Blue Angels over San Francisco

Welcome to the weekend. Welcome to my Blue Angels s~A(R)T~urday linky party!

“There is no line between fine art and illustration; there is no high or low art; there is only art, and it comes in many forms.” James Gurney

I have not really started editing the photos I took during my week in the Bay Area. Yet, I couldn’t resist sharing the ones below with you. We got a surprise visit, well, to us anyway, of the one and only:

~ Blue Angels ~

We were traveling back to the city from our trip north of the bay. And we decided to take detour to the coast and headed for Point Bonita. From there you have a wonderful view of the Golden Gate Bridge and downtown San Francisco and – so much more. Here is a little glimpse of the panorama we had. And, yes, more photos will be coming.

golden gate bridge, san francisco, panorama

So, anyway, we were slowly walking back to our car when we spotted and heard a jet approaching. This single jet was closely followed by four jets flying in formation. I was not really prepared to take action shots, however at least I did have my 70-200 mm lens and not the wide-angle on my camera. So, I got a few shots of them and I have to say, I was pretty mesmerized by how freaking close they are flying. I actually looked it up and here is the answer to #28 of the FAQ on their site:

What is the closest distance that the jets fly to each other?

The closest the diamond will fly to each other is 18 inches during the Diamond 360 maneuver.

18 inches! Up in the sky at speeds of about 400 mph. Turned out that they were in town for the annual Fleet Week in San Francisco, which we missed by a few days. But we got the extra an viewing some of their training. And we got shocked, too. Because when David finally dragged me away and we drove slowly over the Golden Gate in bumper-to-bumper rush hour traffic they were still practicing, but I had lost them out of sight. Until I heard them, looked up and saw it / heard it thundering right over our heads just above the bridge. I swear my heart lost at least a couple of beats. It was so close. So loud. So wow.

This may not be art in the conventional way, but I think it is very impressive what they are doing.

How about you? What have you been up to lately? I hope you are having a great weekend!

p.s. please click on the images to enlarge them and have a better view

Blue Angels

 


 

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Don’t think about making art, just get it done.

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24 thoughts on “Blue Angels over San Francisco”

  1. Wow, what a fabulous way to start my day off by seeing this! Awesome shots my friend! I can’t begin to imagine the feeling one gets when experiencing something like this.

    Reply
    • Thanks for letting me know the positive effect my photos had – I thrive on positive feedback (I know, don’t we all…). That feeling of them roaring over us was – pretty spectacular. Now I really want to go to an airshow for real.

      Reply
  2. Mesmerizing pictures, Claudia. I have seen the Blue Angels at our Air and Water Show in Chicago and they do just take your breath away. Thank you for sharing these moments … I can just hear your heart pounding 🙂

    Andrea @ From The Sol

    Reply
  3. WOW. just wow. that is sooo cool. I can only imagine how loud it must have been. I’ve been on the ground when our own Snowbirds have flown over and it’s deafening. but it really is something amazing to witness. you swear they are going to crash and your heart is thumping – you really captured that!!

    sorry I don’t have anything prepared this week. I’ve been so busy for my first Girl Guides meeting this Monday that I had no time to edit the 100s of lovely fall photos I have taken!! hopefully next week it will slow down a bit.

    Reply
    • You could have probably described it much better. My writing skills are close to non-existent, but – hey – this is me, and my blog 🙂
      It is amazing. Deafening. Exciting. Wow. So many things.
      No sorries, ever from you around here. We all have a life outside blogosphere. I am looking forward to seeing your fall photos. It is turning to be very gorgeous around here, but I fear that next weekend, when I’ll get another chance to take photos, it may already be too late. Oh well…

      Reply
  4. How totally awesome! I saw the Blue Angels way back when I was in the 1st or 2nd grade and I’ve never forgotten how cool they were to see. You are right, their flying formations are an “Art Form” for sure.

    Reply
  5. I recently borrowed that lens and had a blast with it.
    The drive from the north into SF is one of my favorite drives. on earth.. maybe it’s my number one. I dream about it often.

    Reply
    • That lens is spectacular. I have had it since, whoops, 2005. It was the 1st one with VR, now they’ve got a version II. Anyway, it is great for sports, but on the fullframe also great for portraits.
      I agree, that drive is really gorgeous.

      Reply
  6. It feels like forever since I was last in San Francisco. It’s one of my very favorite cities – so much to see and do and experience! These are great captures of the Blue Angels! One of the things we haven’t done yet is make it over to the Blue Angels museum in Pensacola. We’re only about 2-2.5 hours away, and there’s a huge show there every year. Need to make it over.

    Thanks for sharing with us at Photo Friday again this week!

    Reply
    • Hah – that sounds like my wanting to go to their yearly show on Long Island, NY, which is about 2 hours. The thing that usually keeps me from going is the huge (!) amount of people going. If I am not in the right mindset, that stresses me out, totally.

      Reply

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