Patrouille de France Saint-Jean-de-Luz
It's always great to be in the right place at the right time.
While I was in the Basque Country (South-West of France) in October 2021 for business, I decided to visit the lovely town of Saint-Jean-de-Luz. I had been there once in 2004, but this time, I didn't know the town had booked the Patrouille de France to welcome me (Thank you guys... Well, that's the way I interpret it).
Here are some photos taken during that event. Given the speed of the subjects, it was difficult to swap between lenses, so I mainly used my RF lens and hoped for the best :-)
Gears used: Canon EOS R, RF 24-105mm, EF 55-250mm.
Patrouille de France in action...
One image is worth more than a thousand words.
So I would just say: Wow!
French paratrooper
French paratroopers
This is where I know the lens used wasn't the most suited for this part of the event. Nonetheless, it's nice to have captured these three.
French paratroopers
The helicopter rescue was also there. While it's not necessarily a prize-winning photo, I do like the balance (check the orange) and the "story". It is not every day you can see these talented people in action.
A cool photo taken during the airshow. I love the fact that the image is sharp enough and that my camera could capture the coloured smokes from the planes.
Another cool image. One couldn't get a better day for that event and what helped is the sun was behind me, so the photo couldn't get overexposed.
Airbus A400M flying with other planes over Saint-Jean-de-Luz.
Given the scale and speed of these monsters, an easy way to check if your camera (and settings!!!) did the job is to zoom in and see how sharp the image is. FYI, "Armée de l'air" appears on the wing of this plane if you use the high-resolution image (not possible on a Web page).
I like that one because of the scale. The planes are so small compared to the coloured trails they left.
Will they hit each other? Great Suspens.
Well, obviously not. These pilots are incredibly talented.
NB: Not an easy image to take since you have 2 moving subjects going at very high speed. A solution I found was to focus on one of the planes and take the shot.