Plane ride, Palm Springs plans & more
Some more images from my Feb US trip… (see further below for news on my upcoming presentation at Palm Springs Photo Festival on 2nd April as well as a link to a competition for young photographers.)
Fuel stop!
Big thanks to Daniel Buchmaller who I met on my Seattle photowalk in February, who invited me one my first small aeroplane flight! It was fantastic. We flew over to Bremerton, landed and parked the plane for a spot of lunch then flew back over the skyscrapers of Seattle.
Amused by the surreal, lonesome plane-filling fuel station at Paine Field airport…
…I had to set up a pic. Daniel helped me to take these ‘trying to get the gas pump to the plane’ (!) shots. We used his swarve Nikon D3. I wasn’t quite sure about any of them enough to upload to Flickr but it was fun to edit them nonetheless!
Above: with the kind permission of these men we experimented with taking pics with another plane that landed… these ones are too cheesy for anything but my blog!
Some poser shots from the airfield, on the left wearing ‘the pilot’s’ sunglasses 
)
Our plane
Above: Damien, who was having a flying lesson
Some shots from the air:
And flying back over Seattle – which was amazing (and a bit scary):
Space Needle from above
The pictures weren’t that great, using my 17-85mm lens but it was nice to have some captures from above anyway, once I’d got over my jitters from being in the small plane which wasn’t as rickety as I expected!
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NEWS
Soon, I go to the US to attend and speak at the Palm Springs Photo Festival. I am giving a presentation on the 2nd April, speaking about my work, and also, how I use Blurb books, with my own book Self-gazing.
If you are in the area, come along!
We are also having a bit of a holiday out there afterwards, Las Vegas, Death Valley, Sedona, and the Grand Canyon. I look forward to some great pic opportunities!
And another thing I will do in this blog post is call attention to this year’s Microsoft Future Pro Competition which is open for entry until 30th April. The competition is open worldwide to college and university student photographers.
I get alot of emails from young photography students who are looking for inspiration, direction, advice, or just to be able to reference my pictures in their work (the latter which I’m always flattered by!) I would point out this competition to every one of those young people. I had the pleasure of meeting the winners of last year’s competition, at the Pro Photo Summit, as they were flown out to Seattle to receive their prizes. The winners included Ed Salter from the UK. They were in a great place to meet with photography professionals and kickstart their creative career, so if you’re a photography student, I recommend taking a look at the competition. It’s free to enter, and you could win $20k…. read more about it and see the pics from the other winners from last yearhere too.
Posted in Talks on March 22nd, 2009 | 5 Comments | Tweet This!
8:39 am on March 22nd, 2009
Hey, the pictures look very nice! And the one with the buses has something special.
I’ll read more about that competition you mentioned, looks interesting! Thank you for the link
7:54 am on March 23rd, 2009
These snaps are good fun, but you wouldn’t get me anywhere near that little plane (a Cessna?)
I was scared stiff flying to Barcelona in an Airbus with clear skies and no turbulence. I think I’ve developed a phobia. If I ever go abroad again, it will be via a wheelchair on a train! Sorry I won’t be showing up at any of your Stateside speaking engagements. I’m sure your presentations will go down very well. I’m excited by the thought of how you’ll use the Grand Canyon in your creations, but I hope you get time to appreciate it like a typical tourist too.
7:54 am on March 23rd, 2009
Really good stuff here. You’re literally flying Nat!
Congratulations on all these great news, the Palm Springs photo festival and everything else.
I guess I won’t be seeing you then?
(sniff sniff)
xxx!
R
7:44 pm on April 14th, 2009
OoO I really enjoyed these! Loved the ones of Seattle from the plane! I would have been scared in a lil plane like that though! Good on ya.
Oh and of course the photos of you at the fuel station are great… love your ideas! Hope the Palm Springs talk went well… looking forward to photos and such! x
7:55 pm on March 23rd, 2010
Shooting from the air is great. I have made many wonderful images from small planes. The puget sound area you flew over is FANTASTIC. So glad you got to experience this.