Fifth Annual Photo Contest Winners

The best shots from this year’s competition.

This view of a balloon touching down in Portage, Michigan won in the Reader’s Choice Category. (John Seward)

By The Editors

Air & Space Magazine |
April 2018

We count on our readers to take aerospace photography to new heights, and this year, you reached the pinnacle.

Entries to our fifth photo contest included breathtaking images of the North American eclipse; the controlled mayhem of an aircraft carrier flight deck; planespotting all over the world; and the fraternity experienced at an airshow. From these dramatic choices, which you can still view at airspacemag.com/photocontest, our judges selected a Grand Prize winner, as well as a winner in each of four categories: Military, Civilian, Astronomy, and People & Planes. And you picked the Readers’ Choice winner by voting on our website.

Here, then, are the winners. Thank you to everyone who entered a photograph or voted for a favorite. ~ The editors

Grand Prize Winner

Angela McLain-Toland

(Naval Air Facility El Centro, California) | March 2017

“I was photographing the Blue Angels’ winter training in early March,” says McLain-Toland. “I knew they would fly their diamond formation takeoff right over these hay bales. I walked the bales seven or eight times to guesstimate where to stand, and hoped I would capture the aircraft in the image, as I could not see them approaching on takeoff. Thanks to the skilled flying of the pilots, they lined up perfectly for the shot.”