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Southport Air Show 2007 – Wing Walker

Southport Air Show 2007 - Wing Walker

It wasn’t going to go, but I forced myself. I always think when I force myself to go and take photos, I take the best ones I have ever taken. And when I don’t go (even when I planned to) I’m letting myself down and missing opportunities to capture unrepeatable events. The Southport Air Show is on every September, I know because this was my third year in a row. But saying that, each and every time has been different and unique. Different planes, stunts, running order, displays and more importantly different weather. I have figured out the ideal lens for air show and plane photography is an 100-400mm VR lens. I currently can’t afford the £1000 price tag and use my trusted 18-135mm. There is a big difference between how close I can zoom with my lens. The above image wasn’t the best of the day, but certainly one of my favourites. I could moan on about the cloudy weather or the unsuitable equipment, but it was really nice to be out on my own, taking photographs of something that really interests me.

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Chinese New Year at Manchester’s China Town

Chinese New Year at Manchester's China Town

This morning Claire and I walked down into China Town. I had never been to the New Year’s celebration before. This year I want to go to more festivals and events in and around Manchester for photographs and my own general interest. We arrived at around mid day and positioned ourselves at the front of the barriers. There were hundreds of people there, after waiting for about an hour and more and more people piling in behind us the parade started. I realised I was definitely not in the best position for photographing the parade. The sun was reflecting in the background so it was hard for me to get even lighting on the subjects. As such, I’m not happy with the pictures that I took, but the Chinese dragon and the whole parade was very impressive. Despite the crowds I am happy I went and would probably go again next year.

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Red Arrows Stunt at Southport Airshow

Red Arrows Stunt at Southport Airshow

The second picture from last September’s Southport Airshow and this one also features the red arrows. This was a lot trickier to capture, they were flying toward each other at great speed and to get both jets facing each other on a single photograph is difficult with any camera. But with a basic compact with a 3x zoom lens I feel I did pretty well. Yes, it is blurred and the sky wasn’t great but at least it isn’t a Photoshop style collage. Not the best photo of the Red Arrows but the best I could do with the equipment at the time

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Red Arrows – Southport Air Show

Red Arrows - Southport Air Show

I really enjoyed last years Southport Air Show and after some great feedback on my blog post from last year I decided I really wanted to go back and this time see the Red Arrows as last year I left early to avoid to traffic but missed their display. The weather this morning was cloudy and it got worse as I headed into Southport. Fortunately the Red Arrows display was the first thing on the program this year and I got half a dozen interesting photographs although I am still limited by a short zoom lens on my camera. The weather got much worse and so I mistakenly decided to leave and head home after the first two or three displays. Evidently the weather got much better as soon as I left and the sun came out. Oh well, I got what I went for, my first Red Arrows display photo.