Snowbirds Over Orillia

Last year (2009) in June, the much lauded "Snowbirds" put on an air show over Lake Couchiching at the Port of Orillia and Veteran's Park area. As is common whenever the Snowbirds perform, the crowd was large, with places to sit near the waterfront show site nearly impossible to find. Amid much jostling and careful treading our family (kids and grandkids too) found a tiny square of grass fairly close to the edge of water.

Many of those in attendance had cameras - film, digital, video; some "point and shoot" types and some with very long lenses. My own cameras were loaded with mid-range lenses of 200mm - one a VR (a lens that has image stabilization) and one a regular lens. While they weren't really equal to getting the close-ups I desired, they were manageable weight-wise, and a 400mm VR lens is too heavy for me to hand-hold. Bringing a tripod to a crowded outdoor area is not such a good idea...it takes up space and would be in the way (and an annoyance) to hose sitting on the ground, so my compromise was the 200mm. I have a 300mm, but it was on loan to a family member.

The day was sunny and warm, with almost no cloud in the sky, save those made by the contrails of the Snowbird's jets. Although crowded with many people, arround us there was no unruliness and people were respectful of their neighbours, weather standing or sitting.

The show itself was up to the Snowbird standards and had every eye in the crowd glued to the sky (including most of the dogs near us), and the air around us filled with "oohs and aahs".