Garf does Cosford too!

[Ian G]

A quick selection of images taken from last week's night shoot at Cosford. It was a great event and real value for money although it would have been nice to have had somewhere to grab a brew! I was hoping for a spectacular sunset but unfortunately the cloud covered the horizon so we had to make do with a quick couple of minutes while the sun briefly broke through.. A short time later, the cloud started to disperse and we were left with clear skies from dusk. Great to meet some old and new faces there, those that I missed I will hopefully see at VLT on Thursday!

Enjoy and thanks for looking.


From darkness in to light by Ian Garfield, on Flickr


British Aerospace Harrier GR3 XZ991 by Ian Garfield, on Flickr


Sepecat Jaguar T.2 XX837 by Ian Garfield, on Flickr


McDonnell-Douglas F-4K Phantom FG.1 XV582 ‘Black Mike’ by Ian Garfield, on Flickr


Jaguar and Hawk by Ian Garfield, on Flickr


Sepecat Jaguar T.2 XX837 by Ian Garfield, on Flickr


British Aerospace Harrier GR3 XZ991 by Ian Garfield, on Flickr


British Aerospace Harrier GR3 XZ991 by Ian Garfield, on Flickr


British Aerospace Harrier GR3 XZ991 by Ian Garfield, on Flickr


McDonnell-Douglas F-4K Phantom FG.1 XV582 ‘Black Mike’ by Ian Garfield, on Flickr


Sepecat Jaguar GR.3 XZ117 by Ian Garfield, on Flickr


Sepecat Jaguar GR.3 XX725 by Ian Garfield, on Flickr


Westland Wessex HC.2 XR498 by Ian Garfield, on Flickr


McDonnell-Douglas F-4K Phantom FG.1 XV582 ‘Black Mike’ by Ian Garfield, on Flickr


VAAC Harrier T2 XW175 by Ian Garfield, on Flickr


Lurking in the shadows by Ian Garfield, on Flickr


Sepecat Jaguar T.2 XX837 by Ian Garfield, on Flickr


Sepecat Jaguar GR3A XX119 AI "Spotty" by Ian Garfield, on Flickr


Sepecat Jaguar GR3A XX119 AI "Spotty" by Ian Garfield, on Flickr

And of course, the shot that everyone else got!


STOP! by Ian Garfield, on Flickr

[jalfrezi]

Nice shots Ian.

Didn't know Dom and yourself were attending this, we should have met up!

[Wrexham Mackem]

What a lovely set Ian. As I scrolled through these I was enjoying the daylight/twilight shots, adding fuel to my 'day shoot is better then night shoot' views, however, getting to your treatment of the after dark shooting I'm not so sure. The close up nose-on of the spotty jag is ace.

(I couldn't make it to the event but drove past the base about half past five noticing how dramatic the light was starting to look. Its seems it was a good evening).

[Ian G]

If only we had some way of communicating!

I did see Dom in his hat earlier on but as it got somewhat dark rather quickly, I couldn't see a thing - who else fell down a hole by the camo Harrier?! I think I preferred the twilight element of the shoot rather than after dark, the lighting didn't seem as good as it was at the Navy Wings shoot as most airframes were lit individually but I still enjoyed the evening.

[jalfrezi]

If only we had some way of communicating!

I did see Dom in his hat earlier on but as it got somewhat dark rather quickly, I couldn't see a thing - who else fell down a hole by the camo Harrier?! I think I preferred the twilight element of the shoot rather than after dark, the lighting didn't seem as good as it was at the Navy Wings shoot as most airframes were lit individually but I still enjoyed the evening.

I do remember seeing Dom after he mentioned his stars and stripes bobble hat, though unfortunately I didn't know it was him at the time!

I must admit I gave up shooting the black airframes after it was dark, as the black plane on a black background really didn't work for me. The twilight element was great though, got some nice shots of the shiny black Jag!

[Wrexham Mackem]

Going by nothing but the images posted on the board, I have to agree on Black Mike. The most impressive images of it aren't those taken after dark. But, it reflects well on the event that you were able to go in early and get the daylight shots first, then sunset and dark.

[andy759]

[quote="Ian G"]A quick selection of images taken from last week's night shoot at Cosford. It was a great event and real value for money although it would have been nice to have had somewhere to grab a brew//

Hi
I must second what everybody else has said .my first proper night shoot & I really enjoyed it & good value
Lots of great pictures on here so I wont bore you with any of my feeble efforts , Big thumbs up for the event & those who spent time organising it .
Andy

[cg_341]

who else fell down a hole by the camo Harrier?!

What hole?

I think I preferred the twilight element of the shoot rather than after dark, the lighting didn't seem as good as it was at the Navy Wings shoot as most airframes were lit individually but I still enjoyed the evening.

Thanks for the feedback, we think we've identified the issue with the lighting - namely it being around twice the distance away from the aircraft as it was at Yeovilton last year. We did try to convince people to move forward, even moving the lights to force people - but all that caused was a lot of angry mutterings so we had to put them back Will be acquiring a large tape measure for future events to ensure we're at the optimal distance before people start taking pictures!

We always knew that a black aircraft was going to be difficult at night, and in hindsight we should have positioned the aircraft slightly differently. We've seen loads of great shots from the night, and we're hugely grateful for any and all feedback - good and bad. We're sorry that it didn't quite live up to the standards we're used to providing, and hopefully we'll be back on top at Yeovilton on Thursday

Chris

[CJS]

These are super, thanks for sharing.

How sexy is that Jaguar spotted Jaguar too

The penultimate one for me is the highlight - have you caught something flying overhead in the background too?

[capercaillie]

A nice selection of aircraft that would look great to shoot with clear backdrops if it was daylight. You'd think someone might like to try that idea one day?

The brighter frames have come out well Ian, the VAAC and Spotty for example.

[Wes_Howes]

Fantastic set of images Ian

I agree with Capercaillie though, what has happened to daylight photocalls?

[Ian G]

Wow thanks for the comments!

Lots of great pictures on here so I wont bore you with any of my feeble efforts

Andy, don't be afraid to stick your pictures up on here!

Thanks for the feedback, we think we've identified the issue with the lighting - namely it being around twice the distance away from the aircraft as it was at Yeovilton last year.........

I didn't think the lighting was bad, it was just a nice touch at VLN when smaller lights were placed at strategic points on the airframes. People did comment in the thread in aviation waffle about photographing a black aircraft but I didn't think it was too bad, you just needed to be a bit creative in what you photographed. I did try and get a bit closer but one chap had a moan and asked me what I thought I was doing, even though I was flat on the bleedin' floor! Of course my reply was "photographing an aeroplane like the hundred other [insert *** here]'s....." - there's always one miserable git who has to have a moan! Other than that it was a great night and each venue is going to be different.

I think situating the spotty Jag worked really well - I was wondering what the images would come out like with the background clutter but I think those objects, including the red warning beacon and orange street lamp glow from wonderful Wolverhampton added something to that image.

The penultimate one for me is the highlight - have you caught something flying overhead in the background too?

Chris, I believe it was an A400 returning to Brize transiting the Lichfield corridor that I caught on that image!

A nice selection of aircraft that would look great to shoot with clear backdrops if it was daylight

I think the event may work better a little later in the year, certainly after the clocks have changed. That way, you may still have a bit of colour in the sky towards the end of the event. I will add though that the duration of the event was spot on. I was worried that I'd have enough after a few hours but of course, the lighting constantly changes and we really had ample opportunity to get the most from the night. My sincere thanks to all who organised too!

[Peter345]

Very nice Garf, as usual! I like the head-on of spotty with the fairly shallow DoF, could be a scale model on a diorama.

Peter