A Line Through Blue

About this piece

Mike Gedj captures Blue Angels aircraft number 5 in profile above a wind-ruffled sea, with pale vapor gathering near its wings. The jet’s sharply defined silhouette and yellow accents stand against an expansive blue sky, while distant boats establish scale along the low horizon.

The story

I followed the aircraft across the blue, keeping the strip of sea beneath it in my frame. The boats on the horizon seemed almost motionless beside that clean, forward-pointing shape. For an instant, pale vapor softened the wings, interrupting the hard geometry of metal and paint. I wanted to hold that contrast: the restless surface below, the open space above, and a machine cutting a precise line between them.