Here are my favorite 2013 Aviation Photos, enjoy!

United 777-222/ER (N798UA) at the O’Hare Run on the Runway

JAL 9 headed to Narita takes off from RWY 28R at the O’Hare Run on the Runway

This American Airlines livery won’t be around much longer and I was very happy to get such a good shot. I was even happier to be out spotting with Jon Ostrower, Jason Rabinowitz, Gavin Werbeloff, and Bruce Bere, all avgeeks in the extreme.

American Airlines Boeing 767-323/ER on short final for RWY 22R. Because of the shifting winds that day, we spent a good portion of our time driving back and forth from one side of the airport to the other.

American Eagle Embraer E170-200-LR (E175) on short final for RWY 28R. This was my first shot of the E175 up in the air.

Etihad Airways Boeing 777-3FX/ER on short final for RWY 28R. This shot was a good cap to a day of great shots and great company as I got to meet Jay, the man behind the O’Hare Aviation YouTube channel.

For this shot of an SAS Airbus A330-343X I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. I had wandered down to the beach by my house to shoot and it just happened to fly right overhead.

Whenever I have access to the ramp, the weather is gloomy. It’s just a fact of life that I’ve come to accept. But for the E175 unveiling that gloomy weather turned into an asset.

This summer I headed up to EAA Airventure or just “Oshkosh,” with Jaunted editor Cynthia Drescher. Oshkosh is an amazing collection of aviation from all over the world. From vintage civilian and military aircraft to experimental aircraft to hot air balloons. As the sun began to set, the hot air balloons got fired up, making for a great shot.

A 1943 Lockheed L-18 Lodestar’s Wright R-1820 engine at Oshkosh.

“Panchito,” a B-25J Mitchell Bomber flies at Oshkosh.

What are your favorite aviation photos of 2013? Let me know in comments.

I’ve digitized well over 2000 photos and I’ve just made it to 1964. While that may not seem like a lot—considering I shot 2000 photos at the Chicago Marathon this sunday alone—remember that we’re talking developed film exposures.

Here are a few shots from my grandfather’s trip to the Grand Canyon in 1964.

I’ll be adding more as my grandfather gets back to me with stories of what is actually happening in the photos. There are a few that need a bit of an explanation—including one with a bear in a campsite in Minnesota…

Location, Location, Location

The first thing you want to do is decide where you’re going to be and when you’re going to be. Find out which corral your runners are in as there are two start waves this year, 7:30 and 8:00. From there you’ll be able to determine about where you’ll find your runners based on their pace. An often overlooked, but important, piece of information is what side of the street you’ll be standing on. Your runners are concentrating on running 26.2 miles, they don’t need to be searching through the crowds to find you. Make sure you communicate with your runners where you’ll be.

Properly spectating a marathon is hard work.

For Chicago, you can comfortably see your runners 3 to 4 times during the race depending on their pace. The faster your runners, the fewer times you’ll see them before the finish. Miles 3 through 12 are basically a big loop through the north side so you can easily see your runners twice while only walking about a block. Miles 3 & 11.5 or Miles 4 & 11 are going to be good places to catch your runners. The annotated map below shows where I plan to be on Sunday during the race. I’ll be moving around a lot, but you can safely visit 3 spots and see your runners 4 times. Mile 16.5-ish is a great place to see runners as it’s right off the Blue Line, so you can hop right back on to head to the Finish near Roosevelt and Columbus. The Roosevelt Road bridge is a great place to cheer finishers, but get there early as it gets crowded.

There are additional security precautions in place this year, so be aware that spectators are not allowed in the Start or Finish area during the race.

Tracking Your Runners

An easy way to keep track of your runners for the Chicago Marathon are text messages from the marathon. You’ll get a text message when your runners cross the 10k, Half, 30k, and Finish. If you and your runners have iPhones you can install the Find My Friends app and track them in real time. The Chicago Marathon also has an official app this year with maps and spectator information.

Post-race, have a designated place for a post-race meet up away from the finish line, as the finish area is a sea of sweaty near-incoherent runners. Don’t rely on your phone as 60,000 people trying to use their phones within a few blocks of each other tends to crash the network.

Have fun, take pictures, and enjoy! And to all you runners: have a great race!

Wolfe Air Reel from 3DF on Vimeo.

Working at Wolfe Air has got to be one of the best jobs in the world. Flying alongside some of the greatest aircraft in the world in a specially outfitted Learjet or filming the next Hollywood blockbuster from a helicopter seems like an amazing thing to do for a living.

Stop what you’re doing for a few minutes and just bask in the warm glow of this aviation goodness.

This year’s run adds a 10K in addition to the 5K, so you can run on the runway even longer. Also new this year is the location of the race. The race will take place on the brand new Runway 10C-28C, which will not open to aircraft until October. That’s right, we’ll get to run on the runway before it’s used by aircraft. Even better, as you can see in the map below, 10C-28C is much closer to the action than last year’s runway 27R-9L.

Last year United parked a 747-400 on the taxiway and used as a the centerpiece of the course. After the race was over, trolley’s took anyone who wanted to go back out to the runway to take pictures with the aircraft. I’m crossing my fingers that this year the 787 makes an appearance. You can check out the full gallery of photos from last year’s event here.

Go here to sign up for the Run on the Runway. To get $5 off your race fee before August 31, use coupon code RUNWAYrun2012.