Page 31 - June23T

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 enthusi- asts, the Starship lit a fire in pilots. I followed all the maga- zines (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 up- gradable 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 Has- selblad 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.
June 2023 / TWIN & TURBINE • 29