It's a Bird, It's a Plane

I only took pictures of the planes, not the birds. I went to an air show at Jones Beach, which is now an annual event on Memorial Day weekend and I saw a lot of displays like this. There were propeller planes doing all sorts of stunts, like steep climbs, dives, stalls, and corkscrews. These pilots are obviously very talented and they are there to put on a show, but as performers, they miss out on any kind of reaction from their audience. Most performers feed off of the energy of their audience, but with these guys, it's just "do your job and go home". I suppose the pilots could buzz the crowd^* to see if they were clapping or smiling, but that might just scare people off.

^*If you don't know what "buzzing the crowd" is, please go watch Top Gun with Tom Cruise. Normally I wouldn't recommend a Tom Cruise movie because I think he's a jackass, but maybe he made that movie before he became a jackass. If you can watch it with a pilot (or someone who used to be in the Navy), it's even better.

Camera: Nikon D70s
Location: Jones Beach, NY

Moving On

At the end of March, I celebrated my twelfth anniversary of employment with Nikon. At the end of April, I celebrated my departure from Nikon. Everybody keeps telling me that the change will be good for me. I'll have to take their word for it because I'm still a little uneasy. Nikon was a great place to work and I met a lot of nice people there. Just as importantly, Nikon is also where I got bit by the photo bug. (Normally, bugs are a "bad thing" for software developers, but this is the good kind of bug.) I love taking pictures and I now look at the world with a different eye than I did before my rendezvous with Nikon. I also love my D70s.

Camera: Nikon D70s
Location: Melville, NY