Special Projects

In all the work I’ve done building , shooting and digital imaging, nothing has given me more pleasure or excitement than creating an image that honors a person or group of people for their accomplishments. It doesn’t matter whether the person or group is famous or not. To me anyone who has served their country is worthy of attention. I want to share with you the projects I’ve done, how I did them and why. My hope is to inspire other modelers / artists / photographers to create your own moments in history. Nearly everyone has at one time or another known or been inspired by someone who flew, aircrewed or serviced aircraft during some period in history. To re-create something from the past for someone makes you feel really good. The following are the only the beginning for me:

Project # 1 - The Blue Angels At Fifty

This project began in my head when I saw a traditional aviation artist rendering of all the primary team aircraft flying together in formation. It depicted each aircraft in all it’s glory, yet the viewer new it was an oil painting. My goal was to create a picture that looked so real that the improbable became possible. This is the picture that got me into using a computer and the magic of Adobe Photoshop. Up until that time I had never quite been able to get any “in-flight” pictures I was satisfied with. I had built the models before even learning that the program even existed. Starting in 1989 I had begun building all the models in 1/72 scale because it was the only scale that all the aircraft were available. I would have preferred 1/32 scale but the models just weren’t available. With the exceptions of Monograms Bearcat and Fujimi’s Phantom and Skyhawk, the rest of the a/c were Hasagawa. Each a/c was mounted on a post and after being positioned in a step down delta formation, was photographed extensively from all positions. At the time I was learning to airbrush blemishes from photographs and was planning to airbrush the post out of a large print. When I heard about Adobe Photoshop I became very excited at the idea of being able to take one picture and move it into another. Barley able to turn on a computer yet, I self taught myself with how-to books. The first time I dropped all the aircraft into a sky I had taken from an airliner and saw how real it looked I yelled so loud my dog Barn bit me. It was possible, and the sky was the limit was all I could think. After the picture was finished I sent the picture to the Blue Angels asking if I could donate such an image to them in a large format, providing they liked it. I was contacted by their Public Affairs Officer who stated they did like it and would appreciate the donation at the 1998 Air & Sea Show at Ft. Lauderdale. I was actually two years behind the actual 50th anniversary. Meeting the team 1998 Blue Angels team led by Commander/Boss George Dom was a tremendous thrill. Gentlemen all, they appeared to appreciate the image by placing it on a wall at their Blue Angels headquarters in Pensacola.

 
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