Plane crazy ..

Heading home on Ryanair and yes, believe it or not, both these shots were taken on the same small 90 minute flight back from France to Manchester. No prizes for guessing which shot is Manchester. In fact, one little girl behind me asked her Mum "Why is it not sunny at England?"..

I've always loved aircraft, and taking photographs of aircraft, and just plain old standing and gawping at aircraft. As a lad I used to catch the number 500 bus to Ringway Airport, as Manchester was then called, just to stand on the roofs of the termini for a couple of hours watching and snapping the jets. And yes, you were allowed to stand on them in 'the old days' - right above the gates and mere feet from the jet-fuel smell and the screeching engines. It was great ..

Thing is, I never got to go on a jet until I was 18. My parents simply couldn't afford to take us anywhere. And I know that plane-spotting isn't everybody's cup of tea but when I left for France last week I saw the saddest sight I've seen in a long time. Ok, keep it in context but ..

.. as I was at the gate, waiting to board, I was back to being 15 and excitedly watching all the aircraft taxiing past me. A plane I didn't immediately recognise was identified for me by an app on my phone, and I was delighted to realise I was looking at my first Airbus A350. I strained my neck to watch it disappear around the corner then looked down to see .. a boy of about ten, with his back to the jets, playing games on a tablet. I almost threw up on him ..

Anyway, gotta go dust off my 500mm mirror lens. I'm off to the International Air Tattoo this Sunday..

Four seasons in one day ..

Kicking back after a fantastic weekend of Wedding photography and an air-show! Saturday's shoot was a blast and I think she'd agree if I described Alaina, the bride, as quite a character! I'm sure it's the first time the MOB - Mother of the bride - has taken pity on me and bought me a pint of lager after I've finished shooting! You can check out the shots here! Great to be part of your Big Day, guys..

Then it was on to Sunday and the first Air Show at Barton Airport in 21 years. All was going well until 3pm, when a weather front hit us and that was that! It absolutely poured down! End of show and thousands of soggy, cold people dashing for the exit! What a shame, and to think I'd been complaining about the sunshine on Saturday!..

Are you crazy?..

Blog? On a hot day like this? Are you crazy, who's going to read it? Everyone'll be outside, catching the rays at long, long last! Actually, the thought of people sunbathing put me in mind of this photograph, which I took at Barton Air Show in the late 70s. It's a sight you see often and, as I gear up to hit yet another air-show this July, I just can't help wondering why! Why go all the way to an air-show and .. sleep? I mean, these things aren't cheap, and you can always sleep .. well, at night .. so why miss all the aircraft you'd been looking forward to seeing all year? The funnier thing about this photograph, which you might not be able to see in this low-res version, is that the sunbather's wife is actually asleep .. in the car! She didn't even make it outside! Hurrah for crazy people! They make great subject matter for us photographers ..