Michael Seliske's Photography Blog

As mentioned in a previous post, I am in California for an internship, so the scenery is a little bit different from what I am used to in Waterloo.  I have always said that I don’t have the eye for landscapes and that I enjoy portraits much better so i am not necessarily as proud of these photos as some of my other ones, but I try.  I will probably have a few more random adventures in landscapes and urban photography that I will post in the future, but since I don’t feel as skilled at these types of photos, I tend to procrastinate when editing them.

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On the weekend, I had the opportunity to watch and photograph the San Francisco Fleet week Air Show.  I had a decent vantage point and the planes flew pretty low in the sky, so I was able to get a few good shots.  However I got major lens envy when there were people around me with 400mm lenses on cropped bodies.  I definitely felt the limitations of my 70-200mm lens on my full frame body because it really dose not have the reach required to capture tiny planes from a distance.  Despite my equipment troubles, I was still better off than those iphone users who probably didn’t get more than a bunch of dots with their 33mm equivalent focal lengths.

I think one of my favorite shots of the day came when the F15 flew low right in front of us and went fast enough to almost break the sound barrier.  I doubt they are allowed to do a sonic boom so close to the ground and people but the vapour cone that resulted was pretty cool.  The pilot did it right in front of where I was standing too, so it enabled me to get a great shot!  I also got a really nice shot of the underbelly of the B2 Bomber which allows you to see the markings and doors with pretty great detail.

Let’s just say I am jealous of all the aircraft photographers who get to fly in planes, own ginormous lenses and can get closer vantage points that civilians can’t normally access.  I hope to make friends with someone working in aviation some day so I can get the opportunity to get up close and personal with some of these planes.

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