Seen at a neighboring house while walking around the lake. I was attracted to the shapes and the textures.
Logs
The First Annual New York Air Show. August 29-30 2015. Stewart International Airport
Two F-22 Raptors and a P-51 Mustang wait for their turn.
I hadn’t been to a decent air show for years. Yes, I’d been to a small airshow held in Rhinebeck every weekend during summer, but they only have a limited number of WWI era planes – interesting but not exactly gripping. The last big air show I went to was when I was young in the UK. This would have been some time mid to late 1960s.
I remember that an AVRO Vulcan flew by at low level, turning to show the magnificent spread of its distinctive delta wing. The UK display team in those days was (and I believe still is) the Red Arrows – at that time they were using the Folland Gnat jet trainer.
The UK had stopped building fast jet fighters by that time although I seem to recall that there were displays from older fighter aircraft such as the Hawker Hunter (a beautiful aircraft) and De Havilland Vampire. Co-incidentally a Hawker Hunter T7 recently (22 August 2015) crashed at the Shoreham air show in the UK killing 11 people and injuring another 16. I can’t pretend that I didn’t have this in mind as I went to the air show. I also recall that they made a lot of the then new Hawker Siddeley Andover with its strange “kneeling” undercarriage. The Andover’s first flight was in July 1965 so I believe the airshow was shortly after that. I also have a vague memory of a Blackburn Buccaneer being there.
The New York Airshow has a good selection of aircraft both flying and on static display (I took pictures of all the aircraft flying and some on static display):
US Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet
Lucas Oil Pitts S-1-11b
US Marines AV-8B Harrier II
Aero L-39 Albatros
F-22 Raptor
HH-60(G) Pavehawk Helicopters of the 106th Rescue Wing
B-25 Mitchell Bomber “Panchito”
UH-72A Lakota Helicopter
The US Military Academy, West Point Black Knights also gave a parachute demonstration.
It was a very hot day and I was glad that we paid extra for seating in the Flight Line Club VIP, which provided shade, water, other drinks, food and shade – as well as a good view of the action.
I took lots of pictures (more than I have ever taken in a single day) and these will be appearing in additional posts so beware. Taking pictures was quite a challenge for me. The Sony Alpha 500 I used (because it was the only body that would support my longest lens) doesn’t have the fastest autofocus and I also had problems with exposure. The lens, a Sigma 70-300mm f4-5.6 is an inexpensive lens and I didn’t have great expectations. However, I got a lot of pictures, some of which I quite liked. Certainly I did better than I did at the Rhinebeck air show mentioned above. I still have a lot to learn about this type of photography though. And I need to practice a lot more to get better. Unfortunately, since I don’t normally take these type of pictures I probably won’t get the practice I need.
Had a great time though!!!
Orange Stairs
I like the colors and the geometric shapes. In retrospect I realize that I didn’t get the focus right – or at least I didn’t get the depth of field that I wanted. The steps in the foreground are very soft. I still like the picture though.
Interesting article on Elements and Principles of Design
An interesting read. I’m constantly trying to learn more about composition and design so this was definitely worth reading.
It’s probably not the first thing you think about when you’re going to make a picture. But an awareness of the Elements and Principles of Design will help improve your work. For some photographers, this article will be a review, for others, it will be new, but regardless, it will sharpen your photographic eye.The Elements and Principles of Design are the backbone of photography and indeed, for all the visual arts. This article takes a fresh look at what the Elements and Principles of Design are and how they can be used to make your photographs better.
via Compelling Photographs: The Elements and Principles of Design – Luminous Landscape.
A Birthday Party
My wife regularly (usually 4-5 times a week) takes dance/exercise classes. Once a year she and other friends celebrate her teacher’s birthday. Sometimes it’s at a restaurant, but this time she invited them to our house. Everyone brought food and a good time was had by all.
Taking pictures at this type of occasion isn’t really my cup of tea, but I didn’t really have much of a choice this time. In the end I rather enjoyed it. Above is the birthday girl (on the left) with one of the other teachers.
Under the umbrella on our dock.
Ahhhh…..Fooling around, but they seem to be enjoying the birthday cake.
The birthday girl takes a dip
Sitting by the lake