I’ve not been to an airshow in years, and wanted to go to a military one near here. So we journeyed down to Shaw AFB near Columbia, SC, for a great day. Vintage aircraft, good shows, excellent hosting by the Shaw AFB squadrons, and the Golden Knights and Thunderbirds made this an excellent outing.

My only complaint would be that there wasn’t as many flying displays as I’ve seen in the past. I don’t know if that was because the previous ones were in Europe on RAF bases, or if the overall increase in prices since then (over 20 years) means that the flying displays have dropped. Or maybe just that Shaw has a smaller airshow than some.

At any rate, it was still good, and despite that the sun didn’t do too much on Sunday, at least it kept us from getting roasted and made for some real neat pics with the afterburners and flares. You can see the entire set here (2+ pages, the little numbers at the lower right).

I should be adding a video in the next week or so.

Trey reminded me that I had forgotten to post the November NBATP photos…so I have. You can check them out here (2 pages).

I did also get a little video that I may put up later. I didn’t record but only a few pulls if I remember correctly.

Had a very busy last six months…for a multitude of reasons, some good and some bad, but getting things back into shape. Posted most of the good stuff from those months (not counting the Rolex 24, obviously) just today.

Got a great shot of the moon. Not quite as good as a friend of mine, Scott Stockton got with his 400 mm, but hey, got to work with whatcha got. Also did some work with low shutter speed on some waterfall pics at South Mountain that turned out cool. Some great shots of harvesting, and some new cool pics of fog, barns and the moon! Love the pic above…it really looks like something from the Lord of the Rings…

You can see all the latest photos here…there’s about 1 and a half pages of them (numbers in the lower left-hand corner).

For the most part in my sparse photo-blog, I try to stay away from legal and political views, but a series of recent legal battles has prompted me to step up to the soapbox.

The ordinary assumption of anyone who takes photos is that you have a legal right to take any photo you want provided you are on public property (or your property), and that you have the creative right to manipulate or arrange your photos as you see fit. This also covers videography.

However… (more…)

Got to finally go see the Rolex 24 in Daytona. Couldn’t have picked a better race or weekend apparently…the weather was great (and warm) and the event was the 50th Anniversary of the Daytona race! The best way to view the photos is to go to the search page and enter a keyword search of “2012 Rolex 24″. This will get you all the photos in chronological order. Was a great weekend with a great race!

Went this weekend to Laney’s airport, they had a fly in with some nice vintage aircraft. You can see some of the photos here.

Saw the St. Louis Stompers at the St. Louis Jazz Club, so took a photo that would provide a unique angle of the musical group.

Here’s a video as well…and here’s another.

Also took a nice pano of the St. Louis riverfront at night…

I’ve got some of my castle photos displayed at Fausto Coffee in Lincolnton, NC. The coffee shop is right on the square with the courthouse. Stop by and tell Miriah and Jacob “hello”!

Had a nice kickoff this evening, got to meet fellow photographers Chris Bollinger and Richie Calloway, and some of my friends and family stopped by. Thanks!

And no, it’s not the north pole…got a great shot of a thunderstorm at night. A few photos of lightning as well, but this view of the towering masses of clouds was just too spectacular to not post.

I really enjoy finding some of my old photos that I discarded because they were not very good, and being able to restore them using all the modern technology. This photo sat around for six years and I just found it the other day. It took awhile to restore it (it was very dark and grainy), but it came out pretty spectacular. The thumbnail doesn’t do it justice, so just click on it and take a look! This is Kidwelly castle, shot in the early evening in December 2005.