Turbulence (Redux)
B-29 Superfortress "Fifi," one of two air-worthy B-29's in the United States, lays over at the Southern Wisconsin Regional Airport in Janesville, WI, as a rough-looking thunderstorm is about to roll in. "Fifi" was on layover in Janesville for the Commemorative Air Force Gathering of Warbirds, en route to the giant EAA spectacle in Oshkosh just a few days later. This is a multi-shot panorama showing the shelf cloud just before the thunderstorms rolled in, with high winds and a 30-minute period of very heavy rains.
***This is a re-edit of a previously-uploaded image. The re-edit is for the Flickr Your Best Shot 2019 gallery. The original can be seen here:
www.flickr.com/photos/66708125@N03/48352829912/in/datepos...
"Awe"
This image is being submitted as part of the #Flickr21 Photo Challenge, celebrating Flickr's 21st anniversary on February 10, 2025. The theme for the 21st day of the 21 day photo challenge is "Awe." I chose this image for the final theme of the #Flickr21Challenge because it fits on at least 3 different levels. First and foremost is the airplane. "Fifi" as she is known is a B-29 Superfortress built by Boeing in 1945 at the end of World War II. The B-29 was one of the largest aircraft built that served during the war and were the aircraft that dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. "Fifi" never served in combat, with the war having ended before she could be delivered. Today, she is based in Dallas, TX, and flies all over the United States as one of only two airworthy B-29's in the entire world. And don't let her size in this image fool you. She is BIG, dwarfing the other aircraft that were on display this day.
Second is the storm. For as powerful as the B-29 Superfortress was, it pales in comparison to the power of Mother Nature. This was a mean-looking storm because it WAS a mean storm. It rolled in fast, forcing the airshow crews to scramble to get the airplanes tied down and the public off the tarmac before it hit. As it rolled over us at the Janesville Airport, the National Weather Service would issue a severe thunderstorm warning for this storm. It would go on to produce quarter-sized hail as it rolled further east.
And third, what is NOT visible in this image. Because the storm rolled in so fast, the few of us photographers who remained until the raindrops started falling were scrambling to get our shots as the shelf cloud overtook the airport. In my desire to capture the entire shelf cloud, I switched into 3-shot bracketing, with the intent to create an HDR panorama. What I failed to do was to change my camera settings to compensate for the loss of light. So when I got home and uploaded by photos, I was horrified to see how underexposed they were. Fortunately, the final shot of the HDR sequence was bright enough for me to salvage the sequence. In a way, this was probably beneficial. When I did the panorama merge in Lightroom, I was blown away by how dark and moody it turned out. With very minor additional editing, including a monochrome conversion, this ended up being the result. The color version of this image would go on to win the Best of Show award at my local fair's photography competition (the biggest competition of it's kind in Illinois), an award that I had been chasing for exactly 20 years at that point.
Turbulence (Redux)
B-29 Superfortress "Fifi," one of two air-worthy B-29's in the United States, lays over at the Southern Wisconsin Regional Airport in Janesville, WI, as a rough-looking thunderstorm is about to roll in. "Fifi" was on layover in Janesville for the Commemorative Air Force Gathering of Warbirds, en route to the giant EAA spectacle in Oshkosh just a few days later. This is a multi-shot panorama showing the shelf cloud just before the thunderstorms rolled in, with high winds and a 30-minute period of very heavy rains.
***This is a re-edit of a previously-uploaded image. The re-edit is for the Flickr Your Best Shot 2019 gallery. The original can be seen here:
www.flickr.com/photos/66708125@N03/48352829912/in/datepos...
"Awe"
This image is being submitted as part of the #Flickr21 Photo Challenge, celebrating Flickr's 21st anniversary on February 10, 2025. The theme for the 21st day of the 21 day photo challenge is "Awe." I chose this image for the final theme of the #Flickr21Challenge because it fits on at least 3 different levels. First and foremost is the airplane. "Fifi" as she is known is a B-29 Superfortress built by Boeing in 1945 at the end of World War II. The B-29 was one of the largest aircraft built that served during the war and were the aircraft that dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. "Fifi" never served in combat, with the war having ended before she could be delivered. Today, she is based in Dallas, TX, and flies all over the United States as one of only two airworthy B-29's in the entire world. And don't let her size in this image fool you. She is BIG, dwarfing the other aircraft that were on display this day.
Second is the storm. For as powerful as the B-29 Superfortress was, it pales in comparison to the power of Mother Nature. This was a mean-looking storm because it WAS a mean storm. It rolled in fast, forcing the airshow crews to scramble to get the airplanes tied down and the public off the tarmac before it hit. As it rolled over us at the Janesville Airport, the National Weather Service would issue a severe thunderstorm warning for this storm. It would go on to produce quarter-sized hail as it rolled further east.
And third, what is NOT visible in this image. Because the storm rolled in so fast, the few of us photographers who remained until the raindrops started falling were scrambling to get our shots as the shelf cloud overtook the airport. In my desire to capture the entire shelf cloud, I switched into 3-shot bracketing, with the intent to create an HDR panorama. What I failed to do was to change my camera settings to compensate for the loss of light. So when I got home and uploaded by photos, I was horrified to see how underexposed they were. Fortunately, the final shot of the HDR sequence was bright enough for me to salvage the sequence. In a way, this was probably beneficial. When I did the panorama merge in Lightroom, I was blown away by how dark and moody it turned out. With very minor additional editing, including a monochrome conversion, this ended up being the result. The color version of this image would go on to win the Best of Show award at my local fair's photography competition (the biggest competition of it's kind in Illinois), an award that I had been chasing for exactly 20 years at that point.