Thunderbirds Day 2 - 9/20/09

I had so much fun on Saturday, Celia, Erick and I went again to see the Thunderbirds, this time from the Airport parking lot. I was surprised that there were a lot of other people who had the same idea and braved the hot sun to see them. This time, I had the vantage point to watch the Thunderbirds take off.
I caught a few few more shots (after cropping) of the Thunderbirds.
It was cool to see them fly by the control tower.
I caught a shot w/ Diamond Head..
Even though they perform in front of Hickam, they actually kept up the maneuver in front of the airport.
On Sunday, the planes landed back at the Honolulu Airport instead of Hickam.
I was going thru my pics from Saturday, and I noticed one of the pilot actually waved at us.
This was Pilot #3 who was waving.
Then I noticed pilot #5 had an upside-down number 5 sewn on his uniform which made me wonder..
Because I caught his plane and the number under it was also upside down. I did some googling and this is what I found:
In mirror formations, one Thunderbird must be inverted, and it is always Thunderbird number 5. In fact, the "5" on this aircraft is painted on upside down, and thus appears right-side-up for much of the routine). At the end of the routine, all six aircraft join in formation, forming the Delta. There is also an extra amount of humor regarding the inverted performance of Thunderbird Five: the pilots all wear tailored flight suits with their name and jet number embroidered on the left breast. The 5 is sewn inverted.

Thunderbirds Day 1 - 9/19/09

I saw the Thunderbirds when they performed in Waikiki in 2007 and I had just started to learn to take pictures w/ my XT so I was so excited to hear they came back and I would get another chance to take pictures of them. My friend, her niece and nephew and I was fortunate to be at Hickam for their open house and the Thunderbird air show this weekend . There were restrictions on what you can bring and I brought my 70-200mm lens but had to keep the lens and body separate so that it could fit into an 8"x8" bag..OK..it was more like 8"x9". Therefore, I was limited to close shots but I managed to take a panaoramic of the Thunderbirds just so I can get all 6 of them together. I think I had to stand several hundred yards away to fit the entire plane into my shot. I don't know if this was old the Air Force One, but it sure looked like it. It was so hot that people found shade sitting under the airplane wings.
We visited the different planes on display where there were photo ops for kids.
It was so hot, anyone who can find some shade was very lucky.
I was surprised to find the Thunderbirds parked right on the air strip in plain site.
The show started about 5 minutes late, but it started w/ a boom and with grand maneuvers. I had such a hard time getting them in focus thru all the excitement.
After trying Av, Tv and even P settings, I was able to finally get some focused shots and settled on using Tv (Shutter priority) @ 1/1250 and ISO 200. I kept the focus point at the center because they were so fast, my camera didn't seem to be able to pick the right place to focus.
They were so noisy with their fly by the kids had to cover their ears.
Most of the time, there were 4 Thunderbirds flying together, then the other two would do solo maneuvers.
I think they called this the "mirror formation".
Here's a crop of the planes. It looks like I photoshopped them together.. but i didn't. They were THAT close..
The other two planes joined the rest and as I was just getting the hang of tracking them w/ my focus point, the show was over.
I was surprised that they came in for a landing right in front of the audience. Everyone started to leave for their cars, which gave me a chance to jockey to the front to get close up shots of the planes as they taxi back to their respective spots.
The whole deplaning process was a ceremony too.
I stayed and watched as the pilots came toward the crowd were I was standing.
They handed out booklets for the kids and the pilots signed autograph and I went totally "papparazzi " and started snapping shots of the pilots.
There was also a female pilot of the group, but I don't think she flew today.
To avoid the mass traffic jam leaving Hickam, the kids had shaved ice and we sat to watch this band play. It was a super hot day...but well worth it to wait in the hot sun to watch the magnificent Thunderbirds.

Tiger Cubs at Honolulu Zoo - 9/14/09

I was sooo lucky to be able to check out the tiger cubs after the Children's Cancer Foundation Zoo event. The afternoon lighting was perfect for taking photos of the cubs. They were really fast and I was not quick enough w/ the shutter so I missed a LOT of great shots, but I was still able to get some of the playful cubs. They've grown so much and not so cuddly looking like the last time I saw them.

Hawaii Children's Cancer Foundation - 9/13/09

This is the second year I attended the Hawaii Children's Cancer Foundation at the Honolulu Zoo. This year I am more prepared w/ better equipment so hopefully, I'd get better shots than I did last year. There were lots of great performances by young talents. The weather was great and kids of all ages had a great time at this event.
There were great young singer/song writers.
Beautiful dancers...
Games...everyone gets a prize.
Face Painting...I was surprised I was able to take these without using my flash.
There was also an all-girls band.
And even a famous photog... :-)