Every Summer Kirtland Air Force Base (where I work) hosts a "Summer Bash." They fly in a V-22 Osprey, a Bell Huey, and a U-60 Blackhawk. Half of this huge grass field is full of kid bouncers and slides, the other half has a stage with a live band (very good), new/old car displays, food... The mistake we always make is going too late. Joy and the kids picked me up and after eating a ton of home made Chinese food at one tent (hmmm) we hit the displays.
Allie and I got "stuck" in this Huey during a downpour. Joy, Luke and Wes ran for cover under the wings of the Osprey. Allie talked to the pilot forever and could not convince him we should fly over to save Joy and the boys (she sure tried). The rain finally slowed down and we ran for the Osprey.
Here are Luke and Allie getting ready for their parachute jump out of the Osprey. 
The Scouts on base set up a rope bridge that Allie thought was pretty cool.
Notice the lack of arch on this poor little girl. She and her dad need to go to the doc I guess.
Jay: we saw this gas sipping hybrid SUV driving around and thought you might like it for your next vehicle.
Allie goofing around with Wesley's chupón (pacifier).
Luke in front of the Blackhawk. One nice thing about staying late and after the monsoon rain is having the aircraft to yourself.
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Nerdy section:
Krista, Photogs: The first pic in the post is both under-saturated (giving it a "sugary-metallic" look as Joy would say), and over-contrasty. Click on it to see it better. I forgot to decrease the ISO after leaving the Osprey cabin where there was no light and I pumped it up to ISO 1600 which is quite noisy for my 30D. The alternative is using a flash which usually makes for ugly lighting when used from the same angle as the lens (strobist.com talks about creatively using flashes from off-angles). When a shot I like turns out less than focused or "grainy" from using a noisy ISO setting, I usually change it to black and white were focus is not as critical and grain looks interesting - some with blue or green tints in this case for fun... (I shoot everything RAW then develop on the computer later -- this allows full control over camera settings after the fact). I forgot my two other cheapie lenses and only brought a 50mm prime (portrait lens) --- wished I had the wide-angle for kids+aircraft.
We have a bunch of unpublished posts- we'll try and put one out per day for a while...
Here are some videos and a snapshot from last year's Summer Bash using the P&S camera. The video doesn't do justice to how close we were to this thing when it took off. They painted a circle on the grass around it that was only perhaps 25 yards from the Osprey. When it took off the wind and heat were amazing- it scared a then three year old Allie as you will see...
The grass after the Osprey launch:
You can see who the baby was last year before he turned into a hippie.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Kirtland Air Force Base Summer Bash
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9 comments:
I love Luke's hippie look. Seems like Jason's hair was just as curly when he was a little one.
Maybe it's because I am her mother... but the most interesting thing to me in the video of the osprey is Jason and Allie's conversation.
I agree, the conversation was fun to listen to. I've never seen one take off. I guess the burnt grass is from the exhaust?
By the way, the hybrid SUV looks like fun! I would love to have one, but for some reason I can't find a dealer for those in California.
Allie is pretty resourceful trying to talk the helicopter pilot into flying over to save you guys.
Thanks for the photo lesson Jason. I am going to play around with our camera this weekend and try some of your techniques. I love Luke's hippie hair, and Allie's flying pigtails. That is an awesome photo of her; one that she could someday take to one of those "guess who this is" games where everyone pins up a childhood photo and others try to match up the adult to the childhood photo. That pic is very Allie. Nice post. Except where are the photos of you and Joy???
After I saw the first picture I turned to Taylor and asked him how Jason did that. I am so happy you put in the Nerd Section. I guess I'll have to get more creative with the computer and try new things. Thanks again for the nerd review though. By the way I just got the 50mm lens Taylor got me for my birthday today. We are very excited to start using it.
Also the video of the takeoffs were very cool. It is cool you can get so close to them.
I was bummed your videos would not play for me, but it looked like a great time. Great pics. My fav is the first one of Allie!
I didn't get to see the video either. I remember going to white sands and looking at rockets. This looked like alot more fun. Thanks for sharing. MOm
wow your guys' pictures are so cool! You're camera is amazing! You should make a book of all the cool artsy ones!
Oh, I forgot to answer your question about the videos on the other post...it seems like it is hit and miss for when they play. I've tried and been told the video is no longer available, and then come back later and been able to watch it.
As for these pictures, you do know how jealous Dallin is, right!?!? Although he is telling me that he gets to fly on those in the special forces with the SGC (Stargate Command) all the time.
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