Personal projects are incredibly important in photography for many reasons, but largely it’s to test out skills and learn new ones. Recently I visited the Mach Loop, and here’s how I got on.

The Mach Loop is contained within LFA7, or Low Flying Area 7, which covers a huge area of North Wales. It’s a place that military pilots can drop their altitude and maintain their low flying skills. If, like I did, you thought it were named after Edward Mach, the man who discovered the speed of sound, you’d be wrong. It’s actually named after Machynlleth, a town in the ‘track’ of the loop.

As a bit of an AvGeek this was a great day out. I have a big passion for aviation, as evidenced by my City and Guilds in Aviation Heritage and Aircraft Restoration, which I earned whilst volunteering at the RAF Museum and IWM Duxford. I visited with my friend, John, and we opted for a location known as Cad East. It’s a very steep hillside with absolutely zero protection from the howling wind. The day began at 09:15 with us setting up our chairs and waiting patiently. It transpired that we had to wait some six hours for the first aircraft to pass through the loop, which is apparently fairly normal. It’s very ‘hit or miss’ and despite the Ministry of Defence publishing a timetable, there’s no point relying on it.

At about 3:15 in the afternoon, having admired the landscape, discussed the weather countless times, and put the world to rights, a pair of USAF Hercules flew through.

After this, perhaps 45 minutes or so later, a single BAE Hawk 200 flew through at break-neck speed.

But this post isn’t about planes. It’s about personal projects.

We should all undertake personal projects because they teach us new skills in photography that we can take into our everyday shooting. There are things about shooting fast planes that taught me panning, tracking, fast focusing, fast settings adjustments, and I can take those skills into my travel photography. These personal projects are key to maintaining and developing our skills, and to finding our style. Here are some more plane photos from a couple of days before when I scope’d out the loop, if you’re interested to see them.