Category Archives: Travel

Rebuilding With a Shell

We spent a long weekend in Victoria BC recently. A block from our hotel was an old building undergoing a complete rebuild. This is something that I have seen done a lot in London and I like the idea. Rather than flatten the building, the exterior structure is retained. The interior is completely removed and a new building is created within. This allows the city to maintain the look and feel of the old buildings with the authentic finishes while providing a modern building interior that will continue to be useful for current needs. The structure to hold up the exterior while work is underway is impressive on its own. I look forward to seeing what the finished building is like on some future visit.

Rotunda

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The provincial legilsature’s parliament building in Victoria is open to the public. The large dome, visible from outside, covers a rotunda beneath. You can see up from the first floor through an opening and then the second floor has a wider space under the dome. This area was filled by a tour party while we were there and they seemed to take an inordinately long time to move on. The process was extended as the tour guide told their stories and this was then translated for the benefit of the group. The only reason I mention it is that it meant I struggled to get a shot without some of them in it!

If we had hung around the party, we would, no doubt, have learned a lot of the symbolism of the artwork included in the building. It appeared to be a lot of the work that had been involved in developing British Columbia but I could be wrong. Directly under the rotunda was a boat that had been carved by a previous Premier and a First Nations representative. It was a neat piece of carving but I felt it could have been displayed in a way that would have shown off the work better.

Parliament From the Outside By Day and Night

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Victoria is the capital of British Columbia and so is home of the provincial legislative assembly. The building has all of the style and grandeur of a building of its era and it looks pretty impressive. Getting shots of it during the day was a bit problematic. The conditions were pretty overcast most of the time we were there and a grey stone building on a cloudy day lacks pop. Add to that a problem created by some building work meaning brightly colored fencing and equipment was in position for some of the better angles and things were a challenge.

Once the sun went down, though, things took a different turn. The building has an extensive collection of lights arrayed across it and, as the ambient light dims, the artificial light is ramped up. The lights come on before it is fully dark and they look pretty neat with the remains of the daylight still in play. Once it is fully dark then the view becomes a bit simpler with no depth to the structure to see but with that many lights, it is now just a drama of light. The views from many angles are slightly obscured but I did like the view across the harbor from one of the bridges quite a lot.

Yakutia Before the Ban

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Yakutia is a Russian airline that has had a few problems recently and has been banned by the Russian authorities from some services until it can sort out its problems. Consequently, I am more pleased than I might otherwise be that I caught this Sukhoi Superjet at Narita in their colors as I might not get the chance again. We shall see if they get straightened out or whether some larger airline takes over their operations.

Fisherman’s Wharf in Victoria

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While in Victoria we walked along the shoreline of the harbor and made our way to Fisherman’s Wharf. This are is a mix of houseboats, tour boats and commercial boats. It is clearly a real commercial port at one end but the houseboat end is a different story. The houseboats are real houses. The residents were in evidence while we were there but there is plenty of stuff for the tourists too. The houseboats are painted in a variety of striking colors and on a sunny day it looked pretty nice. The houseboats were quite small and I wonder whether they are a fun place to live, a bit inconvenient or a pain given the people wandering around every day.

Plenty of 200ERs But the 300ERs Avoid Me

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While I enjoyed my visit to Haneda earlier this year, I was a little frustrated by one thing. Regular readers will know of my interest in trying to capture the articulated gear feature of the 777-300ER. Haneda provided a great opportunity to photograph this as the departing planes were rotating almost directly in front of me. It is also an airport that gets plenty of 777s. Unfortunately, all of the ones that came my way were 200ERs. There were 300ERs departing too but they all went off the parallel runway on the opposite side of the terminal to me. I could only see them once airborne and backlit. Someone in air traffic must have been trying to thwart me!

More New Airlines for Me

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My second trip to Japan of the year provided an opportunity to see more airlines that I don’t normally come across. I had a few hours at Narita waiting for my flight home and these shots are some of those I was not too familiar with. No details here about the airlines. Just a gratuitous posting of airliner shots.

Tampa Prime Freighters

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I had a short wait at Tampa for a flight home after a work trip. The gate I was waiting at did not have a lot of traffic nearby. Indeed, judging by the total lack of lines at security, maybe none of the gates at Tampa have a lot of traffic! The view from our gate was towards a cargo ramp and there were two 767 freighters loading up. They both finished loading and taxied off while I was there. One was in Amazon Prime colors but the other was unmarked. However, a quick search tells me it is also a Prime jet but I guess they haven’t got around to painting it yet.

A Little SoCal Shoot As I Head Home

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Half an hour of spare time on my way back to John Wayne Airport so I figured a quick shoot of approaches was worth a shot. It wasn’t going to be the most productive of shoots but why waste an opportunity. There were some regional jets and some airliners while I was there but also a few biz jets showed up. The sun was getting lower so the light was a bit more appealing. Even so, just a few stock shots for possible future use. Two Alaska Embraers came in but they were from different operators, Skywest and Horizon. I know someone who has a preference there (David).

DFW

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Returning from a work trip to Dallas, I was flying out of DFW. I got to the airport in plenty of time so, with a bit of time to kill, I decided to take a ride on the train that runs between the terminals. It makes a loop of the whole airport in both directions. I decided to see what you could see from the train and did a whole loop of the airport.

First, it is not a great photo platform. Aside from shooting through the windows (which were actually not that bad), the stations are not well located for viewing the ramps and, when it has a clearer view, it is moving at speed and is a pretty unsteady base for shooting. There are always reflections too, of course.

DFW is an American hub and that is pretty obvious as you head around the terminals. No shortage of American jets including a few remaining MD-80s and one of the special scheme jets too. The longer view across the gates with the multiple fins was a shot you could get at a number of places. It wasn’t just American though. Obviously other airlines use the airport. It happened that a British Airways 747-400 had pushed as we got there and the train runs around the perimeter of that ramp so we saw it from almost all sides.

If you have a bit of spare time while waiting for a flight at DFW, I would definitely take a ride around the terminals. It is a lot more interesting than sitting waiting at a gate and the food options weren’t great either so take a ride and see what is going on and where people are going to and coming from.