F-35s

[Paul Taylor]

Drove down to the local Air Force base (Luke AFB) and took some digital and film pics of the F-35s that hang out there. I will develop the film probably tomorrow or Thursday and see how those pics came out.

Digital pics were with my Lumix G9 & Pana-Leica 100-400

PXL_20250204_164348851 by Paul Taylor, on Flickr

P1003326 by Paul Taylor, on Flickr

P1003198 by Paul Taylor, on Flickr

P1003153 by Paul Taylor, on Flickr

P1003177 by Paul Taylor, on Flickr

P1003180 by Paul Taylor, on Flickr

P1003179 by Paul Taylor, on Flickr

P1003265 by Paul Taylor, on Flickr

 

[Gary Ayala]

Nice. Just gotta love aviation stuff.

 

[Paul Taylor]

A couple of the film pics turned out ok. I knocked the grain down a bit in post. Nikon F4s w/ 80-200f2.8

P1003436-Enhanced-NR by Paul Taylor, on Flickr

P1003437-Enhanced-NR by Paul Taylor, on Flickr

 

[Bill Brown]

Back in the mid 1970's I worked at a pro lab in Dallas that handled all the photo work for General Dynamics. We produced 1000's of images of the F-16 finished out in the colors of various countries. One project I handled personally was to create a montage of an F-16 taking off and doing a vertical climb to showcase the capabilities of this aircraft. I worked personally with the General Dynamics photographer. The final image was about 50" in width. That was an awesome aircraft and is a great memory from my early days as a print finisher. Here's a photo of me and my buddies with one of those F-16 photos taped on the wall.

 

[Beth Anthony]

really nice photos.

can't believe someone didn't come out and have a chat with you. our local afb has the c5 and c17. if someone was stopped along the highway taking photos of the base, they'd be out there. mps go out for every crash along that stretch just to check id. the third is my favorite.

 

[Paul Taylor]

Back in the mid 1970's I worked at a pro lab in Dallas that handled all the photo work for General Dynamics. We produced 1000's of images of the F-16 finished out in the colors of various countries. One project I handled personally was to create a montage of an F-16 taking off and doing a vertical climb to showcase the capabilities of this aircraft. I worked personally with the General Dynamics photographer. The final image was about 50" in width. That was an awesome aircraft and is a great memory from my early days as a print finisher. Here's a photo of me and my buddies with one of those F-16 photos taped on the wall.
View attachment 21682

That is awesome. They occasionally have F16s at Luke AFB and I have grabbed several shots of them. I don't think there is a more "Fighter Plane" looking fighter plane than the F16.

They have some Dassault Mirages on base for some sort of training and I hope I get to snags some pics of those as they are a very rare sight.

 

[Paul Taylor]

really nice photos.

can't believe someone didn't come out and have a chat with you. our local afb has the c5 and c17. if someone was stopped along the highway taking photos of the base, they'd be out there. mps go out for every crash along that stretch just to check id. the third is my favorite.

Since the AFB is "in town" I think they are used to people watching / photographing the planes. It is surrounded by public streets and as long as you are on the "civilian" side of the big fence they have never bothered anyone to my knowledge. There is a major street that goes right under the flight path for landing / take-off so that is where most people gather. I did a bit of exploring and ended up on a gravel road at the other end of the runway that was a good spot. There were several vehicles that drove by on the other side of the fence, and no one seemed to care about a goofy guy with some cameras lol.

 

[Beth Anthony]

Since the AFB is "in town" I think they are used to people watching / photographing the planes. It is surrounded by public streets and as long as you are on the "civilian" side of the big fence they have never bothered anyone to my knowledge. There is a major street that goes right under the flight path for landing / take-off so that is where most people gather. I did a bit of exploring and ended up on a gravel road at the other end of the runway that was a good spot. There were several vehicles that drove by on the other side of the fence, and no one seemed to care about a goofy guy with some cameras lol.

that's how the base here is setup too, right in town. there's an expressway separating the base from base housing on one side with 2 interchanges for the base. we had a cessna from cap make an emergency landing on the highway once. that was a fun day. they handle mortuary services for all service members who die overseas, so maybe that's why they're a little tighter on security here. or maybe our planes just aren't interesting enough to garner enough attention from photographers so if one does show up, it's worth investigating.

 

[Gary Ayala]

In general, I think Base Security "interrogating/investigating" people on a public road outside the base obviously photographing aircraft, is a show of base security ignorance and/or an arrogance display of policing power. Granted, that arrogance may have some play in overall base security, but how much significance ... how much base protection is generated by this policy? I can't think of anything which a foreign power can gain from street photography which they cannot gain from satellite imagery, except real time identification of planes/units at the base.

 

[Gary Ayala]

PS- Hey Paul, looks like you're sporting a Domke bag.

 

[Paul Taylor]

PS- Hey Paul, looks like you're sporting a Domke bag.

I have a few Domke bags, I like them. That and they are made in the USA so that is an added plus.

The one in the pic is an F-6. Small bag, but I had the Lumix G9 w/ grip, Pana-Leica 100-400, Oly 40-150F4 pro, a Nikon F4s, Nikon 35-100, and Nikon 80-200F2.8 all crammed in there lol.

 

[Gary Ayala]

I have a few Domke bags, I like them. That and they are made in the USA so that is an added plus.

The one in the pic is an F-6. Small bag, but I had the Lumix G9 w/ grip, Pana-Leica 100-400, Oly 40-150F4 pro, a Nikon F4s, Nikon 35-100, and Nikon 80-200F2.8 all crammed in there lol.

I dunno if you know the story/history of the bag(s). But Jim Domke was a photojournalist working for the Philadelphia Inquirer back in the 70's. There wasn't a decent compartmentalized soft bag back then. I believe for the early sales, Domke was making them in his garage. I also have a few of them. I use the F2 insert in my F8.