I may have spent a lot of time watching and photographing wildlife while we were in Kenya and Tanzania but the times of day when were out were early morning and late afternoon which meant that there were going to be sunrises and sunsets that I could photograph too. We had quite the selection of lovely opportunities to take these shots and here are some of the images that I like the most. We did also get some interesting skies with the light at either end of the day, but I shall give those moments their own posts.
The UW Huskies had a home game during the weekend of during the weekend of Veterans’ Day. The USAF provided a flyover for the start of the game with a couple of F-35As from Luke AFB making the trip up to Seattle to do the honors. The sun was a bit erratic on the day of the game, but it wasn’t too bad and the trees around Boeing Field still had a little fall color in them. Both jets launched for the flyover.
I watched them taxi out from the Modern ramp and head to the departure end. I knew that they would be airborne well before they got to me, but I was hoping that they would keep it low. The first of the jets obliged keeping nice and low at least for a while allowing me to get a shot with the ground in the background. The second jet was a little more eager to climb and it was well skylines by the time it got close to my spot. They were planning on some time in the local area before the flyover so now it was time to wait.
Titan Airways provides jets for some high end tourist programs. I have shot their older A321s before, but they recently took on an A321neo that had previously been used as a transport for the UK government. On a flight, it had issues with windows that were not sealed, and the plane was not pressurizing properly with a load of noise. When they investigated further, it turned out it had been used for filing work and the high intensity lights had damaged the window seals.
With the windows repaired and a test flight undertaken, it was back in service and its next trip was to Seattle. I caught it landing at Boeing Field. It arrived at the worst time of day for lighting but, with something unusual like this, I decided to make the best of it. It turned out okay and I was quite pleased with the results, as was one of the pilots!
This art installation is in the Arboretum in Seattle, and we happened across it while out walking. I didn’t want to take up too much time trying to photograph it. Nancy is patient enough with me as it is when it comes to taking pictures on our days out and knowing that I have blog posts in mind. Stretching that patience would be too selfish. The light under the trees was a little hard to work with and the shapes of the sculpture were not so conspicuous when trying to take the shots.
The elements hang over the path. At first I thought it was something that wasn’t supposed to be there and then, as we got closer, realized it was an art work. The shapes suspended from cables between the trees was rather interesting to look at. Whether any of these shots convey it well, I am not so sure.
There was an evening when the weather was awful and the NASA DC-8 was out on a mission. The forecast suggested things might get a bit clearer late in the afternoon and so, while the light was awful, I thought I might take a chance and head to Paine Field after work. The sky was dark and ominous but I was there so I might as well wait. As the Max 10 was first on approach, it was the one I would try out first. There was a hint of the sun starting to punch through the cloud and it did look okay.
Then, when the DC-8 showed up, the clouds parted. The backdrop was still and evil looking sky but the sun was on the plane as it came down the approach. I had thought of shooting video but, when I saw the light, I couldn’t resist shooting stills. The joy of modern cameras is the ability to switch rapidly from one to the other. I got video down the initial approach and then stills as it was close in. Then back to video once it was by me. This actually didn’t make for a bad video edit.
A moment with light like this is very rare and you have to be excited when it all works out.
In a previous post, I showed the waterfalls at Granite Falls, north of us. At that time, the weather had been quite calm, and the falls were quite subdued. At that time, I had suggested I would go back later in the winter. We had a prolonged period of rain in the area, some of which was very heavy. Knowing this had come through, I figured a return trip was in order to see just how much the falls would be transformed. This was not a wasted effort!
Even as I got out of the car in the parking area up on the main road, I could hear the falls. The flow through them was unrecognizable from my previous time there. The water was the full width of the falls and was crashing across everything in its path. The force of the water was quite intimidating and, while I was quite safe where I was on the walkways, I shuddered to think what would happen to anyone getting caught up in this torrent.
Video was clearly the thing to experiment with on this visit. Sure, I was getting lots of shots. I was seeing whether longer shutter speeds would give a good impression of the motion or whether a slightly shorter exposure might actually be more effective. However, video is the tool that really allows someone to appreciate the intensity of the flow and the noise. Consequently, I edited together the footage below to give you an idea of what it was like.
As I looked upriver, I saw vehicles crossing the river and realized that the road I had come in on, continued across the river on a bridge. I had not noticed this on the previous visit so, once I had made my way back up to the road, I decided to check the bridge out. This is a country road so I wondered if there would be a safe way to walk across. Fortunately, there was a protected sidewalk on both sides of the bridge. It was quite a drop down to the river but the mist over the water and between the trees provided a lovely shot, so I was glad to have diverted that way even if I was a little uncomfortable that high up!
We saw a variety of planes in Kenya and Tanzania. This one I didn’t get too close to but I was really happy to have caught either way. Dash 7s are pretty few and far between these days. There are some up in Canada that I would love to get up to see but the last ones I saw were in Toronto and looked stored. This one flew overhead and I grabbed a few quick shots. Oh to have seen it touching down on one of the rough strips.
When people think of photographing birds, the more exotic types are going to probably be of more interest to many. While I am obviously (if you follow this blog) partial to photographing an eagle or an owl, I also find the more common birds cool. A pigeon has some amazing flying capabilities, gulls can look elegant in flight and crows have fantastic feather coloration. One of them was sitting on a fence very close to me as I sat in the car. The light was glinting off the feathers making the subtle colors show up nicely. How could I not photograph it? You might dismiss the average crow, but they can look very cool.
Condor has gone on a bit of a Marmite route with its livery. They have decided to paint their aircraft with a striped paint scheme that looks like a beach towel. When they first went this way, the A330s that came to Seattle were leased jets and they only painted the fins rather than the whole airframe. They had ordered new A330-900s from Airbus, and these were delivered with the full paint job. I took a while before I finally saw one of these come to SEA and it was the green one. I still haven’t seen beige or blue! I have heard comments that really show how much people dislike this choice. For me it is such a nice change from the norm that I am really happy to see them. Something different is fun.
We were making a trip to Bainbridge Island one weekend and Nancy had done some research that brought up something she thought I might be interested in. Blakely Harbor used to be the location of a timber mill. It has long gone away but there are still some remnants of the mill. There are piles in the water from the old jetties but the most conspicuous part of the old generator house.
This concrete building is obviously more resilient than the other buildings and it stands out on the shoreline, not just because it is the only remaining building, but because it has become a focus for graffiti artists. The interior and exterior of the building have been covered with work from artists of all types. Some is really intricate work and other pieces and less polished. However, the combination of colors is really striking when alongside the natural colors of the harbor.
I was interested in looking around inside but climbing in required some effort and, while I could have done it, I wasn’t that keen and I suspect Nancy would have thought I was nuts! She may have been right. There are some iron frames that are still part of the structure which have an aged look which contrasts with the recent artwork. I imagine in low light you could get some very interesting shots of this place.
I may have spent a lot of time watching and photographing wildlife while we were in Kenya and Tanzania but the times of day when were out were early morning and late afternoon which meant that there were going to be sunrises and sunsets that I could photograph too. We had quite the selection of lovely opportunities to take these shots and here are some of the images that I like the most. We did also get some interesting skies with the light at either end of the day, but I shall give those moments their own posts.
