Back in December of 2013 (I can’t believe it has almost been ten years), I was looking for some compelling photo opportunities, and, well, Wichita, Kansas, just isn’t one of those places you think of when trying to come up with unique, photogenic locations.
But let’s back it up a little. A year or so earlier, I had been itching to up my camera game (if you consider upgrading from a phone camera upping my game, that is). I watched lots of YouTube videos about tech stuff, and one guy seemed to have a good handle on the techy world, Marques Brownlee. At the time (and to this day), Marques was pumped up about a little camera from Sony, the RX100. It wasn’t inexpensive, so it took some thought to consider if a purchase was the right path, so I did more research. It turned out that the tiny point-and-shoot was getting rave reviews from everyone. Somehow Sony had packed a lot of the capabilities of its larger, pro-level cameras into the RX100 and kept the size small. The lens fully retracts into the camera’s body, which is small enough to fit in a pocket. The one-inch sensor and Zeiss zoom lens are phenomenal. I took the plunge into digital photography with that RX100. In 2013, Sony was on the Mark II version. Currently, they’re on the Mark VII version, but you can still buy a new Mark III on Sony’s website for almost half the cost of a VII.
So, I had this pocket powerhouse of a camera but not a lot of things to take pictures of in Wichita. At least, that’s what I thought. I then read a story about the Kansas Aviation Museum in the old Art Deco terminal building adjacent to McConnell Air Force Base, south of Highway 54. The building alone was something I could get excited about photographing.
It was a cold December afternoon around 4:30 p.m. Yes, the metadata from my images in Adobe’s Lightroom software still shows the exact time I took the photo. The sun was at a perfect low angle, still bright but casting deep shadows on the old building. Once I checked in and paid the attendant at the museum, I immediately went to the aircraft display outside on what was the old terminal’s tarmac. I was the only person visiting the museum that afternoon.
Beechcraft’s Starship model held a place in the hearts and minds of many people in the 1980s. Like the Lamborghini Countach or Porsche 911 Turbo to car enthusiasts, the Starship lit a fire in pilots. I followed all the magazines (no Internet back then). I learned every detail about the composite design, led by Burt Rutan’s Scaled Composites, the 1,200-shaft-horsepower Pratt & Whitney PT6A-67A powerplants, the noise damping, and the “cutting-edge” Pro Line 4 avionics from Rockwell Collins. It was the future of aviation, and for a kid in college beginning an aviation career, it meant we were seeing the future built in real-time.
Fast-forward back to 2013 again. To my surprise and pleasure, there happened to be standing proudly on that old tarmac NC-41, a Starship model 2000A. The 2000A models began with NC-29 and offered better noise reduction in the cabin, better short-field performance, and increased maximum and zero-fuel weights, which meant better range and payload. NC-4 through NC-28, model 2000s, were upgradable to 2000A specs. The light that day, the shadows on the beautiful old Art Deco terminal, and the Starship all together provided an image I often return to and enjoy. I even framed it. Here it is for you, captured perfectly in black and white by the RX100.
Since immersing myself in digital photography with that Sony, I got the camera bug for real — some call it gear acquisition syndrome (GAS). Around 2015, Leica came out with a compelling compact, full-frame camera, the Leica Q. It had a fixed 28mm Summilux lens, similar to my RX100’s wide end of its zoom range. The Q retailed for around $4,000, which is also not inexpensive. But if you compared it to Leica’s digital M camera with the 28mm Summilux lens, for which you’d have to spend around $10,000, there was a compelling value to this new Q, and it came with autofocus and optical image stabilization, departures (and arguable upgrades) from the M series of Leica cameras. Needless to say, I acquired a Leica Q, and I have been quite prolific in taking photos with it.
Between 2020 and 2023, I got another type of GAS; film photography grabbed me, like many others, during the pandemic. I acquired a Nikkormat 35mm first. It was one of Nikon’s consumer cameras in the 1970s. That led to a Nikon FE2, then an F3. I was hooked. Then I sought relatively rare film cameras, like the Contax G1 rangefinder and Hasselblad 500C/M medium format camera. I sold them all this year except the Hasselblad and added a Pentax 67 medium format SLR. In addition, I dove into Leica’s renowned digital rangefinder, the M10. The lineup is complete for now. Enjoy this series, Editor’s Pics, as I display some of my favorite photos throughout the years with my various digital and film cameras.
