Saturday, November 01, 2008




In 1994 I went to an airshow at the Whidbey Island Naval Air Station. It was then that I photographed the base commander Captain Shork next to the plane he had flown for years and I have loved as the most beautiful of all airplanes, the Intruder.

Two years later I returned and because I had photographed Captain Schork, the new base commander Captain Munns gave me access to locations that I would have never dreamed of. He told me that one of the best locations to photograph the Blue Angels was on the tarmac close to the two officers who ran the Blue Angels' show from the ground. He warned me that once there I would not be able to move. I also learned quickly that trying to keep a blue sky blue all the time while shifting my large Mamiya RB-67 equipped with a polarizer was next to impossible. But the whole show from my vantage viepoint on the tarmac was thrilling with the noise and smell of jet fuel.

Today was a gray day and as days shorter I find that November can push one into melancholy. The idea of posting pictures of a clear blue sky in a hot summer day had its appeal.