Preparations complete for MCAS Miramar Air Show

Well, I can safely say my photography preparations for the upcoming 2011 MCAS Miramar Air Show are pretty much completed. The excitement continues to build as the show days creep closer and closer. Whenever I travel to one of these shows, I almost feel like a traveling Big Top circus with all the equipment I'm dragging along. Close to 30-35 lbs. of camera gear, a laptop, battery chargers, and all the necessary equipment to transfer and back-up photos on the computer at the end of the day all comes with me.

Another thing I did was "clean up" my computer. No...not like that, you filthy-minded people...sheesh. I mean dumping games that I never use, putting random old photos I took with my old point-and-shoot onto a thumb drive so I could get them off my computer, and basically freeing up some memory to try and speed the machine up a bit. Talk about an exercise in patience. I'm by no means computer-inclined, making this an interesting experience to say the least. The only thing I have left to do is install the newest version of my photo-editing software onto my laptop, and I'll call it finished.

Well, all that's left to do is pray to the air show weather gods that the weather cooperates, and hope the show goes off without a hitch for all involved, and for James to come home with a couple hundred photos that will make everybody say "WOW"!

Adios for now...and see ya at MCAS Miramar, ladies and gents!

James :-)

PS For those of you who didn't notice on the side of the page (because it kinda blends in a little bit, if you ask me), I put links to my previous albums that have been archived here, so you don't have to go hunting for them in my past entries. Also, I'm on Facebook, so feel free to "LIKE" me (yeah I know, who doesn't "LIKE" me? heh heh :p ) there if you so desire. There's a link on the side of the page for that, too.

Tragedy at the Reno Air Races

Take time to say a prayer for all involved in the tragedy at the Reno Air Races today.  Thank you.

James

2011 MCAS Miramar Air Show

The preparations are pretty much complete for photographing the 2011 MCAS Miramar Air Show in about two weeks. The show will feature the Marine Air Ground Task Force (MAGTF) Demo, the F-16 from Air Combat Command's Viper West Demonstration Team, and the U.S. Navy Blue Angels, among other military and civilian acts.  Looking forward to shooting there over two days and hopefully having a lot of pictures to share.  I will be the first to admit, I'm like a kid going to bed on Christmas Eve the night before I head out for Miramar.

James :-)

More lunar photography

I took advantage of a rare fogless evening here in Vandenberg Village, CA to snag this shot of the full moon and update my "Lunar Photography" album, click on the thumbnail to enlarge the photo, and enjoy!

James :-)

Weather Photography

A photo of a rare Lompoc, CA thunderstorm (my first attempt at photographing lightning)...trying to hide my camera from the sprinkles while tweaking the tripod to shoot around the makeshift "shelter" (read: eave of the house...LOL) I had set up.

Enjoy!

James :-)

2011 Thunder Over the Valley

Here's the results of three days of shooting (Friday arrivals, Saturday show, Sunday show and departures) at "Thunder Over the Valley" in Santa Maria, California. The show featured a Warthog from USAF's Air Combat Command A-10 West Demonstration Team out of Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona, a Super Hornet from Strike Fighter Squadron 122 out of Lemoore, California, and much more. Click on the thumbnail to check it out. Hope you enjoy!

James :-)