A good friend of mine, Bill, celebrated a special birthday back in January, unfortunately not a time for joyous celebrations because of Covid and the lockdown. All that changed on August 4, for he had booked a very special celebration in the form of a Spitfire flight from the famous Battle of Britain airport at Biggin Hill south-east of London.
He asked me to go with him as “official photographer”, so I set to planning the day. The first problem was what equipment to take. My initial thought was a pair of Nikons (D810 & D800), with the 600mm f/4.0 and a couple of zoom lenses. But I didn’t fancy carrying that 600 around. In the end, I decided on the Leica SL and SL2 with the 24-90 and 90-280 Vario-Elmarits. (I didn’t sell the SL when I bought the SL2 because I think the SL is such a wonderful camera and still gets more use than the SL2.)
Initially, I used the 24-90 on the SL and mounted the longer lens on SL2 because of that camera’s in-body stabilisation.
What could go wrong
After arriving at Biggin Hill, Bill had to watch two videos—one explaining everything that could go wrong when flying in an 80-year-old aircraft and the other on safety procedures, including the use of a parachute. Having watched the ‘everything that could go wrong’ video I’m amazed that anyone goes through with the flight. (Up to this stage you can back out and still get a total refund.)
Looking around the airport, the photo opportunities didn’t look good and so another friend and I decided to charter a spotter/chaser aircraft in order for me to try to get some half-decent images.
This image, at the end of the runway, was taken from the chaser aircraft. The plan was that we would take off a couple of minutes before the Spitfire, get to altitude and then hold a steady course. The Spitfire would then come up on our left, duck underneath us, and take a position to our right, returning to our left before peeling away and heading back to Biggin Hill.
Heading back to Biggin Hill
All in a day’s work
All in all, this was a great day. Earlier I mentioned that I used the 90-280 on the SL2 because of the image stabilisation. However, for the aerial shots, I switched lenses because we were so near the Spitfire. Looking back at the Lightroom data, the air-to-air shots were all taken between 44 and 55mm focal length; yes, we were that close.
Of course, I couldn’t resist playing around in Photoshop with some of the images and as anyone who knows me, it had to be in black & white; my first love.
The background (which has appeared in a previous Macfilos article) was taken on a Leica T with the 18-56 zoom; while circling early one morning on board an Air India Boeing 787 which was waiting for a landing slot at Heathrow.
Read more from Tom Lane
Signing up for the Macfilos newsletter
The SUBSCRIBE button (below) is now working again. If you have recently been unable to register for the Macfilos newsletter, please try again now. We apologise for the error which crept in during the recent site redesign. If you have any other queries or wish to contact us, use the CONTACT button.
Great photos, the camera seems to possess quite a remarkable tonal range. As an aviation enthusiast, this is the kind of opportunity I would love to have one day. I noted the comment already made about the frozen prop and I checked some of my own images and mine are the same (albeit with a much longer focal length requiring a shorter shutter speed). Seems the engine doesn’t turn that fast and there’s a reduction gear and the propeller being relatively small diameter means it’s not travelling “that” fast and is thus harder to blur.
Wayne; thanks for your kind comment which is really appreciated. I did enjoy doing the Lockdown photos but my favourite is one I did of myself servicing my Land Rover Defender. Unfortunately I can’t post it in this reply but if you go to my website “https://photographybytomlane.com” then into the Blog and scroll down to the 25 February 2021 (it’s quite a way down) you’ll find it there. Even if I say it myself I think that’s a cracker.
Oooh, that ‘Airbus’ composite (Friday, 12 February, 2021) makes me queasy! ..It reminds me of the famous hoax ‘Tourist Guy’ 9/11 picture, which also makes me feel ill.
I just want to shout “BEHIND YOU!” ..or, in your case “AHEAD OF YOU!”
You’ve a cruel sense of humour, Tom!
Thanks for the comment David; if the picture makes you feel queasy that music to my ears as it means my composite must look realistic. I’ve not really got a cruel sense of humour, I just enjoy playing around in Photoshop if I see two (or more) images which I think may work well together.
I’ve not seen the “Tourist Guy 9/11” picture so maybe you’d be kind enough to send me a link to it.
Best regards, Tom
We-ell, Google is your friend, Tom – as my friend Lennart used to say.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourist_guy
Lovely colour rendering in the images Tom. They have a special “look”.
But it’s one of your previous images that is indelibly etched in my neurones I.e. the photo of you with your two best friends during lockdown. Now, that was exceptional 😀.
Sorry Wayne, I should have hit “reply” but my response is below. Cheers, Tom
Thanks for your kind comment Jean which is most appreciated.
Wonderful images Tom. Love the B&W one. It reminds me of the images you posted of approching Heathrow some months ago.
Jean
Thankyou Tom. My brother is at the opposite end of the spectrum and is determined to become the oldest person in Canada with a PPL, he is also a glider pilot
Thanks Jonathan. The spotter aircraft was an Australian GippsAero GA8 Airvan, which was flown by a young guy who didn’t look old enough to drive.
Sent the link for the article to my brother who is a flying fanatic and has done the same flight. Being the man of detail he asked what was the chase plane
Great photos, Tom. You certainly know your aerial photography. Your friend Bill must be thrilled to have these.
William
Thanks for the kind comment William. Yeah, he was delighted with the photo’s.
Lovely, I hope you got him an 80 year old Scotch to go with his wonderful day! Enjoyed the mono.
Thanks for the comment John. No, but I have bought him a pint of real ale since.
Tom, a remarkably accomplished set of air-to-air photography. Far from easy. Very well done!
Thanks for the kind comment David, really appreciated.
What a fantastic set of photos! The aerial shots are spectacular. Having tried to photograph a moving object (a sailboat) from another moving object (a sailboat) recently, I know how tricky it can be to compose the scene, and so I really enjoyed staring at these terrific shots. Thanks for sharing, and for highlighting how much you still enjoy your SL. I have been looking at pre-owned models and have been wondering about a purchase, since I have begun to accumulate a number of SL-mount lenses. I am presuming that with shorter focal length lenses in good illumination the lack of image stabilization is not really an issue. Once again, thanks for this great story and beautiful photographs.
Keith; thanks for your kind comment which is most appreciated. I agree, taking photo’s of one moving object from another moving object is difficult. Initially I used the view finder but for a number of the shots I rested the camera on the seat back and used live view.
The original SL is a fabulous camera and in my opinion, a great buy at the prices they are going for now. I have never worried about image stabilisation and certainly have no problem in using the SL at 1/15 of a second with the 50mm SL Summilux wide open, it is so well balanced.
The only time I use the SL2 is for landscape, so with the extra resolution I can print big.
I have to say I love the London monochrome shot, perfect for that photoshop conversion.
I laughed at the bit where you can still get a full refund right up to getting in the plane.
Nice article and those SL’s have done you proud.
Thanks Dave, I have to agree that the monochrome composite is probably my favourite. I want to do it again, paying more attention to detail and then make a large print.
The M10 and M9 Monochrom are the cameras which get the most use, but the SL is better for some things and this was one of them.
Lovely photos Tom. A friend has also recently taken such a trip from Biggin Hill but in a different Spitfire. Your photos are of a far better quality than those taken of my friend though. We sometimes hear a Spitfire flying over us, the Merlin engine has such a distinctive sound.
Thanks for the kind comment Kevin which is really appreciated.
Great pictures! ..b-but how does the aircraft stay up there with a stationary propeller? (!) 😃
Must be an optical delusion.
Thanks for your kind comment David. If I told you how it’s done the RAF would have to shoot you. I was using a relatively low shutter speed to try and get the prop blared but it was difficult with the Spitfire flying parallel to the spotter aircraft.
Thanks for your fascinating article. My favourite image is the waiting to take off photo. My second favourite is the wonderful black and white image.
Black and white was my first love and still is.
This was certainly an occasion for zooms.
Thanks for your kind comment Brian. Yeah, I also like the Monochrome image which I put together in a rough and ready way. I aim to recreate it again, taking more care and then print it large.