I’m starting to enjoy taking time from my business grind to do something new or interesting. Yesterday I went to the see a PBY CATALINA land at SEAPLANE BASE, OAK HARBOR, WASHINGTON.


Being a people photographer I quickly focused on the visitors. An assortment of onlookers gathered: fussy toddlers without naps and seasoned vets limping on crutches all gathered to celebrate the landing of a PBY Catalina at the Seaplane Base. Then I noticed an interesting trend…the cameras! Cell phones, videos with still frames, point and shoots in video modes, wind & click disposables, iPhones with instant uploading. Amateurs and working pros alike worked shoulder to shoulder to capture a piece of aviation history. The air buzzed with simulated shutter clicks only to be silenced by the sputter and eventual roar of the Catalina’s duel engines.
“Digital recording gadgets have changed the face of photography”, I thought. Like the Catalina perhaps my bag of once precious camera equipment have become historical artifacts.