Tag Archives: sunset

Taking A Chance on Late Evening Light on the 727

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I had been disappointed by a Kalitta 727 that had come into Boeing Field during the day when I was unable to see it.  I was heading home from meetings south of the city and stopped by to see if it was leaving that evening and they almost did and then had a technical issue.  I had to get home so missed it.  I was, therefore, rather pleased when I saw it was coming to Paine Field a little while later.  It was due to arrive early in the evening.

The 727s are rare beasts these days but Kalitta has been picking up more and more 737s so you have to wonder how long the 727s will be around.  My enthusiasm was tempered a bit when I saw that the previous leg had been a few hours late so the planned arrival time was not realistic.  Instead, once it got airborne, it was due in around 9pm.  Sunset was 9:12 so this would be tight for time and would require the weather to cooperate.

I had dinner with Nancy, and we hung out for a while at which point I had to make the call.  Would I go up to Everett or not.  The weather looked okay where we are, but you never know what it will be like further up towards the coast.  At that time of the evening, it is a quick run so I figured I would just see how things looked.  As it turned out, the weather was pretty clear, and they made good time and a pretty direct approach.  As the three-holed beast came down the approach, there was low sun illuminating it.

I then headed around to the terminal to see if I could get a shot of them unloading.  The sun was now setting so the sky was glowing behind the jet as the crew worked to offload the cargo.  The fuselage was in deep shadow, but I used some HDR bracketing to give me options to work with.  Overall, it couldn’t have gone better.  They were looking for a quick turnaround and return to Michigan, but I knew it would be dark by then so headed home.  I actually heard it climb out over us just after I had got into bed!

Q400s Into the Horizon Sunset

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The Alaska Airlines fleet is undergoing a transformation.  Part of that was the removal of the Q400 from Horizon’s fleet with the Embraers becoming their only platform.  Suddenly getting shots of the aircraft seemed a lot more interesting.  I did manage to get the retro livery special one more time as it took off one evening.  As it headed into the sunset, it seemed far too on the nose for their retirement.  A few weeks later, they were gone.

Unimaginative Sunset Shot

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One evening I was up at Everett for an aviation opportunity and, things were not looking good because the shot I was after was looking like it was going to be thwarted by a late arrival and the setting of the sun.  As it turned out, that provided a far better shot than I expected.  The sunset illuminated the clouds, and they provided great light for the arriving aircraft.  While I was waiting, I did look behind me and saw that the sky was glowing beautifully.  There was no way I wasn’t going to get a shot of that.  Sunset shots are rather passé but why not?

Sunset Overflight Contrails

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I was out and about one evening when I saw an airliner flying high overhead pulling contrails behind it.  The sun was getting low in the sky with the result that the light on the plane and its residual moisture was illuminated with some really nice warm color.  It is definitely true that light is everything I photography.  This would have been nothing without this light.

After Dark with ANA

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Over the many posts on this blog, there have been a few that involve hoping for great light at the end of the day.  Some have been successful and others have not.  This is one of the latter.  An All Nippon Airways 787 was out on test from Paine Field.  It was due back shortly before sunset so the potential was there for some lovely light.  Unfortunately, the potential was also there for being slightly delayed and arrived after the sun had gone down.  This is exactly what happened.  I wasn’t going home, at this point, though.  Instead, I shot it in shady twilight conditions.  Assuming Boeing sorts out its issues, it won’t be long before the 787s are all gone so you have to enjoy the opportunity while it remains.

Container Terminal Evening

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Evening light can make many things look better than they do in the middle of the day.  The warm evening light just makes things look better with the warm color and the softer shadows.  In those conditions, even a container terminal looks interesting.  From the roof of the hotel we were staying in downtown last year, we got a good view across Elliott Bay towards the terminal.

Wispy High Cloud Sunset

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A good sunset requires some nice high clouds.  I was up at Arlington watching the recovery of the Alice prototype after it had done some off-roading and the light was fading fast.  The clouds were quite high level and not terribly extensive so they provided a nice canvas for the low setting sun to illuminate.  Sunset shots always seem like a lazy shot but it looks so good so why not photograph it?

Finally I Have Avanti Success

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I posted about a trip to Paine Field one evening to photograph an Avanti which was unsuccessful because the plane diverted back to Sacramento.  A little while later, I got a notification that it was due in again.  The arrival time was about 6:40.  With sunset just after 7 at that time, it had the potential to be very nice.  Of course, any delay could make it a bust.  I figured it was worth a shot and Nancy was fine with waiting from me to get back before having dinner!

The evening light was looking really good.  I practiced panning with some of the local traffic while watching for the progress of the Avanti.  It was on its way but arrival time was slipping a little.  It should still be okay.  Meanwhile, I noticed the progress of the shadows of some of the trees where I was as they crept closer to the runway.  It was going to be tight.  We would make sunset without a problem and there was no low cloud to cause concern but it was a risk that the tree shadows would be on the plane.

Nothing I could do about any of this and, with the plane still airborne as it was due to pass me (assuming that they didn’t land near the threshold), the chances are things would be okay.  I kept my eyes peeled for the sight of the Avanti lining up on approach. Eventually it came in to view and zipped down the glide slope.  By now the light was low and the shadows were creeping on to the runway but it made the silver of the airframe positively glow.  I clicked away as it came by and then I was done.  Back home for dinner!

Arlington Evening Flying Display

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After my afternoon out up in Skagit for the fly day there, I migrated with the guys down to Arlington.  They were having an evening flying display that would include the Ryan I previously posted about.  An overcast evening did not make for great light for photographing the aircraft.  There were only a few displays to see so it wasn’t too much of an event but it was still nice to be out shooting planes again.  Rene Price put on a good display in his Sukhoi and the Yak-18 display was a great example of what the plane can do.  Interestingly, there was the occasional hint of sunlight from the horizon while it flew which would glint off the white airframe since it was high enough to see the light we weren’t getting.

Grumpy, the B-25, flew a bunch of passes having come across from Skagit.  I guess with not much else flying, they were allowed to fly as many passes as they wanted.  Other than that, it was a pretty low key affair.