Tag Archives: photo

PBY

I’m not sure when I first became aware of the PBY Catalina but I am pretty sure it involved a plastic model that a friend of mine had. (Kev Fry, was it you?) Flying boats always appealed to me and the blisters on the rear fuselage caught my eye even at that time. Erickson has a PBY in the collection and it was going to feature in our program. However, my first encounter with it was as it was parked up on the ramp outside the hangar.

I was walking around in the early evening light and the paint scheme seemed to glow in the low sun. It is a big beast so there are lots of options as you walk around it. Whatever shot you want to get, you do want something that emphasizes the hull shape since that is one of the defining characteristics of the plane. Sometimes, getting in really close can achieve that.

You do want to check out multiple angles, though. Whether it is the nose shape, the wheels and wheelwells or the rear blisters, there is something from any direction worthy of a look. Whether they will all be great shots is a different story. However, having the chance to shoot one when hardly anyone is around is a chance not to be passed on.

The Lego Artwork of Nathan Sawaya

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Nathan Sawaya may not be an artist you have heard of before but you may have seen at least some of his work. Nathan is an artist who works in Lego. He manages to combine the artistic vision of the piece he is trying to create with the technical skill in creating structures using standard Lego pieces – no simple feat given that most shapes have gentle curves to them and Lego is mainly straight edges.

An exhibition of some of Nathan’s work was on recently in Walnut Creek and we headed along to see what was on display. There were two types of exhibit. Some were straightforward Lego creations on display on their own. The rest were a combination of Lego and photography. Nathan had created some elements in Lego that were then combined with photography to incorporate the Lego sculpture in the main photo. For example, one of the pieces was a bare tree that then appeared in a landscape shot. Another was some railroad tracks that became the foreground to a train station.

The sculptures varied a lot in themes. Some were relatively light hearted such as a dog or some clouds. A woman’s red dress blowing in the wind with parts of it blowing behind (but with no-one actually in the dress) was a particularly interesting piece. Others were far darker in their inspiration with themes of escape and repression in the corporate world included. These pieces were often the more interesting ones to see as they had more to interpret versus the more light hearted but literal items.

The audience for the exhibit was quite varied. Many people had brought their kids along based on their interest in playing with Lego at home. I suspect they were not quite so enthused with the more sinister works. The other visitors were decidedly more adult. Whether they are just fans of Lego or interested in the messages the artist was conveying, I shall never know.

Kings Cross Redevelopment

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Times change! When I was still working in London, Kings Cross was a dump. I would often have to transfer trains from Thameslink to what was then GNER and would walk a short distance through the area. You could often experience some unusual people doing unusual things. One Sunday I rode through the area because the train I was on was not going the whole way due to maintenance. I found myself weaving through some interesting people who looked like they were still dealing with the previous night. All in all, it was not a great place to hang out.

The arrival of the Eurostar services at St Pancras seems to have been the trigger for some significant regeneration. We decided to check the area out while we were in London and I am glad we did. Aside from the changes to St Pancras itself and some expansion of Kings Cross Station, the surrounding area is undergoing a lot of change. The whole program is a work in progress with some elements done and others still being worked on. The area between the two stations has been transformed. It is now a nice walk up to the canal and beyond.

Restaurants and cafes have sprung up and new housing developments are shooting up. Some of it is very high end but there is also affordable housing. There is a swimming pool that uses a natural, chemical free filtration process. There is a limit on how many people can swim each day in order to manage the water quality. There is also a garden that is quite innovative. Apparently, it was hard to get permission for an allotment system (that might also be to do with the contamination of the earth around the station – I don’t know) so instead they filled a bunch of skips (dumpsters) with earth and they are used as the garden instead. Very thoughtful.

There is obviously still some work to be done in developing the area but the start that has been made is impressive and I imagine the whole place will thrive in the coming years.

Air Force One

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I have had a pretty poor run of luck when it comes to Air Force One. I have seen it overflying in the distance, I have seen the VC-25 on the ramp at Davis Monthan but was thirty seconds from being parked when it took off and I had a failed effort to get it at SFO which I mentioned in this previous post. It was back in San Francisco recently and I decided I was going to have another go.

I tracked the TFR online and, this time, it didn’t change. I, therefore, got to SFO with plenty of time before the departure. The weather was not fantastic but there was generally a clear spot over the airport so I was a little optimistic. As the intended time for departure approached, the cloud rolled in. Of course it did! Nothing I could do about that. Meanwhile, departures off 01 had stopped (I am not sure whether that was related to the Fleet Week air show or not) and a bunch of planes were lined up to depart from 28. Then they all stopped.

I assume the President had come by road as there was no helicopter activity other than a police chopper over the highway. The beacons were on as I heard the sound of a jet going around. It briefly appeared through a gap in the clouds and was a United 737. I guess they had just timed it wrong. I have no idea whether they held or diverted. Suddenly the VC-25 was rolling. It taxied rapidly along the northern taxiway by 28R with a couple of Secret Service vehicles following close behind. Without a pause it turned onto 28R past the waiting airliners and powered away. The Secret Service chased it for a while down the runway but it was airborne pretty swiftly. I guess it was lightly loaded. A few minutes later everything started moving again. Another ten minutes and the sun was out. Typical!

Millennium Bridge

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I don’t think I need to let you know when the Millennium Bridge was built. It had a tricky history with the initial configuration experiencing some oscillations as the number of people walking on it increased which resulted in it getting some nicknames involving wobbling. Modifications were made and it is now a great addition to the river. Since it is a pedestrian bridge that connects St Paul’s with the South Bank at Tate Modern, it is very popular.

I find the shape of the bridge very interesting. The cable arrangements that support the bridge are very cool and the ramps at each end add to the interest. While we were there, a few people were using it as a location for filming their own activities which requires them to ignore the vast number of people who are invading their scene! I like the number of people that are there since it really gives an impression of just how popular a bridge it is.

Preserved American Airlines 727

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The Museum of Flight in Seattle is currently in the process of building a new facility. While the work is underway, a number of airframes have been moved from their previous location to alternative spots until they can be moved to their new home. Most of them are still near the museum itself. However, the 727 seems to have drawn the short straw and it was parked up on Clay Lacy’s FBO ramp while I was visiting. It was near Joe Clark’s Learjet as well. Some cool stuff to look at for any visiting jets at the FBO!

Is There Any Oil in This Thing?

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Parked up on the ramp at Erickson’s facility was a DC-7 tanker. It didn’t move while we were there so it became the target of a number of photographers at any one time. I shall show more of it shortly but one thing that caught my attention was the amount of oil on the engine nacelles. Old piston engines are well known for consuming oil at a prodigious rate and this beast was no exception. It seemed to have done a great job of relocating the oil from the internals of the engines to the outside of the nacelles. It made for some great patterns and this was what distracted me for a while as I walked around the aircraft.

St Pancras

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When railways were first being developed, the companies that built them were very competitive in creating terminal stations that would impress. Sadly, over the years many of them were knocked down and redeveloped. Thankfully, not all of them were destroyed and now the approach is to take the existing infrastructure and use it as the basis for a modern facility.

St Pancras in London is a great example. I used to use it in the late 90s and early part of the 21^st century when it was the terminal for Midland Mainline. At that time, it was not a terribly busy station. It had the original hotel fronting the station and the roof structure over the platforms. It had an air of faded glory at that point.

Then the big changes came. Pancras was chosen to be the terminus for the extension of the channel tunnel rail link. A major rebuild was started that involved the new high speed lines coming in, the addition of the international facilities, opening up the lower level of the station, rebuilding the Thameslink station and generally turning the place into something far more impressive. Most of this took place after we had left London so, when we were back, I was interested to see how things had changed. Also, Nancy had never been to Pancras before so I thought she would like the architecture.

The hotel fronting Euston Road is still as it always appeared. It is a fantastic gothic structure and something that is probably worth exploring if you have the chance. Inside, the roof has been beautifully cleaned up. The clocks are also really cool. There are statues around the concourse too including one of the poet John Betjemen who was instrumental in a campaign to save the station.

The lower level redevelopment is very impressive. This area used to be a storage location but now there is retail and dining on a far larger scale which should suit the significant increase in customers with the Eurostar business as well as the new commuter services that make use of the high speed link. Of course, there are also the customers for services on the Midland routes. The changes are impressive and are connected with e overall redevelopment of the Kings Cross area of which more will come.

DC-3 City of Tillamook

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The Erickson collection did not used to be based in Madras. For many years the aircraft were part of the museum at Tillamook. The old airship hangars at Tillamook were their home. While most of the planes have now moved, one of them still bears a name indicative of its past. This is the Douglas DC-3 named City of Tillamook.

The aircraft sat on the ramp outside the museum hangar for the duration of my visit. The first evening we were there we had time to stroll around the ramp as the sun set. This resulted in some lovely lighting conditions. It was fun to see the DC-3 in close proximity to some later Douglas products. They shall be the subject of a later post.

Fire in the Hills

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The reason for the Airtanker activity at Redmond was the fire that was raging in the hills west of Madras. During the day the most obvious sign of the fire was the smoke that was hanging in the air and obscuring the view of the hills in the distance. However, as night fell, thing became quite different. The hillside where the fire was raging was suddenly very obvious. The red glow from the flames was visible even at the distance we were away.

You could see the fire was alive. The intensity and shape of the glow was varying all of the time. The ridges that were between our location and the fire sometimes almost completely obscured things but the glow was soon visible again. I have no idea how intense things were in the ground but I imagine it was very tough for those fighting it. Their bravery was recognized by all of us watching from a distance.