Tag Archives: photo

Cormorant Take Off

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It’s been a while since I had a cormorant post on this blog so time to have another one.  This one is to showcase something I love about watching cormorants but that I hadn’t got good images of.  When cormorants take off from the water they start flapping and running across the surface.  They take quite a while to get up to a speed at which they can sustain flight.  This trip across the surface usually is too far away to get a good shot of, even if you do spot them in time to get the camera on target.

However, if you are in a boat and the boat approaches the cormorant, you might spook it into taking off.  They are pretty resilient creatures so may just float on by and ignore you but sometimes they will take off.  Then, if you notice in time and the camera is to hand, you might get the takeoff sequence.  They hop from wave crest to wave crest as they flap and accelerate and then they are flying. You can also lose a little weight before take off to improve performance!

How Long for Lufthansa A340s?

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The A340s are disappearing from the fleets of major airlines pretty quickly as the 787s and A350s come in to service.  Lufthansa is one airline that still has not only the A340-600 in service but the A340-300 too.  I shot a 600 on approach to SFO last year and it got me wondering just how long they have remaining in service.  While fuel prices are relatively low, they may hang on but higher fuel prices could accelerate their demise.  We shall see.  In the meantime, here are some of their fleet in service across the years.

V2V Express (I Guess)

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During our visit to Victoria, there was a fast catamaran ferry moored up in the harbor.  It was named to the V2V Express.  Based on the name, my assumption is that it provides a fast connection between the downtown harbors of Vancouver and Victoria.  However, at no point while we were there did we see the thing move.  I don’t know whether the service is seasonal, not yet implemented or has failed.  The boat just sat there during our visit.  If anyone knows the story, do let me know.

PJC-2, What Are You?

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I went to Paine Field to get the Air Tahiti Nui 787 which I wrote about in this post.  As I walked up to Future of Flight, there was an unusual looking plane sitting at the hold running up the engine.  I grabbed some shots of it doing its engine run and then as it lined up and took off.  I couldn’t work out what it was.  I thought it might be a Bellanca but I was wrong.  A search when back at home tells me it is a Harlow PJC-2.

With lovely light, I was hoping to get it when it came back in.  Unfortunately, it timed its return such that it coincided with the arrival of the 787 so they went to the left runway instead of the right.  Never mind.

Riding the Streetcar for Myself

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I picked up the Oklahoma City streetcar from the stop across from my hotel.  There are two routes in the city – one that runs around the downtown area and another shorter loop that goes from the convention center development area back to Bricktown.  The car I got was on the Bricktown Loop and, since I wanted to do the full run, I hopped off at the next stop and waited for the next car.

I got on board along with a guy that had come to check it out despite his skepticism.  He ended up meeting a few people he knew and seemed pretty impressed by the whole thing.  The vehicles have a battery system on board which allows them to run for periods without overhead wires.  This is particularly helpful where the line runs under the main railroad.  The bridges there are too low to allow for overhead wires so the system involves periods on battery and periods on wire when the batteries can be recharged,

Lots of people were out making use of the free introductory period.  Given that it was a Friday, this was a good indication.  Hopefully the system will prove to be a success.  It is part of a number of measures that the city is implementing to improve the live ability of the area.  I wish them well.

Nice Light on Korean 777

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Korean Air 777s are hardly a rarity so would not normally warrant a blog post.  However, this one arrived at a time when the light seemed to be particularly appealing and I was pleasantly surprised by the shot.  I figured it could have a blog post on what is probably a cold and rainy winter’s day.

Seattle Pano from West Seattle

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With our visitors, we took a trip to West Seattle.  The afternoon light on the city looked nice and a pano seemed to be in order.  Here is a Zoomify version of it so you can look around the city at your leisure.

Out with the Old and In With the Nui

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Sorry for the corny pun but I just couldn’t resist.  One of my favorite airliners to shoot has been the Air Tahiti Nui A340-300.  I have seen them at LAX on a number of visits.  Shooting them taking off on the south complex has been possible on a few occasions and I was super lucky to get one of them landing on the north complex when I was overhead in the helicopter.  The A340s are getting a bit old at this point, though, so their replacement has been ordered and it is going to be the Boeing 787-9.

One of the jets was in flight test at Everett so, with nice weather on a weekend and flying underway, I couldn’t resist a trip up to get the return.  I was too late for a takeoff shot.  The conditions were great.  A cold snap meant that the air was clear and the sun, while it disappeared for a while shortly after I arrived, was back in plenty of time for the return.  Consequently, as the plane came across the Cascades, I could see it easily prior to it turning north to come in on the approach.  Mt Baker was clear in the background as they made the turn to final approach.

The dark colors of the livery make it necessary to use a bit of shadow slider when processing the shots.  It was just after midday so the light was a bit on the nose of the jet but you could still get something good for the fuselage sides.  The touchdown was a bit firm providing a smoky cloud of tire rubber.  I wonder how much tread the airline expects to have at delivery?  Often the jets will come back for a rejected takeoff run but this time they went straight back to the ramp.

Jimi’s Grave

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We were heading towards SeaTac to drop a friend off at the airport.  We were coming in through Renton on a back road and had some time to spare so I made a quick diversion to a local cemetery.  This is the final resting place of Jimi Hendrix.  I had been meaning to check this out for a while and this was the first good opportunity.

It is a nicely laid out shrine to Jimi.  Some graphics of him are engraved in the stone of the structure and there is a guitar sculpture at its center.  A bunch of different picks are inserted in the sculpture by visiting fans.  Flowers are growing around the base of the shrine.  I imagine that there are plenty of visitors throughout the year although we were the only ones on this Friday afternoon.

Virgin Atlantic Multiple Crosses at SFO

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My last time shooting at SFO, I got shots of a Virgin Atlantic 787 arriving.  Crossing shots are not unusual at SFO as the jets on approach will often have departing jets in the background.  The Virgin jet had this.  It also had a second crossing shot a little earlier on the approach.  A jet heading over the bay to pick up the approach further down was directly behind the 787 just after it passed Coyote Point.