Category Archives: photo

Fairhaven Washington

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A sunny fall weekend day is a good time to go out to somewhere new.  Nancy suggested we head up in the direction of Bellingham.  On our way in to the city, we stopped off in the Fairhaven district.  This is an old town area that has a core of nice little shops and restaurants.  We had a stroll around and I took the M6.  The fall colors and the bricks of the buildings looked great with my sunglasses on but that was assisted by the polarizing effect.  Since I had left a proper polarizer in the car, I tried shooting a few shots through the sunglasses’ lenses!

The area seemed to have plenty on offer for a visitor.  It was a bit cold and blowy so sitting outside was not too appealing but, in different times, it looks like somewhere that might be worth a further visit.  Some more time to peruse the shops and galleries as well as to try out the breweries would seem like a plan.  Not a huge amount on offer but, when it is so easily accessible from home, definitely worth a go.

Falcon 2000LX Fighting the Wind

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I talked about a Janet 737 coming in to Paine Field in this recent post.  A couple of minutes ahead of it was the arrival of a Falcon 2000.  The conditions were very blustery and the Falcon was bouncing around on final approach.  It got quite a wing drop at one point and I did get a shot as it recovered but not showing quite how much it had rolled at its peak.  As for the Janet, conditions were not great for lighting but it was not too bad.

Port Townsend Ferry

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The Washington State Ferry from Port Townsend comes into the Keystone Harbor. I figured I would await its arrival.  The shallow harbor means that they have smaller ferries for this route.  They were actually in the process of dredging the harbor at the time of my visit to maintain access for the ferry.  Even though it is a smaller ferry, when you are standing at the water’s edge, it is definitely more imposing.  They turned the ferry pretty quickly since the vehicle traffic didn’t look too heavy.  I think the rougher crossing might have slowed them down so a quick turn helped keep the schedule.

HondaJets in the Murk

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I was pondering what to do with a day off.  I was struggling to come up with a plan and the weather was not ideal for photography but I then saw that not one but two HondaJets were due in to Boeing Field within an hour of each other.  I have only shot one flying before and it was very distant so I figured this would be the motivation to get me out.

The sky was very overcast with a grey background that made me hope for planes painted in an interesting color scheme.  Unfortunately, both jets were in Honda schemes with grey as the main paint so they were hardly ideal for shooting in such conditions.  However, I didn’t have much of a choice so I got both of them on the approach.  If only one of them could have been a bit more colorful.

As I was heading off to my next stop, I drove past the Kenmore ramp and saw that one of them was parked up there.  A quick diversion in and I added a ground shot of one of the jets.  Not sure where the other one was parked but I would assume it was on Modern’s ramp.

Leavenworth Waterfront Park

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On the way in to Leavenworth, I took a side street looking for a good parking option.  As we drove along this road, it took us close to the river and a sign for the waterfront park.  I had no idea about this park previously so we decided to check it out after walking through the town for a while.  Turns out it is a great set of trails that run along the river.  There are a couple of islands with bridges between them connecting everything together to make the park.

Each of the islands has a choice of trails so you don’t have to go out and back but can vary your route.  The ground was a bit icy underfoot in places but generally it was clear and plenty of people were out enjoying the views.  The river is to the south of the park while there are inlets around the islands formed as the water constantly changes the landscape.  There were also signs talking about the history of the area.  A stretch of wooden piles were arrayed out in to the river at what I assume was once a loading pier.  The lumber business was once dominant in the area.

Sunset Dreamlifter

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Scrolling through some shots for something else, I saw these two shots of a Dreamlifter departing Paine Field one evening.  I think I actually posted about that flight on another day but I guess I ignored the view of the jet as it headed in to the distance.  The sky was beginning to develop a nice color and the air was very clear giving a good view of the Cascades mountains in the distance so why not share them now – particularly as it is a time when I am not getting much aviation photography done!

Stairs at Windy Ridge

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Windy Ridge Viewpoint provides a great view of Mt St. Helens and Spirit Lake but you can get higher if you want.  There are some stairs cut into the hillside from the parking lot to take you up to an overlook and another trail.  I figured it was worth a look since I had come all of that way.  The stairs were a bit sketchy in part and, since there was no one for miles around, I decided to take it easy.  The climb was not too bad but I was aware that I was a bit higher than normal as I puffed my way up.  The descent was not much easier to be honest.

The way the steps cut across the hillside made for some good shapes.  The wood that made the sides of the steps also created some nice repeating shapes.  It didn’t always do a good job of keeping in the aggregate that was supposed to be the step surface though!

Janet on a Blustery PNW Day

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Crummy weather and a lack of light is not usually a recipe for heading out to shoot planes.  However, I was up in Everett getting the car serviced and, as I prepared to leave when the work was done, I figured I would have a quick check on what was moving up the road.  Turned out ATS had another Janet 737 out on a test flight.

I have shot the Janet 737s at Paine Field in far better conditions but I figured it was worth a quick diversion before heading home.  The wind was very strong and from the southwest.  As the 737 came down the approach, it was pointing in my direction as it compensated for the crosswind.  A short while before it arrived, we had experienced some nice sun poking through the clouds but, sadly, this had gone by the time it arrived so it was dull lighting.  This somehow made the airframe paint seem a little warmer than I recall previously.

Larrabee State Park

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On our drive up the coast towards Bellingham, we were passing Larrabee State Park.  Apparently, this was the first state park in the state of Washington.  We were only making a brief stop so we didn’t get to explore it too fully but we did follow the trails down to the beach.  The first trail we took brought us down to the water’s edge in a little cove.  A few people were there but it was quite sheltered from the wind and seemed very tranquil.

We then reversed course and heading to another part of the shoreline.  This was far more rocky and exposed and also very attractive.  Standing up on the rocky outcrops looking out to see in the sun as the birds wheeled overhead, I could easily have stayed there for a long time.  We also had a good view across the bay to the opposite shore which had some nice looking houses arrayed along the cliff tops.  Some larger building was further up the coast in a prominent location.  We were heading elsewhere, though, so we walked back up through the park, past the stage area and off on the next leg of the journey.