Monday last week I decided to go down to Sacramento and have some fun at the Air Show. I did and arrived bright and early on Thursday morning where we started the day with Tyson V. Ringer and he held a seminar about aviation photography. You always learn from seminars like this.

We were the taken by bus to the southside of Mather Airport and watched the arrivals as they came in. At lunch time we had to vacate the spot for the US Air Force Thunderbirds arrival. They do not want anybody close to the box when they fly. When they arrived they did part of their display in order to map out references etc.

Friday we had a great time at the southside and there were lots of arrivals. At lunch time we moved up to the compass rose where there were two tents for some shade and lots of bottled water, (you need that when the temperature is running about 100F). There was a fair amount of practise going on and at 2pm we moved over to the spectator side of the airport to watch the Thunderbirds practise run.

Saturday was the first day of the Air Show, and we spent the morning at the compass rose, filling up the cards quickly and had time to grab a bite in between from a very nice box lunch. At 2pm we raced across the runways..cleared by the Air Boss and watched the remaing performers including the Thunderbirds from center stage. It is good to see the same performance 4 times as you get to know the routine a bit and can set yourself up for some good photos. it is always nice to know when the 4 ship formaton is coming from behind you.

Sunday I went to the static display for a couple of hours before the crowds started flling up the space. Spent the morning on the compass rose and went across the field to watch the Thunderbirds perform.

The advantage of being at a show both for the practise and show days is that you get to know the routine of the performers. A good example is the Super Stearman with the faint moon in the background. I saw it on Saturday but only captured the photo on Sunday because I knew when the aircraft would be in that positon during ts performance.

Great experience, great staff, great photo locations. If you want to do it next year visit their web site for more information.

California Capital Air Show Web site

More Photos from the California Capital Air Show

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