I’m fortunate to have close access the military flight line from time to time. But I’m not really able to choreograph the shoots, beyond asking the pilots to “take off by this point,” or “try to land by this point.” So I just get in around the runway and try to get the most unique perspective I can. At one point when I was in a good position, I was bummed that there was a large orange machine in the foreground, decked out with lights. But I took this shot of the jet just beyond it.
I was considering removing the distracting orange device in my post processing, but I showed the image to my brother-in-law, a Navy pilot, before I did. To my surprise, he thought it was awesome that I was able to get the “meatball” in the shot. He explained that every pilot who lands on a carrier relies on this device to help gauge their landing. The bottom two lights are red, and if you see those, you are too low and will land below the flight deck. Suddenly the lines “Call the ball” and “Roger ball” from Top Gun make sense. Once I learned this, I realized what a potentially cool shot I had. So the following week when I had the opportunity to shoot again on a different runway, I made sure to discuss with the pilot where I wanted him to take off. This time I wasn’t messing around: I was all about proper framing of the meatball. As an added bonus, this day the squadron was flying their flagship jet or CAG as they call it. It’s painted with special detail to separate it from the other jets. Just one additional feature that made this shot even more unique, and more special to the pilots--one of whom is my brother-in-law, so it matters even more to me. That day, this was my shot. Better, more meaningful, and more meatball-centric than the one before.
Thanks for stopping by.
Ryan
