My Renton visit also produced a P-8A Poseidon. I have seen plenty of them over the years but this one caught my eye because it is the fourth airframe for the UK’s Royal Air Force. Sitting on the ramp on a sunny day with heat haze is not ideal but it was still worth a shot since, once it gets delivered, I am unlikely to get much of a chance to see it again.
We have plenty of hummingbirds visiting our back yard. They may look different depending on the angle the light hits their feathers but up until recently I had thought that they were all the same species – the Anna’s hummingbird. Then we got a visitor that seemed different. First, instead of having a grey look to the feathers, it was a lot more brown. The other difference was the sound of the wingbeats. Instead of the whirring noise we were used to, this one had a higher pitched sound almost like a click as the wings were hitting each other. It sounded quite distinctive. I trip to my big book of birds suggests that these may be Rufous hummingbirds. For the birders amongst you, I hope you will advise if I am mistaken.
The Amazon Prime fleet of 767s has grown to be pretty huge. Initially, I was excited to see one out and about but now they are like Southwest 737s! However, the new addition to the fleet is the 737-800. A bunch of them have been showing up and, prior to delivery to Sun Country that will be operating them, they have been coming through Everett, presumably for some final work at ATS. Sadly, I haven’t been able to get up there to see them.
I did get one of them head past the house, though. It was departing for Minneapolis and its routing took it close to us. Not as close as I would have liked but enough for a heavy crop with a long lens. Not ideal conditions for sure. In the same way the 767s are now ubiquitous, these will no doubt be before to long. However, this was my first encounter. Maybe next time I will be a bit closer – even if it does mean moving away from my driveway!
With the limited options to go anywhere, you would think that any photo opportunity would immediately pique my interest. The arrival of a comet in the night sky would seem to be just the sort of thing I would have a go at. However, it took me a little while to get tuned in to the idea of seeing this comet. I had been out of the house one evening and, when I got back, I saw a video about the comet on YouTube. With it getting dark, I figured I would try and check it out. We had a run of very clear skies so this seemed like the ideal opportunity.
The problem was where to see it. The comet was relatively low in the sky and I needed to get a bit higher up. Plenty of hills around here so I headed out in the car. However, we also have a lot of trees and I failed to find a good spot. I also think I hadn’t let it get dark enough in hindsight. It did get me thinking about it a bit more though and I decided I should go to the shore since the view would not be obstructed. Mukilteo seemed like a good option. Apparently, I was not the only one to think so!
I got to Mukilteo at about 10pm to give my self time to get sorted out. The parking lot was surprisingly full. It certainly wasn’t crowded but there were a lot of people there. I got set up once the comet started to be visible. There is a path along the shore with some grass behind it and I set up on the grass. What I didn’t know about was the night sprinkler system. I found out when it switched on! I only had to move a short distance to stay dry, though. Then I was free to shoot the comet. I did try a shot with the ferry crossing underneath but the ferry moves a surprisingly long way in a short exposure time.
Another jump back to just before things got locked down and a visit to Log Boom Park in Kenmore. I was hoping for either some interesting wildlife or some Kenmore Air activities. The only floatplanes I ended up with were a couple of Cessnas. However, the light was nice and the evening was calm so this actually proved to be a good alternative. They may not be as neat as a de Havilland Canada beast but they are still fun to shoot.
Prior to travel without a good reason being unacceptable, we took a trip to Gig Harbor for lunch. Nancy had seen something about it so we decided to head over and get something to eat prior to walking around the town a little. I hadn’t even thought to take a camera along but it was really a rather scenic setting. Therefore, the phone had to do duty in getting some photos. It was lovely when we got there and the view across the harbor was great. Of course, by the time we had finished lunch, things had clouded over a little. Still, things looked pretty nice by the water. The restaurant was very good so a return visit will be in order when we get back to doing such things.
No great story with this one. I was at SeaTac for a different arrival on the outer runway. A FedEx MD-11F was making an approach to the inner runway while I was waiting. It provides a good alignment with Mt Rainier in the background so I figured it was a shot worth taking and I was pleased with how it turned out. Given how little I have photographed recently, a shot like this from before everything got locked down suddenly seemed like something to share!
Our January visit to San Francisco included a visit to the park above the Transbay Transit Center. We did walk down through the Center itself while we were there. It was a weekend and therefore pretty quiet. From the park, you can see the glass dome over the center below. We peered in while we were up there prior to heading downstairs. We also saw a pretty interesting cable stayed bridge that brings a roadway in for the buses to arrive and depart.
Inside, the use of the glass domes makes for a pretty airy feeling space. When no one is around, it all feels pretty relaxing. I imagine during rush hour (or what was rush hour before we stopped going to work) it would be a bit less relaxed and rather more urgent!
When I first started going to air shows, the Phantom was everywhere. The USAF was already well into the process of removing them from front line work and introducing the F-16s instead but there were still some in service. Other air forces still had them in some numbers. For this post I figured I would dig through whatever shots I could find of them to share. Some are more recent including some from the USAF target program and others are a little older. Enjoy.
Sitting on the pier at Log Boom Park in Kenmore gives me a plentiful supply of things to photograph. This guy was out on what I can only assume is a powered surfboard of some sort. I couldn’t work out what powered it exactly but he seemed to have a hand controller to manage his speed. He was happily cruising around the north end of Lake Washington. For those of you that are surfers, is this a good alternative when you can’t access good surf or is such a thing heretical in your eyes?
