James Woodard
I am a semi-professional photographer living in Lancaster Pennsylvania
who works for a Large Site Contracting company in the area. I have been
fortunate to put my love for photography to use at work by taking photos
of various job sites and heavy equipment which has led to some paid
gigs with other companies. My love for photography gripped me later
in life after I randomly purchased a DSLR just because it was on sale.
Once I began to play with the camera I discovered how much I loved it,
and I began to self-teach myself the different skills and techniques to
get quality photos. Scott Kelby’s Kelby One service was a great source
for education for me as well as Jared Polin from Fro Knows Photo.
Ever since working at Naval Air Station Wildwood Museum in Cape
May, NJ part time after high school, I have had an interest in aviation.
Years later after finding my love, photography, it didn’t take long for the
two to join up. After hearing about the Mid Atlantic Aviation Museum’s
World War II Weekend, which is only 30 minutes from home, I decided
to head up there with my camera. Not knowing anything about aviation
photography, I ended up with less-than-stellar images. This put me in a
funk until I happened to visit some of my wife’s family in Virginia Beach.
Her brother’s house sits next to NAS Oceana so you know where this
is going. After my first time experiencing two F/A 18’s fly right overhead
I was hooked; I had to see more. I have spent the last two years since
then trying to hone my skills with the help of fellow aviation photogra-
phers that I have met along the way. Last year I settled on giving my avi-
ation work a unique name to try to stand out from the rest. In the honor
of my Brother SGT Michael Scusa who was KIA in 2009 in Afghanistan
while part of Black Knight Troop, I am proud to call my aviation work
“BLACK KNIGHT AVIATION”.
After hearing about ISAP on Facebook and following Larry Grace on
Instagram, I joined ISAP with the hopes that it will lead to meeting more
aviation photographers that I could learn from. In the future, I hope that
others will be able to learn a thing or two from me, as I am always happy
to share what I know. Alongside a close group of fellow aviation enthu-
siasts, we have recently created Full Disc Aviation, an online presence
where we hope to share our experiences and tell thoughtful, unique
stories about the world of aviation.
When shooting airshows, I have my trusty Canons by my side; a 7D
Mark II and 5D Mark IV. My go-to lens right now is the Sigma 150-600
(sport) with a Canon 70-200 f/2.8 on the second body. For wider shots, it
is the Canon 24-70 f/2.8 or Canon 17-40 f/4. I have dabbled a little bit with
off camera flash during darker hours with aviation and loved it, hoping
to do some more in the future. I always shoot RAW and do post-pro-
cessing in Adobe Lightroom. I would say 90% of my shots are
completely done in LR, with the remaining going into Photoshop for final
work. I prefer to keep everything in LR simply because it can more than
handle the job and if you catalog everything there, you will always know
where your shots are. If you need help with LR, look to Scott Kelby.
None better at teaching that program than him.If I had to give any tips, it would be just to practice, practice, practice.
I love great panning shots. Panning with slow shutter speeds is some-
thing a lot of people love to do, but it is also something that can scare
the hell out of you. Once you get comfortable with one shutter speed,
drop it lower. You will have some trash on the cutting room floor when
you cull your images, but if you hit on a couple shots you will not be
sorry. Happy Shooting!MEET OUR MEMBER