About the site
What is it not about?
First of all: what you will not find here are the typical Airshow reports - containing the aircraft checklists, event background, information about the weather, who was the best performer etc. There are really enough sites that do this, no need to duplicate the effort.
It's also not an online gallery of the airshow photos. I have such ones separately - listed below, feel free to pay me a visit
This website is different. Its main purpose is to help you to get better photo opportunities. It's written by a hobbyist like you, who mostly gets to the airshows as a general public, with the main goal being: take some nice photos.
What is it about?
Every year, when preparing trips to the airshows, I spend quite a lot of time gathering all the information about particular events:
- what is the layout of the showground?
- can I shoot with sun behind my back?
- is there a clear view to the runway, for the takeoff/landing shots?
- if not, are there any unofficial points that can be used?
- or perhaps a spotter day, before the main event?
- how to get there? any hints about parking?
- what are nearby cheap hotels/campings?
- is the whole thing worth spending money at all? (price/opportunities ratio)
- etc. etc... if you were planning a trip to some large event, you know perfectly what I'm talking about.
At some point, I found myself being asked quite often about these details on various aviation forums. This gave me an idea for a website that would be a one-stop resource for people like me.
As you might have noticed, the language of this website is not very formal -
I describe my own views, ideas, thoughts, I add some personal remarks
here and there.
Frequently asked questions
Can you please write article about the (...) airshow?
If I haven't visited it yet - no. If I did but there is no article about it yet - I either had no time to get to it yet, or I considered it not big / interesting enough to spend my time writing about it. If you know that I was there (e.g. from the photos in my gallery), send me an email. If there is enough demand for particular bit of information, I'll be happy to serve.
Note that, as a rule, I don't review the one-off events, even if they are really great. Such articles would not really be inline with the primary goal of this website. In the future, I will probably make some exceptions to the somewhat-recurring events, like Meetings de l'Air in France, or the Dutch Luchtmachtdagen, as they seem to be rotated around the airbases every few years.
Why there is no (...) translation yet?
Because nobody has written it yet My long-term goal is to have most of the articles at least in English, French and German. In order to maintain high quality of the site, I rely on native translators, as opposed to my mediocre language skills. Considering this is purely voluntary work, I don't feel like pushing them for anything in particular.
Can I write an article for you to publish?
At the moment - no. Current concept of this website is entirely "one-man show" and I don't plan to accept third-party contributions in the near future.
Hey, our airshow was great! Photo opportunities were limited because (...)
All information on this website are just my subjective, personal views, based on my own experiences and they way I like the events to be organized. It doesn't pretend to be the only objective truth. Even on the better side of the fence I still remain primarily a photography enthusiast - as such, I don't really take into account reasons why the events are held this or that way, security/capacity/financial constraints etc. I just want the people to know if a particular airshow was worth going there for me.
I am organizing an event - could you give me some tips how to make it more photographer-friendly?
HELL YES! Drop me an email.
I am organizing an event - would you want to come and cover it (photos and/or article)?
See the above answer
Copyright notice
Unless specifically noted, all the text and photos, are 100% my own, personal work and I have full copyright on them. Only general exceptions are the translations to other languages, where due credit is given on the respective pages.
Without a prior agreement, you are not allowed to:
Use the photos in any form, except from linking to this website. Note: hotlinking is OK as well, as long as there is a mention (text) where the photo comes from.
Save/copy and reuse the text in any form. Exception: saving or printing for personal use. In particular, I don't want any parts of my articles to appear on other sites/papers, unless agreed.
If you would like to use some of the photos (either for personal, or
professional purposes), don't hesitate to contact me - for personal use I usually
provide high-resolution images without charge and for others, we can arrange for
a modest fee.
Who am I to tell you all this?
I got interested in the aviation photography relatively recently - my first big airshow was Air'04 in Payerne. Nowadays, I visit about 10 events in Europe every year - but mostly around Switzerland, where I live.
I maintain two websites to show my photos:
http://danielrychcik.com - a "show-off" one, with selection of best photos from the events
http://photosite.pl - a more general photo galery, most of it being of course aviation (superset of the above site), but containing some more general photos as well.
I consider myself a full-time amateur I do this purely for the entertainment, in my spare time, thanks to a great wife and tolerant bosses. Still, I get my photos published here and there and, from time to time, a bit of cash out of this.
I'm relatively easy to spot on the showground Big guy, with long hair and a beard, lugging around tons of gear (but using just the dark-green camouflaged 500/4IS all the time). Be sure to say "Hello" if you see me! Apart from Polish, I speak English/French quite well and I'm always happy to exercise my mediocre German.
I am also active on some aviation- and photography-related forums: Airpic.net, FoxAlpha, ILS, Lotnictwo.net.pl and Canon Board - you can always find me under nickname muflon.
Otherwise - born in 1977, Polish, living in Zürich (Switzerland), wife and two kids
Ah, and for any feedback, write to: daniel(at)rychcik.com
Last updated: 18-03-2010, 21:10