Category Archives: photo

Spot the Shed

Sometimes, when in Nevada for Red Flag, I will head down to McCarran in the morning to shoot some of the airliners prior to heading back to Nellis. This time, I barely went down that way. However, I did see a movement that caught my attention. There is a daily rotation of a Shorts 360 freighter from Phoenix up to Las Vegas. I haven’t shot a Shed for a while and figured this was worth a look.

There is a viewing area along the south runway at McCarran but it was closed for COVID and hasn’t been reopened yet. Short staffing means it is low on the airport’s priorities which kind of makes sense. Consequently, I ended up scoping out a parking lot that would give me an alternative. It was pretty hot and heat haze is always a concern plus I didn’t know whether to use the long lens or the zoom. I used a couple of jets coming in before to decide what to do and also stuck the polarizer on to cut the light down to get better shutter speeds for the props. Then the box on wings came on to the approach and I grabbed some shots. If you had told me 30 years ago I would make an excursion to photograph a 360, I would have laughed. Now they are rare enough that is exactly what I do!

Coyote Comes To The Lake

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I went to Juanita Bay in Kirkland on a sunny Saturday afternoon to have an experiment with the R3. I wanted to try shooting something different and the bay is always a good spot for some wildlife activity. I was standing on one of the boardwalks, chatting to a couple of photographers that had a similar idea. We had just been discussing a bobcat one of them had seen in the area near us when I looked across and saw some movement in exactly that area.

It wasn’t a bobcat which was a shame. However, it was a coyote. It walked over in our direction, heading for a carcass of a fish that had apparently been there for a few days. It stopped briefly and then turned around and headed back into the bushes. I managed to get a few shots of it before it was out of a clear line of sight.

Is This The End For The S-76?

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I was rather sad to read that Sikorsky is shuttering production of the S-76 helicopter. The design first flew over 40 years ago but it has gone through a number of upgrades over the years. It is a sleek looking machine and quite a bit larger than it might initially appear. My first encounter with one was on the school fields of my high school when it was parked after bringing some people in for Cowes Week. I got to chat with the pilot for a while. No camera in those days, though.

When I worked in London, they had replaced the Queens Flight Wessex airframes with a pair of S-76s in a maroon color and they would often fly past our building as they landed at the palace. I have had various other times when I have seen them since but not a huge number. The most recent version is the S-76D which replaced the S-76C++ (catchy name, huh?). It has not sold particularly well and the development program was rather protracted. Without many customers, Sikorsky has called time for now. Whether it gets resurrected in the future – perhaps with production at their facility in Poland – we shall see.

Interchange Construction

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Continuing my theme of aerial photos from my flight to DC, as we got in to the metro area, I could see a major interchange under construction on one of the highways. I’m sure, if I could be bothered, it would be possible to work out which highway this is and where the interchange is being built but I’m not that interested. If you happen to recognize it, I would be fine knowing since that would require no effort on my part! The evening light angle meant the shape of the construction was picked out with more clarity. I wonder when it is due to be completed?

Strangely The First AA A321neo Encounters

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The launch of the 737 Max was heavily influenced by American Airlines agreeing to buy a bunch of A320neo family jets from Airbus. American had inherited a bunch of Airbus aircraft from the combination with USAirways but buying the neos really caused Boeing to take note. The order also included a bunch of the ceo versions of the jets and I have seen loads of them over the years. However, for some reason, I had never shot an American neo until I got to LAX.

Los Angeles seems to be a popular destination for American’s neo fleet. While I was there, I saw a load of them arriving and departing. The larger engines are quite conspicuous on the neo although the A321neo seems better proportioned for that size of engine so they are less obvious than the smaller jets. I think they do occasionally make it to Seattle but whether I shall catch one up here, I don’t know.

SoFi Stadium

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When I last went to LA, the racetrack in Inglewood had been flattened and construction was underway on the new football stadium. Since then it was completed and opened as SoFi stadium. I was keen to see it in person having seen it on TV a lot. I made sure to be sitting on the left of the plane thinking I could get some shots of it from the air. Having previously photographed the racetrack, I mistakenly thought it would be further south and had a longer lens on the camera. The stadium is closer to the approach path so I had way too much lens and only got shots of parts of it.

However, after my meetings wrapped up, as I headed back to the airport, I did drive by the stadium. There were tours available but I didn’t have too much time so instead parked up and walked around a bit of the outside. I mainly used my phone to take some shots – good for shooting through fences – and also stitched together some shots to make some panos.

The stadium is really impressive to see in person. There is plenty of development going on in the area around it and I imagine it is going to quite transform Inglewood over time. Whether that is for the better or not, we shall see. The landscaping certainly adds to the impressiveness and the overall structure is far larger than just the football stadium which seem to sit inside it and feel rather dwarfed. If you get a chance to go by, I would certainly recommend it. Spending billions on sports stadiums is a controversial topic but this one has certainly got something special about it which is what you would hope for when it cost as much as it did!

JetRed

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Early morning at Washington National and I was waiting for my flight home after a work trip to DC. As I sat at the gate, a JetBlue aircraft was coming up from the south end of the field. It was painted in a red scheme representative of the fire department of NY. They have a few different special liveries on their jets but a bright red one is quite the opposite of their normal look. Sadly, the light was a bit dull but I wasn’t passing up the opportunity to get a shot, even if it was through the terminal windows.

Dodger Stadium

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The approach to Los Angeles International from the north brings you in from the coast heading east almost directly over downtown before turning south and then west to make the approach to the north complex. This approach gives you a very good view of Dodger Stadium. I had the camera to hand as we came in so grabbed a few quick shots of the park. With the MLB dispute now solved, there should be crowds showing up here before too long (if they haven’t already depending on when I post this).

SF Airlines 747 Freighter

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Coming across a new airline for the first time is still a buzz for me. With so many airlines around the world and most of them never showing up at an airport convenient for me, there is always a good chance of something new when I visit somewhere I haven’t been for a while. LAX is a popular freight destination so getting new freighters there is a good chance. I was actually at SoFi stadium having a look around when a 747-400F made the approach just south of me.

I had the camera with me at that time so was able to turn around and get some shots. With the aircraft being south of me, it was a bit backlit but I bumped the exposure compensation up a bit to get good shadow detail so I could play with it in post. Later in the day, I was at Imperial Hill waiting for my flight home when it departed. Getting two cracks at a new airline was a pretty good deal. More importantly, the airline actually has a livery that is of interest – not a white jet with a few markings. I count this as a result!

Wind Turbines

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When I took the flight to DC for work recently, I got to see the countryside to the west of DC in nice light as we descended later in the day. Shooting the ground form an airliner window is never an ideal thing. The window quality is not going to be great so having a clean shot is a crapshoot. The distance also means that things are never as contrasty as they seem to the naked eye and editing often leaves a result which looks a bit harsh.

Low light can help a bit but being lower down is the best way of getting something reasonable. As we came across the hills running in towards our destination, I saw a lot of wind turbines. These were in line along ridge tops on the hills to maximize their exposure to the prevailing wind. The shadows they cast looked neat too. I tried my best to get some shots with my M6 and some of them came out okay. Shooting through multiple layers of non-optical quality transparencies is not going to be ideal though.