Four blue and yellow Blue Angels jets bank in formation against a clear blue sky, trailing white smoke toward the lower right.

Geometry of Flight

MG-0401

2024-07-30

About this piece

Mike Gedj captures four Blue Angels aircraft banking together, their blue fuselages edged with yellow against an uninterrupted sky. Repeated wing angles and streaming white smoke give the composition a strong diagonal rhythm, balancing precise formation with the drifting texture of the trails.

The story

I followed the four aircraft through the viewfinder as their wings turned into a repeating pattern against the blue. For a moment, I saw the formation less as separate machines than as a single gesture, stretched across the sky. The yellow edges held the light while the smoke loosened behind them. I wanted to keep that contrast in the frame: the exactness of their alignment and the soft, unraveling lines they left behind.

More from Open Skies

View all →

A dark flying-wing stealth bomber seen from below against a clear blue sky, sunlight tracing its angular edges. — An Edge of Light

A B-2 stealth bomber and a B-52 bomber seen from below against a clear blue sky. — Two Geometries Of Flight

The Statue of Liberty rises from a stone pedestal beneath a blue sky with streaked white clouds. — A Flame Held Still

Two white jets with red and blue markings pass in opposite directions against a blue sky, trailing smoke. — An Instant Between

Four white jets with red and blue markings fly in close formation against a blue sky and pale clouds. — The Shape Of Unison

Two red, white and blue U.S. Air Force jets fly in parallel against blue sky, the upper aircraft inverted. — A Balance Of Wings