Bzzzzzzzzssssswooooooshhh!!! Photo

Photographer’s Note

Sorry, more Navy photos :D
This composition was something we tried very hard to get every time flight operations were being conducted. It was sooo difficult. We were standing on the opposite side of the flightdeck from the Landing Signal Officers who are in contact with the pilots. The idea is to get them looking at the landing plane, but to also include the blurred motion of the jet & tail hook used for catching one of the 4 wires that is stretched across the deck. The planes are coming in at an amazingly fast speed (as you can imagine) and because of this I didn't quite achieve what I was going for because you can just barely make out the tail hook hanging down from the back of the jet. But it was definitely the best of the several rolls I spent on this particular compo. You may notice a yellow tint on this image, it's from another beautiful sunset out to sea :D

It gets the title "Bzzzzzzzzssssswooooooshhh!!!" because it seemed only appropriate as this is the sound it makes when they are coming in for a landing...a long lasting real high pitched buzz sound followed by a deep quick ending swoosh sound as they catch the wire on the flightdeck. My sounding it out doesn't do the real sound justice, you have to sort of use your imagination as well :)
I entered the location of which this was shot as Puerto Rico because we were operating just off the coast.
original caption:
010629-N-3692H-003
ABOARD USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT (CVN 71) (June 30, 2001)...
Landing Signal Officers (LSO) watch as an F/A-18 Hornet aircraft catches the wire on the flight deck of USS Theodore Roosevelt. USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) is conducting Composite Training Unit Exercise "COMPTUEX" off the coast of Puerto Rico.
USN Photo by PHAN Stacey Hines

Bogdan, jiekuan, cessy, DAM, rudymalou, Karitsiotis has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

kent_s (1911) 2004-12-20 18:54

They say the motif comes like a snail and disappears like a flash but your snail is jet powered. Talk about a difficult shot under those conditions. It's better to shoot houses they stay put :)
You certainly show us speed.

Well done again Stacey and MC2U

Karthik (306) 2004-12-21 2:03

Very difficult shot! well done.

Bogdan (1641) 2004-12-21 4:31

hehe, Stace..it seems to me more like they were looking at you..hehe. No more Jessica Simpson?
Anyway...this would have been better in landscape, and not portrait..other than that...it is a great photo, as usual.

Oh..i got you and Mr. Hura something for Christmass. and no, it's not a Jessica Simpson cd. Hehehe

Bogdan.

voodoo (77) 2004-12-23 1:44

Congrats on the compo. I Have been doing 13erso hr days .no time to shoot. But were slowing down a bit fer the holidays so this is good. Less than a year left for me.. cant wait to get back to being a civilian.. Cya
matt

adind (738) 2004-12-23 7:57

It seems that you are passionate about
Navy shots ! captured the tail of a
high speed aircraft ! but what is that
red object on the right part of the shot ?
about the title...to me it is like
woooooooooooooooosh !!

best,
atis

snuggleaphagus (4140) 2004-12-26 2:34

I really like your composition an the the effect of the moving jet is great. The way it frames the group is original and refreshing. It shows well the power and the force of these machines, but yet the composition gives it a ligh hearted feeling.
Well done

cessy (13647) 2005-02-01 3:37

wwoww !! fantastic shot ! really excellent, Stacey.

DAM (153) 2005-04-28 17:50

Stacey, you have really captured here the dynamics of a landing. Interesting, a hard life, and fast paced navy life. Congrats on your new Nikon D-70, you are just going to love it. I have one and it is amazing piece of machine. Take care.

DAM

rudymalou (800) 2005-06-12 17:35

Hi Stacey! A very strong shot, as usually :-) There is a LOT of dynamic in this picture, we really feel the deceleration of the jet due to it's own motion blur and the sharpness of the people behind. A very complete note, also

baseball31 (5) 2005-10-04 17:48

Nice. I love it. I can only imagine the frustration in trying to catch this split second image on camera. Bravo. I really like feel of the photograph. Everything but the plane is focused, therefore giving it the feel of speed. Congrats on this photo.