Here’s the backstory…
See how I’m making allthepilots.com
In many ways, our recent quarantine has been a huge boon for creativity. We’ve all had more time to dive deep into our epic projects. Watch this and see how I’m making this dream journey come true.
A few months ago, I was cleaning out the basement. I came across some boxes I hadn’t opened in a long time.
The boxes filled up a lot of space I needed for other things, so I decided to take them to the dump. But before I did, I took one last look inside. One by one, I opened them up.
Out flowed my childhood. Out flowed the story you see here. It’s a story I’ve turned to throughout my life, in good times and bad. It’s a story that keeps me going.
Thank you for taking a look.
I’m glad I didn’t throw the boxes away.
red@allthepilots.com
I was five. Dad took us to the theater at his Air Force Base to see my first movie.
Before the movie, dad drew a map for my brothers and me. He showed us where the good guys lived. (They had targets painted on their planes.) He showed us where the bad guys lived. (They had black crosses on theirs.) After a giant and scary and thrilling fight, the good guys finally won. I’ve been hooked ever since.
I grew up in a flying family in Montana. Airplanes were a big part of our life.
Dad flew in the Air Force. Mom was an air traffic controller. I got my pilot’s license at age 19. The whole time, I built models. I got good at it, and won some awards. I built a flight simulator for mom. Flying machines fill my memories, along with the people who flew them.
ABOUT THE MODELS
I built most of the models you see here from age 8 to 18. Most are plastic kits which you can still buy today. A few are “scratch-built,” from wood, plastic, and wire.
If you’d like to build some of these yourself, you can find many on ebay.com — and the really special ones on oldmodelkits.com .
ABOUT THE PHOTOS
I shoot the photos with an Apple iPhone 11 Pro using the macro lens. I set up the scenes outside because nothing lights better than the sun.
I use a lot of “forced perspective” and mess around with the focal-length to give the impression of scale, space, and distance. For me, it takes about 50 shots to get one that works. (Thank goodness for digital.)
ABOUT THE STORY
Building the models always put me into “flow,” that zen-like space where my mind is both focused and wandering at the same time.
As I worked, the characters appeared and started to tell me what they were up to. I just listened to them, and they all played themselves perfectly.
