Thunderbirds (2)

Skywatch Friday

Thunderbirds (1)

Every year the Air Force Thunderbirds put on a display for the Air Force Academy graduation, and it's easy to see anywhere in town. We took a little time off from the office to watch this year's display, and here's one of my shots.

Skywatch Friday

B-52 at Night

Here are some more night photos from the United States Air Force Academy this weekend, showing scenes more commonly photographed in daylight - this time it's the B-52 bomber.

It's a real B-52 that flew many combat missions, now mounted for an impressive display.

I liked the moon behind the plane in that last shot. It was also the highest ISO I used, 12,800.

Skywatch Friday

Air Force Academy Chapel at Night

Since my new camera is suppose to take good photos in low light, I went to the United States Air Force Academy yesterday evening to try some photos of the famous Cadet Chapel. I was very pleased with the results - my old camera wouldn't have worked without a tripod, and even then it would have had trouble with the exposures and autofocus.

All these photos are handheld, and it was much dimmer than the photos appear. The camera was pulling out details I couldn't see with my eyes.

This one is taken at the bottom of the previous one, at right angles.

This is the front of the chapel - I thought it looked almost like a landing strip, appropriate for the location.

And finally, here's the other side of the chapel, which wasn't illuminated - I was astonished that I could get a hand-held photo here at all. A couple of stars showed up and the autofocus was even able to lock on. This one's grainier because I had to push the low-light performance almost to its maximum.

Inspired Sunday

Our World Tuesday

T-38A

Here are a couple of photos of a T-38A mounted at the United States Air Force Academy.

The beautiful blue skies make them my entry for this week's Skywatch Friday meme.

Spring at the Air Force Academy

Here are some photos taken last May at the United States Air Force Academy.

These were taken in the cadet area, near graduation day.

The building is the famous cadet chapel. The photos match this week's "spring" theme at Tina's PicStory, as well as being part of Our World Tuesday. It's also nice to look back at spring after our first real snow last week.

Air Force Academy Model Airplanes

Near the Air Force Academy chapel are several large model airplanes, and here are a couple.

There's also a statue for the famous Tuskegee Airmen.

And these are my photos for this week's Our World Tuesday meme.

Air Force Football Tailgate

We sometimes go to United States Air Force Academy football games, which are very popular in our city. Before the games we get together with one of the Academy academic departments for an American tradition called a tailgate, where we eat food, drink soda and beer, and have a good time. Tailgating is serious in America, it's part of the college sports tradition. Large barbeques are used to cook the food.

Portable generators provide electricity for music and other essentials.

This is Colorado so we can count on blue skies and sunny weather (although the temperature may be cold).

 And of course, there's food, food, and more food. (And of course drinks of many different types.)

Tina's PicStory theme this week is "my favorite color" - I have two and this post is full of them. I love blue especially in the sky (probably from my English upbringing where it's rare), and green on growing things. And this is a very American part of Our World Tuesday.

A-10A

For Skywatch Friday, here's a Fairchild-Republic A-10A on display at the United States Air Force Academy.

Thunderbirds

The Air Force Academy graduation ceremony usually concludes with a show by the famous Air Force Thunderbirds, and that's this week's Skywatch Friday post.

They're famous for their incredible aerobatic moves.

And of course, they fly in very tight formations.

Don't miss them if they perform near you!

President Barack Obama

It's been an exciting couple of weeks for my family. A couple of weeks ago, my daughter graduated from college. Last Thursday my son graduated from high school. And last Wednesday my nephew graduated from the United States Air Force Academy. The commencement speaker was the President of the United States, Barack Obama, and I was able to take my camera in to the ceremony and get some photos of him while he was speaking.

He is a captivating speaker. The ceremony ends with the hat toss and a display by the Thunderbirds; join me in a couple of days for photos of that.

It was thrilling for me to hear the President in person, and while my photo of him may not be the best I found it exciting nevertheless - I took a photo of the President! And it's my contribution to Our World Tuesday.

Air Force Academy Chapel (Inside)

Continuing with last week's Air Force Academy Cadet Chapel photos, here's the inside.

 Looking through the windows you can see the nearby mountains.

And this is for the great Our World Tuesday meme.

Air Force Academy Chapel

If you were wondering what Saturday's photo was, it's the Air Force Academy Cadet Chapel, one of the most recognizable buildings in Colorado when fully shown.

Here's a view looking up the steps.

I liked the regularity of the lines in this shot looking up the side with an ultra-wide-angle lens.

Here's another shot of the famous roofline.

And finally, I liked the pattern of shadows the spires were casting on the plaza in the early-morning sunlight.

This post is for Tina's PicStory theme of C (Cadet Chapel), and for Our World Tuesday. Next week we'll go inside the chapel.

Air Force Football

I was recently at an Air Force Academy football game.

It's always a fun thing to see, even though I'm not particularly interested in watching sports. There are interesting traditions, such as cadets doing push-ups whenever Air Force scores, one per point. In a game like this where we scored over 30 points, that's a lot of push-ups!

And of course military bands and the like are always a pleasure to watch (and photograph).

And that's part of Our World this week, and all the colors make it my entry for PicStory's "color" theme this week!

Air Force Skies

We went to an Air Force Academy football game on Saturday and I captured this image for Skywatch Friday during the flyover. If you look carefully you can see the flames coming out of the engines!

I've got more photos from the game that I'll post another time.

Air Force Falcon

The mascot at the Air Force Academy is the falcon, and they have several live ones. Here is a young one, on his trainer's hand. These are flash photos taken at night.

What amazing birds to see up close! And for more interesting sights, visit My World Tuesday.

Lightning and Fireworks

I've got a couple of night shots for this week's Skywatch Friday entry. First, here's one of my first lightning captures of the summer, taken this past Thursday evening. The streaks of light at the bottom are cars on a road, as this was a long exposure. I trimmed, scaled, and sharpened it using the free GIMP photo editing software.

Also, here are a couple of fireworks of a different kind, captured handheld on July 4th, at the Air Force Academy display. I used my 50mm lens, opened up all the way to f/1.4, so I could get short enough exposures to shoot without a tripod.

For me one of the highlights of the evening was hearing the orchestra play the famous 1812 Overture before the fireworks started, complete with real cannons (if you're not familiar with the music, Tchaikovsky scored the overture with real cannon fire). Hearing it like that is not an everyday occurrence, and one nice benefit to having major military installations nearby! (The photo on the right is one of the cannons firing.)

For more of my lightning photos, click on the Lightning tag below this post or on the right of the blog.

Air Force Academy Saber

The United States Air Force Academy is in my city, so it's a big part of our town's culture. For this week's My World post, here are some photos of the saber that graduates are entitled to get. It might be technically defined as a sword, but by tradition it's called a saber.

Before anyone asks, I did not have the privilege of attending the Air Force Academy. For lots more photos from around the world, visit the My World Tuesday meme.