Day 87...

So, it rained ALL through last night. At one point it sounded as though the worlds biggest bucket was being emptied right outside the windows. It carried on raining for most of this morning as well - sometimes deluging, sometimes just a drizzle. We popped to get MrEH’s newspaper and got home mildly damp. Rumours abounded that the counterpart flypast in Paris in the late morning was being cancelled because of weather - not true, in fact Paris had glorious blue skies!

We left home to drive into London just after lunch - it was still spitting but - a literal glimmer of hope - the sun had started peeking through... by 3pm we were walking along the Embankment from a Tower Bridge with some incredible cloud formations above - some clearly still threatening some rain but importantly all nice and high, so unlikely to disrupt the actual route of the flypast. The 2 teams had made it across to RAF Brize Norton to refuel but reports were that the weather there was still pretty dreadful, it wouldn’t be the first time that a Flypast was scuppered by weather either at the operating base, or between that base and the target, frustrating for all concerned but can’t be helped.

By 4.15pm we had recced all possible locations and I had decided on plan A - Waterloo Bridge - giving a view which could - depending on the precise line taken by the jets - include the London Eye and the Thames in one direction, and the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral and the city skyline in the other - just so long as a bus didn’t draw up at the wrong moment! Better still though, those superb cloud formations were hanging around, particularly in the St Paul’s direction. 4.40pm - takeoff time and we started picking up snippets of radio transmissions on the scanner confirming that 18 jets were in the air and heading our way...

At bang on 5pm the coloured smoke appeared over the roof of the Ministry of Defence building - I fired off a couple of shots with my 10 - 18mm lens on the Canon 80D, then hastily switched to the 7DMk2 hanging over the other shoulder ready to shoot the remainder with the 24 - 105mm as it became apparent the wider angle wasn’t going to give quite the composition I was hoping for. As the jets roared over I dashed across the pavement, hopped onto the barrier and framed up ready to get the departing shots with the Cathedral - massive thanks to the lovely van driver who held back as long as he could from blocking my view! The whole thing was over in around 45 seconds - which actually feels like quite a long time photographically, although people watching always feel it is over in a flash!

As always looking around and seeing the reactions of the people around was a definite highlight - a flypast puts smiles on faces, all the more so for those who didn’t know about - and weren’t expecting - it. People continue to stand and watch for a few moments more as the lingering red, white & blue smoke drifts across the sky - before carrying on with their day. You can imagine the conversations around dinner tables that evening “Wow - guess what I saw on the way home!”

Robyn

(To reiterate from yesterday - in London it is still being requested that public transport use is for essential travel only, and had I needed to use the tube, or buses I would not have made the trip in. As it was we drove as far as Bermondsey, just under an hour, parked there and walked the rest.)

No Words...

Sending thoughts to the whole RAFAT family following the events at RAF Valley today. Sympathies to the family & friends of the "Blues" engineer lost. 

Whizzy Red Jets...

It's been a funny winter on the weather front - lots of very grey days forecast have lead me to cancel several planned trips up to Scampton although ironically had one of those gone ahead I'd have had a day of wall to wall blue skies - the moral of this is clearly "never trust the Met Office" but there you go - you can only work with the information you're given. Suffering from a nasty case of "I want to see some flying-itis" I switched my working arrangements around and committed to heading up last Monday - regardless of forecast!

The disadvantage of a Monday rapidly became apparent with more traffic than I was used to on the way up and a combination of that and managing to set my alarm 15 minutes later than I should have done meant I screeched to a halt in the car park with just a minute spare on the time of the programmed first flying slot - thankfully with a heavy frost and light dusting of snow on the ground it seemed unlikely that they'd take off on time and so it proved. The slight delay also gave time for  my companion for the day to arrive from his drive across from Derby - and we convened at the fence as the jets were crewing in. A 6-ship duly taxied out shortly afterwards and we quickly realised that the runway in use was at our end which meant this:

...they don't often use that end so that was an unexpected treat! 

6-ship sorties aren't the greatest to photograph as generally they are a bit "unbalanced" looking but we made the best of it and the weather certainly did us a favour early on with skies like this...

With just 6 jets on the line at the start of the day and all 6 having flown that meant we had a pretty solid idea of the time of the second flying slot so I seized the chance to head off and get some much needed diesel in the car and grab a sandwich before heading back in time for slot 2. Lo and behold another 6 ship - and in not quite such good skies sadly...some nice clouds though...

...and the rare use of the runway at our end meant scope for some shots of the jets on approach to land too...

Finally slot 3 gave us a coveted "Gypo" sortie - the 4 jets at the back of the formation which of course include the Synchro Pair. Annoyingly by this stage the sky had gone to a dull, flat grey, but the beauty of the dynamic flying you get from Gypo is that there's still options for shots even in those circumstances - particularly if you have a fairly solid grasp of where you need to be for the various different manouevres - and on this occasion I spotted them pulling round to practise the Gypo Pass and a quick dash up the fenceline netted me this series of shots...

Sometimes a day in the cold and nearly 6 hours of driving is worth it! We Pretty much gave up shooting after that - the light had gone, the sky was flat, and the final session of the day was a 3-ship repeating the same formation over and over , plus the temperature had dropped dramatically and it was making a determined effort to snow on us. I'll be planning another trip up shortly and will be hoping for more jets, more blue sky and more degrees centigrade too!

Robyn

Remembrance...

The Royal Air force social media accounts are currently focusing heavily on Remembrance Sunday as you might expect - asking "who are you remembering" - from families thinking of loved ones serving, to friends remembering those who fell alongside them, there's been a great wide range of examples given and hopefully it will encourage children who perhaps feel that as their parents and grand parents are too young too have fought in either world war it's not relevant to them, to think again.  For me, I take it as a time to think of family members who served in those hopefully never to be repeated conflicts, and to think of and give thanks for friends serving currently and the sacrifices their families make. Currently I have one friend over in the USA where he's already been for several months - he'll be home briefly for Christmas and then away again. Another who has spent a lot of time away from his family in the past year or so (including the three months running up to his own wedding!) and another living away from his Mrs & kids all week and travelling home every weekend - it is incredibly hard on the families, and all so often that gets forgotten. Generally speaking the partners are just so stoic about it too - no weeping and wailing, no making their other half feel guilty, they just get on and mark off the days until their loved one gets home again.

In the town I live in there has been a small exhibition travelling around the area focused on telling us about 5 men from the town who lost their lives in WW1. I caught up with it in the shopping centre on Tuesday, and also had a brief chat with one of the gents from the British Legion who was manning the stand and engaging with people about the exhibition. I was genuinely shocked when he said that they had contacted all the local schools to suggest taking the exhibition in and giving a talk about it to the pupils, and had absolutely NO response. What better way for children to get a real feeling for the history around the two world wars than to hear the stories of those who went to fight from the town they're living in, and in some cases paid the ultimate price? I'm honestly perplexed as to why there was no interest in this - are children not being taught about these events? Or are the opinions of those that would have it that the wearing of the poppy in some way glorifies was beginning to hold more sway?

Whether or not you buy a poppy this year, or attend a service, please take a few moments to remember those who went, and never returned, and those who are still going...

“When you go Home, tell them of us and say,
 For your Tomorrow, we gave our Today”

John Maxwell Edmunds
1916

Robyn

Blue skies & Red Jets!

So FINALLY last Friday I got a day up at Scampton garnished with blue skies and sunshine. I'd been up a few times previously this winter hoping to photograph some flying, but on the first occasion the weather didn't clear for the whole day - we spent all day sitting in the photo section office drinking tea and gossiping. Second time round wasn't much better either - a single sortie got flown, but mostly up above the clouds. More tea, more gossiping.  The third attempt was a little better but still not those glorious blue skies that look so wonderful in pics. This trip was FAR better - the forecast had looked good all week, so it was just a case of crossing fingers that it didn't change - and for once the Met Office didn't let us down!

For a change the wind was in the right direction for the jets to be using the runway nearest to us - always nice to see them taxi out...

First up we had the Synchro pair practising their "Heart" - first time they'd done it this year, and I think you'll agree it's already looking good...

                    

Then "Enid" section took to the sky for some lovely looping passes and rolls - always nice to watch, and photograph!

For the third and subsequent slots we relocated to one of our favourite spots - lovely and quiet and peaceful, well until this happens...

We had the Heart overhead again - later with Synchro being joined by Red 8 who will be "spearing" the heart this year. Masses of close passes overhead - some of which were too close even for the short end of my 100-400mm lens. The best bit though? The slightly elevated position we had chosen giving us fabulous views of the jets running in over the Lincolnshire countryside...

Always a pleasure to watch! Work-ups are going well - in the course of the last few days the team have flown their first "9-Ship" practises of the year and it's all now starting to come together. A few more weeks of getting it all together here before they head to Greece for "Exercise Springhawk" which should hopefully culminate in them being awarded the coveted "PDA" - Public Display Authority which allows them to go from performing "practises" (as they currently are) to "Displays" in front of the public in the UK and elsewhere. They then return to the UK in time for their first public displays at Torbay Airshow down in Devon at the beginning of June. Can't wait!

Robyn

And finally...

...that's the UK airshow season at a close for us. I spent yesterday at RAF Scampton for the Reds final ISP's (In season Practises) of the year - then on Thursday the jets and Circus depart for India on the first leg of their tour. The other Blues going as part of the support crew will also be heading off but their departures are staggered over several days throughout the week between now and Saturday. The next time I will see the jets fly now will probably be in the New Year, which in itself feels odd as normally this time in the year we're looking forward to winter training and all the fun and games that go along with that.

It's been another brilliant year - no question about it. From the season opener for the team at Shuttleworth in May right through to yesterday we've had so much fun again. Once again we have people leaving - my friend Nicky has already departed the Squadron having been promoted and posted into a new role. Three of the pilots will be leaving the team when they return from tour - Synchro leader Steve, and Reds 8 & 9 - Stew and Joe. They'll be missed as always when they move on. On the bright side we have a new bunch who will be moving into the coveted "Circus" roles backseating in the jets during next season - including a very good friend's husband so SHE'S over the moon at all the photos she will get of him doing his thing during 2017!

Possibly the best way possible of finishing the season, for us, was this...

...we've waited a while for that. Extra special for having Lingy (Red 10) in there too - and for me also because it's the three of us - me, Claire & Tom - who've done so much and shared so many of the amazing experiences over the past few seasons. It just wouldn't have been quite the same if one of us had missed out. Bloody epic. Smiling may happen for a while yet... ;-)

Robyn

An ambitious trip...!

Last week I made my first trip to the Hebrides without MrEH in tow as well - and also my shortest ever visit, as I was in the Western Isles for a grand total of 22.5 hours! Those of you who follow my Instagram or Twitter accounts already know that the reason for this trip was to see those RAF Red Arrows displaying in Stornoway - only their third ever visit to the Hebrides and the first time they've been there since 2001.

This one took a LOT of planning...right from when Red 10 first mentioned on Twitter having done the site survey back in March there was never any real question in my mind that I wanted to do it, the question was always how it was going to be possible. Flying straight up & back just proved too expensive and had to be dismissed straight away, it would also have meant that I would have had to lose two days work rather than just one - increasing the cost of the whole escapade even more. Thankfully as you know I do enjoy a bit of travelling so the thought of doing it in lots of stages wasn't as daunting as it might have been, and a bit of lateral thinking later and I settled on the following plan of action:

In flight on a Ryanair 737-800 o the way up...

On Saturday MrEH dropped me off at Stansted airport - it's at times like this that living close to a major hub airport comes as an advantage. I flew to Glasgow, where lovely Fay picked me up and drove me into the city to spend the night with another ace lady - Laurie, being able to combine the trip with seeing those two was a total bonus! Much wine was consumed and I confess to feeling a little delicate as I set off for Queen Street station and the next phase of the journey on the Sunday morning. Thankfully a large bottle of water sipped gently between there and Inverness sorted out the worst of that, and a fast-food lunch killed off any residual doubts as to whether my innards were going to behave or not! Good thing too as the next stage was one of my least favourite modes of transport - the bus across to Ullapool to catch the Ferry over to Stornoway itself. All went like clockwork and by 9.30pm I was happily settled in at the cosy B&B I'd booked, with a cup of tea and a book. Monday morning dawned with heavy grey cloud and light drizzle - just the sort of weather we really didn't want to see but with the boys not due to arrive until 2pm and the display not until 5pm there was time for it to change. Over breakfast I got my first surprise of the trip when I discovered that the display site has changed from the Airport to the town - all sorts of questions came rushing to the fore at that point - notably how on earth I was going to get through there in the first place, and then back to the airport afterwards in order to check in in time for my flight back to Glasgow - which was due to be shortly after 7pm! I know from experience that these things have a habit of working out though so stuck that one onto a mental back-burner for the time being.

Circus 2, aka James, aka "The short grinning Geordie" ;-) 

A few weeks previously I'd emailed the airport at Stornoway to enquire where they were planning on putting the jets while they were on the ground there - as I was hoping to be able to spend some time taking photos of the Circus guys at work I was hoping that they were going to be close to a fence-line where I could at least shoot through the fence. The reply came back asking me to call at the end of the week before, so on the friday beforehand I duly placed the call and spoke to the Airport Manager who proceeded to inform me that what they'd like to do was arrange airside access for me so that I could be on the ground to see the team arriving and get my groundshots too. Absolutely amazing - I definitely didn't expect anything of that sort and once again it reinforced my knowledge of just how fabulously hospitable Hebridean folk are. As such I reported to the airport at 1pm as agreed, was duly given my pass and taken across to the tower where it was agreed that the lovely Iain would drive me over the far side of the airport to the Hangar where the jets would be parked. It was also agreed that he would drive me into town for the display as well - which was fantastic!

Discovering the challenge of fitting the jets & fire crews and appliances into a photo... 

Bang on time as always the jets appeared - unusually in two groups rather than the more familiar "Big battle" V formation of 9, or the standard poor-weather fall-back of 3 groups of 3, and in short order they taxied round the airport and arrived on the pan in front of me. First to come over was Red 10 (Lingy) - he already knew I was there as I'd tweeted him when I arrived the night before (His reponse an astonished "You haven't...?!") and it was as always nice to see his cheerful grin! I took the chance to ask quickly if there was any chance I could grab a lift back from the airport with him after the display too and he agreed that he thought it was unlikely to be a problem but to go and find him and Martin when I got into town and he would confirm. Time then to deal with the official stuff - some photos of the team with the local Air Cadets, and a few more for the Airport fire crews, then time for getting stuck in to my first proper "Circus At Work" shots of the 2015 season. Fantastic to catch up with pals from last season Nicky & James, and to meet some more of the new guys on Circus for 2015 too - seems like we have another lovely bunch this year! After a couple of hours hard work...and a wee bit of time to play...

Duck! ;-)

...there was just time to grab a quick cuppa before Iain and I headed off into town where I bid him farewell with many thanks! Off to find Lingy and Martin then - which I duly did at the ferry terminal cafe - and confirmation that my transport back to the airport afterwards was sorted which came as a real relief! All that was left then was for the weather to play ball, which it REALLY didn't - all day it had been brightening up then clouding over again, and right on cue 15 minutes before display time the cloud descended again and visibility dropped right back to outside the limits - absolutely NOT what was needed!  Even five minutes before it was still looking doubtful whether we were going to get any display at all - but thankfully Hebridean weather did it's thing of changing in a heartbeat and the decision was made that at least the jets could come in for a first-half...in the event the clouds cleared back enough that we got an entire flat display much to the appreciation of the crowd! Standing with Martin for the display it was interesting to see how he worked - as Circus 10 his role at displays is to film the display so the team can use the footage to debrief later - without someone in place to film the display can't take place so he's a pretty important part of the operation! The unexpected positioning of a massive cruise-ship at the pier caused some difficulties for both of us AND the team - datum (the centre point of the display) had to be relocated slightly to take account of it!

Circus 10 (Martin), me & Red 10 (Lingy) on return to Stornoway airport after the display.

Once the display was over we wasted little time in getting packed up, the taxi duly arrived and the three of us hopped in and returned to the airport, all that was left them was to say my goodbyes and check in for my flight home - which ran slightly late ironically enough due to the aircraft being delayed earlier in the day due to the arrival of some Little Red jets...! From there everything ran like clockwork again which was a relief - the airlink bus to the city centre arrived as planned and my National Express bus back to London left dead on time. All in all it was a truly superb few days and I'd take the risk of undertaking a similar trip again should they display in the Hebrides in the future - of course it may well be that by the time they do, any journey would be substantially shorter!

Robyn

Another "Wow!" moment...

I've been managing to keep my eye in so far as Aviation photography goes over the winter. A fair number of days spent freezing cold in various fields around Scampton watching the mighty Reds, a few trips to Coningsby and another to Barkston Heath to watch Display Pilot Andy throwing his little RAF Tutor around the sky! Best of all, Ross  arranged for me and three friends, Claire (of course!) Kate & Sarah to spend a day on base at Scampton back in January - how ace is that boy eh?! Fantastic from my perspective to be able to get a bit of a head start on this year's ground shots - I managed to get a fair few of Ross, Nicky and others working, and was also able to catch up with several pals from last season, which was great!

A jet on the winter line with techies waiting for the pilots to crew-in

Instructions were to report to the Guardroom at 10am sharp, which we did - Ross came out and collected us and took us in to get passes. Quite a procedure, we had to provide photo ID, and have pictures taken too. All details get checked and then checked back against the ID you've provided. As Claire and I have discovered since though - once you've been in once it gets a LOT quicker the next time! Then it was time to head through onto base. Once in and with the cars parked up it was yet more paperwork - safety notes to be read and signed, and yet more passes to be issued - these being the ones which would allow us outside onto the edge of the ASP with the live jets. Ross took us into the Reds Hangar so we could see in there - not many jets in as most were out on the line ready for the days practise flying. Ross & Perty's jet from last season XX311 was tucked up indoors though so we had a look around her. With time to kill before the next scheduled practise and the weather being freezing cold we hung about in the corridor and before long James who I met when he was on Dye Team last season came along and stopped for a chat. He's been selected for "Circus" this year and had just had his first backseat ride in one of the Reds Hawks a couple of days before which he was still grinning about so it was great to hear all about it and see how excited he was! He'll be riding with Red 2 - Flt. Lt. Mike Bowden - during the 2015 season and will be one of those I'll be focusing on heavily for this year's groundshots project so expect to be "meeting" him before all that long. Word was clearly spreading as while we were chatting with him, Stu (last year's Circus 10) appeared "I heard you were here!" he said - fab to be able to catch up not least as it sounds as though he's going to be office based this season so we will almost certainly not be seeing anything of him out around the shows.

Time then to brave the cold and head outside - Ross "parked" us on the patch of concrete just back from the line of jets with instructions to, essentially "stay there and don't move!" before whizzing off to assist with getting the jets ready for the sortie. Before long the pilots appeared - it was nice that the "new boys" Mike, Emmet and Tom all recognised me and Kate from Blackpool back in September. Red Ten - "Lingy" shouted hello over to us as he came out as well and we got waves from several of the others who recognised us.

Ross realising the downside of taking me onto base is having a camera pointed at him again!

Interesting as always watching the process of them crewing in - it was a six-ship practise, meaning 6 jets went up, but Lingy went along for the ride in Red 4's backseat and Red 9 was riding with 5 so quite a lot to be done. Ross & Nicky were fulfilling the roles of assisting the backseaters with crewing in and then making the final safety checks on each jet before they taxied off the line. It is also their responsibility to give each pilot the final "OK" as they roll out past them, checking that nothing is out of place and things like footsteps are safely stowed. One small part out of place can cause chaos with the way the aircraft handles in the air, particularly when close formation aerobatics are involved, so this final "sign off" is a vital part of the procedure. Oh, I should mention, Ross hasn't actually put on several stones in weight over the winter - it honestly was a bitterly cold day and he was wearing many, many layers!

Waiting for the jets to taxi past for final "thumbs up"

As Ross had work to do (obviously, that was what he was there for after all!) after lunch he handed us over to two of the team's resident photographers, Steve and Craig, to "babysit" us for the afternoon and it rapidly became clear that the excitement was far from over as their plan for us was to take us out to the tower where they film every training sortie from! Every sortie whether a display or training is filmed for debrief purposes afterwards. Following them out to the tower was nervewracking for poor Kate who had been elected to drive us out - not least as the rest of us had by now descended into giggles at the amazing day we were having! Once out there we watched as Steve and Craig set the camera gear up and then it was a case of waiting for the jets...except as we waited a HUGE black cloud was approaching, not what anyone wanted at all! Eventually the call came in that we'd been half expecting - the sortie was postponed. Once the guys had packed the gear away again we all piled back to the office for very welcome cups of tea - if we'd thought it was cold over on the line in the morning that's nothing to how bitter it gets by the tower! A while later and with the weather having sorted itself out the phone rang confirming that the pilots were getting ready to walk to the jets so back we went and this time all went to plan and we saw a practise from a truly unique perspective - amazing having everything happening so close!

Brilliant to get the chance to work alongside the team photogs too although having to remember to duck when they panned the camera round towards us was entertaining! 

Having the jets pass directly over your head on some of their passes is always pretty cool, but when it's happening ALL the time and the display  is all happening directly in front of you it's even better.

All in all it was an absolutely amazing day and yet again we found ourselves saying "wow!" a lot! No matter how often stuff like this happens it never stops being the most amazing thrill, and I'm so grateful to those who have made everything possible.

The start of the airshow season is now approaching and I'm starting to get plans in place for places to go, travel and accommodation. In a lot of places there will be a whole gang of us going - Bournemouth should be a total party and one or two other shows will be much the same. By booking travel in advance I'm hoping to keep costs as low as possible too - although this is never going to be cheap! It'll be fun though!

Robyn.

Lucky...?

You already know from my posts last year about all the astonishing things that happened over the summer that I do consider myself to be very lucky, and one of the things I think I'm luckiest about is the fantastic friends I've made over the last year - many of whom would LOVE to have had my life last summer, but have been overwhelmingly excited for me, supportive and just generally lovely. However, it's inescapable that over these last few months social media has revealed a few people who don't feel that way - either about the fab things that have happened to me, or in some cases, about fab things that have happened to others too. Some of the comments I've seen have gone from veiled comments saying how others feel they they deserve this sort of thing far more than "those it's happened to", to rather less veiled comments questioning what exactly I might have done, and with who, in order to have had the opportunities I have. (Bit of a brave one that, and pretty close to being challengeable on the grounds of defamation in fact...)

Some people have at least been upfront in their bitching - which is actually better, in a lot of ways. Take the person who said "Of course you're really lucky to have been in the right place to get these shots" about my Red Arrows display photographs. Lucky, is it? Well that's interesting, because if that's "luck" then it's precisely the same "luck" as everyone else had - every public display I've been to this year has been available for anyone who wanted to attend, and the position I have chosen to stand in to take said shots was - exactly the same - available for anyone who wanted to stand in. It's just I got there first, mostly. *grin* For every single display, I planned my travel to ensure that I would be there in good time, and, where possible, I checked out the location ahead of time on streetview to work out where I thought the best vantage point for my purposes might be. Weston Super Mare is a good example - planning on standing with a friend for the duration of the show, we did the streetview check in advance in combination with checking the show's details online. The afternoon previous to the show I was already in the area so took a quick drive through there to clarify whether in fact the spot we'd picked out looked good - it did, and we got the most fabulous day of aircraft turning pretty much right overhead - making for a lovely spot to watch from. Luck? Or planning? One of my favourite shots from that spot is this one:

...of the Reds arriving over the top of the pier. As soon as we got there I checked on my lenses to decide which one would give me the aspect I wanted. A couple of hours before display time I tweeted one of the team's pilots - a PUBLIC tweet - so again something that ANYONE could have done - to ask for confirmation on which direction they were coming in from. I'd already researched that one in advance, too, so my thoughts on the matter turned out to be spot on. I got my shot, and very happy with it I am, too. Is it "Luck" though, or is it (and indeed ALL my display shots) down to hard work, preparation, and a willingness to ask questions rather than just rock up and expect things to fall into place? Oh, and in answer to those who've suggested that "of course with expensive kit like yours anyone could get those shots...", that one above was taken with the £70 canon 50mm f1.8 lens....so yes, I agree entirely... ;-)

Another comment stopped me in my tracks completely at the end of last year. In conversation with someone over what a particular friend from the team was going to be doing this year - the person I was speaking with expressed sympathy having heard that my friend had not got the particular role he was hoping for, then said "that's a shame for you, then, he'll be no use to you any more!" Well I was stopped short for a moment - genuinely confused, what on earth they could mean by that? Then I realised - the person I was speaking with honestly thought that the friendship had been forged by me in order to get closer to the team...and that as my friend was no longer going to be in a role that has the same "possibilities" on that front, I'd be dropping him like the proverbial hot potato! Now, don't get me wrong, I know people who would do precisely that, but I'm definitely not one of them, and in fact in this case the initial hand of friendship was extended by the other person in any case! I was almost lost for words (and those who know me know how unusual THAT is!) but eventually settled for saying that it made no odds to me what my friend's job was, so as far as I was concerned it made no odds to the friendship. I doubt the person making the outrageous statement believed me for a moment, but I don't care very much, to tell you the truth, anyone who thinks like that isn't important enough to matter, and my friend is worth 10....no, 100 of someone with that attitude. (Regardless of the job he does and whether it involves a blue suit, or not!) Interestingly enough, the person who made the comment has since pretty much dropped *me* - clearly I'm now seen as not being any "use" any more, too!

The ONLY opportunities I had last year where "luck" has played a part have been the time spent at Bristol & Blackpool airports, and at families day. Those opportunities were given, and given gladly, as people had seen the work I'd done previously with the ground-shots, and had liked what they'd seen. I've ensured that all the ground shots I've taken at the various shows and locations have been available for those who featured in them, and where people wanted a particular photo taken (with family members, for example) I've happily helped out, and then sent them through the pics afterwards. I've not used my photos to ridicule people, where I've had shots with someone pulling a ludicrous facial expression, or with a finger inserted up a nostril, for example (Yes, it has happened!) then those shots have been deleted and not sent public via Twitter or elsewhere. At families day (the ONLY non-public display I've been at all year) when I took pictures of one of the pilots with his young son, he had no issue with me taking those shots because he knew full well that he a) would get copies afterwards and b) could trust me not to put them out on social media. It's about trust, and respect, and both of those things have to be earned - from BOTH sides.  None of the shots I took were taken with any idea of "earning privileges" or getting something in return - I've taken them because I've enjoyed doing so, and the main reward has been seeing the pleasure that others have taken in them, also.

So - to clarify. If spending time talking to people and discussing what they do, their likes and dislikes, and in fact all the normal things that happen when you're chatting with friends, can be classed as "doing something I shouldn't have" then clearly I have, and shame on me, eh. There is a massive risk involved in bandying around suggestive remarks regarding others, and the damage it could cause in some relationships could be irreparable. Thankfully MrEH is well aware of the truth of the situation - and in fact spent much of the summer joking about me being "off with my other men" - not the action of a man who feels he has ANYTHING to worry about in that line! When I have been handed opportunities I've said my Thank You's for them promptly, and been genuinely delighted to have spent time with the people concerned - they're a great bunch and it was an absolute pleasure getting to know them. I've not spent time bitching on social media about what other people have been doing - I spent my summer enjoying the chances I've had, and making the most of every single second of them. Just maybe, if others had done the same, they'd have had more "luck" themselves, eh?!

Robyn

Not enough words...

Well, as mentioned elsewhere, it's been QUITE a few months. It all started in early June, when I went to the Biggin Hill Festival of Flight, discovered that the Red Arrows Jets were on the ground, and started taking photos of the guys in the Blue suits, the engineers, going about their work...

Everyone sees the Red Arrows, says "Wow" and thinks they're all about the dashing pilots in their red suits. Well of course that's a percentage of it, but, had you realised that in fact that is only 10% of the overall operation? The "Blues" as they are known outnumber the "Reds" by 10:1 and without them, the whole operation grinds to a rather disappointing halt. What suddenly hit me, as I stood by the fenceline at Biggin Hill, taking my pictures, is that genuinely, only a tiny proportion of people actually DO realise that, and an even smaller proportion of those have actually seen any of that work at first hand! Having finally battled my way free of the traffic in the car park, over the next few days I started posting my pictures on Twitter, and they began to get a positive reaction. Such a reaction, in fact, that I started giving them their own hashtag - "#CircusAtWork" to reflect the "Circus" engineers prominence in them (Circus, in case you don't recall from my earlier post, are the team of engineers who travel with the jets on transits to look after them on the ground). I'd focused in particular on two of the guys for that first batch - Cpl. Jonathan Wilcox, as I'd got to know his Aunt through Twitter and knew the family would appreciate the pics , and Cpl. Ross Harrison, who I'd also been chatting with on Twitter for a while. Meeting both Ross & Coxy that day, as well as a couple of the other guys, and chatting with them about what they did, just strengthened my resolve to really focus on their side of things as much as I could during the rest of the season.

From there, my summer got increasingly surreal and unexpected - firstly with the time on the ground at Bristol Airport which I blogged about HERE - and then with other opportunities for photos at Waddington, Fairford, Families Day at RAF Scampton and finally a full day airside at Blackpool Airport a couple of weeks ago.  I've spent a LOT of the past couple of months pinching myself to convince myself that I wasn't just dreaming it. Lucky doesn't even begin to cover how I feel about it - it goes so far beyond that it's untrue. The best bit by far has been getting to know some fabulous and amazing people, many of whom I've come to count as friends. I've learnt a lot too - and a lot about myself. I discovered that I'm braver than I think - it took me all my nerve to actually go up and talk to Red 8 - Flt. Lt. Martin Pert - at Biggin Hill, but I'm so glad I did as he proved to be absolutely lovely. (It took me a little longer to overcome my complete irrational terror of Red 10 - Sqn. Ldr. Mike Ling, but that's a whole other story, and he ALSO proved to be lovely!) It's true that good things can happen when you say "yes" - even if "yes" opens you up to scary things. I now know that I can largely disregard bitching when it relates to me, but it inflames me beyond belief when it relates to a friend - especially one who's not about to defend themselves. And I learned that I'm a better photographer than I would have given myself credit for at the start of the season - I've produced some shots during the year that I'm seriously proud of - with this one below coming out top of the heap...and clearly the Royal International Air Tattoo agreed as they featured it on their Facebook page a few weeks ago. The Circus At Work project continued right through the season and now looks set to be something that I will continue with in the future, also.

It's a real change for me to be able to put pictures out there and say "I'm proud of this" - even to myself. I've always been inclined to mumble a lot about how things are "alright" or "not as good as X's" and it's a real step forward for me to be able to acknowledge that I've produced some good stuff this year. Something to work on! Above all I've learned that there are a lot of really nice, kind people out there - who will put themselves out to do lovely things for others. Take Bex for example, who on the strength of a friendship formed on Twitter kindly made sure I could get Airside at Blackpool the other week - in exchange I asked for her to be able to spend time out on the line with the jets, which she enjoyed, so all square there! Also Nicky & Olly, who between them sorted out some problems Claire, Di and I had when it came to Families Day at Scampton - confusion over names being put on a list left us standing at the gate, and those guys sorted it out in spite of Olly not having the first IDEA who any of us were!

It seems a long while ago that Claire and I stood together at Scampton and said "Do you know, it would be quite a laugh to see how many displays we could do this season, with it being the Reds 50th year and all that..." - from there a plan was well and truly hatched and Claire has been my Partner In Crime throughout - even the shows we've done separately, the other has essentially been there in spirit, and the only thing which slightly dampened the Blackpool experience was that due to work commitments she couldn't make it. She was utterly thrilled for me though, as she was when I had my chance at Bristol too - and if that's not the mark of a real friend I don't know what is. Someone asked me while I was at Blackpool "So, come on then, there must be some competition between you and Claire - honestly?" but there's not. Photographically her thing and mine are very different - you'd never in a million years mistake our pics for each others,  and we cheerfully re-tweet one another's best shots and enjoy seeing the other get exposure. Being at Scampton together for Families Day was just brilliant - we had SUCH a good day even if we must have turned to each other and said "Wow!" about 50 times in the course of it! Her spare room is now nicknamed "Robyn's room" as I've spent so much time in it in the course of the summer! There are others too, who've turned into pals - Sarah, Di, Anthony, Tom and the lovely Kate who I spent a riotous weekend with for Blackpool and the Southport Airshow. She did her fair share of "Wow"ing that weekend too!

So - the team. Alternately known as "The Guys" "The Boys" and Reds & Blues. First mention goes to Ross - Circus 8 2014. Without him I'd not have done the half of it, thank you doesn't even begin to cover it although I think I've said that to him a fair bit! I was lucky enough to meet his parents a couple of times this year and in a heartbeat could see quite why he's such a nice guy, and seeing how proud they are of him, and how pleased they are to have the photos I've taken - well, that's a good reason for having put the time in, right there. I'll say it again Ross - thank you, next time the drinks are on me, OK? (Although I'm pretty sure you still owe me one, now I come to think about it... ;-) )  Ross's Driver for the year - Perty - Red 8, completely cool dude and all round nice guy, and also leaving the team this season having completed his three years. Above all positive comments from this man on photos mean a LOT - he's a keen and bloody good photographer himself. The person who's driven the team's interaction on Twitter forwards in leaps and bounds, and all the better for it. All that remains now is to wish him & the family all the very best for their future, whatever that may hold, and yes, of course, another thank you!

 Lingy - Red 10, lovely chap. What more can I say - sharp as a tack but not half as scary as I thought he was. Still have NO idea why I was terrified of him for at least half the season either - oh well! He's staying on the team for another couple of years too which is brilliant. Mike, Nicky, Stu, and the Kevs...and a lot of others too - had chat, banter and giggles with all of them through the season at the shows - what a laugh it's been. Crossing fingers for various people to get "interesting stuff" to do next year too - if only so they get out and about and we get the chance to catch up!

So, now, all change. There are 4 leaving the team...this year's Red 1, Red 6, 8 & 9. 4 new ones incoming too - the New Boss we've not met yet, but the three newbies to the main body of the team we met at Blackpool...

...(pictured there with Perty getting in on the act too!) and they definitely gained our approval for being willing to stop, chat, and pose for photos. On the Blues, too, it's all change. Nicky will be out and about round the shows again as he'll be looking after the paperwork as Road Documents Controller for the 2015 season. So far he's the only person from those guys to have publicly stated what he's doing next season though so I'll leave it there also. There will be a new group of Circus Engineers to be photographed - and now I know how much the pics mean to them, I'll be continuing with that project for sure. It's a strange mix of sadness and happiness now - the euphoria of the fantastic season we've just had still lingers, yet there is a sadness for those who've just had their most incredible time in their careers to date and now have to adjust to things going "back to normal" again. The phrase that's kept repeating in my mind is "it's all over"...but of course it's not, in some ways, it's just beginning all over again....bring on 2015!

Robyn

Wow!

I'm still struggling to believe this myself...but, on Sunday, I was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to spend 2 hours on the ground at Bristol Airport photographing the Red Arrows jets, Pilots, and Engineers at work - honestly, I'm still grinning and there has been a LOT of pinching myself over the last few days, just in case it was all a dream...

I arrived at the airport for 9am and was collected by the chap who'd arranged things for me - the very kind and lovely Ross - also known as "Circus 8". The "Circus" engineers are those who are allocated to work with a particular pilot for the season (in theory with a particular jet too, but that doesn't always quite work out!). Ross's "Driver" is Red 8 -Flt. Lt. Martin Pert - known as "Perty" - and "their" jet is XX311 - this one...

...yes, she really IS that shiny!

Clearance gained from the airport for me, we walked across to the pan where the jets were lined up - another "wow!" moment for sure....I tried to play it cool but almost certainly failed, and suspect that my awestruck grin may have given me away. I had a chat with Ross while he carried on the work of getting the jet ready to go - there's only a limited amount of storage space onboard one of those Hawks so getting everything in place is a precise art, and you certainly must need to master the art of travelling light too!  The jets themselves are just immaculate - spotlessly clean and highly polished to a state of reflectiveness that almost hurts your eyes. The other thing that immediately strikes you is the precision - all 9 were perfectly lined up, flying helmets sitting on the open canopies in each jet. That brings me to my first chosen shot of the day...

...had to be done that one - albeit it took me a couple of attempts because for the first few minutes I was so nervous I was shaking like a leaf and struggling to hold the camera still. I took a few deep breaths - no point in screwing things up now, and settled for just shooting XX311 and what Ross was doing until I'd got more comfortable and was able to get my "work time" head on and just crack on. Once I'd relaxed enough to feel I could wander about a bit I began to work as I always used to with candid shots at speedway, and for the couple of weddings I've done...working methodically through the mental list I already had in my head but at the same time scanning around for other shots that will work. Take a shot - check exposure and framing, if OK, move on, otherwise re-take. Some shots you are sure will work, don't, and others that just jump out at you work brilliantly. Around the jets, anything with reflections is a fairly safe bet...although this was a slightly different take on that thought...

...and then of course there is those stunning "50th Display Season" tails - every time I see them they just look more impressive, and seeing them right up close, and being able to take the time to line up the shots I wanted to accentuate that precision I mentioned earlier was fantastic...

I'd been there 45 minutes or so and had worked my way to the very far end of the line and was just working back, picking out detail as I went, when the Pilots appeared. I put on my best "I'm not here" face and tried to look like I knew what I was doing, fully expecting to be utterly ignored by all apart from maybe Perty who I thought might have remembered we'd spoken at Biggin Hill...but in fact pretty much all of them gave me cheery grins and bright good mornings, or comments about the gorgeous weather...Perty stopped for a chat, and once again my first impressions of what a nice friendly bunch they are were confirmed. I've heard people describing these guys in the past as arrogant, stand-offish, and saying that they'd look right through you, well not in my experience they wouldn't - gentlemen to a....well, man!

I was introduced to another of the Circus engineers - Nicky Cunningham, Circus 4, who's often retweeted some of my photos, and to one of the team's Photographers - SAC Adam Fletcher. Interesting talking to someone about the difficulties faced taking photos air to air, for example as soon as you apply any "G" whatsoever everything gets heavier...so your hands and of course the camera. Now a pro-spec camera like the Canon 5D's these guys are using isn't the lightest thing in the first place, and bearing in mind that some of the Reds display moves pull up to 5G it's mind boggling how they manage to get the amazing shots they do! The view they see through the viewfinder is also distorted as of course there is a visor stopping them getting the camera to their eye, something I'd never have thought of.  I wandered a bit more - by this time I was aware that there was a problem with one of the jets - XX245 had sprung a nasty hydraulic leak and there were several of the Blues desperately trying to fix the problem. Due to mechanical issues over the previous few days they'd arrived at Bristol with only the bare 9 jets - not a situation that anyone is comfortable with, and as they were then due to fly out for a display in Denmark the next day, then on to Estonia - the 56th country that the team have displayed in - the day after, getting it fixed if at all possible was imperative. Perty called out to tell me that there was a half hour delay on departure to try to get things sorted - good for me as it meant I had extra time, but frustrating for everyone else as so much hangs on timings being met.

Time for a lens change. I'd started off with my 100-400mm on the 7D body - great for "papping" people at a distance and also for cropping right in to get detail shots - and the ever reliable 50mm 1.8 on the 40D - this was definitely one of those times when I was hugely glad I had two camera bodies to play with! As I had a gorgeous bright blue sky with some nice clouds as a backdrop though it was time for the 50mm to be replaced by the 24-70mm to enable some wider angle shots...

With repair attempts on XX245 being unsuccessful the decision was taken that she was going to have to stay behind as further work and spare parts were required. This meant that a Pilot & Circus Engineer also had to stay, and Red 10 and Circus 6 were the unlucky individuals. "The Boss" - Red 1 - who I believe had been intending to fly the unserviceable aircraft elected instead to take Perty's XX311, which in turn meant that all their gear, so carefully stowed away by Ross just a short while previously had to be taken out and repacked elsewhere. You'd have expected a mad rush but no, calmly panniers were undone and everything removed. There was a moment of apparent confusion when it seemed that nobody was quite sure how Perty & Ross were getting to Karup, but in the end Ross took the spare seat of the unlucky Circus 6, and Perty got an unaccustomed chauffeur-driven transit with Red 7 who also had an empty backseat. I was assured by Red 6 - Flt Lt James McMillan - that "It's not always this chaotic" but quite honestly it didn't appear chaotic at all, teamwork and people working together as one unit made it all appear quite calm, and anyone watching from over by the fence would have been utterly unaware of the reason for the delay.

As they made ready to leave it was time for me to retreat to a safe range while they crewed in and the jets fired up, before with that to be expected precision they nosed, one at a time, onto the taxiway and off to the runway. More cheery waves from most of the cockpits..not from Perty though, he was too busy taking pictures on his iPhone...look....

A huge thanks to Ross for sorting it, and for the whole team for just being so absolutely lovely. Possibly the hardest I've worked in the space of two hours photographically for a VERY long time, but well worth the effort! If you want to know more about the life of a Red Arrows Circus Engineer and see some fantastic photos taken from the backseat then follow @RAFCircus8 and @RAFCircus4 on Twitter. For a Pilots eye view follow @RAFRed8 (And for more of my photos, follow @EssexHebridean of course!)

Robyn

Neglected...

...oops, poor little blog, I know I've neglected you since we got back from the Hebrides, and I'm sorry...last week got a little hectic though...here's why...

Two days at RAF Scampton in the company of a brilliant pal - photographing three great In Season Practises including the flat display which we'd not actually seen so far this year. Then a full day Saturday (a very full day as it turns out - thanks to the carpark chaos!) at the Biggin Hill Festival of Flight where thanks to the positioning of the Reds jets I was able to get the sort of "behind the scenes" shots that are my favourite subjects to focus on given the chance. Amazing, and to be honest I'm still grinning now.  I also got to meet some absolutely lovely people which was just the icing on the cake.  I've returned with in the region of 2,000 photos to go through and process, which is taking time, but the reaction the shots of the engineers at work, and just the jets themselves, have had on Twitter has helped the process along no end!

I'll pop some more pics up in due course, but in the meantime keep checking the Facebook page and website as there will be updates to both of those over the next few days too.

Right now, I'm off to bed....still grinning!

Robyn