JWilsonphoto
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Yesterday was a resounding success but I can't remember a recent time that I was more exhausted when my delirious head hit the pillow last night. The Perot Memorial Day celebration is always a historic event but this year the number of attendees rose to an all time high of 1600+. Many of those are current and retired military and their families and first responders, that is where the Perot family's heart has long resided. One might think this is an event thrown in the "thanks for your business, please send more" mode, but once you have attended one you are captured by the atmosphere of humble gratitude for our military and first responders from a family that has had their backs for decades.
Ross, Matt and I have this thing going where they call me to ask me to give them my photographic vision of a scenario that's about to happen. I think about it for a few minutes, describe what I see (usually a near impossible scenario) they laugh and we all set out to turn it into reality. The B52 shoot was one in this series. I actually love it, as long as The Good Lord and I am able nail it (emphasis on The Good Lord), but it takes it's toll. Once we decide what we are going after, the coordination with planes, pilots, ATC, weather, mechanical, event schedules, briefings, all get set into motion. We have not missed "The Shot" yet so the pressure to hit it increases with each opportunity, while the degree of difficulty varies. I'm reminded of Forrest Gump's line about a box of chocolates during these processes  I don't sleep well from the time the gauntlet is thrown down until the end of the day it's accomplished, then like last night, I go comatose.
Yesterday's scenario was capturing two very dissimilar aircraft, a Stearman and a Mustang, over the event individually and in formation. Days of prep end up as minutes of execution. Shooting from a helicopter, a really nice helicopter is wonderful, but a challenge. You can't see the subjects coming in most cases so they appear and are gone in a blink. Obviously the Stearman offers a little more breathing room for a photographer, the screaming P51, not so much. Fortunately I'm blessed with having consummate professionals in every key spot for these scenarios. My Stearman pilot is and F4/F16/NASA Astronaut/ Nasa Shuttle Commander with multiple trips into space, and my P51 pilot is a USAF General Retired who has a drawer full of "t-shirts" and is still accumulating them. My helicopter pilot flew Marine One and that is one dot in a career of incredible so, the deck is stacked in our favor for sure. None the less, when we had completed the 52 mission my pilot looked at me and said, "I've done a lot of things but I've never seen anything like this before!" Kind of sums it up.
Anyway, here's what appears to be a simple shot that was anything but...............
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