I Got a Right to Sing the Blues

The first time I saw the US Navy's flight demonstration team, the Blue Angels, I was 5 years old. At the time the team was flying the powerful McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II fighter aircraft which were aptly nicknamed the Rhino. These huge twin-engine jets were unbelievably loud especially when all 6 of them fired up their engines simultaneously. The ground actually started shaking. All of this visual and aural stimulation was way too intense for a 5-year-old so after very little thought, I decided screaming and crying my eyes out would be an appropriate response. On the day this photo was taken at the Yanks air museum in Chino, California I was quite surprised to find this FA-18 aircraft wearing the Blue Angel livery. Unbidden, my mind flashed back to my first encounter with the blues. However, this time I was able to maintain my composure and just framed up my shot. I'm glad my response was a calm one. My wife would never have been able to scoop me up and walk me outside. It had probably been a decade since I had visited this museum and many things have changed including the fact that their aircraft collection has grown significantly.

More than Zero

The photo below is of the world’s only authentic flying A6M5 Zero fighter.

Designed and built by Mitsubishi in Japan during World War II, it dominated the skies anywhere it flew. It dispatched most American built fighters it encountered in battle brutally and quickly. So much so, that the United States began a deliberate effort to develop aircraft and tactics that could blunt this highly effective weapon. At the start of the war, the American P-39 was one of the best aircraft it had to deal with the threat, and it was no match. Japanese Zero pilots quickly learned that the P-39 could not climb with them and used their aircraft’s superior high-altitude performance to their advantage in defeating the P-39 on many occasions.

The secret of the Zero's stellar performance was due in part to its well trained and battle proven pilots as well as it’s lightweight construction. Unlike other fighters of the period, it completely lacked armor protection for the pilot and the fuel tanks. a fact that US fighter pilots found out when they fired incendiary bullets at the zero causing it to quicky catch fire and blow up in midair. 

Many years ago, as a volunteer docent at the Planes of Fame Museum in Chino, California, I had the great honor of showing a group of former Japanese Zero pilots this very aircraft. I would guess most of them were in their 80’s at the time and had traveled to the museum specifically to see the aircraft. It was my understanding that for most of them, this was their first opportunity to see a Zero since the end of the war. Upon entering the hanger which housed the aircraft, without exception they all began to cry and tried to hide their emotional response from one another by wandering off between the other aircraft in the hanger until they could compose themselves. It was a very emotional day. I always find it heartbreaking to see an old person cry. I admit I had to compose myself as well. After a few minutes they all gathered around the aircraft once more and suddenly began shouting a salute to the aircraft in unison. When they were informed that the aircraft would be flown for them that day there were more tears and many more during the Zero's triumphant return to the skies overhead.

I would imagine with so many years now having gone by since that emotional day, most if not all these men have passed away and most probably there are no longer any living memories of flying the Zero during World War II.

This specific aircraft was captured by the US Marines on June 18, 1944. It was returned to San Diego where it was evaluated, and test flown by many pilots including Charles A Lindberg. Eventually it was declared surplus after the war and was scheduled to be destroyed but the Museum acquired it in 1950 and restored it to flight status in 1978.

It has made several good will tours of Japan where it was displayed and flew for huge crowds all over the country, becoming the first Zero to do so since the end of the war.

Fargo, North Dakota

Splendor in the Grass

We often hear it's not a good idea to park your car on the grass while the engine is hot. Your catalytic converter could start a fire. I think this slammed 1930's car is safe as it predates catalytic converters by at least 40 years. The incredibly stylish body and mirror like finish on this car is what stopped me in my tracks at the San Diego, Chicano Park car show on this day in 2023. I just love the exuberant styling common to cars of the late 1930’s. Maybe after the trials of the great depression, exuberance was needed. Things would not be the same after World War II concluded. To poorly quote William Wordsworth:

Though nothing can bring back the hour of splendor in the grass, glory in the flower.
We will grieve not; rather find strength in what remains behind.

Punk in a City Storm

 

Run Silent, Run Deep

During our recent trip to Chicago, Kathy and I visited the Science and Industry Museum. While I had wanted to go to the museum on prior trips, this was my first visit. In my planning for our vacation, my research revealed that the museum had a World War II era German U-boat submarine in their collection including the sub's enigma cipher machine which enabled it to communicate securely with the German Wehrmacht Kriegsmarine headquarters in Berlin. The captured sub also included a full complement of 22 torpedoes. If this were not enough, the museum has created a submarine pen resembling those built by the Nazi's in France at Saint-Nazaire. The photo below does not do justice and cannot convey the scope and scale of this world-class exhibit. The sub itself is about 250 feet long while the pen is longer than the length of a football field. Enormous! We purchased a timed ticket to tour the interior of the sub which was very interesting. The crowded interior was somewhat unexpected given how huge the exterior appears to be. This panoramic image is comprised of 3 sets of 9 HDR sequences for a total of 27 individual images. I want to return and try to find a way to shoot with my gorillapod since tripods are verboten!

Stanley Field Hall

Kathy and I spent a couple of weeks in Chicago this past October for our annual fall vacation. As I will explain in another post, it was an eventful trip - but on the day we visited the Field Museum everything was still ok. We arrived before the museum opened and I think we were the first guests through the main entrance. I asked Kathy if she would mind if we went directly to the dinosaur hall so I could take a bunch of HDR photos before those exhibits were flooded with other visitors. As usual she agreed to put up with my nonsense. We were given a map to follow, and we quickly ascended to the upper level of the museum, gained our bearings, found the right door, and wound our way through the huge Griffen Halls of the Evolving Planet exhibit, a 27,000 square foot space. We rushed past a lot of very interesting things that I hoped we would have time to return to later that day. We arrived in the dinosaur hall to find it completely empty of other museum visitors. Mission accomplished! There was only a technician servicing the Mold-O-Rama machine. I did end up getting some great images as I had hoped. This even though I was shooting without a tripod. I'll post some of those photos as well. Once finished with the dinosaur hall and it not yet being time for lunch, we decided to walk over to the other wing of the museum, passing thru the Stanley Field hall, a spectacular space with white marble walls, vaulted ceilings, and columns that run along its full length. It also contains two huge dinosaur specimens. The Maximo Titanosaur that must have shaken the ground when it walked and the Spinosaurus which is believed to have hunted underwater and is depicted in a swimming pose. There is so much to see in this enormous world-class museum. We have never been able to see everything in a single day. I am already looking forward to our next visit!

Stanley Field Hall

Maximo the Titanosaur

The Spinosaurus

Taking a New Lens for a Swirl

The Petzval lens design has been around since the 1840's and is best known for creating a crisp center area of focus while rendering the surrounding area with an out-of-focus swirly bokeh. Almost like the bokeh has decided to do a little pirouette. While the pursuit of perfect optics in modern lens design would seemingly have made this type of lens obsolete, I find it quite compelling even with it’s tendency to generate chromatic aberration and heavy vignetting. For this reason, when Lensbaby decided to release their own take on the Petzval lens, the Twist 60, I bought it the first time they offered it at a significant discount. While I'm still learning to this manual focus lens, if I continue to get good results, I’ll be posting more from this little lightweight optical wonder soon!

Ready for your closeup?

The Pontiac vehicle that was fortunate enough to have this beautiful ornament attached to it's hood was a beauty. I certainly took more than couple of sets of photos of the car, but as regular readers of this blog will know, I am just crazy for the classic Pontiac hood ornaments, and I was not about to pass up the chance to switch cameras to take this close up image. I'll admit that all the specular highlights I could see on the car right next to it, increased my interest. I expected those specular highlights to resolve themselves into round bokeh dots in the blurred background which they did so I was quite pleased with this shot.

One of the things that I really appreciate being able to do after decades of being a photographer is the ability to look at a scene and quickly identify an opportunity for a memorable photo. I guess I have developed the ability pre-visualize what I might be able to capture when certain individual elements exist that MIGHT result in something good.

Truck Stop

I was taking a moment to change lenses at the Riverside Show and Go car show, when this slammed red chevy truck rolled up and stopped right in front of me it's airbags hissing as it lowered itself to the ground. The driver spent a few minutes talking to some of the car show staff before raising the car off the ground and motoring off. That was enough time for me to abandon the lens change and take 2 full HDR sequences conisting of a total of 18 images.