A MOMENT WITH AIRIC

Due to catastrophic world events, my schedule of interviews has been somewhat changed around. As I mentioned in my last installment, I was headed to the airport to take a long trip to interview the next YPFer. When I reached Oshawa Municipal Airport, I realized that it was not the international airport I was told it was. Clearly, I was going to miss my flight out of the correct airport. Resolved that I was destined to stay in the Great White North a little longer, I walked over to the Industrial and Military Museum, wandered around for a bit, and finely settled into a table by the window at the airport’s restaurant. It was a lovely view of the runway, and as I ate a bowl of poutine (it actually grows on you), a gentle-faced, pleasant fellow approached and sat down across from me, sipping a steaming cup of coffee.

I am embarrassed to say that I had no idea who he was, but he had recognized me immediately (thanks to the many pictures JonMikal has posted of me over the past year and a half). The friendly fellow with the warm and inviting smile was none other than Airic. Of all the airports in all the world, I was lucky enough to walk into his.

As I had plenty of time to kill, and I wanted to take advantage of such a fortuitous and serendipitous opportunity, I pulled out my mini-tape recorder, pen, and pad of paper and got down to business.

JC: How would you describe yourself in 15 words?

A: Responsible but a free spirit, loves to photograph, laugh and teach, punctual, passionate, and compassionate.

JC: Given your avatar, do you really fly?

A: I do not have a pilot’s license, but I have flown, landed, and taken off an aircraft several times. It is a dream to solo, and I hope one day it will come true. I have been lucky enough to fly with many instructors who have given me valuable training and experience but the cost of a license and maintaining currency has been prohibitive. As for the avatar, the shot was taken during my first aerobatic experience. It’s an avatar that I have maintained since my first message board. The aircraft is a WWII era North American Harvard Trainer. The pilot was a retired RCAF pilot, and he has taught me more about flying then any other person. We had spent the weekend at an airshow doing barnstorming rides, and this was on the way home. We turned the hour flight into two hours, and we did loops and rolls all the way home until the sun went down. Another fantastic memory that money can’t buy.

JC: Are you actually from…where are we again?...Oshawa?

A: I was actually born in Montréal but moved to Toronto when I was three. I now live east of Toronto in Brooklin where I have resided for the past 6 years.

JC: While we’re on your personal life, tell us a little about your family.

A: My wife, Bernadette, and I have been married 16 years. We do not have kids but share a house with Bernadette’s sister’s family, and her kids have become ours. Most of you are well aware of the three Ns we share our life with, Nathan, Natalie, and Nicholas. We have lived with them for six years, and Nicholas has never known a life without us around. Bernadette and I can’t even imagine how lonely we would be without the kids around. It is a great family environment, and despite seven of us in the house, it works really well.

JC: What do you do for a living?

A: I work in an Imaging Support department for one of Canada’s largest photo retailers where I maintain, fix and train on minilab equipment. Why I took a job where I have to fix broken equipment I will never know, and I ask myself that question every day.

JC: Do I sense a hint of disillusionment in you voice? I’m sure it isn’t as bad as your first job.

A: Definitely not. My very first job was stocking shelves in a local variety store. It helped me raise money to buy my first camera along with a little help from my father. My first full time job was a delivery driver.

JC: What is your ideal job?

A: Aviation photographer which I do as a weekend job. It is purely a labor of love and a job I have desired since I was nine and started taking photos and reading aviation magazines. In 1988, I had my first photo published in FlyPast magazine and have not looked back. I do, however, want to keep this as a part time job so I can maintain my love and desire for it. In 2005, I fulfilled a goal by shooting out the back of a B-25 WWII era bomber, the ultimate photoship. The rear gun position is removed and the whole back end taken off. Once you are airborne you crawl on your knees to the back and hook up a harness. This is a photo a fellow photographer took of me in the back during a pass at an airshow. You can barely see me in the back. This is a shot of my feet hanging out the back of the aircraft waiting for the subject aircraft to arrive. Here are two photos from the shoots I did that weekend out the back of the B-25 (click here and here).

JC: I just want to go back to something you said a minute ago; your first job was to save up for your first camera. What kind was it?

A: A Praktica 35mm. I can’t remember the model but I destroyed about 5 of them before I got my first Nikon. I have always shot 35mm except for experimenting with a few of my father’s and grandfather’s larger format cameras. (If you want to see some of the 50+ cameras in my collection, click here.)

JC: You’ve mentioned your father and grandfather were into photography. Is that where you developed your interest?

A: Some of my earliest memories are spending time with my father in the darkroom listening to classical music and developing black and white prints and film. (Here is a photo of my father in the dark room. I still have the enlarger seen in the background.) My father and grandfather were both avid amateur photographers and, although my sister and brother were also exposed to photography, they did not take it up with the same passion as I did. I’m now in possession of my family’s photo collection that dates back to the early 1920s and consists of hundreds of thousands of negatives that include historic events like the arrival of the R-100 Airship in Canada and photos of personalities like Jayne Mansfield and Bob Hope.

JC: Those are some great pics of Jayne. I mean they’re all great, but Jayne! Speaking of pics, I have to ask, what’s the deal with the birds (the real ones, not the metal ones)?

A: I like to shoot anything and everything, and wildlife is very high on my list of stuff to shoot. Birds are easier and more plentiful to find then other animals so that is my main focus. I was not into birding much until two years ago when I found out my brother-in-law was an avid bird watcher and photographer. He has taught me a lot about birding and is my source for information on the subject. There is nothing sweeter then finding an owl or hawk in the wild and getting a good image of it—very challenging and frustrating at times but rewarding when you nail an image. My hat goes off to Raymond who has followed wildlife photography with the same passion I follow aviation. I would have to say this set of photos is what sparked my interested in wildlife photography, a Great Grey Owl I stumbled across on a hike. From that point on I was hooked.

JC: And what gear do you use when you go out shooting? I am assuming that you don’t use a 50mm prime to get up in those raptors’ faces.

A: I’m not a real gadget or technical person when it comes to cameras, and I like to keep it simple. For the past few years, I have used two Nikon D70s and have recently upgraded to a D200 body. I currently use a Sigma (Bigma) 50-500 lens that is excellent for the price point. Very versatile and sharp. Talking about getting in a raptor’s face, this photo was taken the moment I realized I was about to be attacked by an Osprey.

JC: What’s your dream camera setup?

A: I would have to say a Canon D1 MKII with a prime 300mm 2.8 and 500mm f.4. Throw in a wide angle and I would be happy. I’m a keep-it-simple kind of person.

JC: Can we see your favorite picture?

A: Sure. It’s here. Most photos I take have such good memories attached to them. I have so many that are dear to me; but, I would have to say this one sticks out the most, and I get the most amount of response about. It has been published in several calendars and magazines. I heard that a company called Fighter Factory from Virginia was going to be at an airshow I regularly attend with a Mk IX Spitfire, the dream Spitfire. The airframe is a WWII veteran that has one of the best photo documentations of any airframe in existence. It was photographed by Oscar winning director William Wyler on Corsica in 1944 and many photos of this airframe exist from its historic past. Anyway, I contacted the owner, and he granted me an exclusive air-to-air shoot at the airshow. We met on the Friday of the show and made plans for the next morning to do the shoot at 8 am. Obviously, I did not sleep the whole night in anticipation of my first Spitfire shoot. The morning saw heavy clouds over the field, but my photoplane pilot and Jerry (the plane’s owner) were still willing to play. So off we went. Soon after take-off he formatted on us, and I remember thinking how terrible it was we were flying under clouds: the photos would not look as nice as I wanted. All of a sudden sunlight hit the Spitfire, and I saw some puffs of white go by. I lowered the camera to see the Spitfire climbing through a hole in the clouds. To me, it was pure heaven, and I still get goose-bumps thinking about it: blue sky above, white puffy clouds and green countryside below. We climbed above the cloud base and played for 20 minutes in the early morning sun. For me, it was one of the most magical moments I have ever had.

JC: OK, let’s move away from photography for a few minutes. If you could invite anyone, alive or dead, real of fictional, to a concert, who would it be and which concert would you go to?

A: May I change that to “If you could invite anyone, alive or dead, real of fictional, to an airshow, who would it be and which airshow would you go to”?

JC: Absolutely.

A: The person would have to be WWII Canadian fighter Ace George Beurling who my father played with as a kid. The airshow would be the History of Flight in Geneseo, New York. George flew Spitfires over Malta in WWII, and, of course, we would have to do an air-to-air shoot with him flying a Spitfire.

JC: What’s your favorite joke?

A: I don’t know…What building has the most stories?

JC: Don’t know. What building?

A: The Library.

JC: OK, moving on. Let’s play everybody’s favorite: word association. Here we go: Duck.

A: Quack.

JC: Eagle.

A: Raymond.

JC: YPF.

A: Waco, the aircraft.

JC: Prop.

A: Wash.

JC: Barnstormer.

A: Me.

JC: Canuck.

A: Fleet.

JC: Raymond.

A: Daisy.

JC: Leafs.

A: Maple.

JC: BC.

A: Lions.

JC: RCMP.

A: Beaver.

JC: Uncle Sam.

A: States.

JC: Great. And now some preferences:

JC: Digital or film?

A: Digital.

JC: LP or CD?

A: CD.

JC: US or Canada?

A: OH CANADA!

JC: Hockey or Cricket?

A: Hockey. I don’t like bugs.

JC: Indian or Thai?

A: Indian.

JC: Deaf or blind?

A: Deaf, anything but my vision.

JC: Pen or Pencil?

A: Sharpie.

JC: Chiller or Ch1ller?

A: Ch1ller, dude.

JC: Mom & Pop or Chain?

A: Mom & Pop.

JC: Coffee or tea?

A: Tim Hortons.

JC: And favorites: Car?

A: One that does not need repair.

JC: Plane?

A: Spitfire Mk. Ixe MJ 730.

JC: Computer?

A: PC.

JC: Song?

A: “Rock N Roll,” by Led Zeppelin.

JC: Movie?

A: The Great Waldo Pepper.

JC: Book?

A: Lord of the Rings.

JC: Opera?

A: WTF?

JC: Band?

A: Led Zeppelin.

JC: Photographer?

A: John Dibbs.

JC: Fish?

A: Salmon.

JC: Plant?

A: He! He! He!

JC: Food?

A: Greek.

JC: Game?

A: Combat Flight Simulator European.

JC: Tell us about your worst dating experience.

A: I went out with a girl who would not talk during the date. I guess it wasn’t that bad; it only lasted a few hours, and I never saw her again.

JC: Tell us about your best dating experience.

A: The day I met my wife. I knew she was the one for me. I was in love.

JC: Who has influenced you the most when it comes to your photography?

A: My father.

JC: Who is your all-time greatest hero?

A: My grandfather.

JC: What is the one type of photography you haven’t yet tried but would really like to?

A: Under water photography but I should learn how to swim better first.

JC: If you were invited to write a chapter in a photography textbook, what would the chapter be about?

A: Air-to-air photography

JC: If you could go anywhere in the world to take your dream shot where would it be and what would it be of?

A: A dream shot anywhere? Hmmmmm…Well, it would have to be an airplane. I would have to say England to shoot the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Lancaster and fighters. Then I would have air-to-air shots of the only two flying Lancasters left in the world.

JC: What’s the most dangerous/craziest thing you ever did to get a pic?

A: Well, for me it is what I love to do every day, and I don’t consider it that dangerous but strapping into the back of a B-25 WWII era bomber and doing an air-to-air shoot. Imagine being in the very tail of an aircraft with a harness that will allow you to move right to the edge of the aircraft and lean out. It is such a rush. My wife took this photo of me sitting in the open doorway of a Cessna 172. I was shooting the aircraft she was in.

JC: What’s the best piece of advice you could impart to the great folks of YPF?

A: Live life and do the things you have always dreamed about doing, and just be nice and tolerant to other people.

JC: Very good advice that more people in this world should heed.

As I walked to my car in the crisp Ontario air, I realized that I was beginning to like Canada and her crazy canucks. Perhaps, I’ll stay here for a little longer…