DSLRs and F-15s
Doug Daulton, Richard Harrington & Alex Lindsay @ Nellis AFB. Photo by Neil Henderson
Yesterday, we mixed work and pleasure at Nellis AFB. It is not everyday that one gets to touch and photograph F-15s. Walking on to the flight line, I heard the theme from Top Gun playing in the back of my head. In addition to shooting the F-15 Eagles, we saw the F-16 Fighting Falcon, the A-10 Warthog , the B-1 Lancer, the V-22 Osprey, and the F-22A Raptor. On the flight line, we saw most of these taking off or landing. It was pretty amazing.
In between shoots, we visited the Nellis AFB “petting zoo”, a threat identification museum, which was recently declassified. It is a huge collection of captured assets, including a MIG-23, a MIG-29 and a bunch of tanks, missile systems and other huge, intense hardware. I kept waiting for Optimus Prime to rise from the mix.
We were shooting for a defense contractor with offices on base. We’ll probably be back to get additional footage over the summer. All of the footage and stills are to used in promotional materials for the company. Nothing we shot was classified and we are allowed to release the material. So, look for more images from everyone on the shoot soon. I am sure mine will be the worst of the bunch. I have so much to learn, but that is what an internship is all about!
Thanks to Alex, Richard Harrington and our hosts, Neil Henderson and his father, Earl “Obi-Wan” Henderson. That was an amazing shoot.
Peace,
Doug
UPDATE: We were shooting F-15s, not F-16s. Accordingly, I’ve updated everything in the post but the URL. Thanks to Neil for the correction. All of photos are included below.
Congratulations to Rabbitt (Carl) and Maddie
Long-time friend and fellow Xaraya founder, Carl “Rabbitt” Corliss finally got over his man-crush on me ;^D and popped the question to Madeleine “Maddie” Craw while she was on-stage performing in New York. Kelly and I were happy to host Carl and Maddie for a few days last spring. Back then, I could tell this day would come and I resigned myself to the fact that the little bunny would be leaving the nest. Good on ya Carl!
VegasGeek’s Lip Tattoo
First, he skydives. Now, Hawkins has his wife’s name tattooed on the inside of his lip. Man, he is one crazy mofo. If you are in Vegas and considering ink, be sure to check out Austin’s Ink. Hawkins loves ‘em.
Jitender Singh Shunty
Shunty used to be a carefree man. He belonged to a well-off family which ran a thriving transport business. But something suddenly snapped inside him one day when he saw a man stealing wood from a burning pyre at Delhi’s Nigambodh Ghat cremation ground. Shocked, Shunty confronted him. Weeping uncontrollably, the middle-aged man said that he had lost his wife in an accident and didn’t have enough money to perform the last rituals. He had no choice but to steal wood. “I was stunned. I never knew this could happen to human beings in our society. Later, I came to know that there were people who often left a dead body unattended,” recalls Shunty.
Having traveled to India, witnessed a public funeral procession and visited the riverside location of many such funeral pyres, I was touched to learn of the story of Jitender Singh Shunty from Idealist.org. It is good to be reminded that people of such considerable compassion and committment exist in this troubled world. I was fortunate enough to meet similar folks during my trip. People like Biplab & Sumita Chatterjee as well as Ravi & Neena Dugal. It reminds me that I need to post my travel log of that trip.
