Category Archives: Travel

Oakland tree lights

Downtown Oakland is an interesting combination of old buildings and newer structures. It has some appealing parts and some that are a little less attractive. However, one thing did catch my eye once I had checked in to my hotel. A neighboring building had decorated a tree in its grounds with some great lights. These lights had a rippling effect which looked really great. Video is the only way to give an impression of this so here is a clip to explain what I mean.

Natomas Evil Sky

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You are always supposed to have a camera with you so you can be ready when the shot presents itself. Sadly, there have been far too many times when I have failed in that regard and this blog has plenty of entries describing exactly that. However, in this case, I was actually prepared. The view out of the office window was suddenly filled with some very ominous clouds. This would have been good on its own but the sun was still on the shops that are next to the office. The contrast was pretty dramatic and made the clouds look even more impressive. We even had some birds flying through the scene that caught the light too!

Oakland Skyline

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There are many cities that you might be interested in checking out when looking for a skyline shot. However, I suspect that Oakland is not the first that would spring to mind. However, some work commitments meant that I found myself in Oakland recently and I was staying in a hotel that had a reasonable view across the city. My floor was pretty low but the elevator lobby had a good angle so I figured a trip to the upper floors might be worthwhile. Facing towards the bay means that the morning light is behind you.

The result was actually not too bad. True, a view across a container port is not quite as impressive as some city skylines, but I thought it was actually quite impressive. You can judge for yourself.

Blowhole

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Further north from Dragon’s Teeth you round the northern tip of the island. Here the coastline is very rocky and dramatic. While there are visitors, it seems that a lot less people come this far around the coast. However, there is something to bring up the visitors and that is a blowhole. You can stand higher up on the cliffs and watch the blowhole do its thing or you can walk further down.

A few people did get closer in but I decided to stay further out. With the violence of the waves crashing up on the shore and the occasional eruption from the blowhole plus the wind buffeting you, the senses were getting plenty to work with. Getting dragged in by the water was not necessary for me to enhance the experience!

Shuttle Memories

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A New Year often gives you a moment to reflect on things from the previous year. One of the things I wished to see this year but didn’t was the delivery of the shuttles to their final homes in museums. It didn’t work out and that is done. However, I did get to see a shuttle launch once during the program and that happened before I started blogging so I decided to have a post that maybe gets counted as an archive outing (or is that lack of recent shots means I have to go back and get old stuff?).

Anyway, here are some shots from the launch of Atlantis on STS-129 in November 2009. This was a trip that could have ended up going sadly wrong but in the end it was a great success. We had planned to make a trip to see a launch for a while and this one was one we had picked out for various reasons. However, we failed in our first effort to get tickets for the causeway which was where I wanted to be to be as close as possible. When we couldn’t get that, we decided instead to get tickets for the visitor center since it would still be a good place to see things.

We planned a few days in Florida with the launch on the first full day there. The idea was that we would have some margin if the launch got delayed (as they often did). Unfortunately, NASA were one step ahead of us and moved the launch after we had made out travel arrangements. They moved the launch to the last day we were due to be there. This made it a one shot deal. Once we were down there, we had a few days to look around. While out wandering around Celebration, I got a call from a good friend of mine. He didn’t know where we were but, when I told him, he said he knew a retired astronaut who might be able to help us out.

I have to admit I thought this was a long shot. An hour later, he calls back and tells us we are on a VIP bus. We have to go to KSC the next day and they will have our information and sort us out. I was stunned. Needless to say, we went to KSC the next day. Initially, they didn’t know who we were but they did eventually sort it all out and we were now on a better plan than we could have envisioned. We even got premium parking! Come the day of the launch we headed out early – no point in being late for something like this.

The atmosphere at the visitors center where we had to go first was excellent. There were loads of people there and everyone was excited. It was like being at a fair. When the time came, we loaded up on the buses and went to Banana Creek. This is just past the Vehicle Assembly Building. Moreover, you are looking across water the whole way so, while you are slightly further away than the press area at the VAB, you don’t have much heat haze – a big deal when shooting over three miles in Florida! This area was really busy as well and this group was probably even more excited than the crowd at the visitor center. There were a really nice bunch of people around us and the time zipped by.

Finally it was time for the launch. It all happened very quickly. Suddenly the countdown was approaching zero and then it happened. A spectacular sight. I shot a ton of shots but I did remember to just look and be impressed by it all. My abiding memory was how orange the flame was. It is so bright that it blows out in all images but when you see it you realize it is very orange. Look at the color of the clouds around and you will get an idea of the true color since they reflect it in a very toned down way.

Within a couple of minutes the boosters had separated and it was gone. We were all hurried back onto the buses since the exhaust plume apparently contains some quite unpleasant chemicals. Then it was all over. It was so sudden and no instant replay! Then it was time to hang around since the traffic out was going to be horrendous (it was even much later). A great experience and one I am always glad I did.

Dragon’s Teeth

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Head north from Lahaina on Maui and you come to a headland that is an interesting formation. The way the rock was formed and has since eroded has created some curved shapes that seem to bend over backwards. The area is known as Dragon’s Teeth and the formations certainly do resemble some evil gnashers! The area was supposed to have been redeveloped but discovery of some historic remains resulted in the hotel being moved further back up the hill. A lucky break for those of us that get to visit, even if we do have to walk through a golf course to get there.

Olmsted Point

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One part of Yosemite that I have not previously explored is the Tioga Pass Road. It has either been out of my way or closed for the winter during previous visits but this time I decided to take the drive across to end up at Mono Lake. The route takes you to Olmsted Point. This is only a couple of miles from my starting point in Yosemite Valley but the direct route is not available to cars so an hour’s drive is the alternative.

Olmsted Point itself is a pretty bleak and exposed place. The view across to Yosemite Valley is good (and would probably be a lot better at a different time of day to my visit)and you can see a lot from the parking lot. It is only a short walk to a better spot but most people don’t bother walking down. The rocky outcrop is very bright and on a sunny day the light is quite harsh. However, you do get a view of everything around you which makes it worth doing.

What a Tree!

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The banyan tree is a pretty amazing form of life. The way the branches drop to the ground and form new roots (at least that is what it looks like they do) is pretty amazing. The town of Lahaina has a banyan tree that is amazing, even by banyan tree standards. It seems to have taken over a whole square in the town. We were there while an art fair was on display under its branches. Everyone could be well spread out and still under the tree.

I took a few pictures of it but also took a panorama shot with an app on my phone which I discussed previously here. The resulting pano is below.

Patterns of the fields

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One of the things about flying across the country a lot is that you get to see a variety of scenery. Sometimes there are wide open spaces with not much to see. Other times there are mountains and valleys. The unfortunate thing is that it is rather hard to get good photographs. First there is the limitation of shooting through windows. I always aim to be on the side of the plane away from the sun –partly out of comfort and partly for photography reasons – but having a window that is not optically perfect and then a piece of protective Perspex inside that means that reflections and distortions are a problem. Since the windows are not uniform, you can end up with some parts of the image sharp and others not. The autofocus can also struggle sometimes.

Even after all of that, you still have a problem with exposure. You are quite a long way away from whatever you are shooting (shooting straight down is impractical given the window angles and how bad the optical properties become if angling across the window) so you have a lot of atmosphere to deal with and haze becomes a problem. A certain amount of compensation is possible in post processing but it is always annoying that the shot does not look like the image you thought you saw at the time.

However, sometimes you just have to suck it up since you are seeing something that you otherwise would never see. One thing that struck me on a recent flight was the patterns on the ground. The fields had been harvested relatively recently and the harvesting had left different fields with different effects making some great patterns on the ground. You would see these but, since you are moving along at a fair old clip, you had a short while to see what you wanted and make the shot before you had passed the point of the best composition.

If only these would look as good as they did to me when I was there. Oh well, hopefully you will get some idea of what I was impressed by, even if the shots themselves are not impressive.

The Desert Side of Maui

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While the northeast side of Maui is well traveled by visitors and is quite lush, the opposite side of the island is the polar opposite. Since the prevailing wind brings the moist air from the northeast and the rising land results in that moisture being dumped on the land, once the air continues on across the island it is denuded of water and drops to lower altitudes. Consequently, there is very little rainfall on this side of the island. The landscape is more like a desert and, while very different, is quite striking.

The other aspect of this side of the island is that it is lightly populated and little traversed. There is a discontinuity in the road around the island so it is not a finished road for a few miles. The condition of the road is often made to sound far worse than it is so many tourists get to Hana and then turn back. We were intent on continuing on the full way having heard the road was not a problem and, more importantly, being aware of how twisting the road back from Hana was and that more and more cars would be coming the other way as the day wore on.

The trip around was not terribly difficult and the condition of the road soon improved to be something very good and quite fast. As we rose above the water, the views continued to be stunning. This is a great part of the island and one that more people should experience.