A few years back, a group of us went into the
Chesapeake Bay on a boat to watch the air show of the US Navy Blue Angels. Here
is the background about the Blue Angels from Wikipedia:
“The Blue
Angels is the United States Navy's flight demonstration squadron, with aviators
from the Navy and Marines. The Blue Angels team was formed in 1946, making it
the second oldest formal flying aerobatic team (under the same name) in the
world, after the French Patrouille de France formed in 1931.
The
Blue Angels' six demonstration pilots currently fly the McDonnell Douglas
F/A-18 Hornet, typically in more than 70 shows at 34 locations throughout the
United States each year, where they still employ many of the same practices and
techniques used in their aerial displays in their inaugural 1946 season.”
The perspective from the water level is much different
than from a high rise building. And, from the water one can capture parts of
Baltimore and its port as background.
I had taken a few photos with my Nikon F3 and 1970’s
Nikkor-P 180mm lens. Upon printing them I realized that there were droplets of
water on the lens showing up as dark spots. So, in addition to not being
true street photography of people, I threw the photos in a drawer and had
forgotten about them.
… Last week, while horseback writing in the desert,
I took a few photos of my riding companion, just for fun. A couple of the moments I captured were
unexpected, and after laughing a bit about them, a thought occurred to me:
“Even the most experienced professionals have rare
moments of accidents.”
In this case, this rancher who had been on a horse
since he was able to chew food (his statement…), dismounted the horse a bit too
close to the beast and hurt himself (nothing serious, of course) . I captured
that moment without planning, but because of the instinct a street photographer
has of anticipating something to happen, unexpectedly.
All this made me think about the Blue Angels. Their “Pegasus”
is much more powerful and fast.
They fly closer than two horses can run
together, and if an accident happens, it will be tragic.
So, I dug out my old photos.
This is the water level perspective. Notice the
F/A-18 Hornet flying upside down.
This one is my favorite as I was able to align the Hornets
with the edge of the silo.
Who said that two Hornets cannot fly along a seagull?
This is from the final moments of the show.
And this upside down Hornet has the tall masts of Baltimore as background.
And this upside down Hornet has the tall masts of Baltimore as background.
And now, the contrast with the experienced horse
rider who miss-judged the distance between him and the horse upon dismount…
And OUCH!
No worries. He felt fine in a few minutes and we
resumed our ride. Although he was sitting gingerly upon his saddle for a while….
August 14, 2017
© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2017
