52nd blog

I think this is my 52nd blog, somewhere along the way, I lost count, a little bit, so I might be plus one or minus one.

Last week at this moment, I was getting ready for my trip to Sacramento, California, as I had been hired to be the Official Photographer of Classic Jet Tours Enthusiasts flight on Saturday, May 26th on a DC-8, jet.   This aircraft was flown by ATI, or Air Transport International LLC, which is primarily a cargo carrier, yet they have a couple of DC-8’s that are called “Combi” aircraft, which means both cargo AND passengers fly on the main deck of the aircraft.  There are many DC-8’s that used to fly passengers around during the 60’s and 70’s, 80’s and early 90’s, but now earn their living flying freight around the world.  Here in  the United States, ATI is the only carrier still operating the DC-8.  UPS quit flying them a few years ago, but they did have a large fleet of them, at one point and time.

Classic Jet Tours was founded about two years ago by a young man named Sean Burris.  His company hired me last year to be the Official Photographer on their first flight, which was a BAC-111.  That was a great trip and I knew this would be no exception.

This DC-8 was built in 1968 at the Douglas Aircraft factory in Long Beach, California.  This particular plane was first delivered to SAS Airlines, it has also flown with Thai Airways and I believe the Royal Thai Air Force before coming to ATI.  Our flight was going to be from McClellan Airport (MCC), which was formerly a United States Air Force base, and we were going to fly the jet down to Long Beach, California and take a quick tour to the factory where this jet was built.

The jet only holds 30 passengers in the rear area of the aircraft, and the cargo hold is forward from the passenger compartment, but we did not have any freight on our plane, it was strictly a pleasure flight.  There were numerous people who had come to Sacramento from far away places as Switzerland, Norway, United Arab Emirates and Holland, to name a few countries.

This particular plane has the original engines in them, while many DC-8’s that continue to fly have been fitted with newer, more fuel efficient engines, and much quieter engines.  When we took off from MCC to LGB, it was very loud, but being an aviation enthusiast, we all loved the sound of that beast of an aircraft taking us down the runway.

After about an hour and 15 minute flight we landed at the Long Beach Airport and took a quick tour over to the former factories where these jets, along with their smaller brother, the DC-9 family was built.  It was really sad to see such large, beautiful buildings that used to produce such outstanding aircraft no longer have any activity inside of them.

We also were able to see the “World Famous” Fly Douglas Jets neon sign.  After the short tour of the factory buildings, we re-boarded the aircraft and flew back to McClellan Airport and we were then able to walk around the aircraft for a very long time and photograph it.

Here are some of my photos from the journey, I hope you enjoy them.

51st Blog

I wanted to try and post a photo from my recent trip. Don’t know if it will work or not but I’m going to try

50th post

I am so far behind in my blog it isn’t even funny. My goal is to get to 200 blogs yet at the rate I’m going it will take me two years to get there. I think I need to set a reminder on my iPhone calendar to blog at least every other day. Been traveling on some photo shoots recently. I’ve got to go to a morning networking group I attend each Thursday but when I get back in the office tomorrow afternoon, I will post a much more detailed blog with photos. Big thunderstorms headed our way tonight. We had them early this morning and I slept right through them.

49th Post

I wanted to take this time to thank all of the men and women and their families who have previously served and/or are currently serving in any of the various branches of the United States Military.  Our country can never begin to thank you enough for all of your service and sacrifices you and your families have given, while protecting our freedom!

My father served in the US Army during World War II and although he is no longer with us, I am still very proud of him.

Went to Sacramento California to fly on a special chartered DC-8 flight on Saturday, May 26, 2012.

Here is one photo form the trip, I’ll upload some more, and write more about the trip in the next few days.

Happy Memorial Day !

 

48th Post

I had a good week and I hope everyone else did, as well.

On Monday, I had a shoot with a Cessna Citation III and boy was it hot inside that airplane.  I am going to have to ask future clients to please make sure to turn on the air conditioners in the aircraft as I photograph them, especially now that summer is going to be raising the temperature up even higher in those cabins.  I was literally soaking wet when I finished photographing the interior of the aircraft as it was inside a hangar, and of course, no air was circulating inside the hangar, or the cabin of the jet.

I am posting a few of the interior shots, and I am still working on the exterior shots; I’ll post some of them as soon as I have them finished.  Hope you enjoy viewing these, it is a very nice looking aircraft.

 

47th Post

Had a nice weekend, and it sure seems sad to see it end so quickly.

I went and changed out our accounts for our iPhones from at&t to Sprint, because it would save us approximately over $84 a month.  That adds up to a very hefty savings for our budget and the Davis Mansion.  ha ha ha !!

So it took over an hour to change over from one provider to the other, but we (my wife and I) have the new iPhone 4s and I’m now spending another couple of hours to transfer everything over from my old iPhone to the new one.  The old one was a 3G model and my model was about to die, so I’m really pleased with the new phones.  Just wish it didn’t have to take so long to transfer all my songs, games and apps over to the new phone.

I’ve also VERY anxious to try out the new Siri feature on the iPhone.  I think I’ll be using that service a lot.  In fact, I already used it while I was in the Sprint story to remind me of an upcoming birthday for a friend of mine.  I ALWAYS forget my friend’s birthday in May and I feel bad about it; fortunately for me, just as the new iPhone was getting set up, she texted me.  So I immediately went into Siri and had a reminder put in place for me.  I’m sure there will be a ton of things I can get Siri to do for me, I’m really excited about that.

Looking forward to a good work week, I tentatively have a aircraft shoot for Tuesday, it will be a Canadair Challenger 604 model, a little bit larger jet than I’ve photographed the past couple of sessions, so I am thankful about that.  The larger the plane, the more room I have to move around in it.  And I’m a big guy.  I just hope it doesn’t rain that day.  It only shows a 30% chance of rain, so I hope the “weather guessers” get that one right.  Not a lot of fun to photograph a jet out on a wet ramp.

It is my wish that all of you that read my blog have a GREAT day today and I hope you have a WONDERFUL week, as well.

 

46th Post

I took all that I wrote on this blog and have deleted it.

I do not want to be negative about any of my shoots and any of my previous clients.  My apologies if I have offended anyone.

I will only post good stories from now on.  The hard lessons I learn, I will keep to myself as confidentiality is a very important part of this industry I am in.  I learned some tough, but valuable lessons from this; and I will get back up on the horse and ride again.

Thanks to a good friend who told me to remove the negative story.  I appreciate his friendship, his wise counsel and for being a big supporter of what I am trying to do by becoming a better person, a better man and a better Christian.

Enjoy the photos.