Cruising along at 40,000 feet and still 2 hours until arriving into LAX,
paranoia starts to sit in. Did I remember everything? Was I really on
my way to El Centro to take part in the Spring Photo Call? Was I going
to make it to In-N-Out before they closed? All the important questions
were racing thru my mind. After a “short” 4 hour drive and a couple
cheeseburgers later, we arrived in El Centro just before 5:00am. On a
normal day, I would have been exhausted and ready for bed, but this
was no ordinary day.
Making this a three day event gave the ISAP members attending, most
of whom like myself had never been to a Photo Call, a chance to share
feedback and personal knowledge with each other. This time spent
together was not only a great learning experience, but also a good
opportunity to get to know each other. With such diverse backgrounds
amongst us, we still shared a commonality – the love of aviation
photography.
The first day we spent the morning as a group, away from the camera,
in a classroom environment. These sessions are always fun and
informative. I always enjoy the feedback, both given and received,
from the selected pictures we bring to these meetings. Finding ways
to improve upon a certain shot, whether it be perspective, lighting,
composition, etc., from an unbiased set of eyes is a wonderful tool.
That afternoon we loaded up and went out to do some familiarization
with the area. This was a great way to get in some practice of the
ideas Larry had talked about that morning.The day of the Photo Call we all decided to head out to the field early
to catch the morning practice of the Blue Angels. Apparently, this was
a popular morning for doing so. Parked along the perimeter road were
50+ photographers, locals, and military personnel, all there to enjoy the
Blues like nowhere else. Even with the recent removal of the famous
hay bales, the perspective was surreal. After the morning practice
flight had concluded, it was time to assemble outside the main gate toJeff Schroeder