Air Force Graduationi - Thunderbirds performance

Every year I make a point of going to watch the Air Force Thunderbirds perform at the Air Force Academy graduation. The show is put on for the crowd in the stadium but can easily be seen for miles in every direction so it's easy to find a spot to break out the big glass and shoot away.

I've seen the show every year I've lived in Colorado and even a few times elsewhere yet I never tire of watching it and I just can't help myself from firing off hundreds of frames, trying to catch something new. Here are a few of this year's images I like best.

For the photographer geeks out there -- I like to shoot manual exposures for this event -- I take a reading off the ground in front of me since I know the jets will be in the same light. That way bright sky, clouds, snow on Pike's Peak, etc. won't throw off my exposures. I shoot with an ISO high enough to get a really fast shutter speed. I think I was ISO 640, 1/3200 @ f/5.6 today. I used my 70-200 and 70-300 lenses, but the shots from the 70-200 are noticeably sharper, especially at full magnification. Anyone have a 600 f/4 they want to lend me for next year? ;)

We had perfect weather and all the spring rain gave us beautiful green in the foreground. Here are the jets crossing in front of Pike's Peak. I have a few that are closer but I love the scene here.




Lens flare!




I think we might have a new brochure cover image for the new Renaissance Hotel! For those not from Colorado Springs, the mountain in the background is Cheyenne Mountain, which contains the underground bunker for NORAD (remember the movie Wargames?)




Catching up:




One of my favorite images of these guys ever -- this is hardly cropped at all...got them full frame and tack sharp focus.




Postcard day:




One of the loops. There are a few loops they do that I wish I'd had a wide angle lens ready for. Maybe next year I'll remember!




In formation:




Goodbye!