My father has been a photographer for years and last year I bought myself a Canon Rebel XSi... I've quite enjoyed it and have been told I have an eye for photography but my budget has limited the kind of lenses I can buy.

Last year I bought a Sigma 70-300 lens off of Ebay for about $100. It doesn't have image stabilization and at the long end of its focal length it tends to produce very soft (out of focus) pictures. This was horribly apparent at an airshow I went to in May when a large number of pictures I took made it obvious I was using a low-quality lens. I was able to save some of them but alot of the pictures I had really hoped to get were totally unsalvageable. But just because I can, here's one of my better pictures:



Of the 1500 pictures I took, I was able to save maybe 150 of them.

Several weeks ago my Dad sent me an email asking when I'd be attending my next airshow. I told him there's one in September in Virginia Beach I was planning on attending and he responded with "I'm going to send you something in the mail rather than upload it to you... it's called 'How To Shoot Airshows'. I also put something else in there for you."

Okay, I thought, he's probably sending me a CD of some powerpoints he made for teaching a class at his photography club on airshow photography, and the "something else" is probably some random book he thought I'd like. Well, several days later UPS pulls up and delivers text books for my son and a package from Amazon for me. I was a bit puzzled, since I hadn't ordered anything from Amazon except a video game that was being sent USPS, and this box was too big for a video game.

I open the box and inside is a gift wrapped package, and inside the wrapped package is this lens. When I looked at the gift receipt it said "How To Shoot Airshows: Get rid of that plastic piece of crap and use this instead."

My father is absolutely incredible. There are no other words to describe him.

So with much excitement I booked my hotel and started planning my Virginia trip... this past Tuesday I was perusing an aviation photography website that I like to peruse said that the Navy was offering media passes to members of their website, but that the no exception deadline was September first. What the hell, I figured. I'll send in the application anyway. All they'll do is say no.

But they didn't. Yesterday I got an email saying I'd been approved for the media pass. This means I get to go to the practice airshow on Friday (only media and some community groups are invited to attend this show) and on Saturday I get access to the media tent and an area set aside for photographers.

So to say I'm a little excited is an understatement.

And for comparison between the lenses, this is a picture I shot of an air ambulance landing at the hospital where I work. This was shot with the Sigma lens.



And this is the same helicopter on a different day from the same vantage point, shot with the new lens.

Clay, those pictures are awesome. And what a sweet surprise off your dad Enjoy the show. Hope you get some great shots and would love to see some of them.

Have fun.

Cheryl x

Hi, Clay, I am so o ooo o excited for you. In my younger years, I would go the air shows with my family at Andrews AFB and then when they shifted the shows to Dulles Airport. The Blue Angels are awesome indeed. Your dad sounds like a very caring person, - - how precious of him to send you the lens along with everything else. Congratulations on getting your media pass. I live in the southwestern part of Virginia in the Blue Ridge / Piedmont Mountain area. I hope you have a very safe, healthy, and exhilirating weekend, Clay. And in a couple of weeks you'll be having another one - - the arrival of precious Pebbles. September is going to be a banner month for you and your family. WONDERFUL!!!

Please let us know how everything goes at the air show, and we'll look forward to sharing any pictures you can post.

Peace and blessings,
moon_beam

I got back from Virginia yesterday afternoon after two awesome days at the Oceana Naval Air Station. I haven't finished going through my pictures yet so I don't have many to post; I shoot in a format called "Raw", which is basically a digital negative, so until I go through each one and process it I don't have any pictures to post.

After Friday's practice demonstration I quickly processed a few of what I thought were the better shots to send to my Dad... I was missing a few add-ons I use in Photoshop and also left my mouse home, so I wasn't able to do the type of processing I normally do, but this gives you an idea of what was going on.










I'll have more in a couple of days but this gives you an idea of what I spent my weekend doing.