BILLINGS For most people, an air show is a spectacle to watch. For others, it is something to capture.

As aircraft screamed across the skies above Billings during the Yellowstone International Air Show, cameras were everywhere, with photographers working to freeze moments that lasted only seconds.

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Theres never enough photos of planes: The passion behind Billings air show photographers

Former Billings Gazette reporter Dennis Gaub was among them, photographing the Blue Angels and other aircraft while drawing on memories from his years covering aviation.

Watching the Blue Angels and trying to get a few pictures, Gaub said.

Gaub, now retired, remembers flying with the military during an air show in 1988 while working as a reporter.

Back in the day, 88, when I was a reporter, I actually got to fly, on Thursday, just like Scott (Breen) did, Gaub said.

These days, he describes himself as more of a picture taker than a professional photographer. Still, he prefers the feel of a traditional camera to relying on his phone.

Im old school enough. I like to look through a viewfinder and have a big, much bigger lens than I could ever put on my phone, Gaub said.

Capturing an aircraft moving hundreds of miles per hour can be difficult, even with professional equipment. That challenge is part of what makes aviation photography appealing to Carolyn Willis.

Sound can deceive you because it bounces off the buildings, and you don't know which way they're coming from," she said Sunday while trying to photograph a passing plane. "Here they come."

Willis works as a Federal Aviation Administration contract weather observer at Billings Logan International Airport. Before that, she spent 40 years with the National Weather Service.

Her job puts her around aircraft every day, but she also brings her camera to work in case something unusual flies in.

Thats just a side perk that I get to do when Im outside looking at the clouds. Im looking at the planes too, Willis said.

She photographs the commercial and cargo aircraft that regularly pass through Billings, along with the occasional aircraft with a special paint scheme. The air show, however, offered a nearly endless supply of subjects.

As an aviation geek, it is paradise, Willis said.

Her love of airplanes goes back much further than her photography. Willis said she became fascinated with aviation around age 4, when her father would take her to work at the Great Falls airport.

Anything that flies, I love it. Its just in my genetics, I think. Passed down from my dad, she said. "I always told him he passed on the aviation gene."

That fascination became a lifelong passion. Willis said she also passed the aviation gene to her 5-year-old grandson, who already loves planes. Now, she shares many of her photographs through her Facebook group, Always Taking Photos of Planes.

At the Yellowstone International Air Show, Willis had plenty of material to add to the collection. She said she took about 3,000 photographs on the first day from her spot at the airport, enough to fill an entire memory card.

Theres never enough photos of planes. Never, Willis said.

The number may sound excessive, but for Willis, each photograph captures something different. Sometimes it is the aircraft itself. Other times, it is the sound, movement, or feeling that comes with watching it fly.

Willis said the Blue Angels' takeoffs are particularly powerful.

The sound, mainly the sound, she said. You can feel it with the Blue Angels take off. I call it rib rattlers. You can feel it inside.

Aside from the power, Willis said there is also a certain beauty to the flight demonstrations.

Theres always a beauty, Willis said. Its like a ballet in the air when these guys are doing their performances. Its just an air ballet.

For Willis, her fascination has never faded.

They're beautiful whether they're taxiing on the ground. They're beautiful when they're dancing in the air. They're beautiful when they just take off and land," she said. Im just, as my husband would say, eaten up with aircraft.

At 71, she said she has no plans to stop watching or photographing them.

I never want to retire, Willis said. Im 71 years old. I never want to retire.

Then, as another aircraft passed overhead, her attention turned back toward the sky.

Look at that, she said. Isnt that cool?

For photographers like Willis and Gaub, the air show may end when the aircraft disappear over the horizon, but the photographs remain, preserving the sound, movement, and fleeting beauty of flight long after the skies grow quiet.

Yellowstone International Air Show Board Member Greg Franks told MTN over 27,000 tickets were sold over the shows two-day run.

More photos from Day 2 of the Yellowstone International Air Show in Billings:

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