177 There's people that do that, that have a passion 470 00:23:07,427 --> 00:23:10,889 for photography and for aviation, that make great photos, 471 00:23:11,348 --> 00:23:15,394 that help people, the civilians, understand what's going on. 472 00:23:15,727 --> 00:23:17,979 There's a few folks that I personally know 473 00:23:18,146 --> 00:23:20,565 and, uh, that I-I see out in the D.O.D. 474 00:23:20,899 --> 00:23:24,277 that do a really great job of keeping in mind the 475 00:23:24,444 --> 00:23:27,989 enthusiast, the hobbyist, the people that are out there to 476 00:23:28,657 --> 00:23:31,118 gawk at jets, but also make great photos. 477 00:23:31,284 --> 00:23:34,496 One of the guys, he's a civilian public affairs officer 478 00:23:34,538 --> 00:23:37,040 for the Navy, he hosts an aviation day. 479 00:23:37,457 --> 00:23:38,583 It's very well organized. 480 00:23:38,625 --> 00:23:41,711 It brings people out that he knows they have a passion for it. 481 00:23:42,003 --> 00:23:43,546 They get to see all kinds of cool stuff. 482 00:23:43,588 --> 00:23:46,925 They make great photos, they amplify the mission 483 00:23:47,300 --> 00:23:49,803 into the local community and around the country. 484 00:23:50,220 --> 00:23:51,596 Um, and it's a win-win 485 00:23:51,638 --> 00:23:55,809 because he also asks, if you get some great photos, 486 00:23:55,851 --> 00:23:57,185 will you share them with us? 487 00:23:57,644 --> 00:24:00,981 So, he gets photos from some of the top photographers 488 00:24:01,273 --> 00:24:03,817 that he can then put into his official products 489 00:24:03,984 --> 00:24:05,068 and show his command 490 00:24:05,110 --> 00:24:07,237 and show the Navy in a positive light, 491 00:24:07,654 --> 00:24:09,489 didn't cost him anything! 492 00:24:10,323 --> 00:24:11,950 We've got to get back to a point 493 00:24:11,992 --> 00:24:14,702 where people recognize those kind of opportunities 494 00:24:14,744 --> 00:24:17,747 as, in the public affairs field and leverage them, 495 00:24:18,081 --> 00:24:20,708 because there's not enough people going into aviation. 496 00:24:20,750 --> 00:24:22,877 There's not enough pilots, there's not enough mechanics, 497 00:24:22,919 --> 00:24:25,964 there's not enough people that want to fuel jets or helicopters. 498 00:24:26,381 --> 00:24:29,801 There's not enough people that want to learn aerodynamics. 499 00:24:30,010 --> 00:24:32,554 We're competing against everything under the sun, 500 00:24:32,596 --> 00:24:35,557 for people's attention, especially in those critical 501 00:24:35,682 --> 00:24:38,268 high school years and early college. 502 00:24:38,602 --> 00:24:42,522 So, if we don't have something that's eye catching 503 00:24:42,564 --> 00:24:44,691 that's interesting, a great story 504 00:24:44,733 --> 00:24:48,361 that captures people's attention, then we're gonna lose. 505 00:24:48,403 --> 00:24:51,156 And that is, that's concerning to me 506 00:24:51,198 --> 00:24:53,074 because it is a passion for me, 507 00:24:53,116 --> 00:24:55,076 both photography and aviation. 508 00:24:55,452 --> 00:24:58,121 But when you consider the big picture of national defense 509 00:24:58,371 --> 00:25:01,833 and just aviation in general, we need more pilots 510 00:25:01,875 --> 00:25:04,753 to fly people around the country to conduct the business 511 00:25:04,920 --> 00:25:06,046 that occurs in the United States. 512 00:25:06,296 --> 00:25:08,882 We've got to be able to be mobile, we've gotta have people 513 00:25:09,257 --> 00:25:11,551 that know what they're doing, fly great, 514 00:25:12,260 --> 00:25:13,970 get their passengers there on time, 515 00:25:14,221 --> 00:25:16,932 deliver weapons if it's military, et cetera. 516 00:25:17,015 --> 00:25:18,475 And we've, we've gotta get back to that. 517 00:25:20,352 --> 00:25:22,145 Greg Davis: Everybody likes to have their picture taken. 518 00:25:22,562 --> 00:25:25,356 And when I was an Air Force photographer, I recognized that 519 00:25:25,398 --> 00:25:28,568 very quickly, that all pilots, they've got an ego, 520 00:25:28,777 --> 00:25:30,403 they want to have a great photo of them. 521 00:25:30,695 --> 00:25:32,530 But you have to be careful and you have to, 522 00:25:32,572 --> 00:25:36,493 as a photographer, understand that sometimes appealing 523 00:25:36,535 --> 00:25:38,703 to somebody's ego is, is a negative thing. 524 00:25:39,079 --> 00:25:41,456 And I think we saw that out in the "Star Wars Canyon" 525 00:25:41,498 --> 00:25:44,417 in California, where you had photographers 526 00:25:44,459 --> 00:25:47,587 who discovered a great location to go and photograph 527 00:25:47,879 --> 00:25:49,422 and they started making pictures 528 00:25:49,464 --> 00:25:51,967 of the pilots flying the low level routes. 529 00:25:52,384 --> 00:25:53,927 And then the word quickly got out 530 00:25:53,969 --> 00:25:56,096 and lots of photographers started showing up 531 00:25:56,429 --> 00:25:59,015 and they also started coordinating behind the scenes 532 00:25:59,641 --> 00:26:01,476 with the pilots. 533 00:26:01,893 --> 00:26:04,646 And it went so far as to coordinate 534 00:26:04,688 --> 00:26:07,274 with units in advance. 535 00:26:07,566 --> 00:26:10,360 So they would, they were having people come through the, 536 00:26:10,402 --> 00:26:13,321 the low level route that traditionally would not fly 537 00:26:13,363 --> 00:26:14,572 through that low level route: 538 00:26:14,614 --> 00:26:17,492 Larger aircraft, adversary aircraft, 539 00:26:17,534 --> 00:26:19,452 aircraft wearing cool paint schemes. 540 00:26:19,619 --> 00:26:21,496 And it got dangerous, very quickly, 541 00:26:21,788 --> 00:26:24,291 because you had these pilots that were coordinating and, 542 00:26:24,833 --> 00:26:28,295 and knowing that there's 50 photographers on the ridge, 543 00:26:28,795 --> 00:26:30,713 they're gonna get great photos if I go through 544 00:26:30,755 --> 00:26:34,884 that pass upside down, versus flying it, pushing over 545 00:26:34,926 --> 00:26:36,261 and continuing in. 546 00:26:36,720 --> 00:26:40,181 And we actually lost an F-18E a few years ago 547 00:26:40,599 --> 00:26:42,976 where the pilot was being very aggressive 548 00:26:43,018 --> 00:26:44,978 and ended up impacting ground and... 549 00:26:45,478 --> 00:26:47,689 Loss of life of the pilot was devastating, 550 00:26:48,023 --> 00:26:51,401 but that's also a national asset for an F-18 aircraft 551 00:26:51,443 --> 00:26:53,278 that's, you know, now smoldering 552 00:26:53,361 --> 00:26:55,363 metal in the middle of the desert. 553 00:26:55,739 --> 00:26:58,992 And I even told photographers at the time, I said, you have 554 00:26:59,034 --> 00:27:00,785 to be very careful about this 555 00:27:00,827 --> 00:27:03,747 because you're gonna get somebody that's gonna think 556 00:27:04,456 --> 00:27:07,917 going through there faster than the published airspeed is gonna 557 00:27:07,959 --> 00:27:11,838 make a better photo when, actually probably doing it slower 558 00:27:11,880 --> 00:27:15,383 would be better for photos and for safety. 559 00:27:22,641 --> 00:27:27,186 I had a-an acquaintance in a local Post Office, uh, 560 00:27:27,228 --> 00:27:29,064 that I had known for several years, 561 00:27:29,272 --> 00:27:30,774 he worked behind the counter. 562 00:27:31,858 --> 00:27:34,986 And, I found out that he had been in the Navy 563 00:27:35,070 --> 00:27:38,698 and had been a bombardier-navigator in an A-6 Intruder. 564 00:27:39,032 --> 00:27:42,035 He knew that I had photographed airplanes and enjoyed it 565 00:27:42,118 --> 00:27:43,745 and he had no photographs 566 00:27:43,787 --> 00:27:45,830 of any aircraft he had ever flown in. 567 00:27:46,831 --> 00:27:50,710 So I asked him and got his log book from him and went back 568 00:27:51,044 --> 00:27:53,796 and researched and looked through trying to match up 569 00:27:53,838 --> 00:27:56,383 to see if I had photographed any aircraft 570 00:27:56,966 --> 00:27:58,718 that he had in his log book. 571 00:27:59,886 --> 00:28:03,431 And I found an entry: "March of 1986" 572 00:28:04,307 --> 00:28:08,353 where there was a, a VA-75 A-6 573 00:28:08,395 --> 00:28:11,606 that landed at Navy-Dallas, and I caught it. 574 00:28:12,315 --> 00:28:15,318 It was the only VA-75 A-6 I ever saw. 575 00:28:16,152 --> 00:28:19,489 And it turns out that was him, in that airplane 576 00:28:19,823 --> 00:28:21,532 and it was in the afternoon, 577 00:28:21,574 --> 00:28:23,660 so I shot the right side of the airplane. 578 00:28:23,702 --> 00:28:27,580 So, he was on the side facing me and I went back 579 00:28:27,622 --> 00:28:30,708 and found the slide and I was able to give him a print of 580 00:28:30,750 --> 00:28:33,503 that airplane, from 30 years before. 581 00:28:34,087 --> 00:28:37,006 And it just, it freaked me out! 582 00:28:37,090 --> 00:28:40,343 The coincidence of it just freaked me out at the time. 583 00:28:40,427 --> 00:28:41,970 But it-it was fun, 584 00:28:42,137 --> 00:28:44,931 and it kind of illustrates, kind of why I do this 585 00:28:44,973 --> 00:28:50,103 is just to kind of document these airplanes and it was luck 586 00:28:50,145 --> 00:28:53,022 or happenstance or whatever that all that worked out. 587 00:28:53,106 --> 00:28:55,608 It-it was quite a hoot 588 00:28:55,650 --> 00:28:58,236 to see him looking at himself in that picture. 589 00:28:59,487 --> 00:29:00,780 Look at my T-shirt. 590 00:29:02,615 --> 00:29:06,035 It's the one airplane that got me inspired, when I was a kid. 591 00:29:06,077 --> 00:29:07,662 The F-104 Starfighter. 592 00:29:07,912 --> 00:29:12,083 There are only very few flying nowadays. In Europe, 593 00:29:12,125 --> 00:29:14,460 for a very brief moment, 594 00:29:14,502 --> 00:29:18,464 there was one flying, it was a group in Norway 595 00:29:18,506 --> 00:29:23,469 that restored a two-seater to flying condition in 2018, 596 00:29:23,511 --> 00:29:25,638 after I think 10 years of restoration, 597 00:29:26,097 --> 00:29:27,932 they finally got it to fly. 598 00:29:28,641 --> 00:29:31,644 Now, the Starfighter is a flying rocket. 599 00:29:32,145 --> 00:29:35,523 The Aviation PhotoCrew team flies a Skyvan, 600 00:29:36,024 --> 00:29:40,320 a flying shoebox, with a maximum of 160 knots. 601 00:29:40,737 --> 00:29:44,824 That thing flies at a minimum of way more than that! 602 00:29:45,533 --> 00:29:47,243 So that was the first challenge. 603 00:29:47,285 --> 00:29:50,997 But the biggest challenge was, basically, to get in contact with them 604 00:29:51,414 --> 00:29:54,250 and get an agreement that they would be willing 605 00:29:54,292 --> 00:29:55,752 to give us a few flybys. 606 00:29:56,211 --> 00:29:57,628 Yeah, they were interested in all 607 00:29:57,670 --> 00:30:01,674 and the guy who was overseeing the project was a former F-104 pilot 608 00:30:01,716 --> 00:30:02,717 and he said, "Look, 609 00:30:02,967 --> 00:30:04,427 alright, I mean we gonna see, 610 00:30:04,469 --> 00:30:07,847 we gonna do you guys, and we gonna do flybys at 230 knots 611 00:30:07,889 --> 00:30:09,182 in the central line. 612 00:30:09,849 --> 00:30:12,811 Alright, we go!" So that's all I needed to know! 613 00:30:13,269 --> 00:30:15,355 Once we started off flying with the other guys, 614 00:30:15,438 --> 00:30:17,356 we were super lucky with the weather. 615 00:30:17,398 --> 00:30:21,110 It was a steel blue, wonderful, summer evening. 616 00:30:21,778 --> 00:30:24,864 And I think at some point, uh, you-you expect 617 00:30:24,989 --> 00:30:30,036 that a Starfighter is flying over the coast at like 10,000 feet 618 00:30:30,537 --> 00:30:32,288 and all of a sudden we could track it. 619 00:30:32,330 --> 00:30:36,709 There was something coming in very fast at 1,500 feet over the water 620 00:30:37,377 --> 00:30:39,462 and then obviously you hear it on the radio. 621 00:30:39,629 --> 00:30:42,548 So I can guarantee you when you see that in the end 622 00:30:42,590 --> 00:30:43,966 and you know it's gonna happen 623 00:30:44,008 --> 00:30:45,968 and you know it's gonna come to the Skyvan! 624 00:30:46,010 --> 00:30:49,264 That was probably the best moment I had so far! 625 00:30:50,181 --> 00:30:52,725 And then the first pass was already magic, 626 00:30:53,476 --> 00:30:54,936 but that second pass was 627 00:30:54,978 --> 00:30:57,730 directly in the center line at 200 feet. 628 00:30:58,648 --> 00:31:02,944 And the most magical thing happened is when it buzzed under us, 629 00:31:03,194 --> 00:31:06,239 we could hear the famous howl of the engine! 630 00:31:06,614 --> 00:31:09,450 And everyone in the Skyvan went like, 631 00:31:09,784 --> 00:31:11,411 we got it! We got it! 632 00:31:11,661 --> 00:31:14,414 And we were lucky enough to get seven more passes, 633 00:31:14,747 --> 00:31:16,416 before it finally landed. 634 00:31:17,166 --> 00:31:18,835 That was our best moment so far! 635 00:31:19,544 --> 00:31:21,671 Early on, when I was doing photography, 636 00:31:21,754 --> 00:31:23,423 I had an opportunity to go to Barksdale. 637 00:31:23,715 --> 00:31:25,648 That was kind of our home plate, there, and 638 00:31:25,690 --> 00:31:27,802 capture TU-142M Bears, 639 00:31:27,844 --> 00:31:28,803 when they came in. 640 00:31:29,012 --> 00:31:31,264 There's a gentleman named Robert Hopkins, he's a author. 641 00:31:31,389 --> 00:31:34,141 Uh, and um, he called me up on the phone one day 642 00:31:34,183 --> 00:31:36,644 and said, hey. At the time he ran a magazine called. 643 00:31:36,686 --> 00:31:37,979 Journal of Military Aviation. 644 00:31:38,354 --> 00:31:40,315 He says, I understand you live in that area. 645 00:31:40,440 --> 00:31:41,816 Would you mind going down there 646 00:31:41,858 --> 00:31:44,277 and taking some interior/exterior pictures of those Bears? 647 00:31:44,319 --> 00:31:45,862 I said, well, absolutely love to. 648 00:31:46,404 --> 00:31:48,197 And so I got to go down there and do that. 649 00:31:48,406 --> 00:31:51,367 The interesting part, because it was a magazine publication back then, 650 00:31:51,409 --> 00:31:53,870 not digital, he wanted it done in black and white. 651 00:31:54,120 --> 00:31:55,913 So I actually had to scrounge up another camera 652 00:31:55,955 --> 00:31:58,124 'cause I wanted some slides to get the color part of it. 653 00:31:58,166 --> 00:32:00,335 So I was able to take some exterior colors, 654 00:32:00,460 --> 00:32:02,003 but I wasn't able to do it inside 655 00:32:02,045 --> 00:32:03,296 just 'cause I was jumbling... 656 00:32:03,338 --> 00:32:05,047 the-the Russian guys were shuffling us 657 00:32:05,089 --> 00:32:06,466 in and out and sort of things like that. 658 00:32:06,591 --> 00:32:09,010 And so those actually got published in Journal of Military Aviation. 659 00:32:09,052 --> 00:32:12,096 So that was one of the crowning jewels of things I got to do, 660 00:32:12,138 --> 00:32:13,890 probably the best to this point, I would say. 661 00:32:15,266 --> 00:32:18,937 Greg Davis: I was assigned to Shaw Air Force Base at the 20th Fighter Wing 662 00:32:19,103 --> 00:32:21,230 at the time that 9/11 went down. 663 00:32:21,481 --> 00:32:24,483 And I'd been there for a-a significant amount of time, 664 00:32:24,525 --> 00:32:27,528 so that my photos had been out in the media 665 00:32:27,570 --> 00:32:28,905 and across the Air Force. 666 00:32:29,155 --> 00:32:33,409 And, I remember when "September 11th" went down, the Commander 667 00:32:33,451 --> 00:32:36,162 of Air Combat Command made a by-name request 668 00:32:36,329 --> 00:32:39,832 that he wanted me to come from Shaw, to document 669 00:32:40,249 --> 00:32:42,460 what was happening with the common air patrols. 670 00:32:42,919 --> 00:32:46,172 And so I was very quickly sent up to, uh, Washington, D.C. 671 00:32:46,214 --> 00:32:48,216 and I flew out of Langley for a few days 672 00:32:48,675 --> 00:32:51,719 and I got to fly in F-15s and F-16s 673 00:32:52,011 --> 00:32:54,263 and document the time where 674 00:32:54,430 --> 00:32:57,558 the absolute airspace was closed, except for 675 00:32:57,934 --> 00:33:00,603 the fighters that I was in and the tankers supporting us. 676 00:33:01,062 --> 00:33:04,065 And so one of my most famous photos, to this day, 677 00:33:04,107 --> 00:33:05,942 that is often used whe- 678 00:33:05,984 --> 00:33:08,945 when you talk about Operation Noble Eagle is, uh, 679 00:33:08,987 --> 00:33:12,782 two F-16s from North Dakota, flying over Washington, D.C., 680 00:33:12,824 --> 00:33:16,285 where you can see all of the major monuments 681 00:33:16,327 --> 00:33:19,288 and government facilities, including the Pentagon, 682 00:33:19,330 --> 00:33:21,499 right between the two jets, where you can see 683 00:33:21,541 --> 00:33:23,251 where the airliner went in. 684 00:33:23,501 --> 00:33:26,337 That's been very rewarding personally and professionally. 685 00:33:26,838 --> 00:33:30,967 But um, you know, I have kids, now, that are teenagers 686 00:33:31,426 --> 00:33:34,512 that look at that and say, hey, that's my dad's photo, 687 00:33:35,138 --> 00:33:36,639 and that's, that's pretty cool! 688 00:33:43,438 --> 00:33:45,940 I would've loved to have photographed the F-14 Tomcat, 689 00:33:46,065 --> 00:33:48,526 just because I hear so many stories, you know, from him, 690 00:33:48,776 --> 00:33:51,445 from our photography buddies, just how fun of an aircraft 691 00:33:51,487 --> 00:33:52,655 that was to photograph, 692 00:33:52,697 --> 00:33:55,199 especially in the Naval Air Station, Dallas days 693 00:33:55,283 --> 00:33:57,952 and the Carswell days, just the mystique of that aircraft. 694 00:33:58,202 --> 00:34:00,747 Obviously "Top Gun" made that aircraft very, very popular. 695 00:34:00,913 --> 00:34:03,833 It's just such a cool airframe and aircraft to do. 696 00:34:04,375 --> 00:34:06,711 Keith Snyder: I think my favorite subject was one 697 00:34:06,753 --> 00:34:08,963 that I never got a chance to take a picture of. 698 00:34:09,297 --> 00:34:13,301 My father flew the F-101 Voodoo over in England for three years, 699 00:34:13,593 --> 00:34:16,763 and that was such an impressive aircraft 700 00:34:16,971 --> 00:34:20,808 and I have no active memory of it, because I was so young. 701 00:34:21,100 --> 00:34:25,312 I've always missed not having had the opportunity 702 00:34:25,354 --> 00:34:27,523 to actively photograph those aircraft. 703 00:34:27,774 --> 00:34:31,569 They were gone before I got into the hobby. It saddens me. 704 00:34:31,611 --> 00:34:32,653 But the few Voodoos 705 00:34:32,695 --> 00:34:35,990 that are actually still on display, they're cool. 706 00:34:36,407 --> 00:34:39,326 I like seeing them and I like photographing 'em even though 707 00:34:39,368 --> 00:34:41,329 they're just sittin' there on a stick. 708 00:34:41,913 --> 00:34:44,040 I really wish that I'd had the opportunity 709 00:34:44,082 --> 00:34:46,167 to see those in actual service. 710 00:34:47,251 --> 00:34:50,004 Dan Dutton: F-117, just because it's so elusive 711 00:34:50,046 --> 00:34:51,464 and it's made kind of a comeback. 712 00:34:51,798 --> 00:34:53,925 I've always been interested in the 'black world' aircraft. 713 00:34:54,258 --> 00:34:55,885 I love every aircraft there is out there; 714 00:34:55,927 --> 00:34:57,803 Tomcats, Hornets, Eagles. 715 00:34:57,845 --> 00:35:00,973 But something with F-117, it has that mystique about it. 716 00:35:01,390 --> 00:35:03,142 Reading the story, knowing things about it, 717 00:35:03,559 --> 00:35:04,935 always been a fan of that. 718 00:35:04,977 --> 00:35:07,313 I wasn't ever able to see a Blackbird fly, 719 00:35:07,355 --> 00:35:09,398 I was kind of beyond that, when I was younger. 720 00:35:09,816 --> 00:35:13,069 I've been able to see a F-117, see it fly several times, 721 00:35:13,111 --> 00:35:15,362 catch it static, all those kind of good things. 722 00:35:15,404 --> 00:35:17,698 Uh, hopefully in the near future, we can see one flying 723 00:35:17,824 --> 00:35:19,575 that would kind of put a really good finish 724 00:35:19,617 --> 00:35:21,869 to the F-117. As far as I'm seeing it. 725 00:35:22,870 --> 00:35:25,748 Matt Ellis: The SR-71 is always gonna be the one airplane 726 00:35:25,790 --> 00:35:27,583 that I could never get enough of. 727 00:35:28,209 --> 00:35:32,630 I used to see it fly, probably about once a month. No matter how many times I saw 728 00:35:32,839 --> 00:35:33,881 an SR-71 fly, 729 00:35:34,090 --> 00:35:37,135 it was always the most exciting thing I think I'd ever seen. 730 00:35:37,510 --> 00:35:38,469 It was a sight to behold. 731 00:35:38,511 --> 00:35:41,764 It looks like it's doing a thousand miles an hour just standing still. 732 00:35:42,056 --> 00:35:44,058 So that's my all time favorite aircraft! 733 00:35:44,642 --> 00:35:46,310 Sebastiaan Does: People may argue, you know, that it's 734 00:35:46,352 --> 00:35:47,937 not necessarily a real airplane, 735 00:35:47,979 --> 00:35:50,481 but I would say the-the Space Shuttle launch. 736 00:35:52,859 --> 00:35:54,318 I've tried so many times 737 00:35:54,360 --> 00:35:56,821 and every time I've went, you know, it got canceled. 738 00:35:57,238 --> 00:35:59,865 So, uh, that's a, that's an extreme bummer, 739 00:35:59,907 --> 00:36:03,410 but I wish, you know, that I could have seen, you know, 740 00:36:03,452 --> 00:36:04,620 like a Space Shuttle launch 741 00:36:04,662 --> 00:36:06,789 that would've been, that would've been amazing! 742 00:36:09,208 --> 00:36:12,336 The aircraft that I would've most liked to have flown in, 743 00:36:12,378 --> 00:36:15,756 that I never got to, would be an RF-4 Phantom. 744 00:36:16,048 --> 00:36:18,843 I actually flew in an F-4 Phantom E model 745 00:36:19,385 --> 00:36:20,511 and that was very exciting! 746 00:36:20,553 --> 00:36:21,679 It was a dream come true 747 00:36:21,721 --> 00:36:24,306 because as I mentioned, I grew up at one 748 00:36:24,348 --> 00:36:25,599 of the largest Air Force bases 749 00:36:25,641 --> 00:36:27,852 that had F-4 Phantoms, as a kid. 750 00:36:28,186 --> 00:36:29,645 So they would fly over my house. 751 00:36:29,687 --> 00:36:34,734 I knew all about 'em, used to see 'em launch! Just amazing aircraft! 752 00:36:35,067 --> 00:36:36,986 But, I never got to fly in an RF-4, 753 00:36:37,028 --> 00:36:38,738 which was a reconnaissance version, 754 00:36:39,071 --> 00:36:41,365 that actually captured my attention. 755 00:36:41,657 --> 00:36:43,868 The crazy thing is, they would launch to the south 756 00:36:43,910 --> 00:36:47,079 and turn to the west, which is where I lived, in Austin. 757 00:36:47,330 --> 00:36:49,999 They would be climbing up to, uh, fly out to west Texas 758 00:36:50,041 --> 00:36:51,292 and do low level runs. 759 00:36:51,459 --> 00:36:55,463 And I had a friend, his father was a navigator in RF-4s, 760 00:36:55,630 --> 00:36:58,758 so he educated me about what they would do and 761 00:36:58,883 --> 00:37:00,509 it just seemed like the coolest mission. 762 00:37:02,261 --> 00:37:05,097 So RF-4 Phantom is the missed opportunity, 763 00:37:05,473 --> 00:37:06,891 but I did get to fly in, in F-4 764 00:37:06,933 --> 00:37:08,559 and that was pretty amazing 765 00:37:08,601 --> 00:37:11,103 because it's a beast of an aircraft! 766 00:37:11,145 --> 00:37:13,689 Got to do aerobatics, got to go Mach 1, 767 00:37:14,023 --> 00:37:15,441 got to do all kinds of cool stuff 768 00:37:15,483 --> 00:37:18,277 that most people would never get to do, and I was very lucky, 769 00:37:18,319 --> 00:37:19,737 because that was actually a, uh, 770 00:37:19,779 --> 00:37:22,865 QF-4 when they were being used as drones. 771 00:37:23,115 --> 00:37:25,201 So, sort of the tail end for the, uh, 772 00:37:25,243 --> 00:37:27,370 U.S. Military's use of F-4s. 773 00:37:27,703 --> 00:37:30,122 But, uh, it was, it was pretty awesome! 774 00:37:37,505 --> 00:37:41,800 I'm still hooked, and I presume I'm going to be hooked on this 775 00:37:41,842 --> 00:37:44,887 until I'm no longer physically capable of doing it. 776 00:37:45,179 --> 00:37:48,140 I enjoy going out there, and seeing the airplanes 777 00:37:48,182 --> 00:37:50,935 and getting the rush of seeing a jet, 778 00:37:50,977 --> 00:37:54,855 in "afterburner" blow over my head and taking pictures of it. 779 00:37:55,189 --> 00:37:58,984 I still get a rush out of seeing somebody respond 780 00:37:59,026 --> 00:38:02,655 to a picture that I posted, that I took 40 years ago 781 00:38:03,114 --> 00:38:05,408 and say, "Hey, I remember that airplane!" 782 00:38:05,783 --> 00:38:08,160 I published a picture on Facebook 783 00:38:08,244 --> 00:38:10,496 of an F-4 Phantom, from Fort Worth. 784 00:38:10,663 --> 00:38:13,290 And it was sitting down at the "last chance," 785 00:38:13,332 --> 00:38:17,711 waiting to take off, and it turned out that a guy responded to it, 786 00:38:17,753 --> 00:38:19,839 who was flying it, at the time, 787 00:38:20,298 --> 00:38:25,636 and he had-had no photographs of himself in that aircraft at all. 788 00:38:26,345 --> 00:38:29,765 And, all of a sudden here I am, 30 - 35 years later 789 00:38:29,807 --> 00:38:33,227 and I'm able to give him this photograph. That's fun, 790 00:38:33,269 --> 00:38:34,687 and that's got me hooked. 791 00:38:35,396 --> 00:38:39,525 And, being able to contribute to the history of aviation. 792 00:38:39,900 --> 00:38:43,446 The pictures we take today, are tomorrow's history. 793 00:38:43,863 --> 00:38:46,824 People in the military, with very few exceptions, 794 00:38:47,033 --> 00:38:49,660 very rarely use a camera. 795 00:38:50,036 --> 00:38:53,122 They very rarely take photographs of the aircraft 796 00:38:53,164 --> 00:38:55,499 or vehicles or whatever it is, they're doing 797 00:38:55,708 --> 00:38:57,668 because it's their day-to-day job. 798 00:38:57,752 --> 00:39:01,630 It's not a big deal. So, people come along trying 799 00:39:01,672 --> 00:39:04,633 to document the history of aviation, down the road, 800 00:39:04,925 --> 00:39:09,055 they're relying, in large part, to what we are doing now. 801 00:39:09,472 --> 00:39:12,016 Now, that might seem, trying to make myself 802 00:39:12,058 --> 00:39:14,143 a little self important, here, or whatever, 803 00:39:14,393 --> 00:39:17,438 but, when somebody comes along, looking for photographs 804 00:39:17,480 --> 00:39:21,817 of a Tomcat that flew out of Navy-Dallas in the early 1990s, 805 00:39:22,193 --> 00:39:23,819 they're not gonna find it in the Navy. 806 00:39:23,861 --> 00:39:26,405 They're not gonna find it in official logs. 807 00:39:26,447 --> 00:39:29,575 They're going to find it, in my slide books. 808 00:39:30,618 --> 00:39:34,913 And, the ability to keep that history going is a lot of fun, 809 00:39:34,955 --> 00:39:37,249 and it's a reason to keep after it. 810 00:39:37,625 --> 00:39:40,210 I don't know how many more years I've got left in this, 811 00:39:40,252 --> 00:39:43,088 but uh, as long as I can keep doing it, 812 00:39:43,130 --> 00:39:44,381 I'm gonna keep going out there. 813 00:39:46,217 --> 00:39:49,804 I'm predominantly photographing military aircraft, 814 00:39:50,221 --> 00:39:53,349 trying different locations, within the vicinity 815 00:39:53,391 --> 00:39:56,227 of the airfield to give you that different angle, 816 00:39:56,477 --> 00:39:57,853 that keeps it interesting. 817 00:39:57,937 --> 00:40:01,399 So, will you ever have enough pictures of an F-16? 818 00:40:01,565 --> 00:40:04,610 I don't know. For me it's all about hanging out 819 00:40:04,652 --> 00:40:07,654 with your friends and talk about different things, you know, 820 00:40:07,696 --> 00:40:11,575 that they've experienced in their hobby versus you, um, 821 00:40:11,617 --> 00:40:13,911 you know, different places that they have traveled, uh, 822 00:40:14,453 --> 00:40:16,122 versus where you have been. 823 00:40:16,414 --> 00:40:18,791 And especially if, you know, when you're talking about, 824 00:40:19,208 --> 00:40:21,794 you know, guys that do the same hobby as you do 825 00:40:22,086 --> 00:40:24,004 that actually have been in the service 826 00:40:24,046 --> 00:40:25,840 and even sometimes, in a war zone 827 00:40:26,006 --> 00:40:28,175 and be able to take pictures, you know, from 828 00:40:28,426 --> 00:40:33,555 what these guys train for, day to day. To be able to reflect that in a picture, 829 00:40:33,597 --> 00:40:36,684 and take that home, and for me to be able to look at that. 830 00:40:36,892 --> 00:40:38,269 I always enjoy that. 831 00:40:40,771 --> 00:40:44,900 I mentioned, before, that as a young kid, I used to go out with my grandfather 832 00:40:45,025 --> 00:40:46,360 to Bergtsrom Air Force Base 833 00:40:46,610 --> 00:40:49,530 and we would watch the airplanes from the end of the runway area, 834 00:40:49,947 --> 00:40:51,698 where we could drive up, at that time, 835 00:40:51,740 --> 00:40:55,035 and you could watch the F-4s taxi down a long taxiway, 836 00:40:55,327 --> 00:40:57,788 do their end-of-runway checks, before taking off. 837 00:40:58,330 --> 00:41:01,292 As a kid I would wave and wave and wave at these pilots, 838 00:41:01,375 --> 00:41:04,170 but the pilot was usually taxiing the aircraft, 839 00:41:04,336 --> 00:41:05,295 looking at his stuff. 840 00:41:05,337 --> 00:41:07,465 And the backseater was always running checklists. 841 00:41:07,590 --> 00:41:10,676 I remember that and understand fully now, having done it, 842 00:41:10,926 --> 00:41:13,512 the intensity of-of what's required. 843 00:41:14,013 --> 00:41:16,265 There was one time where I was waving and waving 844 00:41:16,474 --> 00:41:18,726 and a backseater looked up 845 00:41:18,893 --> 00:41:22,271 and just took a minute to wave. Acknowledged me. 846 00:41:22,480 --> 00:41:27,485 And I mean he was 50 - 60 feet away. The jet was loud and they were about to turn 847 00:41:27,735 --> 00:41:30,571 and he just took that fraction of a second. 848 00:41:31,071 --> 00:41:34,658 I think that moment, in time, is what actually said, 849 00:41:35,034 --> 00:41:36,368 "Man, I wanna be that guy!" 850 00:41:36,911 --> 00:41:39,246 I made a point in my career 851 00:41:39,538 --> 00:41:42,541 as an aerial photographer, flying in the backseat of jets. 852 00:41:42,875 --> 00:41:45,920 There were some times, where I knew there were photographers, there 853 00:41:46,128 --> 00:41:48,005 I knew there were kids there, especially 854 00:41:48,297 --> 00:41:49,507 where I would take that moment 855 00:41:49,673 --> 00:41:52,343 and wave at the kids, acknowledge 'em, 856 00:41:52,760 --> 00:41:54,178 wave at the photographers. 857 00:41:54,303 --> 00:41:58,474 I think part of what has driven me, is knowing that 858 00:41:58,516 --> 00:42:01,560 over the years I've had that impact on people. 859 00:42:01,727 --> 00:42:03,645 I've had kids come up to me 860 00:42:03,687 --> 00:42:06,065 and say, "Oh, I've seen your picture in Airman Magazine!" 861 00:42:06,690 --> 00:42:09,067 That was really cool and now I wanna be a pilot, or 862 00:42:09,109 --> 00:42:11,653 I wanna join the Air Force and be a Pararescueman, 863 00:42:11,695 --> 00:42:17,159 'cause I saw your photo of guys coming out of an HH-60G, in Kuwait 864 00:42:17,535 --> 00:42:20,746 and that was just super! That's pretty inspirational! 865 00:42:23,374 --> 00:42:25,417 Dan Dutton: To do anything with your family is always awesome! 866 00:42:25,459 --> 00:42:28,295 To be able to share, uh, you know, any kind of experiences 867 00:42:28,337 --> 00:42:30,047 and beyond just what you do as a family. 868 00:42:30,339 --> 00:42:32,299 I never thought I'd have a buddy, to be able to do that with. 869 00:42:32,341 --> 00:42:35,719 I've got my aviation friends that, uh, obviously we do that 870 00:42:35,761 --> 00:42:38,472 and I've introduced him and he's got to be their friends 871 00:42:38,514 --> 00:42:41,016 and peers as well, which I, which is even cooler than that! 872 00:42:41,058 --> 00:42:44,144 A lot of the, the guys I've known and had known him, now 873 00:42:44,186 --> 00:42:47,106 and uh, you know, and accept him as a peer, as well. 874 00:42:47,523 --> 00:42:49,274 It's always fun to have somebody to talk to 875 00:42:49,316 --> 00:42:50,734 or share the experience with. 876 00:42:50,776 --> 00:42:53,862 And so, uh, I think that's the best part, now, is, you know, 877 00:42:53,904 --> 00:42:56,323 if a B-1 flies by, it's cool to take a shot, 878 00:42:56,365 --> 00:42:57,783 but it's even better to have your son with you, 879 00:42:57,825 --> 00:42:59,535 who enjoys it even more than you do, you know. 880 00:42:59,994 --> 00:43:00,744 We were at Shepherd 881 00:43:00,786 --> 00:43:02,162 for the Air Show a couple years ago. 882 00:43:02,288 --> 00:43:04,456 And, I saw a gentleman in a wheelchair 883 00:43:04,498 --> 00:43:06,667 and his son was wheeling around showing the run. 884 00:43:06,709 --> 00:43:08,168 I said, "Well Jordan, you know, you're- 885 00:43:08,377 --> 00:43:09,753 you're you're gonna have to do that to me someday." 886 00:43:09,795 --> 00:43:11,005 He said, "Anytime, Dad!" 887 00:43:11,505 --> 00:43:14,091 So, uh, that's always good to know that I may be in 888 00:43:14,133 --> 00:43:15,801 that wheelchair with my camera, 889 00:43:15,843 --> 00:43:17,010 but somebody's gonna be pushing me, 890 00:43:17,052 --> 00:43:18,512 that I know. So, that's pretty cool! 891 00:43:19,388 --> 00:43:21,223 Jordan Dutton: Anytime you get to spend time with your dad 892 00:43:21,432 --> 00:43:22,891 and doing something that he loves, 893 00:43:22,933 --> 00:43:24,810 but also something-something that you love too, 894 00:43:25,102 --> 00:43:26,353 It's just a really special moment. 895 00:43:26,395 --> 00:43:28,272 It, for-for me, it's just, you know, 896 00:43:28,314 --> 00:43:29,982 the quality time I get to spend with him. 897 00:43:30,232 --> 00:43:31,817 'cause obviously now, you know, with me hav- 898 00:43:31,859 --> 00:43:34,361 having a full-time job being busy, it's, it's harder to have 899 00:43:34,403 --> 00:43:35,487 that family time at home. 900 00:43:35,529 --> 00:43:37,281 And so, it's something that me and him 901 00:43:37,323 --> 00:43:38,615 both were able to do together 902 00:43:38,657 --> 00:43:39,616 and something that, you know, we get 903 00:43:39,658 --> 00:43:41,201 to experience everything together! 904 00:43:41,327 --> 00:43:43,579 I mean, there's no one really else that I have, you know, 905 00:43:43,621 --> 00:43:45,247 outside of the peers that he was talking about 906 00:43:45,289 --> 00:43:48,041 that I can share that with. I tell my friends, as a hobby, 907 00:43:48,083 --> 00:43:49,293 I'm an aviation photographer, 908 00:43:49,335 --> 00:43:50,961 you know, what's that? You know, you know, what's, you know, 909 00:43:51,003 --> 00:43:53,755 it's-it's not really that big of a deal to them or you know, it's, you know, 910 00:43:53,797 --> 00:43:55,591 they don't really get it, and I understand that 911 00:43:55,841 --> 00:43:57,009 and it's just a big hobby of mine 912 00:43:57,051 --> 00:43:58,677 and he's the only one that really gets it. 913 00:43:58,927 --> 00:44:00,012 I mean, who better just... 914 00:44:00,137 --> 00:44:02,222 to have those experiences with than-than your father. 915 00:44:02,473 --> 00:44:04,642 There's a photograph that, you know, that I have 916 00:44:04,975 --> 00:44:07,060 that's on my desk at my at work that, you know, 917 00:44:07,102 --> 00:44:08,228 it's a picture that me and him took. 918 00:44:08,270 --> 00:44:10,606 If, if you ever go to Nellis Air Force Base at the entrance, 919 00:44:10,648 --> 00:44:12,650 there's basically a big statue 920 00:44:12,775 --> 00:44:14,068 of fourth Thunderbird in formation. 921 00:44:14,276 --> 00:44:16,195 And that was at our first Red Flag, together. 922 00:44:16,487 --> 00:44:18,196 And that's something that I cherish, 923 00:44:18,238 --> 00:44:19,281 that I keep really close to me. 924 00:44:19,323 --> 00:44:22,659 'cause that was a time where we both had gone to a place 925 00:44:22,701 --> 00:44:25,037 and doing something that we both really enjoyed and loved being at. 926 00:44:25,079 --> 00:44:27,331 And, having those memories is something that you can't... 927 00:44:27,373 --> 00:44:28,832 that money or nothing can replace.