Category Archives: photography

Reno Air Races 2023 – Airside photos

27 September 2023 David Leave a comment

I took a trip to Stead Nevada, to attend the Reno National Championship Air Races Final Flag. Having attended almost every year since my first trip in 1989, it was sad to see this great event coming to a close, at least for Stead Nevada.

This time around, it was about taking in the event, the vendors, the statics and the racing, more than trying to capture it all on camera. A few photos made the cut from a small collection of photos taken over the weekend. These photos are offered here, for anyone to enjoy.

Note, if there is a photo you’d like to purchase, many sizes and materials are available. Links to be added to post once I’ve finished setting them up with my art vendor. Stay tuned!

Aviation, Military, photography

Castle Air Museum – California

26 September 2023 David Leave a comment

Wrapping up a bittersweet trip to Reno for the last of the Air Races, we made a stop in Atwater to visit Castle Air Museum. They have an extensive collection of aircraft at the location of former Castle Air Force Base.

Castle Air Museum – main collection

Castle Air Memorial Brick Park.

Museum Restoration Center

Castle Air Museum is located at 5050 Santa Fe Drive, Atwater, California, 95301

Aviation, Military, photography, Texas

USS Lexington – Corpus Cristi Texas

6 October 2021 David Leave a comment

Myself and best friend spent most of the day visiting the USS Lexington CV-16 Museum in Corpus Cristi, Texas.

On par with other fantastic Texas Museums such as the Nimitz Museum in Fredericksburg, this was full of artifacts and information . Having visited a number of shipboard museums, I was amazed at the amount of areas open to the public, and the depth and quality of the exhibits.

The “Blue Ghost” has quite a story behind her. First named the CABOT while under construction, it was renamed the LEXINGTON after the original Lex (CV-2) was sunk at Coral Sea. This is also the carrier from on which Sen. John McCain served, before being shot down over Vietnam.

Here a a number of photos of the upper flight and hanger deck displays. Although we were able to explore some of the lower decks, we ran out of time, so there are only a couple of photos there.

This museum deserves a full day’s attention to try and get all you can from the experience. I hope you enjoy some of the snapshots.

automotive, Aviation, Formula 1, Motorcycles, photography, racing, Santa Cruz, Sports, Texas, travel

Some Favorite Moments in Pictures Years Past

3 March 2021 David 1 Comment

Looking back at 12 years of blog posts, photographs and tech articles, today I’m pulling up some of my favorite photos from years past.

Photo descriptions include a link to the story where it originally appeared.

May 2009 – Turn 2 crash at the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona

McLaren Test Drive Day during Car Week in Monterey CA. 570 Series cars (mine is on the right).

Alan DeMartini preparing for his First Solo – October 2018 in San Marcos Texas

Fleet Week 2016 in San Francisco CA. – NAVY Blue Angels demonstrate opposing pass low over the spectator boats.

Rare Porsche 917 Le Mans cars at Rensport Reunion 2016 in Monterey, CA.

F22 Raptor at the California Air Show in Salinas.

Rafting the American River’s South Fork (class 2-4+).

Lamborghini and Ducati in my garage. What an amazing day taking in the roads of the Santa Cruz Mountains.

An evening at Los Gatos Lamborghini with Lambo’s Chief Test Driver, Valentino Balboni.

First winter in Santa Cruz CA. Attended the O’Neil Classic pro surf competition in 80 degree weather; amazing!

photography, Texas

Canyon Lake Birds – Feb. 2021

28 February 2021 David Leave a comment

A number of birds from the Canyon Lake area have visited since we placed a bird seed feeder in the yard. When the South Texas Polar Storm hit us a week later, the feeder became an important source of food for the avian community, which experienced 6″ of snow over a week of temps 40 degrees below average. We’re happy to have helped out the local wildlife, while enjoying their colorful antics.

photography, Texas

Canyon Lake White Tail DEER – Oct 2020

5 October 2020 David 2 Comments

Some photos of white tail deer near Canyon Lake, TX on Monday October 5th.

Aviation, photography

Aviation Pics from San Marcos TX

29 October 2018 David Leave a comment

Weather finally improved over the last week in Central Texas, and that means “The Boy” is up and flying, working on his private pilot license. I often take my “good” camera to the airfield because you never know what sort of activity you will capture.

Here are some of the highlights:

Alan flying with Black Hound Aviation Flight School

Redbird Skyport Main Hanger

Beech V35 Bonanza on the appron at KHYI (San Marcos, TX)

Civil Air Patrol Cessna 182T at KHYI (San Marcos, TX)

2008 Mooney M20TN at KHYI (San Marcos, TX)

Commemorative Air Force – CenTex

CAF C-47 – Led 800 planes over the beach in Normandy France.

“That’s All Brother” C-47 Transport

“Triple Nickel” AT-6 Texan

“Nakajima B5N” AI-313 (AT-6D Texan modified)

Aviation, Military, photography, travel

Pima Air & Space Visit – June 2017

14 June 2017 David Leave a comment

Our time in California is quickly coming to a close. As part of this process I took on a 3000 mile road trip from Santa Cruz CA to Canyon Lake TX.

Along the way I decided to spend a day in Tuscon AZ and visit the Pima Air & Space Museum. And it was WELL worth the stop! Along with that visit I took a trip to the US Military “Aircraft Boneyard” (actually known as Davis-Monthan AFB).

The Air Museum itself is absolutely amazing! With 300+ aircraft and endless artifacts, it is really a 2 day visit if you want to even read all the ID plates, much less spend the time to learn about the amazing history some of these very unique aircraft, including the Boeing 787 Dreamliner Prototype 002 which is currently on display in this collection.

I could attempt to wax poetic about this visit, but instead I’ll simply post about 90 snapshots I took while trying to take do it all in one day.

photography, Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz Mountains Wildlife Photos (October 2016)

15 October 2016 David Leave a comment

It’s been a very active month of wildlife visitors. Occasionally I get lucky enough to grab the camera and snap off some shots before they see me and scamper off.

Here are a few of the last pics:
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buck-4941

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snake-5802

Aviation, Military, photography, travel

Fleet Week 2016 – San Francisco, CA Airshow photos (series 1)

8 October 2016 David Leave a comment

Fleet Week is always one of (if not THE) best Air Show on the West Coast. A large aerobatic box over the San Francisco Bay means a lot more latitude with the types of maneuvers that can be performed.

Here are some of the highlight pics from yesterdays performances.
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