The Photography of Aaron Burton

THE PHOTOGRAPHY OF AARON BURTON

INTERVIEW BY KELLY J CLARK

If you're anywhere in Vancouver Island's online aviation space, you've seen his photography.

Aaron Burton is a young aviator with a keen eye for visually striking imagery. This month, we sat down with Aaron to discuss flying, his photography, and his advice for newcomers to both!

Hey Aaron, thanks for taking the time for this. What have you been up to?

Hey, thanks. I just got back from a trip to California to take some photos. Then in May I headed off to do my first flying job working for River Air in Kenora, Ontario. Flying a 185 on floats. They have a great fleet. Everything from a 180 all the way up to Turbo Otters and Caravan amphibious. They pretty much have all the float planes covered that you can have.

You must have done a lot of float plane training.

It’s kind of strange how the whole float plane thing works. The only thing transport Canada gives you is a float rating, which is about 7 hours, which consists on water takeoffs, landings, and maybe a docking or two depending on circumstances. Down in Pat Bay, if we want to train we have to pick the plane up from the concrete pad they sit on and take it down into the water. It’s only in already at the dock if the instructor has another flight that day.

The float rating isn’t really related to commercial flying. Some companies will take you at lower hours. I did a professional 50 hour float course — which is what I did. I’m over 80 now. I also have my private and commercial license, and was going my Multi- IFR when all of the IFR trainers went down for maintenance. Multi-IFR is already hard, but it’s harder without an engine.

Are you moving out there full time?

No, it’s just a seasonal thing. I’m here from May to October. I’m keeping a place in Victoria and looking for something at the airport when I come back, but it’s hard to find. It’s funny: companies outreach ask if there are flying jobs out here on the west coast, but there really aren’t for new people. Even places like Harbour Air are seasonal.

You’re an amazing photographer. What got you into it photography? Was there a specific event?

I don’t have an exact moment. The only thing I can remember that defined me getting into it was when they retired the Sea King back in 2018. I had whatever the family camera was—

Wait, so you only got into this four years ago?

Yeah, I’ve only done it seriously for four years. And even then I was only serious about the equipment about two-ish years ago. I was running an old Nikon D90. It’s great and I still have it. It has a twelve-year old camera body and the lens is 18-105mm, which is more for close ups.

I flew over the 2016 Abbotsford Air Show with some guys from the VFC back in 2016, but I didn’t have the camera for it. Then I went back in 2018 and found that Nikon did a photo booth there where you could rent different bodies and lenses for the day. I went and rented their 200- 500mm lens. That thing is a workout. It weighs a ton and takes three different hand motions just to zoom in. I use an 80-400 now, which I wished I’d used them.

So Nikon's your brand?

So Nikon's your brand?Pretty much. It’s what I started with. Good range and their upper range lenses are a bit cheaper. They’re all exchangeable, but you have to be careful with some of the older lenses that don’t come with focus motors.

You must have to rely on auto-focus a lot given the speeds of these planes.

Absolutely. I use autofocus all the time. I have to.

And how many cameras do you have now?

Oof. Two… three… four? My brother and I share cameras, but I guess I use three that I take with me when I go to shoot.

Where do you buy from?

I go back and forth between Kerrisdale Cameras and Camera Traders in Victoria.

Back to how you got started as a photographer: what’s the story with the Sea Kings?

The 2018 Sea King retirement was my last day in cadets. I was there with that start out camera and noticed that all the photographers were walking out to the apron out the door, so I walked out too. The supervising officer told me that I could take all of the photos I wanted to.

So I was there standing right next to idling Sea Kings, getting photos with the crew, and watching the press conference with the high-ranking military officers. And after the ceremony when they were doing the flyby after the press conference one of the officers saw me with my camera and she told me I could step over with the rest of media so I could get out of the crowd and get better shots.

That must have felt great. How old were you at the time?

Like 17 or 18. I was in my cadet uniform at the time so I think that helped. I even got a couple of seconds to talk with Al Meinzinger, the Commander of the Air Force, and get a quick photo with him. It’s funny: there’s so much going on to take photos of that you don’t realize until afterward that you’re surrounded by all of these influential people. You don’t think to freak out until it’s over.

When did you start flying?

After I graduated from high school I was looking at going into the military, but they had so many delays and issues that it

I did a bunch of discovery and fam flights back in cadets around 2010. I think it was around 2016- 2017 I started going into PPL training, but I didn’t have the time or money for more than a few courses. ended up getting dragged out. I went to Trenton for training, but I didn’t quite make the pilot cut-off so I came back and did my PPL. Just killing time until I could retake it. Then with covid, I kept going with my CPL. When I finally got the phone call from them it was the end of 2020, and it was to tell me that the program had been cancelled.

After three years of waiting, that was pretty frustrating. That was what made me call up Ocean Air about float training. And then because of covid there were only 50 hour professional courses available, so I focused on private flight training.

Well I guess it all worked out in the end. You seem pretty happy about where you ended up.

Oh yeah, I’m excited. But you get so used to the non-flying life. There’s a big difference between occasionally flying with friends at the airport and doing all that work by yourself and flying every day. You have to get on the inside of the industry with a real flying job to appreciate all the time and money you spent.

And then at the end it’s probably completely different than what you thought going in.

Do you think that being a pilot takes over your life?

It depends on what you’re doing. The one I’m going to in Ontario will be six days a week, with no set day off. That works for me. As a pilot, you have to be willing to relocate and do as you’re told until you have the experience. You have to sacrifice your personal life until you work your way up in the company. It’s only the pilots with seniority who really have control over their schedule.

Back to photography: out of all of your photos, what are your favourites?

It’s all the air-to-air work. But that’s a hard one to answer. Air shows are where all of the photographers flock to. A hundred people all taking the same shots, which are great, but they’re all the same shot. I like taking different shots. Action, motion, and different angles. I usually try motion shots, because anyone can take a picture of a plane sitting on runway, but to get a plane in motion; take offs, landings, you know. With those you have to have all of your settings ready and pick your moment, because you only have a couple of seconds to get your shot.

As a photographer you’re mostly self taught. What’s the most important thing for action shots? Are there any tricks or things that you wished you’d known when you were starting out?

You have to know the basics of apertures and exposures so that you can get the right lenses. With the cheaper ones, you can get image warping or softening. With action shots you have to take a compromise. You’re not in control. These pilots are up having fun — they’re not doing it for you. You want to have your camera set with a good exposure and a shutter speed around 1:500.

That’s pretty fast.

Yeah, for those who don’t know the closer you get to 1:1 the more it blurs. And it all changes when you’re taking pictures of something moving that fast: unless you’re exactly at ninety degrees the back of a plane and the front are moving at different speeds. At 45 degrees, you’ll get the nose in crisp focus and the tail blurred out. It’s something you have to consider.

What’s your favourite plane? Your dream plane?

I love to fly anything they’ll give me. Float wise, the Beavers or the Otters. But I’m not pushing for any particular type of airplane. I just want something that I can fly often and get lots of pictures of.

For photography? Warbirds and the older ones, or F-18s with the afterburner. But even general aviation airliners can be great on days where you get the wing vapour.

Do you do much touchup?

I use Adobe Lightroom to touch-up. Worth every penny. I used to hate how Photoshop was laid out, but this is great.

Any stories about photography on the road?

I’d never go anywhere without a camera. A few years ago we went to the Okanogan. We were near a vineyard when three Snowbirds come screaming down the Penticton runway. Then another three. They were coming down from Alberta to go to the Boundary Bay Air Show. So we stood at the end of the highway that runs between the runway and the beach. It’s like the St. Martin of BC. Great shots.

The Snowbirds all took off down the taxiway, formed up, turned around, and blasted over us in their diamond at 300 feet over our heads. And that wasn’t even a show; it was just them transiting through.

Any final advice for new pilots?

A lot of people I know floated between university and flight training. Don’t float. Pick one and finish it. Make your pick, because if you get past the age of 25 and you’re still only thinking about flying that only puts you further down the retirement list later on. Get into the airlines as quickly as possible and get that seniority. They say that the first flying job is the hardest, so get that out of the way while you’re still young.

How about advice for new photographers?

Clean your lenses.

I learned that the hard way: if you don’t, the dust will collect and your shots will look like someone threw a handful of pepper onto your lens. You do not want that.

Thanks Aaron!

You can find Aaron’s photography on Instagram at https:// www.instagram.com/ burtonader.