My Profile

Welcome to my website! 

First, I would like to thank Bernardo Malfitano for donating this space.  His main page can be found at www.AirShowFan.com. 

I have been a airplane nut for just about as long as I can remember.  In grade school, most of the projects of my choosing revolved around aviation, including a 6th grade science fair project to determine the lift and drag on an airfoil at different speeds.  Early in high school I decided I wanted to be an Aerospace Engineer, and was able to get my private pilot's license at the age of 18.  After high school I left Lincoln, NE (where I grew up for the most part) to attend Iowa State University's AeroE program.  At Iowa State I was involved in the Iowa State Space Society and the Flying Cyclones, spending time as president of both clubs.  In college I got involved in high-powered rocketry, working up to a Level 2 certification.  During my Junior year of college, I was offered and accepted an internship at Boeing for the summer of 2007.  That was a good experience, and the weather in Seattle was awesome, 80 and sunny every day!  Following my senior year at ISU, I decided to return back to Boeing and Seattle (and quickly found out that 80 and sunny was replaced with 50 and drizzle for the other 8 months).

So how did I get into photography?  I figured watching $600 of APCP go up in smoke in 4 seconds as it propelled my rockets was not a sustainable hobby.  This is not to say SLR cameras and lenses are cheap, but at least they don't disappear before the check is even cashed.  I like photography because you can continuously learn new techniques and skills.  I am sure I will know more and be able to get better shots 10 years from now (if I stick with it).  In 2009 I met Bernardo, who connected me with World Airshow News Magazine, which has published some of my air show pictures.  As you have found out if you have clicked on any of my pictures on this site, they are all on my Photobucket account.  I have found this site to be easy to work with, and the Pro account option allows me to upload pictures as large as I want.

In the North West, the prime airshow months are July and August.  Usually there are 3 to 5 big airshows each summer within driving distance from Seattle.  There is a very large aviation community in the Seattle area, so pretty much every weekend during the summer there is something interesting going on.  I try to make it to one or two air shows a year outside of the Seattle area.  In 2009, that was Chicago and Las Vegas, but in 2010 looks like all I will get to is Fairchild (which is just a 4 hour drive away).  I still need to make it to Oshkosh, Reno Air Races, and Farnborough (someday!) and a few others.  World Airshow News allows me to request press credentials in their name to most of the air shows I go to, which is how I have gotten most of the opportunities to do things not open to the public.  Although I have done some cool things at air shows, like flying in a KC-135 refueling the Thunderbirds, the most interesting aviation-related things I have done are associated with my job (but I can't take pictures there).

As far as non-aviation activities, work is taking a lot of my time now, but I plan on going back to school part-time to get either an MBA or masters in Engineering.  I like Seattle (even with the weather), the mountains and water are a big departure from where I grew up in the Midwest, and I try to take advantage of that when I can by going hiking and snowboarding.  I play Ultimate Frisbee a lot, especially during the summers (usually 3 games a week and sometimes more).

Tailwinds!

-Allen