Tag Archives: san Diego

Old Pandas

We were talking about baby pandas at home the other day. Apparently, San Diego zoo has a new baby panda. This reminded me about a trip we made to the zoo there in 2002. They had a new panda on display at that time. I got a couple of shots of it on film – hence the fact that there are only a few shots as opposed to a huge bunch of them! Anyway, this young panda was happily playing in its enclosure while large crowds gathered to watch.

I was fascinated by the bear’s interest in trying to hurt itself. It seemed constantly to be hanging from a branch upside down with a very tenuous grip on the wood. It looked like an accident was inevitable – especially since young animals haven’t always learned the extent of their capabilities. Since all pandas are owned by the Chinese government, I was imagining a fall and injury causing a diplomatic incident. Of course, nothing happened. Meanwhile, I dug out the old shots and here they are.

America’s Cup Yacht Racing

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Racing of sailing boats is a sport that doesn’t get much in the way of mass media coverage. I grew up in a sailing town so, while I wasn’t a sailor, a lot of my friends were and so I saw a lot more of it than would be the norm. During my teenage years we also witnessed the first defeat of the US team in the America’s Cup, a story that did get international press coverage.

America’s Cup racing has always been the preserve of the richer members of society. It is a far cry from the sailing that is available to the average sailor with high tech boats and hand picked crews. (As an aside, one of the friends from school, Julian Salter, is a professional sailor and has been in crews competing for the America’s Cup.)

For a few years, I had been pretty oblivious to America’s Cup racing. The thing that changed it for me was the acquisition of TiVo. One of the channels covered the Louis Vuitton challenger series followed by the cup itself from Valencia a few years ago and we could record the races in full and then watch them at a more convenient time – adding our own editing courtesy of the fast forward button.

Nancy got into the racing as much as I did and we watched most of the series. It came as a big disappointment when the next round of the competition became hijacked by the stupid games of rich guys and ended up as a simple head to head competition that got virtually no coverage. We saw nothing of it.

Fortunately, some semblance of reason has returned and this time around, not only is the full format of the competition going to be back, they are having a series of events in the year running up to the event that are taking place around the world. This not only provides more opportunities for people to see the racing but it also allows the crews to get proficient with the new boats. This time the competition is not with monohulls. The boats are catamarans with wing sails.

The main competition is going to be held in 2012 in San Francisco. Whether I will be able to go and see any of it, I have no idea. However, one of the preliminary events was held in San Diego. I was already in the area for the El Centro photo shoot so I added a day to my travels to try and see the sailing. The plan didn’t quite work as hoped unfortunately.

I drove from El Centro to San Diego in the morning. Racing was scheduled for 1pm-4pm that afternoon. I did a quick reconnaissance to see where I wanted to be and got myself set up. Since it was early in the week, there were supposed to be about five head to head races. No massed racing but that would take place over the weekend when more people would be there to see it. Sadly, I couldn’t wait around for that.

More disappointingly, the great weather that San Diego had been experiencing vanished when I arrived. They was cloud rolling in as the racing started and soon it was more like a misty day. It was cold too! The best location to shoot from was the Navy Base at North Island. Since that wasn’t going to be an option, I made the best of what was possible without shooting right into the sun. Of course, there was not much sun but the mist did a great job of making what light there was turn into glare!

The boats that weren’t racing were also practicing so there were a number of boats out at various times. The races did come up towards us since one of the marks was very near where I was. Unfortunately, when a race came close, a boat towing advertising boards would also come into shot just as the boats did. This was great for TV coverage but not so good for those of us on the same level as the boats. I’m sure the helicopter shots looked great – when the helicopters managed to fly given the crappy conditions!

I got some shots but none are great. The ones here are to show you what was there. There is nothing there that I am too proud of. Some heavy editing was necessary to even get most of these. Was it worth it? Probably not. I could have stayed longer at El Centro or gone helicopter hunting in the passes on the drive back since electricity pylons were being assembled. I did end up chatting to some nice people so it wasn’t a total loss. Them’s the breaks!

ISAP Field Trip – Part 3

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Back in the bus and it seemed to be running okay now – that is if you didn’t count the clunking that was coming from the suspension almost directly under my seat! Of course, there was still a question as to whether our driver knew where he was going. However, after a few wrong turns, we did arrive at our last destination of the day.

This was Gillespie Field and, more specifically, Bill Allen’s collection. Bill has developed a series of properties on the field that are combination homes and hangars. They are designed to have a really vintage look though and create a mini village at one end of the field.

Bill was an excellent host. Aside from making his place open to us and providing very welcome refreshments and food, he had some great aircraft on display including Stearmans and a Bucker Jungmeister. This was the day preceding the field’s airshow so a variety of interesting aircraft were arriving while we were there.

As I walked in, a familiar dace wandered up. Paul Dunn if Global Aviation Resource was there. Work had brought him to LA and he had taken the chance to come down and spend time with the subject of one of his articles, Captain Eddie, owner of an immaculate Fairey Firefly. Paul suggested I head around the corner to see it before too many people spotted it. Indeed it was a beautifully restored example and I grabbed a few shots.

We all then retreated to the grass near the Jungmeister. As the evening drew in, the light was just getting better and better. There was no urgency to shoot so we relaxed on the grass, occasionally hopping up if something new appeared. A beautiful evening in great surroundings with friends was pretty idyllic.

As the light finally faded we had a couple more treats. A pair if the Stearmans fired up for some dusk passes across the field. Meanwhile, another aircraft was staged for a lighting demonstration by Joe McNally. He put together the shot and built up a selection of flashes to light it, showing us the whole process as he went. Very interesting, even if I did feel a touch guilty running off occasionally when the Stearmans made another pass.

Finally it was dark and time to bid farewell to Bill and Gillespie and head back to the hotel. What a day!

ISAP Field Trip – Part 1

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During the ISAP symposium, we had a field trip out. The first stop on the trip was the San Diego Air and Space Museum. Located in Balboa Park, this is one of my favorite parts of the city – even before including a museum with a bunch of aircraft. I had been to the museum quite recently during a separate trip to San Diego.

We had an excellent breakfast laid on for us as soon as we got to the museum. The journey from the hotel included a running commentary from our bus driver. He obviously missed his true vocation (I’m just not sure what that should have been!)

The museum is circular and has a nice courtyard in the center which is glazed. With a selection of interesting aircraft, it is a very pleasant place to hang out. I did just that for a bit of the time catching up with some old friends and making some new ones. I also took a wandering around the museum. It is a touch tricky to photograph without a tripod since it is rather dark so I chose my subjects carefully.

Also, the basement area where much of the restoration work is done was available to us. This is normally off limits and provided an interesting place to explore. The people involved in the restoration were on hand and happy to chat.

Not a bad start to the day! More to come from the rest of the day…

USS Midway

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I got to San Diego a day early for ISAP. There is often a chance to get out and about on the day before and some of the other attendees will do the same. Consequently, it is possible to hook up with a few folks and go exploring. I managed to get together with Bonnie and Gary (see the previous post about their visit to Chicago) as well as Larry.

As people who were heavily involved in the preparation for ISAP, there were some things that they were going to have to do to set up everything for the arrival of the majority of the attendees. That meant any trip we made would have to be back by mid-afternoon but that allowed us to make a trek down to the waterfront in San Diego to go around the USS Midway.

The Midway is a retired aircraft carrier that is moored in the harbor. It has a self guided tour that takes you around various parts of the ship to get an idea of what life aboard an aircraft carrier is. (Of course, wandering around a relatively empty ship in harbor is not the same as being at see with a few thousand of your closest friends for months at a time!)

There are a number of preserved aircraft through the hangar deck and up on the flight deck so there is plenty to see apart from the ship itself although that is fascinating in itself. Getting there shortly after it opened meant it wasn’t too crowded. Even as the time went by, it still didn’t seem that crowded to me and when I was on the lower decks, I was often the only person I could see.

The tour provided lots of interesting details about the way the ship operates along with a number of historical references to its time in service. Built shortly after the war, the ship has gone through a number of major updates to get to the point at which it was operating fast jets into the 1990s.

There are some nicely restored aircraft throughout the ship of varying vintages. The oddball for me was the F-14 since that was too large to operate from this class of carrier so it would never have been to sea on the Midway. However, that is really a minor issue. Besides, hanging out in San Diego Harbor on a sunny day is hardly a bad way to spend some time.

I had a lucky break which I nearly blew. Having grown up in the home of the hovercraft, one thing I like to see is hovercraft around the world. The Marines operate the LCAC hovercraft for landing ashore and have a base for the LCACs just up the coast from San Diego at Camp Pendleton. Given the opportunity, I would like to go up and photograph them at work. That wasn’t practical on this trip but, while up on deck, I heard a loud noise of a prop. At first I thought it was a sound effect from a display on the ship. It was only too late that I realized an LCAC was transiting the harbor.

If I had been quicker, I might have been able to move from the stern of the ship (closest to the shore) to something closer to the open water. Sadly, this was not to be. Instead, I ran to the LSO platform and managed to grab a quick couple of shots of the LCAC as it passed. Not what I would have hoped for but certainly better than nothing.

Once off the ship and getting ready to head back to the hotel, we bumped into a couple of other attendees for the symposium. Obviously, a sunny day by the water is considered a good idea by many!

Another ISAP is Over

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Well, I am back on a plane heading from the delights of San Diego back home to Chicago. I need to catch up on a few bits a pieces from the trip so I can provide some posts with a bit more interest but, in the mean time, I wanted you to know that I hadn’t given up on the blog.

More to come soon!