Red Arrows (6 x 100kb ish images)

[Charlie Chalk]

Hi

Been to the sunderland international airshow today, its the biggest free airshow in europe and its held right on the coast with the displays taking place over the sea. This means there are no static aircraft displays (no runway) which caused me some problems as my longest lens is the (almost) useless 28-80mm f3.3-5.6 G.

I tried taking pictures of most of the planes (Harrier, Merlins, Lynx, Tuccano, Nimrod, Dacota, Spitfire, Hurricane, Euro Fighter, Tornado and loads more) on the off chance that I could crop out the tiny spec of a plane and be left with a half decent picture - not a chance!

To make it worse, the guy I went with had his Cannon 70-200 IS lens in action (still not quite long enough, but much better than 80mm!) and his shots were pin sharp and in need of only a little cropping.

Anyway, the Red Arrows were on at the end and I finally got some shots I could PP to within an inch of there lives and get something close to useable.

Let me know what you think...

[rokkstar]

Charlie mate,
I reckon the fact that you havent been able to get that close to them has accentuated the openess. I love them. You can see the trails and the area of space they are about to fly into.
Great shots. I would be totally happy with them!!

[Hlop]

1st - superb!
4 and 5 - bloody good.

Other once are good too but above ones are outstanding!

[Charlie Chalk]

I almost put my 50mm f1.8 on instead, hoping that I might get some sharper images for cropping and PP'ing, but left the tin pot zoom on through lazyness I guess.

The first one would look great on the wall, but it'll not stand much more than a 5x7 print so its destined to be a desktop background!

Thanks for your comments!

CC

[petal666]

I think that i'd like the first one better without the ocean.

[Greg B]

Love these shots Charlie, my favourite is the first one. Then #5.

On the first one, I actually like the ocean being in it, for me it gives scale and context. I love the balance and form, great.

[sirhc55]

Charlie - these shots are superb considering what you were using. I remember seeing these guys doing their act over and virtually in Sydney harbour back in the (I think) late ’80’s.

[wendellt]

Wheres Birddog? he would just love this
Excellent work capturing such fast moving objects
what lens were you using?

[famish]

Wow! 4th, 5th and 6th just blew me away.

well done!

Fiona

[stubbsy]

Charlie

I have to echo Mikhail

First one is great. I like the symmetry and order of the planes contrasted with the dissonance of the crashing waves in the foregound.

#3 shows the limitations of your lens (as you've pointed out)

Fourth and fifth are almost as good as the first - The sweeping curves really convey the sense of motion superbly.

#6 doesn't grab me - probably because it's more static than the others.

[leek]

The Red Arrows are brilliant aren't they - I remember watching them several times in North Wales as a kid... As well as local airshows, they used to put on special demonstrations at all the key holiday resorts, hitting 4-5 beaches one after the other and then returning to their base...

I am amazed at the results you obtained with those lenses... I love the symmetry of #1, #2; the implied precision and G forces of number 4 and the skill involved in #5 & #6

Well captured Charlie... BTW, now that I'm talking to you... what happened with the job opp down here??? Did I miss any posts on that subject???

[atencati]

fabulous. The first is spot on. I much prefer the formation shots to the solos, shows the true artistry of the pilots. Nice work.

Andy

[Charlie Chalk]

hi
Thanks for all the feedback.

Wendellt the lens is the much converted and highly sought after 28-80mm G. It’s the ideal walk around lens with its all plastic construction and Mickey Mouse glass it’ll never give you neck strain due to its light weight build.

I couldn’t stretch to the ‘proper’ kit lens so I had to go with the poor mans kit (or buy a Cannon, blugh!) so I should complain as it has produced some good stuff up to now.

Leek, ah the job... Interview went great, I was happy with everything I'd said (and hadn't said, phone interviews are really weird all too easy to let your mouth run away with you!). One of the questions was 'how quickly can you start, how about within the next 2 weeks?' to which I answered that it was not out of the question, but I'd have to speak to my wife before committing myself.

Got a letter towards the back end of last week saying they thought I was great, but they'd had to employ someone really quickly so the job had gone elsewhere, I (we) was absolutely gutted.

They did say that I'd be considered first for the next available post (not sure if I should believe that or not) and they also asked if I'd be interested in a position in Singapore (Our headquarters for your part of the world are in Singapore).

So all in all it was a good experience, I am 100% happy with my side of the interview, and there is a faint glimmer of a post in Oz sometime in the future. But ultimately it has to go into the failed bin.

Looks like it be a little while longer before I get to my first minimeet!

CC

[leek]

Looks like it be a little while longer before I get to my first minimeet!

Sorry to hear that CC... Hopefully something else will come up for you here in Oz...