Tag Archives: california

More SFO Activity

The head on shots weren’t the only ones I got at SFO. Rather than go to Coyote Point, I decided to hang around by the Bay near the airport. Here you don’t get as close to the aircraft but you do get to see them land and also hope for a parallel approach or two. One problem with being further away is heat haze.

I thought I might be okay on this trip. It wasn’t particularly warm (although the sun was out) and the tide was in so, rather than mud flats between you and the planes, there was a lot of water which means less heat haze. However, I guess the power of the sun was going to win. Haze was a lot more of a problem than I expected and the shots are okay but not terribly usable.

However, it was nice to spend some time out in the sun watching planes so I can’t really complain. There were a few interesting things to see including the first JetBlue A320 fitted with Sharklets and a United 737 in a retro Continental scheme.

Some Bay Birds

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Shooting down by the Bay in San Francisco always provides lots of bird activity. This time there was plenty going on including one flock that decided to fly around in front of me just as something interesting was taking off. However, they also provide a chance to shoot something different while waiting for the planes to move. I have done this on many occasions including here.

This time there was one bird that looked particularly interesting to me. I have tried looking it up and my book of birds suggests it might be a Western Grebe. I am not an ornithologist so don’t take this as a fact but it certainly looks like that. However, some bird species look identical to a non-expert like me so I can’t say for sure.

We also had a flock of shore birds swooping around. They were a mix of different types and I will make no effort to identify them. However, the business of the group is what attracted my attention. There were also gulls, of course, but they provide good practice for tracking!

More Head On Attempts

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During a previous visit to San Francisco I had a go at shooting head on departures and wrote about it here. I also tried some head on shots at O’Hare and that made it on to the blog here. I was back in San Francisco for another project and the weather was a little better so I decided to have another go.

This time, the light was a lot better but there were other conditions to deal with. Nice weather tends to bring with it more heat haze. This was certainly true here since the aircraft are coming across a heavily developed area that radiates a lot of warmth on a sunny day.

Additionally, the wind was obviously beneficial to departures as a few of the heavies were going off the cross runway rather than coming towards me. This is a pretty unusual occurrence although not totally unknown. However, it is pretty frustrating to see the big jets going away from you when they are the majority of traffic you can expect. However, I did get a few corporate jets coming my way which helped a little.

Despite all of this, it was still a productive shoot and I got a few good pictures before the light started to give up entirely.

Point Reyes

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A trip across the hills from Napa and we made our way to Point Reyes. This is a place we have visited before and I find it very appealing. The shoreline is quite rugged and the sea pounded the cliffs or rolling in on the beaches is very nice. The lighthouse on the headland is a great place to visit. What we didn’t realize when heading over is that we were arriving when the visitor numbers are high. Apparently, gray whales migrate north at this time and, since the parking lot at the lighthouse normally only has to cope with less than 20 cars and can’t handle many more, they close off access and run a shuttle up. This upset our timings a little but we went with the flow.

Our expectations of seeing the whales was limited. We have not always had good luck seeing whales. However, low expectations seem to help as we saw several making their way around the headland. We also got to enjoy the rest of the scenery. Getting a photo of the whales is tricky. I didn’t have a very long lens but the first sign is when they spout upon surfacing before they dive back under. The spouting is the shot that you really need to make it clear what is happening and you can’t usually get the camera on them until they have already blown. However, this wasn’t the reason for the visit so I took the whale sightings as a happy bonus.

Yountville

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Our visit to the Napa Valley included a visit to Yountville. Not a big town, it is still well worth a visit. However, it does seem to be focused on food and shopping. It certainly is laid out to make it easy for you to spend your cash. The offerings available are worth it though so don’t avoid it just because of the commercialism. It is laid out in a very attractive way. I enjoyed looking around as well as sampling some of the baked goods from Bouchon Bakery. There may be more to the town than we saw but, on this trip, the visit was short but sweet (in more ways than one!).

Pre-Dawn Over Tahoe

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Some work commitments meant I was unable to get out of Sacramento on Friday evening as I had originally planned. Instead I had to come home on the Saturday morning. A direct flight was available at 6:30am which, while it meant an early start, did mean I had a good chunk of the day left when I got home. It was still dark when we took off and headed east. The route home takes you just south of Lake Tahoe.

As we flew by, the sun had still not come up on the lake. One of the features of being at altitude is that you get sunrise before the ground below you. However, we did have some pre-dawn light on the lake and I managed to get some shots of it. It wouldn’t have been too long before the hardier skiers were out and about no doubt!

Napa

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A weekend break took is to Napa in the California wine country. This wasn’t a trip about wine (although a few glasses may have been consumed while we were there). Instead it was a chance to look around the area and enjoy some temperatures a little above those in Chicago in March!

Napa is a pretty little town on the whole. We had a good chance to wander around and to see some older buildings and some very attractive houses. The markets had great food and there were plenty of places to dine. A nice place for a weekend away and probably somewhere we shall explore further at some point.

Firefighters

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I had a brief opportunity to head passed the field at McClellan, previously and Air Force base just outside Sacramento. This wasn’t enough time to have a good look around but more of a recce for a future visit. I knew of the Coast Guard and the Calfire facilities so I was looking to see what else was there that might be worth a future look. There were a few bits and pieces around. One thing that I liked was the collection of P-3 Orions in storage. They were operated by Aero Union on firefighting duties before the company went bust. No one has ought them yet. I grabbed a couple of shots over the fence. I might like to come back here to have a more detailed look around.

Head on Big Boys

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My day out shooting with Hayman was mainly an aviation themed event. One of the things I was interested in was looking for something more head on as the heavier jets launch out of SFO. Most aircraft depart off 01 and head out across the bay. however, the heavier widebodies launch off 28 and climb out towards South San Francisco. A head on shot of them coming off the runway is what i really want.

Hayman had a location which was halfway to what we wanted. You are a bit further from the airport and so they rise out of the surrounding landscape rather than seeing them come off the runway itself. The location has a lot of promise. Sadly, on this day the weather was not nice and, as the day was moving along, what light there was after the clouds had taken their share was fading fast. however, it was rather fun to see the 747s and A380 climbing out over us. Definitely something to try again some time. As for the runway shot, we shall have to keep exploring to find the right spot for that!

Unplanned Sunrise

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Through an unfortunate set of circumstances, I happened to find myself parked up at an interchange along I-80 early one morning. I had the misfortune to be just behind an accident on the interstate and ran over the bumper of the car that had just crashed in the dark ahead. This did not please two of the wheels on the car and I had limped off an exit road to sit and wait for the tow truck to come and rescue me.

As I sat there, in my wing mirror I saw a hint of morning light in the sky followed by the appearance of the sun through the trees. I had my camera gear in the trunk so went to grab it. As is the way of these things, the sun moves quite fast and by the time I had got my stuff out, the image had change a bit. However, it still looked basically as I envisaged it so I got a few shots before it had risen too far. Then i hopped back in the car (it was a bit chilly) and resumed my wait for the tow…