Bournemouth Air Festival, 2012...

The first day of the annual Bournemouth Air Festival 2012, Dorset, and it is opened in style by the emotional return of the Red Arrows, at 3pm. As is to be expected, the close formation flying and "synchro pair" are of the highest standard, but their usual number is reduced by two, owing to one of its pilots transferring to a ground based role, and as a result a second aircraft being removed from the team to preserve the symmetry of the formation.

The nice thing about this particular air festival is that it is a four day event, and I can opt to experiment with camera angles and locations, as I did today. Instead of positioning myself at the centre of the action I decide to shoot at a distance of around two miles, using a telephoto lens. It can be a risk as I am having to deal with atmospheric turbulence at such a range, but I still manage a number of useable images. However, I conclude that is little to be gained - if anything - by doing this, so in future I will endeavour to get into the thick of it as frequently as possible.

However (there's always one of those, isn't there?) I do benefit from being outside of the designated display area with the faster display jets, such as   with the Hawker Hunter "Miss Demeanour" (right), painted in its unique colour scheme for no other reason than to make it a work of art. The pilot is making his turns overhead and I am able to get some photographs other than just profile pictures.


300mm f/2.8 AF-S VR Nikkor

Top: 1/4000 second at f/5.5. + 0.33 EV compensation
Right: 1/1250 second at f/5.6. + 0.33 EV compensation
ISO 400


© 2012