This month saw a number of further visits to North Weald, catching some interesting events. Jet Provost G-BWSG was very active, doing both taxi runs and a number of flights, and gave me lots of excellent opportunities for photos. The conjunction with the rainbow (below left) is one I am particularly proud of, as the shower which produced it was short, sharp, and unexpected, and the shot into the sun (below right) is also an achievement. I have previously avoided shooting directly into the sun for fear of overexposure, but it seems that this shot has worked out perfectly well- now to work out why and reproduce it. The colours are good, and the pilot’s silhouette is sharp and recognisable. A good few days work!
Westland Lynx XZ179 also did some more ground runs and short flights, giving me further opportunities to capture that smooth disk of tail rotor.
Westland Wasp G-RIMM gave me something of a display when it returned after an afternoon flight. Initially landing in its usual spot, it then seemed to spot me waiting with my camera and took off again, moving to set down closer to my position. Whilst in this second transit, one of the occupants gave me a wave! It also moved across the clearer parts of the background, which together with my editing in post-production gave me some excellent results of a quite unexpected encounter.
Above left: The wave marking the first time an aircraft has ‘performed’ to me alone. Above right: A dynamic moment right before touchdown.
The process GIF on the left is cycling through my original image, to the initial colour corrections, then the removal of the two unwanted background distractions. Though there weren’t too many of those to begin with, with the power of spot removal, there were even less at the end! The clear background really makes this picture look complete in its final form.
The Hawker Hurricane which serves as the airfield’s gate guardian also provides a nice subject. Posed against a dramatic background such as the vivid sunset below left, the silhouette is classically recognisable, and the effect of the glowing cockpit is an unanticipated bonus. In near-monochrome conditions such as those in the frosty freeze-frame below right, the fog provides a rare blank background rather than the jumble of airfield and industrial buildings. It’s strange to think that both images are of the same thing, and unintentionally from almost exactly the same angle!
Remembrance Sunday fell on the 12th of this month, and a short time afterwards I was once again at North Weald, though this time visiting the companion organisation of the North Weald Airfield Museum. Their war memorial is a poignant monument to the lives lost in conflicts, particularly honouring those based at the airfield operationally. The stone arc is an accompaniment to a memorial stone presented by Princess Astrid of Norway, as there were a number of Norwegian squadrons associated with the station.
As well as paying my respects to their sacrifice, I also recorded the beauty of the memorial, covered as it was in a large number of wreaths and dusted with autumn leaves. The trees were also in their best colours to make up the seasonal background.
In my post-processing, I experimented with colour isolation to bring out the red, in both the poppy wreaths and the flags on either end of the memorial. However, I can’t decide which I like better; the GIFs below and to the right show the differences.
This was a very poignant visit, with some good opportunities for photography, but also a chance to remember and honour the history of the airfield I spent so much time at. There has been so much action and loss over its many years of activity, and the sacrifices are not to be forgotten.
A very short interlude from North-Weald-centric activities took place at a road bend overlooking a valley of autumn trees. The view was too good to ignore, but the parking place was less than ideal, so I had only a minute or so to take the photos I wanted. My compositions had to be snappy! I felt like I was looking in ten directions at once, and it was a real class in working efficiently.
I was primarily aiming to catch the autumn colours of the forest in the valley below, so in images such as that to the right, there’s no real subject or focus point, and it’s more of a textural or background-type photo. However, noticing a large house nestled in the distance, I also used that as a focus point (below left), and created more dynamic landscapes by adding fields into my frame (below right). Seven photos in not much more than seventy seconds is a good record!
The lighting conditions were not very good, so the colours and equal tones that you see in all three of the photos above was mainly returned in post-production. As is usual for my editing style, I’ve tried to make the colours as close to what I saw, which was a field of autumnal tones. I caught this scene a little past its prime, but nonetheless found it still fairly intense, and it was a good opportunity for testing my ability to work under pressure.
The final sundry images of this month are a well-stocked mixed bag. The photo below and left is of a Christmas cactus, and one I had to take a while to perfect, as it was taken indoors on a pretty dim day. I ended up bouncing torch light off the background paper to achieve diffusion rather than harsh shadow, which worked quite well.
