Skip to main content
Category

Virginia Beach

Oct 25
Love0

Turning Test Shots Into Portraits

By Carol Hughes, family portraits, Kelli McFerrin, Masqueman Photography, portaits, Tyler Loper, Virginia Beach
When I traveled back to Virginia I ended up in a city park to take photos of a childhood friend and her mother, but this blog is not about that photo session. Instead I am writing about the test shots that came before the actual session. I will often show up to a new location in advance and try a few different vistas. lighting scenarios or lenses.
My mother, sister and nephew were with me so I was able to use them as guinea pigs. There are cases where I have had to photograph myself in various spots but that is much more difficult to do with a remote control and tripod. My sister is a few years older than me, but that did not stop her from scampering up a tree. She was pretty high up there. I thought about throwing her a banana. Her son, Tyler soon joined her.
I had several cameras with me and believe or not, my pocket camera had a faster frame-per-second rate so I used it to snap Tyler jumping out of the tree.
I was keen to check my 70-200 lens since I thought that there might be a focusing issue. 
I created tight portraits and checked the eyes to confirm that the lens is tack sharp.

Though reluctant, Tyler did allow me to move him to different settings and snap away.
This kid is getting taller by the minute.

Lastly, my Mom who is more difficult to photograph than Bigfoot, sat still for a 1/2 second… just long enough to steal a single frame. I already know that she will hate it, but I don’t. This is how I think of my Mom… surrounded by light.
Soon the real subjects showed up and the job began, but having help developing my modus operandi was excellent.
Apr 30
Love0

World War 1 Air Show in Pungo

By Air Show, airplanes, Andrew Hughes, aviation, Masqueman Photography, Military Aviation Museum, photography, Pungo, VA, Virginia Beach, warbirds, World War 1
Almost 100 years ago, the first aerial battles were fought during World War I. It was a different era where new fangled flying machines represented the state-of-the-art in speed and technology. Horse calvary was still relevant and tanks were just appearing in the muddy trenches.

Last year I attended avery unique air show in Pungo, Virginia at the Military Aviation Museum. The featured planes were all World War I vintage, more than likely scaled replicas.
 

Seeing these wood and cloth planes is kind of like looking a kite with a machine gun attached. 

Today we have stealth bombers, remote controlled drones and satellites, but all our current technology owes a great deal to these earlier pioneers and soldiers of the air.

In the photo below, the World War 2 era P-51 snuck into the background and illustrates the difference that 30 years can make on the battlefield, even ones in the air.

Instead of sitting in a dusty museum, bi-planes and tri-planes zoomed past the crowds in glorious flight.

The first airplanes had less horsepower than most cars on the road today. They employed different shapes and multiple wings for improved lift… two or three wings were better than one, right?

These types of events attract enthusiasts and enactors who are interested in the time period.

Evidently long sleeves were the norm back then, even when it was hot.

I met one gentleman who had an authentic Harley Davidson motorcycle that had seen actual war duty over in France where he found it. It was a joy to see and hear the old hog run. It was a noisy clattertrap.

There were a lot of Germans in uniform.

WW1 machines are not often seen at air shows. In fact, I would say that this was a very rare showing.

The planes had markings that identified the pilot or the air group (or what ever they were called back then).

As the sun went down, hot air balloons were launched over the field.

The fellow below had a solo hot air balloon just like the urban legend about the guy that tied a bunch of helium balloons to his lawn chair.

This show gets top rank, and should not be missed if you are in the Virginia Beach area.

Nov 03
Love0

The Secret Forest of Charles Hughes

By Charles Hughes, Education, Teachers, Virginia Beach

I made this book about my father last year, but never wrote about it in this blog. Some of you may already know the book or own it, but for anyone else stumbling upon this, these are the actual page spreads. You can view The Sceret Forest of Charles Hughes as a PDF file here.

This is cover and introduction page.

On a trip back to Virginia, my father, Charles Hughes, took me to see his classroom at the Maritime School in Norfolk, Virginia. My father has spent a majority of his life teaching children and young adults of all ages.

His classroom is very unique and you likely will never see another room like it. There are scientific treasures everywhere that you look. Most of them collected and preserved by Charles himself.

You could easily be looking at exhibits from a science museum with strange collected creatures and live animals in aquariums.

Behind the school, the teaching continues in a unique outdoor classroom under a single pine tree. A circular bench was constructed where whole classes of children could be taken and taught about nature.

Beyond this point, behind an unassuming chain link fence is a truly magical place… the place that I call the “Secret Forest of Charles Hughes”.

The forest is rare to the east coast of Virginia because it contains extremely old and large live oaks that could be hundreds of years old.

Many of these forests were destroyed for fuel or building materials so the fact that this one survived in such a populated area is surprising.

Though the forest is protected now by a fence, it was not always so. The community came together to run off vagrants and remove thousands of pounds of trash from the forest. Some of the damage can still be seen like these huge fire pits.

My father and others realized the important ecosystem that was a few hundred yards from the school and the fantastic opportunity to save a unique place for future generations.

I took photos in the classrooms and forest so I could make a book about it as a present of appreciation for my father. I know that he liked it and so did many of his friends. The library of his school asked for a copy so the kids would know more about it.

This project is the closest one to my heart and tries to capture the dedication of a man who has taught over 50 years, and a genius who has inspired  generations of students into knowing that not all knowledge comes from a book…. some of it has to be discovered for yourself.

Dec 10
Love0

Chilly Holiday Photos

By corporate photography, portraits, Virginia Beach, virginia highland

I met my nephew and his family early one morning in Town Center in Virginia Beach, Virginia for some quick photos for their holiday cards. The weather had been pleasant until that morning when chilly winds started blowing hard enough to make me feel like my jacket had a hole in it. We were all cold so we cut the session down to just a few moments. Brrr….

You can check out the gallery here.


Close Menu