Every time we go to the races they seem to be over in a blink of the eye. This year was no different. It was a great week with the best news being that no one was hurt. One plane ground looped but other than that the races went without incident. Needless to say everyone was a little tense watching some of these heats, but after the unlimiteds landed on Sunday afternoon one heck of a party started.
We had some great planes at the races this year and some of the best came from CAF Camarillo. We hit it off with them the first day we were there, when we met a very nice volunteer named Cherri. Dad and I have a usual routine we get to the races which quite simply is we walk around the first day. The best way to see who is there and what is there is just to walk around. On our walk we ran into the CAF row which consisted of a F8F Bearcat, F6F Hellcat and a MK14 Spitfire. The Cats were part of the Legacy flight that took place later in the week. The Spitfire was only there through Friday so we immediately gravitated towards it. After talking with the pilot we arranged to do one of things we enjoy most at the races, an early morning shoot.
Enjoy is a loose term here. It consists of getting up at 530 to get out to the flight line by 6 to get the plane pulled out, or in this case we just pushed it out, by 615 so we can get the plane in position for sunrise. Of course we spend the rest of the day on our feet walking the line and the pits trying to make more happen. It’s all worth the pain in the end because that’s how we get the great morning shots. It wasn’t just us out there either, a gaggle of other photographers joined us for the shoot as well as another plane, the P-51D “Precious Metal” who we were unaware was getting pulled out. It all worked out well for us, they were both beautiful subjects that morning
In the Camera Bag:
Nikon D3, 70-200 VRII, AF-S 24-70 f2.8, on Lexar UDMA Digital Film