Author Archives: Rob

RAFM Hendon

A recent project a colleague was working on involved some shots from the RAF Museum at Hendon. I had made a visit to this museum when I was a student living in London and had taken some photos at that time. I took a look through the old films to see whether I had anything that they needed. As it turned out, I didn’t have a shot of what they were after. As is so common when going through film archives, I find that I took a ridiculously small number of shots of interesting things and I am disappointed by the lack of shots and the quality of some of them too.

However, it was kind of interesting to see what was there at the time. Having never been back since, I have no idea how it is currently laid out and what is there that wasn’t before and what has gone. However, I do know that the Blackburn Beverley that was outside when I was there was scrapped not too long after that as the airframe had deteriorated in the outdoor storage. These shots are just a couple from that visit.

Squirrels

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A steady stream of tourists means the local wildlife gets pretty used to people. Squirrels are usually pretty unfazed by people anyway but in this case they had no fear at all. I enjoyed the interest he seemed to be showing in us so figured a few shots were in order.

Buckley Field

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Just south of Denver International is Buckley AFB. I don’t know much about the base other than it has a resident F-16 unit that a friend of mine has shot a lot in the past. It also appears to have a helicopter unit that I think he has also worked with before. Anyway, we seemed to do a tour of the base while setting up for the approach to DIA so I got a good look at the base. These images are a quick selection of how it looks.

Jumping Sea Lions

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There are more sea lions along the coast of 17 Mile Drive than you can shake a stick at. The rocks just offshore are covered in them and the water surrounding the rocks is also pretty full. One thing I hadn’t seen before was just how much the sea lions seemed to enjoy leaping from the water. I have no idea whether they do this for fun or it is practice for something more important – avoiding sharks perhaps? Either way, it was pretty neat.

Unfortunately, they don’t give you a warning about where and when they are going to jump. Consequently, getting a shot was tricky. I got plenty where they were in the frame somewhere but not when I had focus. Consequently, they are a blurry shape off to one side. However, a few times I was pointing in the right direction and managed to catch them while airborne. In the best traditions of fishermen’s tales, the ones I didn’t get were far more dramatic with them further out of the water. You will just have to take my word for it unless you want to go there yourself to see.

I figured a bit of animation was probably worthwhile for some of these too so here is a GIF of one of the leaps.

DIA

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I had some shots on a previous post of Denver International Airport. I was back there again after that visit and we flew an approach that brought us past the airport before circling back in to land. I got some shots of the field as we came by. They give some idea of the size of the airport as well as its ability to expand in the future. The layout of the runways also shows up well. This is an example of what you get if you design an airport from scratch rather than expand one you already have with development encroaching upon it.

Clear Lake Pelicans and Other Birds

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It wasn’t just planes that were flying over Clear Lake. While the splash in was the reason for me being there as discussed here, I also saw a lot of bird activity in between the planes. A few were flying along the shore and I got shots as they came by. However, at one point, a huge flock of pelicans appeared along the lake. I have no idea what prompted them all to fly at that time but I am really glad they did. Shooting images of large flocks of birds is sometimes tricky because framing the shot never really gives the impression that seeing them for real does. However, in this case, they were flying in echelon and got to a position where they were perfectly lined up for a photograph. I was surprised and happy in equal measure.

Friday Night Lights

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For someone who grew up in the UK, school sports take on a very different feel in the US. If you played on the high school team for anything where I grew up, the most you could expect of an audience would be a couple of parents and some girlfriends of the players. The US approach is very different with grandstands, floodlights, loads of spectators (both students and families) with bands and cheerleaders. Quite an event. There is catering and you pay to get in. (In the UK, you would have to pay some people to go and even then they probably wouldn’t!)

We decided to check out the local high school in Dublin to see what one of the games would be like. Of course, I took my camera. Shooting high school football is something that I have pondered in the past. For this I just had my stuff in the stands and I didn’t bring anything too large. The team played pretty well. We caught the end of the JV game when we got there and then the varsity team played. It was dark by then and the lights were fine for watching but left a lot to be desired from a shooting perspective. However, this was all just supposed to be some fun so I ramped up the ISO and went with what I could get.

The angles from the stands are not what I would normally want but even so, we had a pretty good line of sight for some of the plays. I wonder whether next year I shall make more of an effort to get there to cover more of the games and actually arrange to shoot from the sidelines.

DIA Terminal

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Unlike living in Chicago where you had a strong chance of getting a direct flight to most places, I often find myself changing planes in other cities these days. Sometimes the layover is a quick one and others I have a bit of time to stretch my legs and get something to eat. I recently went through Denver en route to my destination. The terminal that Southwest use at Denver has an interesting center section. A shuttle system takes people between terminals below the ground. It comes in to the heart of the building in an open section that you can look in to from the main terminal level. It appears to be designed to look like an ancient ruin that has been unearthed.

Hanging above it is a Learjet which obviously gets a passing look from me. I was more interested this time in the “ruins”. A panorama seemed like the best option so I took the shots to stitch together later. As it happened, the return leg came back through DIA although this time it was late in the day. I did get some shots of the main terminal building as we taxied out for departure. It certainly is a striking structure.

Getting Ice Cream

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It was a warm day in Petaluma so what better to do than to get an ice cream. The parlor we visited had a great retro feel to it and, far more importantly, it had great ice cream. So often, the interior of a shop is a poor place to try and get a shot but the light streamed in through the roof and it looked ideal. I couldn’t resist getting a few shots. A quick pano while sitting at our table and a couple of follow up shots before we left could not be avoided!

Devon Energy

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Energy is big business in Oklahoma. Oil and natural gas are a large part of the economy and, judging by the size of its downtown location, Devon is a big player in the market. Until I went there, I had not heard of the company. However, once you are there, you can hardly miss their tower which dominates the skyline. It is a pretty simple structure in principle but there are a few features that catch the eye. The gentle curve in towards the top is interesting and the texture on the windows had me looking at various ways to shoot it.

The overall shape did make me think of something less than flattering though. I did not read the Lord of the Rings books as a youngster (or since) but I have seen the movies. The shape of the building made me think of the eye of Sauron atop the tower in the films. You may think I am delusional for seeing this but that was how it struck me. I am not suggesting Devon is an evil corporation – it’s just the building reminded me of a film.

As the sun went down, I had varying options with the light on the tower so tried shooting from various angles and played with the exposure to get the effect I was after. I also got a few shots of it after dark when I was walking back from dinner. I’m not sure whether I like the building or not but it has certainly got my attention.