[Leica] San Francisco Coast Guard flight - aerial photos

["Gary Todoroff" <datamaster@humboldt1.com>]

I'm driving down to the Bay area tomorrow, and LUGgers down there might be
interested in a possible photo op. I will be photographing a USCG HC-130
(the big four engine cargo plane) from a Dolphin HH-65A helicopter over the
Golden Gate bridge on Monday afternoon. It should be spectacular from the
air and not too shabby a site from the ground either.

Exact flight plans won't be known until the two air crews meet at the SF
airstation on Nov 6, with the HC-130 flying over from Sacramento. However,
the photo flight is scheduled for the hour before sunset, with flying around
the bridge just after 4:00pm.

Disclaimer - as experience with the Coast Guard has proven before, there are
no schedule guarantees. So far, I have not been able to get the USCG to
prioritize me ahead of rescue operations, drug interdictions and oil spills.
Now if everyone would just behave themselves for a couple hours on Monday
afternoon . . .

So if you're in the area, bring a Leica along. I'll have mine in the air,
along with a Hasselblad and also a Canon 28-135mm Image Stabilization lens
on loan from Swanlund's, our local Eureka camera store. Very kind of them to
throw in a Canon Elan II as well, which I am very interested to try out in
the high vibration environment of a helicopter, especially with the IS lens.

Any LUGger with experience with the IS lenses? I shot a quick test roll this
afternoon, and the results look promising.

Will let the LUG know how things work out, and would appreciate hearing from
anyone who might be able to take shots from around the Golden Gate.

Pray for good weather!

Gary Todoroff
Tree LUGger