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While all of my photographs are copyrighted, they are available for non-exclusive licensing and I also sell large size prints. Contact me via email at greg.jones.design@icloud.com for pricing info.

Welcome

to my personal blog. Here I post examples of my photography and writing. I specialize in making unique and highly detailed photographs. Notice I said making and not taking. Yes I take photos but a lot of time and work is involved in pushing and punishing the pixels in my images to achieve the look I like.

Please feel free make comments about any of my words or photos. I enjoy constructive critiques, learning about locations to shoot or photography techniques. Click on the "Share Article" link to share any of my photos via Flickr, Facebook, Instagram, etc.

Want to use one of my posts in your own blog? No problem, but please make sure it links back to the original post here and do the right thing and give me credit. Don't copy my words, crop the images, remove the watermarks or claim my work as your own. This has happened more times than I can count so I've had to report copyright violations to ISP's and regrettably the violators blog is usually taken down.

Can't we all just get along?

Entries in Aviation (68)

Wednesday
Nov032010

Lead Sled


Lead Sled, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

Formerly cloaked in absolute secrecy and for decades regarded to be the fastest jet powered aircraft the world has ever known, this SR-71 Blackbird now sits quietly in front of the Castle Air Museum in Atwater California. I've seen Blackbirds in mueseums before but never outside and never in a setting where I could freely use my full size tripod to create an HDR image. This is one of my favorite aircraft.

Saturday
Jul172010

Super Cruising at the Udvar Hazy Center

The Mach 2 Air France Concorde takes center stage at the Udvar Hazy Center in Washington DC.

Friday
Jul162010

Starship Enterprise.... Kinda

The Space Shuttle Enterprise in the James S. McDonnell Space Hangar at the Smithsonian's Udvar Hazy Center Museum. Wow that was a mouthful. It's really quite amazing to walk into this hanger and see a space shuttle parked right in front of you. Even if that shuttle has never been in space. This was a test vehicle and was flown off the back of a specially modified 747. Astronaut and Enterprise test pilot John Young once mentioned that the Enterprise had the gliding characteristics of a brick. More Udvar Hazy Center images here.

Wednesday
Jul072010

The Flyer, Spirit and Columbia

In 1903 Orville and Wilbur Wright flipped a coin to decide who would attempt the first controlled, powered flight in a heavier-than-air aircraft which they themselves had designed. Orville, a 32 year old bicycle mechanic won the coin toss.

24 years after their success, Charles Lindbergh flew alone from New York to Paris in the high wing monoplane the "Spirit of St. Louis”. You can see it hanging from the ceiling in this image on the left side. 150,000 cheering Parisians greeted him when he landed at Le Bourget. He was 25 years old.

42 years later he personally witnessed the launch of the giant Apollo 11 moon rocket topped by the Command Module "Columbia" which you can see in the foreground. The Columbia carried Michael Collins, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and Neil Armstrong to the Moon. And it was there on July 20, 1969 during the final moments before the landing when Neil had to take manual control of the Lunar Module "Eagle" because their targeting computer was guiding them to a landing spot covered with car size boulders. He successfully landed the Eagle with six seconds of fuel remaining. He was 39 years old.

Over 66 years these men in their twenties and thirties made world history as did everyone who supported their endeavors. Not just for the United States but for all mankind. It's just amazing to me that at one time all three historic flying machines resided in the Milestones of Flight Gallery at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. and anyone could just walk in and see them all at once.

When I am lucky enough to visit and I see kids and even adults just pass through this gallery and not really give any of the exhibits here a second glance, I wonder if they have any idea how historic these artifacts are and how they changed our world so profoundly.

This image is fairly unique. You might notice there are no people in it. This is very rare since the National Air and Space is the most visited museum in the world. Manny and I had just seen a few IMAX movies in the museum. We figured that by the time the last film had concluded, the museum would be closed. We planned to linger behind for a few minutes to let the crowd exit the building so I could get this and a few other shots before the security guards kicked us out (which they politely did).

(Note: The Wright Brother's 1903 flyer is now located in its own gallery and is displayed at floor level so guests can get a better look at it.)

Tuesday
Jun292010

Under Your Wing


Under Your Wing, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

The US Navy's RA-5C Vigilante aircraft has a giant wing. I was hiding from the sun here for a while so I decided to lay down and take a photo. Some smart ass kids asked If I had fallen and couldn't get back up. I regained my feet rapidly and towered over them not saying a word. They left immediately. Little yuppie larvae.

Saturday
Jun192010

Fishbed and the Phantom


Fishbed and the Phantom, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

The Russian MiG-21 "Fishbed" Fighter/Interceptor in the foreground led an interesting life and must have made quite a journey. "Acquired" by the CIA at the height of the cold war, it was transported to a secret airfield run by the U.S. Navy. There it was test flown by American pilots to discover its secrets and weaknesses. Later as part of a highly classified project called "Have Donut", it along with other Russian aircraft participated in mock air combat to train American Naval aviators how to defeat this aircraft in the skies over North Vietnam. The aircraft you see behind the silver MiG is the American F-4 Phantom II.

Friday
Jun182010

Take the "A" Train


Take the "A" Train, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

The new AeroTrain system at Washington Dulles International Airport features some spectacular architecture. The two glass tubes contain the train tracks. Automatically opening doors in the tubes allow passengers to board and disembark. The system currently serves the main terminal and three concourses. Eventually it will loop around the entire airport. Cost for the project so far $1.4 billion.

Tuesday
Jun152010

Double Trouble


Double Trouble, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

Two pristine P-51 Mustang fighters line up for their afternoon flight. An American design powered by a British engine, the P-51 was greatly feared by German pilots during World War 2. Kathy and I waited to see them take off and I have to say there is nothing in this world like the sound of the Merlin engine.

Tuesday
Jun012010

Glory Days


Glory Days, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

I was a little shocked to see the condition of this seemingly famous experimental aircraft. It was rotting away in the boneyard at the Chino Planes of Fame Museum in Chino, CA. It turns out this is just a television prop. It was built and used for a show called Quantum Leap in 1989. The actual X-2 became the first aircraft to fly higher than 100,000 feet with pilot Iven C. Kincheloe at the controls. It was lost after becoming the first aircraft to fly in excess of Mach 3. The pilot Milburn G. "Mel" Apt was killed and the test program was ended.

Thursday
May272010

Lowdown on the A4 Skyhawk

I had been walking around the USS Midway for about an hour with my camera and tripod shooting HDR sequences here and there. I wasn't really liking the photos I was making though. Looked ok I guess but nothing special. Then I realized that it was my viewpoint that was off. When photographing a car, I almost always collapse my tripod and get a low angle shot. This makes the car look more powerful and the viewpoint is interesting because we rarely look at cars from 3" above the pavement. Why should it be any different for aircraft? The fun part was watching the other Midway visitors puzzling over why I way laying down on the abrasive flight deck peering through my camera.