LAS VEGAS (AP) — John Locher has been photographing boxing for more than two decades. He’s been ringside for a rollcall of the best fighters this century: Oscar De La Hoya, Floyd Mayweather Jr., Wladimir Klitschko, Manny Pacquiao, Bernard Hopkins and Shane Mosley are among the boxers he’s covered. His most recent fight was a super lightweight title bout in which Isaac Cruz beat Rolando Romero. Here’s what Locher said about making this extraordinary photo:
The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk was officially retired by the U.S. Air Force in 2008. However, as we have been reporting for several years now, not only is the iconic stealth jet flying for training purposes as adversary aircraft and cruise missile surrogate, but also operating for research, development, test and evaluation, possibly supporting next generation programs.
For a certain period, although the aircraft were regularly spotted both in Nevada and near the bases across the U.S. where the F-117s deployed to carry out DACT (Dissimilar Air Combat Training) activities in favor of other types and units, the USAF did not admit the fact that the aircraft was still flying. Then, in 2021, the service published the first official images of the type still involved in flight operations on the DVIDS (Defense Visual Information Distribution Service) network, de facto acknowledging the return to the active service of the F-117.
In September 2022 the Air Force Test Center published a Request For Information (RFI) about a possible 10-year contract for maintenance and logistics support services for the F-117A fleet at the TTR airfield, acknowledging that the U.S. Air Force is willing to keep the aircraft flying at least until 2034.
More recently, it was disclosed that Air Force was planning to certify the F-117A Nighthawk to be able to refuel from the KC-46A Pegasus, the service’s new tanker.
A U.S. Air Force F-117 Nighthawk taxies at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska during Northern Edge 23-1, May 10, 2023. (U.S. Air Force photo by Sheila deVera)Anyway, after the veil of secrecy was, at least partially, lifted, the sightings have increased, including those of F-117s flying very low altitude.
For this reason, last month, a photographer decided to embark on a trip to the low level training areas to shoot some photos and footage of the elusive stealth jets. Here’s how it went.
“I am a second-year university student living in Colorado,” says our friend and contributor Andrew Kelly. “I have always been interested in aviation, and when COVID-19 closed my school in March of 2020, I made it my goal to teach myself how to use a camera properly. Having grown up near the Pease Air National Guard Base in New Hampshire watching the military aircraft train, I decided to combine my passion for aviation with my desire to learn photography.”
“I have now been shooting military aviation for over four years, and have enjoyed learning about the people, the mission, the aircraft, and my camera. I worked at a flight school throughout high school as a dispatcher while working towards my private pilot certificate. After university I will be pursuing my dream of flying for the US military.”
Andrew, whose work can be found online on Instagram or here, has improved a lot since his amateur beginnings: “When I first began shooting, I was using my mom’s Canon Rebel XSI from 2008. I have graduated from that early model DSLR to using Canon’s Professional Mirrorless lineup. I currently shoot with the Canon R5 and the Canon RF 200-800mm lens. To record video through my iPhone 14 Pro Max while using my camera, I have it mounted to the hot-shoe system.”
“I have enjoyed meeting other photographers and traveling all over the US with my camera at my side to further my passion for both military aviation and photography.”
“I had seen photos that my friends had been taking along the Sidewinder Low-Level Training Route in California. I decided that for my university’s spring break I would drive out to the low-level training route and spend the week camping/hiking with my camera. I had heard stories from friends about F-117’s from Tonopah occasionally dropping into the low-level route. I knew that a photo of an F-117 “down low” would make the trip.”
“I woke up early each morning to hike to the location along the Kern River Valley I selected. Each morning by 08.00 I was in place on the mountain with my radio scanner and my camera. Eyes focused to the South for any aircraft running the route.”
“On my first day I shot California Air National Guard F-15C’s, and VFA-146/VFA-94 F-18’s.”
“Around 1pm I noticed that a KC-135 from Edwards AFB was flying Northeast towards Tonopah. After reaching Tonopah, the tanker turned and started heading back towards my location. Along with it were two F-117’s.”
“A short while later, my radio crackled to life. Over the gusting winds I was able to make out “Sidewinder Low Level, KNIGHT01 flight entering the route at point alpha, 500 feet, 500 knots. Two!””
I could hardly believe what I had just heard. Two F-117s were heading my way! I was so excited that I was almost shaking. I eventually saw the silhouettes of the aircraft descending into the valley.”
“When I was younger, I had a toy F-117 that my parents gave me. Seeing two of those familiar shapes flying towards me 16 years after the operational retirement of the airframe was a strange feeling.”
“I had to remind myself to stop watching and pick up my camera to shoot. As the flight approached me, they maneuvered to make the sharp right turn past me. To make this turn they rolled to the right, giving me a full view of the aircraft’s topside. The entire time I was snapping away with my camera. From a distance, the aircraft looks quite wide. The flight lead climbed up towards me and as it approached my perspective shifted. When it was positioned to show the full topside the wings look quite swept back.”
“I was not expecting the F-117 to be as loud as it was. It was comparable to the F-15s and F-18s I had been shooting all day. The sound echoed throughout the valley. The flight continued down the low-level route towards point Bravo, and then disappeared off into the horizon. Their silhouettes fading against the snowy mountains.”
Along with the cool photographs, Andrew filmed also a great clip of the low flying stealth jet.
“I stood on the top of the mountain watching them fly farther until I couldn’t see them anymore. I looked down on my camera and couldn’t believe that there were F-117 low level photos sitting on my CF Express card. I felt immensely grateful to have been in the right place at the right time and been able to see such a rare sight. All the driving, hiking, camping, and climbing was worth it. It didn’t matter to me what happened during the rest of the week. From day one, the trip had been a success.”
Many people have become tired of hearing about a certain solar eclipse taking place on Monday, and those individuals may have done absolutely nothing to prepare for it. This absolute humbug of a celestial event seems like an overrated excuse to price gouge AirBNB rates and sell dorky cardboard glasses, right?
Procrastinators and those who have had a last-minute change of heart may find themselves at a loss since special items are recommended for viewing and photographing an eclipse. Providing further discouragement is knowing that millions of people will be photographing it, and surely many of those people will have high-end camera equipment and appropriate filters.
Still — if you take a photo or video of the eclipse, it will be yours. Why not create a little memento? People love to take photos of the moon even though high-res images from ultra powerful cameras are available, and there’s something undeniably special about looking at celestial objects through your own telescope even if it doesn’t hold a candle to the James Webb.
It’s a bit late now to purchase a designated solar filter, which is required to let cameras capture zoomed-in details of the sun. Many filters are sold out, expedited shipping is expensive, and even if a friend has a solar filter, the eclipse will pass quickly and there’s hardly time to swap lenses around.
Fear not: there is a solution in an unlikely place.
Yep — it’s in a box of Pop Tarts.
It turns out that the Mylar “foil” wrapping of Pop Tarts, candies, and other foods can be a reasonably effective solar filter for cameras in a pinch, as can pieces of an emergency blanket made from the same material. Crafty photographers have created solar filters for their cameras using Pop Tart and candy wrappers mounted to cardboard tubes, soup cans, or even attached directly to a camera lens using masking tape.
Because the camera will be zoomed in on the sun, only a small piece of Mylar is needed for this filtering method. The Mylar should be placed over the direct center of the lens. Try to select a section of wrapper without words or colors printed on it, and place the wrapper over the camera with the “inside” facing outward. If taping the wrapper directly to the lens, use a gentle tape that will not leave scratches or residue such as masking tape.
Do NOT look directly at the sun through Mylar film. This method is only intended to be used with devices that have a viewing screen such as digital cameras with LED displays. Don’t look at the sun through the eyepiece of a camera with a Pop Tart filter!
The resulting photos will not be as sharp as a proper professional setup, but it should work for taking photos of the eclipse in a pinch. Check out the video below for directions and comparisons between sun photos using different food wrappers and dedicated solar film!
[embedded content]Instead of zooming in on the sun using a camera kitted out with a soup can and a Pop Tart wrapper, Apple reports that the wide-angle lenses in iPhones can be used to safely photograph solar eclipses without filters.
The iPhone wide lens technique has a catch. Pictures taken with an unfiltered phone camera should not be zoomed in, so the eclipse will only take up a very small part of the picture. This is great for locales with beautiful scenery, but anyone stepping out of work for a minute to grab a picture might have a less-than-ideal view.
Again, these pictures should be taken without looking directly at the sun.
A man demonstrates the colander method of viewing a solar eclipse. Light projected through the holes in the colander creates hundreds of small crescents on the paper below.
For those unwilling to entrust the well-being of their cameras to random garbage or the word of Apple executives, another fun way to view and photograph a solar eclipse involves taking pictures of light and shadows.
One of the coolest, easiest, and most well-known ways to indirectly photograph eclipses is the colander/cheese grater method. Most objects with small holes will work well, including punched cardboard or paper. These simple items project crescent-shaped lights during an eclipse. Smaller holes will create sharper images.
Continuing the theme of repurposed kitchen garbage, NASA has shared instructions for making an eclipse viewer from a cereal box.
[embedded content]For the clearest and sharpest results, project the light onto a smooth white sheet of paper. Colanders are generally preferred for this method because their holes’ arrangements create interesting patterns of hundreds of little crescents.
Projections can be personalized by punching holes in card stock to form a desired shape, spelling out a name or forming a picture. For an even more creative approach, crescents may be projected onto various different surfaces like leaves, drawings, or someone’s hand.
A USDA employee took this photo of crescents spelling “USDA” on a leaf during the August 2017 solar eclipse.
No matter how overhyped it might seem, remember that this solar eclipse is more than a tourist trap — it’s a fantastic part of the elaborate dance between stars, planets, and moons in our solar system. Happy photographing!
BROOKFIELD, Wis. — Excitement over the eclipse is growing. It is now just a day away.
People might be curious about how they can capture the unique moment.
Jeffrey Dobbs is the general manager at Mike Crivello’s Cameras in Brookfield. Like many, he’s looking forward to Monday’s eclipse.
He had the chance to photograph the 2017 total solar eclipse, which was his first time capturing something of this nature.
“I enjoyed going, and I enjoyed seeing it,” Dobbs said. “It was amazing. I ended up with a couple of pretty good pictures.”
He traveled to southern Illinois to snap the images. Dobbs said it was an incredible experience.
“It was one of the most amazing sights I’ve ever seen in my life,” he said. “The feeling you get, and everything seems to stop, and you have 360 degrees of the sunset around you and it’s a beautiful thing to see.”
Seven years later, he’s had a lot of customers interested in learning how to photograph the eclipse. Dobbs said the main thing people need to know is that they need a solar filter. Without one, it can harm the camera, just as looking directly at the eclipse can hurt your eyes.
“On a digital camera, you could probably damage the sensor of the camera because it isn’t meant to take that amount of light at one time,” Dobbs said.
That kind of damage can be costly. In addition to the filter, Dobbs recommended a tripod to keep things stable. Once a person is ready to get the shot, have the filter on while the sun is out.
“As soon as it is completely covered, you can take off the filter, and you can shoot a picture just like normal,” Dobbs said. “You get a really remarkable result. As soon as the sun starts coming back out, you should certainly put a filter back on it so that you don’t damage your camera.”
With luck, he said it will be the perfect picture.
Dobbs said he and his team are happy to answer any questions or have eclipse photos printed. He said he hopes everyone enjoys getting to see a rare sight like this.
“I think it’s one of those things that you remember for the rest of your life,” Dobbs said.
Lubavitcher traveling photographer Morde’hai Lubecki presents a photo and video tour of Tverya, including the kever of the Rambam to celebrate the siyum and the shul of Rabbi Meir Baal Haness.
VIDEO:
All images © Helena Hafemann, shared with permission
One day, as Helena Hafemann was unloading the dishwasher, one of her porcelain saucers shattered. Breaking into several fragments, the beloved plate lost its functional use within a split second, but Hafemann continued to think about its value, reflecting on how much emotional weight the piece still held even in its daunting state.
Trying to salvage each fragment with glue felt as demoralizing as it was dismal, and she was left to think about worth: When an object’s value is so intertwined with its utility, what happens when the latter is taken away? What role does sentimentality play, especially when the original piece is transformed anew?
Hafemann is driven by these slippery notions of value, which seem more urgent when faced with loss. Suspending the brief moment of destruction, the Wiesbaden, Germany-based artist stretches hundreds of strands of filigree thread between broken segments of plates. Perfectly coinciding with the porcelain hues from which they flow, bundles of delicate fibers bridge the jarring gaps between each ceramic morsel.
Comprising plates from friends, family, thrift stores, and flea markets, the wall works make up her ongoing Fadenschein series, which translates to “threadbare.” She shares:
By connecting the shards with sewing thread, I freeze the moment of breakage, or the apparent disintegration of the porcelain plate. With the Fadenschein series, I want to create little moments of irritation in which you ask yourself whether time is really always moving forward, or whether it is perhaps possible that, just this once, it can make a broken plate grow back together again.
Hafemann is currently preparing for two solo exhibitions opening later this year. See her website for more work, and stay in the loop about her forthcoming shows on Instagram. You might also enjoy Nicole McLaughlin’s warped sculptures and Faig Ahmed’s drippy fibers.
Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $5 per month. The article Through Porcelain Shards and Hundreds of Threads, Helena Hafemann Shatters Notions of Value appeared first on Colossal.
