2012 Thunder Over the Valley, Santa Maria, CA

The annual Thunder Over the Valley show at Santa Maria, CA brought out everything from Ospreys to Hornets, from Eddie Andreini and his Stearman and Mustang to John Collver and War Dog, and a lot of stuff in between. Here's three days worth of photos from the event.

A special shout-out to the guys from Strike Fighter Squadron One Three Seven (VFA-137), the "Kestrels", from NAS Lemoore, CA. Had a blast hanging with those guys and chatting with them throughout the weekend.

Click on the thumbnail and enjoy the photos!

James :-)

LAX Spotting

My main purpose for this trip was shooting the Endeavour flyover (see earlier album), but I also ended up shooting some arrivals and departures from LAX in the late afternoon light. Thoroughly enjoyed this experience and hope to do it again soon. I was able to cross off two of the four "must shoots" off my airliner lists...the 777 and the 747. All that's left for me to do now is bag an A380 and a 787. All in good time, I suppose.

Anyway, click on the thumbnail and enjoy the photos!

James :-)

Major update coming soon

Hey everybody, Just wanted to let everybody know where I stand as far as editing goes. Well, all I can say is prepare for a massive blitz of albums in the coming days and weeks. I have some more action from Santa Barbara Airport, the 2012 Thunder Over the Valley show in Santa Maria, California, and some non-aviation stuff as well. I also have shots from the 2012 MCAS Miramar show coming down the pipe as well, but it'll be a while for those...Rome wasn't built in a day, and over 6,000 photos weren't edited in a day either...LOL. Anyway, stay tuned, bear with me, and get ready for what I hope everybody will consider some pretty decent work.

James :-)

OV-105 Endeavour's Arrival to Los Angeles

On 21 September 2012, I had the opportunity to be at Griffith Observatory to witness Endeavour's final flight. She touched down at LAX and was delivered one step closer to her retirement home at the California Science Center. I waited my whole life to see a space shuttle in person, and this was almost a surreal experience for me. As I watched her make her final pass overhead and lumber off down south to buzz Long Beach, Seal Beach, and Disneyland, I admittedly got a little choked up and had to hold back a tear or two, as the fact that I was witnessing the end of an era that meant so much to me finally began to set in.

I had the good fortune to share this experience with a wonderful friend who is as avid a space program fan as I am, and in the little over 6 hours I sat and waited for the "show", I met some new, amazing friends as well. This honestly will be an experience that I will hold close to my heart forever.

Click on the thumbnail above to enjoy the full album, or click HERE to go to an album only featuring shots of Endeavour's majestic passes over the observatory and the famous Hollywood sign.

James :-)

Atlas V 401 NROL-36

A rare daytime launch of an Atlas V rocket at 1439 hrs. on 13 Sept. 2012 successfully thundered the National Reconaissance Office's classified NROL-36 payload along with some student-built hitchhiking cubesats into orbit.

Click on the thumbnail and check out the launch pics!

James :-)

Wings Over Camarillo 2012

The warbirds were out in full force for the 2012 Wings Over Camarillo air show. An amazing show in the air, and some amazing displays on the ground as well.

Sit back, relax, click on the thumbnail and enjoy the photos.

James :-)

Boeing Photo Contest

Hey all...Boeing is having a photo contest, and I have decided that I'm going to try my luck. Problem is that I can only enter one photo. So if you have a Facebook account, you can help me decide which one it's going to be. I'm leaving it up to you guys to tell me what photo will make the cut. So, head on over to the Facebook page and check out the album. The one with the most "LIKES" gets in (leave a comment or two, if you so choose as well).

Photo must be submitted by 2359 hrs. (Eastern Time) on 31 August 2012 (2059 hrs. here in the Pacific Time Zone), so I will tally likes around midday on that day.

Here's a direct link to the album on the Tomcat Photography Facebook page:

CLICK HERE

Here's linkage to the photo contest website in case you're interested in entering one of your own:

CLICK HERE

Anyway, check out the photos, pick your favorite(s) and help me decide. Thanks a bunch!

James :-)