La Paf

Few would think that this is the nickname given to a bunch of precision aerobatic pilots who fly at speeds and formations that would make the average person puke his guts out.
Yes, case in point and better known as 'Patrouille Acrobatique de France' these guys are a cut above the rest. What they do makes Bear Grylls's adventures seem like child's play.( I'm just kidding, I have a lot of respect for Bear and what he does)

I had the opportunity of watching them live. Yes, LIVE! You're probably hating me right now, but that's ok. What was also cool was that this was one of the few times I got to whip out my telephoto lens and really use it to its maximum focal length. All 200mm of it. I must say I was super pleased with the performance of the lens. The added feature of VR (Vibration Reduction) was a definite plus and the focusing was spot on.  For reference sake these 'Alpha Jet' beasts climb at a rate of 51 metres per second and have a maximum speed of 1000km/h at sea level. Imagine keeping up with that.

The show seemed to run forever but eventually when it was done and dusted I had amassed 2 gigs worth of images, courtesy of my trigger happy finger.
Back at home and browsing through the images I realized that action photography was one amazing field to be in, let alone just for a day.
The image below was one of my favorites. I timed the shot to catch the 'La Paf' drop right out of the heavens.

This was one epic day. I would go see them all over again, and again and again.