U.S. Navy Blue Angels and the Arizona Rancher

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 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