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PREMIUM CONTENT/BEHIND THE LENS

Mark Jessop
RAAF C-27J Spartan under the Stars- After speaking with the then 35SQN CO about the type of role the C-27J Spartan would play in service with the RAAF,we decided that we needed a remote location with lots of darkness. There was some night flying coming up with the plan for me to be picked up at my local airport at Mudgee in NSW ( This would be the first time a C-27J Spartan had landed at Mudgee ) and then head out to Lake Cargelligo to land for 15min of on the ground time. As it turned out I only had 5 minutes outside the aircraft and to make it even more interesting the outside temperature was no more than 5c! To take the night shots where I want to have stars in them I need to have an exposure of 20 seconds or more so by the time I had set up I only got a few photos. At the right moment the clouds cleared and I captured this photo, pretty much straight after this shot the call was to get back on board.
Spotting in Japan at Haneda Airport- At the end of my trip to Japan in 2019 my departure was from Haneda International Airport, as I don't get much time at big airports I was keen to have a look around. They have an outside area that overlooks most of the Airport and once it was night time the whole area just started to come alive with lights. JA802A All Nippon Airways Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner taxing back to the Gate.
F-4EJ "Silhouette" - My trip to Japan was a once in a lifetime chance to see the F-4 Phantom fly and I fully understood this could be my only chance to capture the famous Phantom. How do you capture an image that is unique of one of the most photographed aircraft that has ever flown ? On my 7th day chasing the Phantom on a very cold winter morning at Hyakuri Air Base the weather was low clouds around the time the Phantoms started taking to the sky. The whole run of images while the light was at the right angle to make the clouds have iridescent was very short but for me this run of images is by far my favourite from the trip.
My final F-4 Phantom image- on my last day chasing the F-4 Phantom was a mix of feelings knowing full well I may never see another Phantom ever fly, I was very happy with the whole trip as the experience was one I would never forget and the images I had captured were way above anything I could have wished for. On the very last take off I keeped shooting and then the camera stopped due to the memory card being full, so this is the last frame I took of a Phantom flying. I could have changed the memory card but for some reason I just stood there and watched and enjoyed the moment. Some days you need to put the camera down and just see it with your own eyes.
CAC P-51 Mustang - Coming up to the 100th Anniversary of the ANZAC Day landing my good friend Ross Pay called me from America to ask if I was free on ANZAC Day to come over to Scone to get some images of the days flying,little was I to know that that this would be my first Air to Air photo shoot with what I consider one of the most significant Warbird's in Australia due to the fact that Col Pay was one of the first pioneer's of the Australian Warbird community. Looking back at this shoot from 5 years ago I know that I should have done better but it is still a day that means so much to me for the fact I was capturing a very event on the 100th anniversary of ANZAC Day.
FW-190 Focke Wulf and Hurricane - Leading up to the "Warbirds over Scone" Airshow I knew that there was a very good chance that something that has never happened before in Australia could happen, a flight of a Fw-190 and a Hurricane. When both aircraft formed up for the shoot i have to say the view was something I could have dreamed of as a kid but it was now for real right in front me.
RAAF Base Tindal Hornet under the Milkyway- I love going up to the Top End of Australia as there is little light pollution, This photo of a F/A-18D Hornet from USMC VMFA(AW)-242 SQN coming into land at RAAF Base Tindal during Ex Pitch Black means alot to me as the pilot contacted me asking for a copy of the image. Only a few months later the pilot was tragically killed in a flying incident off the coast of Japan.
Finni Flight – What are the photos that mean the most to me ? The ones that have some personal context like this one. I was contacted by a fighter pilot who was planning his final flight and he asked me if I could be at a location and try and capture an image so he could have a memory to have on his wall at home. A lot of things didn’t work as planned that day but on his final pass I was able to capture this frame
Bomb Blast- Not many people get to see a Live Bomb Range in action and I wasn't really sure how I would go as the tower I was in was 3km from the target spot which means you are shooting through a lot of air and at Townsville that means hot hazy air. This image shows the sheer power and explosion of what a bomb can do, it took around 30 seconds for the shock wave to reach my location.
Sky Angel- You never know what will happen when a display is on , at the 2018 Bathurst 1000 Race there was the right conditions for plenty of "Ecto" when the Hornet pulled the big turns. I try and always keep shooting as you never know what will happen and this photo proves why. It only lasted for a few frames and it is something I haven't seen since.

Through The Lens

Mark Jessop

1. How did you get into aviation photography?

I went to my first Airshow in 1988 at the Bicentennial Airshow at RAAF Base Richmond with my Dad at the age of 13. As I had never been to an Airshow before it was quite an experience, many still believe to this day it was the greatest Airshow put on in Australia just due to the many different types of aircraft that flew. For me at the time two things stood out, Watching 3 F-111’s roaring around the sky and then closing with the “Dump and Burn” and seeing a USAF F-15C take off and hold low till some point down the runway and going straight up to 50,000ft! It looked and sounded like a rocket. At this show my Dad let me use his SLR camera and looking back on them somehow I got a few images which I think for my age and how much I knew of what to do that are still ok today.

2. Why aviation photography?

I have done a wide variety of photography over the years from Live Concert Photography of big bands like Midnight Oil to remote Wilderness Photography but I have always had a very strong connection with Aviation and Military Fast Jets. It wasn’t really till about 2005 that a friend took me to Temora Aviation Museum that something was ignited in me to focus on Aviation again. At the time I was right into video and started by doing that but it wasn’t long before I had a DSLR in my hand again. AS I love Fast Jets,Temora was the place for me even though it was a 5 hour drive each way. At the time they were in the process of getting the CAC Sabre back to flying condition but also had a flying F.8 Meteor, Vampire and Canberra Bomber. The Sabre still is for me the best looking and most photogenic jets we have in Australia, every angle just looks amazing. I spent every chance I could to get to Temora from then on to try and capture the history of this Sabre, in doing this over time some of the locals,museum staff and pilots saw that I keeped on turning up any time something jet related was on and slowly over the years built up life long friendships. From those days I have had many opportunities which I could have only dreamed about as a kid but it’s the many hours of hard work that only a few will ever see that has given me the chance to be considered for each opportunity. Doors just don’t “magically” 😉

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Through The Lens

1. How did you get into aviation photography?

2. Why aviation photography?

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