Javelin missile night fire

Corporal Joshua Malchow and Sergeant William Lindsay with Combined Anti-Armor Team 1, Weapons Company, 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment fire a Javelin Missile during Enhanced Mojave Viper aboard Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, Calif. on Feb. 9, 2011. Marines are training at Twentynine Palms for an upcoming deployment to Afghanistan. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Nathan McCord / RELEASED)


This photo was a bit of a challenge. I wanted to do something different and capture both the launch motor (right side) and flight motor (left side) rockets firing in one photo. I couldn't use flash, so the rockets own rockets would have to do. I had never seen a javelin being fired in person so I had no idea how much light the rockets would produce or how big the flames would be. They were only firing one missile, so I only had one chance to get it right. Javelins are expensive (about 40k per missile) and each battalion only gets 1 missile for training each year. The chances of being able to see one fired in a safe training environment is rare, but to see one at night is almost unheard of.
I made a few test shots with the ambiant starlight and set my camera on top of a backpack to make an improvised tripod then waited for their count down. When the rocket went off it gave me just the light I was looking for and you can see the sparks of the flight motor dance around on the left side of the photo.
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