California Photo Scout

USS Midway Flight Control Deck

In active duty for nearly 50 years, the aircraft carrier USS Midway sailed to conflicts and participated in countless maneuvers around the world. Construction started in 1943. Upon completion in 1945, the USS Midway was the most advanced aircraft carrier in the fleet. She served until her decommissioning in 1992 and became a public museum in 2004. The USS Midway now anchors at the Navy Pier in San Diego, where you can visit and photograph the imposing ship.

With the superstructure towering nearly 70m above the port, and a crew of 4500, the USS Midway is a fully self-sufficient city at sea. She is the largest naval aviation museum, dominating the Navy Pier in Downtown San Diego.

Discovering and photographing this historic ship is a thrill. Step on board this giant and discover the amazing life at sea and the countless options to photograph the warship.

How to get there

San Diego map of USS Midway Aircraft Carrier (click to enlarge)

The USS Midway is located at the Navy Pier in Downtown San Diego.

On I-5 southbound, follow the signs to Downtown. Take the Airport Exit and merge onto Kettner Blvd. After about 1.1 miles, turn right on W. Hawthorn St. Follow it to N. Harbor Drive where you take a left. Drive south on N. Harbor Dr. for about 0.7 miles to get to the Navy Pier.

You can park on the Navy Pier.

Rates: 0-1 hour: $5, 1-4 hours: $7, 4-10 hours: $10, 10-12 hours: $12

You can also take the train or San Diego trolley. The walking distance to the Santa Fe Depot is less than ½ mile.

GPS position

• 32° 42.825’N 117° 10.48’W

How to photograph the USS Midway in San Diego

Bridge Island Superstructure

Bridge of the USS Midway

Overlooking the Flight Deck and San Diego Harbor, the Bridge and Flight Deck Control Tower superstructure is a must see. Since you can only take a guided tour up here, you need to plan your time accordingly. The last tour usually leaves at 4:30. A waiting line tends to get longer near the end of the day. You cannot bring small children up, since the tour-guides enforce a height limit. You need to climb steep stairs through very narrow tunnels.

If these hurdles do not deter you, exceptional views and interesting stories await you. Squeezing through the narrow path, the groups follow each other closely. This means you need to be quick on the trigger if you want to achieve anything at all photographically. I usually try to be the last in a group, giving me some time to shoot while the group moves on. This is complicated here, since the next group follows closely. Being the first works too.

First, you will get to the Flight Deck Control (first picture of this article). Try to move toward the two seats and stay there. Most of the group squeezes around the corner to a less interesting space. The map room has some interesting instruments, but is not as exciting for photography. You can snap through the bull’s eye windows and get some details of the instruments.

Then the group moves to the bridge. You only have a few seconds between a group coming and a group leaving to get a photograph (B/W photo above).

If you trail the group, you will have more time to pre-set your camera at every location and photograph when the group moves on. If you lead the group, you do not have this luxury. Preset your camera to aperture priority and pre-focus your camera to minimize setup time.

Flight Deck

busy flight deck

People buzz and hum around the flight deck like a swarm of excited bees. This makes photography difficult. It requires patience.

Concentrate on details instead of larger views if you wish to keep people out of your composition. Including people, that randomly pass through, lessens the impact of your pictures. On the other hand, including a veteran studying a feature or a child in awe enhances the impact. Use a zoom lens and crop tighter around the planes and people. Anticipate how the swarm moves and be quick with your camera. A perfect shot may come together and disappear in less than one second.

F14 Tomcat on USS Midway Flight Deck

Hangar Deck and Forecastle

Wires

When you come onboard the USS Midway, you will enter the giant Hangar Deck. Here you will find some planes on exhibit, flight simulators, and a café and gift shop, but not much of interest photographically.

The tour of the Forecastle reveals living quarters, narrow hallways and the giant anchor chain. Use a wide-angle lens, since it is nearly impossible to get a photograph without people. This way, you can emphasize the chain in the foreground while the people recede to the background.

The tour to the Engineering Deck reveals a giant control panel. Use your camera at high ISO and turn down your flash exposure to add just a hint of fill flash. This will avoid glaring reflections from the metals and glass, which preserves color.

Lower Decks (2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th)

Jet Briefing Room - USS Midway

Among the countless exhibits of the lower decks are the briefing rooms for the Jets (picture above) and Helicopters, the Sick Bay, Mess Deck, Chapel and Officers Mess and Quarters. You can spend an eternity exploring the bowels of the ship. Going everywhere is exhausting.

The USS Midway is a city in its own right. These decks contain everything necessary to provide basic living accommodations to the 4500 people that made up the crew. Laundry, postal service and even a small convenience store made life more comfortable on this ship.

Set your camera to a high ISO setting and use a short focal length to avoid blurry shots. You can reduce noise in post-processing, but you cannot fix blurry photographs. With a little patience and the help of a friend, you can time other visitors efficiently, keeping them out of your photographs.

Outside Views

V-J-Day Couple

Don’t forget the splendid outside views. The pier to the north, boardwalk to the east and park to the south of the Midway all present unique views of this ship. Additionally, the park in the south provides several attractions. The V-J Day statue “Unconditional Surrender” (above) replicates a famous photograph of a kissing couple, taken at the end of WWII on Times Square. East of the statue, you will find a memorial commemorating other warships and admirals. Further west, a bronze statue of Bob Hope gives a funny speech to the troops. The USS Midway provides the backdrop to all these sights.

You get a better view of the ship’s superstructure from the parking lot on the north pier. Step as far back as possible and zoom in, to avoid converging verticals, a common problem in wide-angle compositions that causes tall structures to become narrow toward the top.

Night Views

USS Midway at Night from the Pier

Night offers a completely different experience. If you have the chance, I highly recommend that you come back at night. You will have the surrounding piers to yourself. Places such as the Bob Hope memorial that were impossible to photograph during the day are now all yours.

For wide-angle compositions (above), including the ship, you can safely select a very long exposure time. Set your camera to ISO 100 and select an aperture that gives you a large depth of field (f/11, f/16). The resulting exposure time will be very long.

You need to use a shorter exposure time for longer focal lengths. The movement of the water will cause motion blur in compositions such as the one below. A higher ISO speed and smaller aperture will help you decrease exposure time. With a ship this size, an exposure time of 10s is the limit on a calm day. Review your picture (zoom in all the way) and re-shoot if necessary, while decreasing your exposure time even more.

Plane Tails at Night - USS Midway

Ship movements of a few inches that can ruin a telephoto composition will not be visible in a wide-angle shot, where this movement is below the pixel size of your final image.

Best Time of the Day and Best Season

The upper decks seem to get warmer than the lower decks on hot days, despite the efforts to air-condition the ship as best as possible.

Time required

You need at least three hours to see most of the aircraft carrier. Rest and eat before you come. The ship is so large that you will tire eventually.

Equipment

When you go on the ship, you should travel light. You don’t need filters or very long lenses and no tripods.

• Camera ISO 6400 capable
• External flash unit
• Wide-angle lens
• Medium zoom lens

When you return for your outside shooting, you should also try not to bog down too much. The pier area doubles as sleeping quarters to homeless. Attract as little attention as possible! Keep all equipment close and always shoulder all your bags to avoid theft! I believe we deterred an attack in the last second by picking everything up and just keeping it close.

• Camera
• Tripod
• Cable release
• Wide-angle lens
• Telephoto Lens

Fees

The ticket costs $18 for adults, $15 for seniors (62+) and students (ID). Retired military personnel (ID) and youth between 6 and 17 years pay only $10. Children 5 and younger enter free.

Difficulty Photographing

I did not encounter any limitations. I did not bring a tripod, which would have hindered me more than helped.

Close Locations

• A night tour of San Diego
• San Diego Maritime Museum
• Harbor Island
• Seaport Village
• Santa Fe Depot
• Coronado Island
• Hotel del Coronado
• Balboa Park
• Old Town
• San Diego Mission
• Pt. Loma
• Cabrillo NM
• Mission Bay
• Pacific Beach Crystal Pier

Useful Resources

• Official Website
• Midway Site

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