Photography by Bob Sharples: Sea Fury

Saturday, 3 November 2018

Navy Wings Nightshoot Oct 2018

A long journey to RNAS Yeovilton from Cornwall for an evening nightshoot in associaton with Threshold.aero and NavyWings. An unevenful journey up apart from the car travelling the wrong way on the A30!!! (Everyone managed to avoid it safely) Arrived just in time for a quick cuppa in the Fleet Air Arm Museum cafe then it was off to the site car park to await our transport. I think there was two coach loads of photographers so about 100 in total, sounds a lot but with the aircraft nicely dispersed there were no crowding issues, everyone being polite and respecting each others space. During the "blue hour" the skies were unfortunately 90% covered in cloud so that was not helpful. Once darkness fell the excellent flood lighting set up by Threshold.aero came into its own; all the aircraft exhibits were well lit and positioned. Hot beverages, bicuits and Navy Wings items were available in the hangar if you needed a break from the photography. This time I was armed with a 24-70mm and a 70-200mm which was a nice combination for the shoot. Last time I had a 300mm as the 70-200mm was in for repair.Must get a stronger tripod for the next event though, as I tried a portrait shot with the 70-200mm, I just could not get a steady shot!!! Most of the aircraft were just static lit, but navigations lights were illuminated for a short period on the Wasp and Wildcat helicopters and a Sea Fury spread its wings from the folded position. As a bonus the Merlin MK4 commando helicopter was rotors engaged for a period of time. All this enabled the photographers present to get a good variety of images. This was a well planned nightshoot the combination of Navywings/Threshold.aero provided a superb event for all attendees who themselves helped make the evening a winner. This is the second nightshoot by Threshold.aero I have attended it is well organised and there is plenty advice on hand for the photography should you need it, so if your thinking about attending one I would highly recommend it, also its very good value for money comared to some events. Finally as the Royal Navy would say BZ all round!!! Now onto some pictures (there will be more on my website www.jetphotos.co.uk shortly

Sea Harrier and Wasp Has.1

Swordfish

Sea Vixen

Sea Fury

Royal Navy Phantom

Army Wildcat based at RNAS Yeovilton

Sea Harrier

Merlin MK4 Commando Helicopter

Royal Navy Phantom

Monday, 19 March 2018

Navy Wings Nightshoot

My first aviation night shoot , normally these events are held 6hrs plus travelling time away placing them out of reach for us down in Cornwall. So held a RNAS Yeovilton I decided to fit this in with a visit to the Mach loop in Wales and call in for the night shoot on the way back. Organised by https://www.threshold.aero/ utilising airframes from the https://www.navywings.org.uk/, RNAS Yeovilton and an EX 771 SAR Helicopter now operated by https://heliops the line up was pretty decent.

A safety briefing was given on the bus and we were off to the site. I was somewhat concerned when I heard there would be some 160 photographers (not sure if they all turned up) that said there was no panic/pushing/shoving etc everyone respected each others space and no-one hogged the prime aircraft. In truth it felt like there were about thirty people there. Hot drinks were provided and plenty of staff were on hand to advise/assist should you need anything. The lighting provided by threshold.aero was spot on all the exhibiting aircraft were well lit and spread out on the line. RNAS Yeovilton were night flying at the time so additional lighting in the background was unavoidable. (Some photoshop editing should you choose to will cure this) Arriving around 5-6pm gave opportunities to capture aircraft during the blue hour, although it was cloudy. A couple of showers threatened after nightfall but I just kept shooting, rain on the canopies looking good. All in all a fantastic evening providing an opportunity to photograph some iconic Royal Navy aircraft and some more modern. I will definately visit again. Well done to all involved.

Now onto some of the images a fully gallery can now be seen here on my website. Navy Wings Nightshoot