The First Annual California Capital Air Show
Saturday, March 18^th, and Sunday, March 19^th, 2006

 

I attended the air show on Sunday. Both days turned out to be gorgeous. I actually saw part of the show on Saturday from my back yard. I live about four miles as the crow flies from Mather Field. Mather Field is an old Air Force Base that is now used as a commercial airport. The Air Show’s web site is http://www.californiacapitalairshow.com . It being a bright sunny day I had a lot of trouble controlling the contrast. So you’ll notice a lot of hot spots and loss of detail in the shadows. I did get a little lucky with the clouds. The sky above was clear but there was a line of big fluffy white clouds on the horizon. You’ll see a few shots where it looks like they were taken from another plane at a high altitude. These shots were taken from the ground but because of the clouds on the horizon, look like they were taken up high.

All the stunt pilots were great. My favorite was Julie Clark. The crowd was mostly standing during the show and as you know, airports are very flat. But when Julie Clark would make a low level pass over the field she was so low you lost her plane in the crowd. It looked like she could have easily flown right into the ground. You were never really sure she didn’t until she pulled up and started her next stunt.

I was very pleased with the way most of my shots turned out. I would do two things differently; 1) clean my sensor before the show (I Photoshoped out most of the dust bunnies but I’m sure I missed a few) and, 2) use a little slower shutter speed for the shots of the Warbirds to get more prop rotation.

I hope you enjoy these images as much as I did taking them.