Airshows and Sunsets.

Some events are more suited for video.. others more for film (Or 'stills' as I will refer to them here from now on)

I think airshows are probably best suited for video. The difficulty comes into play when the photographer shows his work of an airplane upside down, frozen in the air, doing nothing but... freezing motionless upside down in the air. (Even worse is when the shutter speed is too fast and even a propeller seems to stay still in mid-air). There's just... nothing... but a picture of an upside down airplane... Not very exciting, is it?

Video captures a sequence of events, from the earth-shattering roar of a military jet screaming down the runway at mach 1-bazillion, igniting everyone's hair on fire and setting off every car alarm within a 4-county area. You can't capture that in stills, but it is damned fun on the ground when it happens on video!

Conversely, sunsets are incredibly well suited to stills. Remember the last time you sat watching a video of a sunset? Neither do I.

I shot 2 airshows recently. The first...I was so excited to get home and start proofing. About 5 seconds into the proofing process it hit me.

"These suck!"

...that's when I learned the difference about each medium and what they convey to the viewer.

Regardless, I remain undeterred. There is an inherent beauty in an aircraft, no matter if she is standing still or punching holes in clouds at mach 2.

So I will continue to bring my still cameras to airshows as long as I am able. I will fail miserably at this many times I can assure you but hopefully I come away with shots that may put a lump in people's throats and maybe even a tear in someone's eye....

Therein lies the challenge.

See my latest attempt at: http://anthonyscottphotography.com/seafair2010

Warm regards and thanks for reading,
Scott