I recently shot some engagement pictures for a great couple that are both professional pilots. I also completely love airplanes and have flown smaller private planes a few times in my life. My father used to be a flight instructor but, hasn’t flown in long time. I picked up RC flying many years ago and sold most of my RC planes to get into photography.
Back to Jeff and Jessica. We tried to get a shot on a local airport. Either in a hangar or on the flight line. Unfortunately, the security in place doesn’t allow any abiltiy to do this. We went back and forth with locations and each came back as a negative. I then remembered a location that I attended during a CRRC event. This was a private museum that was dedicated to restoring and preserving older aircraft. I called up the Collings Foundation and asked about the possibility of shooting the engagment session at their private hangar. We worked out the times and got approval for the shoot! I was psyched!
Our timeline was pretty tight due to the fact that their wedding was on 5/5 and the shoot took place on 5/1. We shot for several hours in a quite, sunny, and fantastic location. I was psyched just to be there, nevermind shooting a great couple. We had many different aircraft to work with and numerous different non-aircraft locations. It was spectacular! I really enjoyed the shoot but, the pressure was on to get through the images, post them, and order the prints for framing by the wedding day. In the end, Jeff and Jessica were extatic with the results and the framed 16×24 looked great in the 24×36 double matted frame.
The best part of this story is that this was a trade for flight time. We traded the time and framed print for a flight down to Martha’s Vineyard (which I’ve never been to) in a rented Piper Seminole from Executive Flyers Aviation. I’m trying to talk them into Trashing the Dress at the beach when we get there. I’m pretty sure I saw a smile on Jessica’s face when I mentioned it. So, we’ll be flying down to the Vineyard this month, enjoying a great day Dress Trashin, flying, and buzzing some seals.
More pictures and slideshow are here.
And their slideshow for the cocktail hour.
[flv]http://www.jeffnewcum.com/JJ050107/JJ050107-show0.flv[/flv]
