MAY 2024: SIMON BLAKESLEY
“make a picture of flight”
This month, aviation photographer Simon Blakesley asks you to consider the word ‘flight’, though don’t limit your options to aircraft or birds. This assignment was initially set in episode #431.
THE ASSIGNMENT BRIEF
From Simon: “I think that humans have always gazed skyward captivated by flight. Your image could portray how flight plays out in daily life, such as aircraft or the process of travelling to a favourite destination. But I don’t want to simply limit this to aircraft; think of nature, such as birds and even fish that fly! You also have animals, like a fox jumping up into the air and descending upon its prey.
I think there’s another way we can interpret flight, too, in a more active sense, such as the human physiological response to something frightening or getting away from something quickly. Perhaps giving something flight like a ball? This isn’t limited to aviation, so long as your image and short write-up transmit the specialness or relevance of flight. Feel free to explore and push the envelope.”
HOW TO ENTER. IMPORTANT NOTES ON FILE SIZE AND ENTRIES
Send your entries to stories@photowalk.show. Pictures should be 2,500 pixels wide, if possible, for online optimisation. Or send the full-resolution photo, which we will optimise. Feel free to provide text as well, if you think it will help explain the location, context etc.
Entries are shown below, and good luck!
Neale
SIMON BLAKESLEY
A time exposure captures the lights of an Air North 737-500 with the aurora in the background.
See more of Simon’s aviation work on his website.
GREG PICONE
Greetings Neale. At 70+ I seem to forget the simple pleasures & excitement of childhood. However, an afternoon at the park with my grandson and WOW, it all comes back. The wind swishing through my hair. Shouts of, “push higher, faster”, toes reaching for the sky, then bailing out into the air, flying free like a bird, till gravity takes hold bringing me laughing to earth again and then the cries of, “LETS GO AGAIN”!!!
I’m there, five again, thanks Ted. Made with Fuji X-E3, XF23mm f2.
See more of Greg’s work on Instagram.
PAUL FRIDAY
Bubbles flying at Harewood House, North Yorkshire. Off to join their cousins in the sky.
PATRICK SCHOENMAKERS
Here’s the photo I would like to submit for the May assignment. Just before our landing at Toronto International airport (I used to be a commercial aviation pilot) I saw this amazing shadow of our airplane appearing on the runway. Luckily my colleague was going to execute the landing, so I had a short moment available to quickly grab my camera and make this photo.
RICK SMITH
My submission for the assignment, Flight, this month: A photo of the red winged black bird that looks like it is out of a super hero movie. I was at the edge of a pond and this guy kept flying toward me and then back out to the middle of the pond again and again. I snapped this with my Sony A7R3 using my Sony 100mm-400mm f4.5-5.6 lens on one of his return flights.
MICHAEL WOLFE
Hello Neale, this is Michael Wolfe from Salt Lake City, Utah-land, USA. I'm relatively new to photography and have been a listener for about a year. I have a small Leica compact camera and recently decided to try out film and bought a refurbished Pentax K1000. Of all the pictures I've taken, the film ones move me the most. To me, they feel more like a memory.
Here are two photographs (above and below) I took on a quiet, contemplative Saturday afternoon dog walk around a nearby middle school. It was a blustery and balmy day. The quiet was broken by the appearance of four Blackhawk helicopters that circled above school three or four times. As I "gazed skyward captivated by flight", relishing in the rumble and majestic formation these birds were flying in, I was taken back to my memory of many years ago in my military reserve service. I was fortunate enough to have a chance to fly a couple of times in a UH1-Huey. Once in the west desert where I sat in the outward facing open door seat. It was spectacular.
These were shot on Ilford Delta 400 with my (new at the time) Pentax K1000.
See more of Michael’s work on his website.
JEFF SMERALDO
Thanks for the shout out last month for the Zen assignment. I was taken aback when you mentioned my name and photo! What a thrill to mentioned, thanks for that. It was also a bit surreal hearing my name called out about the Zen assignment as I was traveling to a special reunion event at my old Dojo (talk about a coincidence). Attached is my entry for this month’s assignment for flight. I took this with an old Leica D-Lux 3 from the basket of my friend’s balloon at the Grand Est Mondial Air Ballon festival in Chambley France last summer. This was one of the few mornings we could fly as the weather that week was terrible for hot air balloons. I will say, flying in a hot air balloon is about the most peaceful flight one can have. I enjoyed the festival because of the camaraderie and meeting pilots and crews from all over the world and of course the local residents are tremendously gracious and welcoming.
KABELO MAKHAYA
For this month's photo assignment, I ventured to Johannesburg, South Africa, on a chilly summer's day. As I wandered the streets, I stumbled upon a group of pigeons gathered around a scattering of food left by a local store owner. With the assignment brief in mind, I seized the opportunity. Swiftly, I approached the pigeons, causing them to take flight, and in that fleeting moment, I captured this shot with my mobile phone. The image encapsulates both the serenity of the pigeons feeding and the sudden burst of movement as they soar into the sky.
See more of Kabelo’s work on Instagram.
PER BIRKHAUG
Finally I mustered enough courage to participate in the assignment. I knew immediately which pictures to enter.
See more of Per’s work on his Instagram.
LAUREN MCCLANAHAN
These three photos tell the story of some of the things that happen during a long, international flight (in this case, from Paris to Seattle). From the boredom the flight attendants encounter to the horror of witnessing people entering/exiting the bathroom with bare feet (really—who DOES this?) I also included a photo of that feeling of having to wait to disembark the plane, which can seem like hours after such a long journey.
MICHAEL MIXON
For my contribution, here is a photo I took of my son at the Museum of Flight near Seattle, WA. He has been obsessed with aviation lately and has quickly surpassed all knowledge I ever had about planes (it probably took him a day to reach that milestone, and that's being generous - I'd say he lapped me by lunch).
While there is a small airport near our house, the variety of planes he can see there is quite limited, and so I took him to the flight museum where he was able to walk next to, into and around a number of the planes he had only ever seen online (e.g. the 747, the Concorde, the B2, etc).
I don't know if this obsession has legs (will he pursue becoming a pilot, which is his current ambition, or change direction entirely in the next six months?), but it is just wonderful to witness him getting inspired by the world around him, especially when that world is presented to him in its full tactile glory and not through the flicker of a little screen.
MICHAEL ANDROSKY
Hello! My name is Michael and I am a first time submitter, only listened to a couple episodes but safe to say I’m here to stay!
This submission was difficult because I have others regarding skateboarding which included one of my close friends. However this one being anonymous makes it a stronger photo in my opinion. I chose skateboarding for our May assignment to capture flight because I spent a lot of my upbringing riding around and performing tricks and just hanging with all my friends at the park. It is one of those things for me that gives you an almost weightless feeling. A feeling that you can’t just create now that I’m in my 30s and lack the time and dedication for this activity. I always imagined it feeling as if I was walking on the moon. It’s so rewarding when you stick the tricks for the first 5-10 times. Photography is now how I get a similar feeling to skateboarding. It makes me so accomplished when I get a shot that I’ve been chasing or an image that others resonate with.
ROBIN CHUN
This photo is of grandson number six - Cassius - who loves making paper planes, and regularly watches YouTube tutorials on how to make more elaborate paper planes, but always comes back to me and asks, “Grandad, make me one of your paper planes?” On his visit today, it was I who encouraged the paper plane exercise so as I could get my photo!
See more of Robin Chun’s work on his website.
