Tucker and Tomcats?

[tvrphoto]

It was a real treat to snag this image over the Las Vegas Strip on Friday.  The F-14's are from VF-101 'Grim Reapers' with Sean D. Tucker in the foreground.  The logistics of this shoot, including the temporary rerouting of aircraft from McCaren Airport, were mind boggling!  Never thought it would actually happen!!!

Hope you guys enjoy!

Tyson


http://www.tvrphotography.com

[TX-EcoDragon]

Uh oh!! Did Sean bust a TFR??Seriously, thats awesome!!!Man I'm glad you found our site! I love getting these little treats here and there!! Say, that doesn't look like Sean's normal black flight suit, it looks like he is dressed for a night on the town?Wait. . . he's in Vegas, of course he is!!Looks like fun!I have flown over KLAS a few times when flying out to see my father (who had a house in Utah), and the last time it was just after dusk, and all I can say is wow. . . that is one colorful and luminous city! It was quite gorgeous actually. I also saw a greater density of aircraft surrounding me than I had even when flying over SFO and LAX. I ended up being vectored over Nellis for traffic, and found myself mixed into an Active MOA with F-16s apparently performing simulated ACM between 20,000 and 10,500 (my cruise alt), which which was kinda cool I have to say. Thus far most of my aerial photography has me flying the plane and shooting with a handheld SLR at the same time, sometime I would like to fly out over Vegas when someone else is the pilot, it’s quite a site, and perhaps even try to get some photos while I've got two free hands and someone else to share the flying duties. I am really amazed at all the ground you manage to cover, and quite envious of all the cool things you shoot!! I guess you are probably too busy to be commissioned to come out to Metz and get some shots of me flying my low level show ( as low as 4,000 AGL hehe) in The Raven (with wayne in the back).   :-)Hey one more question, who does your output? Do you use a local digital output bureau? -BrettP.S. Here is the link to the other pics in this shoot (I'm taking the liberty here Tyson)http://www.tvrphotography.com/nellis03.htm

[TX-FlightRisk]

um wow. Awesome....... Just plain awesome.S~TX-FlightRisk Black 3

[TX-Zen]

Tyson,Thanks again for the photos...I was amazed at your work in your previous post after looking at your website. While the photo's of aircraft were awesome, I was simply stunned by the pics of the lightning. I mean...damn, those are some great shots. TX appreciates these little gems for sure and I look forward to the next post from you also. Salute!PS: Do you play FB?TX-ZenBlack 6

[tvrphoto]

Hey guys!wow, what a long weekend!  I was quite amazed to have flown three seperate times during the show.  Once is hard enough!The Tomcats were simply awesome!  Two huge ominous aircraft approaching from the lower 6 o'clock hovering into position...just indescribable.  I do have to admit however, that this was one of the most difficult shoots I have ever done.  Just the thought of knowing that this may never happen again was stressful enough!  With sunset only 20 minutes away and cloud cover hiding the remaining light, my shutter speeds hovered around 1/30 - 1/80 of a second...very slow!!!Sean was great as he stayed in position around 140knts...the F-14's bobbed up and down as we banked the turn.  We asked that they dissengage the air brakes...don't think they liked that much!  All and all, they did a fantastic job and I was able to get some photos that luckily turned out!Brett, stopped by Metz today on my way home and visited with Wayne.  He's doing well.  Anytime you want some images when you're down there, gimme a holler!As far as output, I use a digital Canon 10D as my main camera.  For prints, I use a pro lab in my area that prints from CD...excellent work!  Not sure what output device they use, but it is chemistry related.  Basically, the digital image is projected onto the paper and then run through chemicals just like any 1-hour lab would do.  Great for archival qualities!Hope that helps....thanks for posting the link!  Kind of an after the fact sorta thing!  Most of all, thanks for the compliments...always appreciated!!!http://www.tvrphotography.com

[TX-EcoDragon]

Yeah, those F-14s are little out of their element at those speeds (lets just blame the machines  heheheh), and of course Sean was certainly in his! The photos are awesome, perhaps I will order some prints, and use that as a means to evaluate your output service! I am still looking for something that I can afford, is fairly quick, looks professional, and lasts.Sounds like I just Missed you Tyson, I was at Metz all day yesterday after 12:30 (the 18th), Wayne mentioned that you stopped in, though I didn't mention to him that next time I would be flying the maneuvers down on the deck so you didn't need to bring that 400 mm with you  ;-)I flew a few flights yesterday with  a ~ 30 minute brake between them, I must say that after a few hours of pulling +7 and minus 2.75 G that I was actually almost ready to land and sit on the couch in wayne's office and look through the photo albums. I have a myriad of bruises from various portions of the extra fuselage structure, mostly on my left side because I did most of my snap rolls to the right, and my knife edge to the left (left wing low), Strangely I seem to enjoy having a physical record of the flights, even if they hurt a bit. and are rather unsightly to those uninformed individuals (after I tell them that 301WH did that to me they go "oooooh").He heI shot some photos of Bill Stein's Edge, which was quite interesting, not only was I  trying to compose and image, but  I was also trying to decide what color I wanted his plane to be! It is more impressive in person that I had imagined, and it seems that only our eye can really show us just how cool it is, especially in motion. Bill drove in while Wayne and I were flying, I was hoping we might get some formation practice in, but it wasn't to be. For anyone who hasn't seen his aircraft, its a must see:http://home.earthlink.net/~wrstein/S!TX-EcoDragonBlack 1TX Squadron XO

[tvrphoto]

Bummer...definitely just missed ya.  I left around 11am for a meeting with the Showcopters in Salinas.Wayne told me Bill might show up...wish I coulda stayed.  I haven't seen him since Detroit a couple months ago.  He got me up in the Red Barons...lotsa fun!  His plane is certainly one of the wildest ones out there!Would you believe, I have yet to actually fly with Wayne!  I keep drooling over 301WH and looking at that second seat, but when it comes down to it, I'm usually there to work and a flight would be simply for fun...no time for that!  Someday...Welp, air show season is officially over.  I have one final trip to Dallas for ICAS and then I finally get to enjoy living in Monterey.  I hear it's beautiful here!Keep in touch, I'm sure we'll hook up again at some point!TRhttp://www.tvrphotography.com

[tvrphoto]

Well, it dawned on me that it's going to be a long time before I can get my site updated, so I added some ground to air shots to the Nellis page.I can't even begin to describe the enormous amount of vapor present from the overnight rainstorm.  Imagine an entire C-17 disappearing in it's own cloud of vapor!  Simply amazing!Enjoy,  http://www.tvrphotography.com/nellis03.htmTysonhttp://www.tvrphotography.com