Bray Air Display Day 2 - Another 100 ShotsI was very pleased with my shots on the first day of the Bray Air Display - and they generated lots of interest here on my Blog and on social media. Thanks to all who viewed, liked and commented. With better weather forecast for Day 2, I was keen to give it another go to see if I could better I could do in bright sunshine. And, not surprisingly, many of the shots are crisper and more colourful - although it could be a matter to taste if they are better! The Day 2 programme was similar to Day 1 but there were a few additional displays, most notably the RAF's Red Arrows. Both they and the Frecce Tricolori flew closer and did dramatic runs of the town. Apart from the flying, the main drama was a wildfire on Bray that generated a pall of smoke during most of the event. Fortunately, it did not affect the display planes, but there were no parachute displays - perhaps because the helicopter landing field at the bottom of the Head was too close to the smoke.
On Day 2, I decided to shoot from the same spot on the beach in front of the VIP area, with the same lens, the Canon 100-400 MKI - to make it a fair comparison with Day 1. Additionally my spot on the outer edge of the breakwater a little hard to stand on - especially when leaning back to shoot directly overhead - so I didn't want to be encumbered by any additional gear. Of course this meant that that I couldn't try wide angle or people shots - and there are lots of these on the #brayairdisplay hashtag on Twitter. Next year . . .! I'll also update my Tips on Shooting the Bray Air Display in the near future. Finally, I also compiled my favourite shots from the two days here, where you can view a full screen slide show, buy downloads and order prints. Finally thanks to all the display teams, the Bray Air Display crew, the the Irish Aviation Authority, the Irish Air Corp, and the sponsores for putting on a great show.
The Red Arrows Hawk aircraft. They put on a an extremely intensive display by splitting into two groups. No sooner had display finished than another was coming at us from a different direction. The stars of the event by a short head in front of the Breitling Wingwalkers and Frecce Tricolori. Despite their speed, I was very happy to get a few "crossing" shots.
Two fine strong Wicklow Civil Defence guys!
A few close ups of the Irish Coastguard Sikorsky - there was no lifeboat display on Day2. Followed by a few against Bray Head.
Caption 1: "Put that phone AWAY!" Caption 2: "If you drop that phone, we're NOT lowering you down to pick it up!!!
Trig Aerobatic team flying Pitts Specials
Aer Lingus Airbus A321.
Breitling Wingwalkers - one of the displays of the event. Amazing to see what those women do out on the wings!
My favourite shot from the event - I'm really happy with the level of detail here. I was astonished to see the Wingwalkers perform some of their routines out of their harnesses, but if you look closely you can see she is attached by a safety cable - phew!
Seafire and Spitfire (carrier version) - both privately owned.
De Havilland DH84 Dragon "Iolar" - Aer Lingus's first airliner in 1936 - flown by the Irish Historic Flight Foundation. With a De Havilland Chipmunk from the 1940's.
Saab Draken - a Swedish military jet that was operational between the 1950's and the 1990's. It's now operated by Swedish Air Force Historic Flight, along with the SAAB Viggen that flew just beforehand. I'm not sure why, but my shots of the Draken were not as good as the rest of my shots. Yes, both it and the Viggen were further away and very fast but that doesn't explain why I failed to get a crisp focus. Of course, even good stills don't capture the one of the essentials of this military jets - the awesome noise!
Any finally, here is Frecce Tricolori - Italian Airforce aerobatic team. I was impressed by their extremely close formation flying - even closer to my eye than the Red Arrows! And they knew how to get attention with green white and gold smoke trails - followed by Italian tricolor smoke trails to Nessun Dorma by Pavarotti. A fitting finale!
Keywords:
Aeromacchi MB 339A,
Air Display,
Boeing Stearman,
Bray,
Breitling Wingwalkers,
De Havilland DH84 Dragon,
Fougas,
Frecce Tricolori,
Iolar,
Ireland,
Irish Army Air Corps,
Irish Aviation Authority,
Irish Coastguard,
John Coveney Photography,
Patroille Tranchant,
Red Arrows,
S--92Sikorsky,
Seafire,
Spitfire,
Superjet SSJ100,
Trig Aerobatics,
parachuting,
www.johncoveney.ie
Comments
Thorsten(non-registered)
Very impressive work !!!
Michelle Howe(non-registered)
Amazing shots John, wonderfully captured. Well done!!
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