AvGeek of the Month – AvGeekMel

An aviation enthusiast & photographer as I have an interest in aviation and I enjoy taking photographs of aircraft.

I’ve always enjoyed going to airports since I was a kid and I have worked as a photographer-photographing models, families & weddings. About 5 years ago I combined the two, and nowadays when I’m not in work I spend my free time at airports both in the UK and abroad photographing a variety of planes.

The wide variety of airlines from all around the world that fly in and out of Heathrow and also the volume of planes you get to see in a day – with around 1300 combined take offs and landings each day, your camera’s memory cards soon start to get filled up when photographing planes at Heathrow.

The China Southern Dreamliner and the Oman Air livery are my two favourite.

I read in an onboard magazine that the Boeing factory have a machine which tests how strong the Dreamliner wings are by lifting them upwards until they broke. In the case of the B787, their wings broke the machine instead.

Twitter - @avgeekmel

Instagram – @avgeekmel 

• There’s no need to invest in very expensive camera equipment when starting out in aviation photography – any second-hand camera and 70-300mm lens should be fine to photograph planes at most airports. You can always upgrade your equipment in the future when budgets permit.
• Learn about the manual settings on your camera and how they affect your photos. You can also learn techniques for editing aviation photos from YouTube videos.
• Download Flightradar24 on your phone or tablet so you can keep track of the planes.
• Enjoy spending time at airports when you can and photograph the planes at different times of the year. Although it’s colder in winter you can get some amazing winter light on the planes and don’t forget the sun protection when you’re out at an airport all day in the warmer weather too.