The Kingfishers Stop Being Shy For A Change

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There are some kingfishers that live around Juanita Bay but I have never previously been even remotely close to them.  They seemed to live around the outlet of the creek and head straight out into the bay so they were but a speck from where I was.  However, for some reason, a pair of them were out and about.  When I was on one pier, one flew right past me and I was too slow to realize what it was.  However, luck was on my side.

It was heading for another one over the other side of the inlet and they then started spiraling around before heading back towards me and then straight overhead.  I was lucky enough to get a few shots of them as they went by.  I headed around the inlet later on and they were flying again.  This time one landed on the deck where I had previously been.  No doubt, that wouldn’t have happened if anyone had still been there but it was funny to see.

Stratolaunch

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There are many ways in which the largest aircraft in the world might be defined.  It cam be dimensional and it can be by weight.  Depending on which you choose to use, the Stratolaunch aircraft can probably qualify for one of them.  A project that was started under the oversight of Paul Allen and, for which the future suddenly looked bleak when he died.  However, it has continued and now seems to have a possible future.

I was hoping that it might make a flight for the Edwards show.  On the Friday, the jet was out taxiing at Mojave.  I missed it being out on the runway but I could see it moving as I drove north.  Consequently, I made a quick detour to see what I could see.  It was being brought back to their ramp when I got there.  The airport security were kind but firm about not hanging around so when they arrived shortly after I did, I left as requested.  Fortunately, I had already had a brief opportunity to take some photos of it.  I understand it flew a few days later carrying the launch vehicle (probably a mass and aero simulator) on a test flight.  We shall see if it progresses to launches before too long.

Georgetown Steam Plant Visit

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Near the north end of Boeing Field is the old Georgetown Steam Plant.  This is an old power station that was decommissioned decades ago.  I had been curious to see what it was like inside.  I had thought about going a while back and then the pandemic put paid to any visits for a couple of years.  The opening hours have now been established and they open on the second Saturday of each month.  That proved problematic for a while as that clashed with travels or other plans.  Consequently, I put the first opening in my calendar and tried my best to make sure I could go.

The Saturday came around and it was a gloriously sunny day.  This shouldn’t matter much since I was going to be indoors but it does make for a nicer day to be out anyway.  It was due to open at 10am so I decided to get there right at the beginning.  Turned out this was a good idea.  The parking lot was already looking pretty full and more were arriving.  I have no idea why it was so busy.  Sure, a nice day encourages people to go out but how many people see a sunny day and think “let’s go to a decommissioned power plant”?  I asked a docent whether this was normal.  He said they normally get about 30 people over the day and they had four tours of 50 people booked plus those, like me, that didn’t take the tour!

The power plant was built at the beginning of the 20th century.  It had three steam turbines of different vintages, powers and technologies.  The first two are vertical and the third horizontal.  These are fed from a large boiler room.  There are balconies with the control electronics which you can see but are not yet accessible.  I was happy to let the tours concentrate people in various locations which meant it was quieter wherever they weren’t so I could wander around casually.

I had figured wide angle was going to be my friend in the building so had a wide zoom and a fisheye zoom with me.  I used the fish a little initially but soon concluded it wasn’t that useful to me so I swapped it out with the 70-200 to allow me to get some detail shots of the machinery.  Older machinery has a lot of character with polished metals, complex mechanisms and multiple gauges.  It is a great look in to a bygone era.

These shots are few of the overall layout of the building.  There are some details from within the plant that will have their own posts to come so I can focus on them.  I don’t want to try and squeeze it all in to one post and lose some of the curious elements in the larger story.

Vision Head On

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I was hanging out at Arlington with my buddy Bob.  A variety of aircraft were flying that day but the conditions were not ideal.  We were there for something else but that is the topic for another post.  We had gone to the north end of the field where a path crosses under the centerline.  Some Eagle Flights were taking place that day and one of the planes providing them was a Cirrus SF50 Vision.  It took off while we were up there so we got some head on shots of it.  A grey jet on a cloudy day is not ideal so, rather than getting the regular side on shots, a head on view was actually a better outcome.

A Brewery Close To My Heart

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When we lived in the UK, there were plenty of good local breweries producing bitter that I could sample.  Some of the larger brands would have national reach and one of those was Wadworth and their 6X bitter.  I am very partial to this beer.  I have had occasion when I have had a bad 6X but that is down to pubs that don’t keep their beer well.  Wadworth is based in Devizes and this was where we went to see the Caen Hill Locks.  It would have been churlish not to pay a brief visit to the brewery.  It is alongside the main road through the town so getting a clean shot of it took some patience but I was successful.  I think went to the gift shop because how could I not?

Rotor One Goes To Test The Viz

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The Bolt Creek fire brought a load of helicopters in to fight the fire and they were based at Harvey Field in Snohomish.  A while after I got there that weekend, one of the UH-1s fired up.  This was Rotor One, a county operated helicopter.  It took off and turned over me before heading east.  It turns out it was looking to see how the conditions were.  Visibility looked awful and, judging by whatever Rotor One reported, that was the case everywhere.  None of the other helicopters ever got moving.  The conditions were just too bad.

Focus Stacking – Photoshop Versus Helicon

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I have played around with focus stacking a lot in recent years.  Having a macro lens and a pandemic has given me plenty to opportunity to try stuff out.  I was reading something along about stacking and it mentioned software call Helicon which is said was the standard for stacking software.  I have been using Photoshop to date and, while it does a pretty good job, you do get some odd artifacts sometimes.  I decided to download a trial of Helicon and see how it does.

I waited to use the trial until I had a bit of time available.  The trial last 30 days but I wanted to make good use of it.  Once I had installed it, I went through all of my focus stacks and ran through the software.  It has a Lightroom plugin which made it easy enough to use.  I found it was not so happy with some of my handheld stacks where alignment became an issue.  Photoshop coped with that well.  For the better planned shots, it worked a lot better.  Overall, it seemed to do pretty well.

However, there was something that it struggled with.  I had been playing with some shots of a memory card holder that I had shot when I had nothing better to do.  Photoshop stacked them without any problem.  The shots were in color but everything was either black or white.  When Helicon tried stacking them, it introduced some strange purple coloration.  I have no idea why it did this.  It was almost like a chromatic aberration filter in reverse.  I suspect there is a way to understand the more detailed settings and fix this but it was a weird outcome.  Since I want something simple that basically works, this made me decide that buying the full version wasn’t worth it.  I have already paid for Photoshop so I shall stick with that.

My First Super Hornet Blues Display

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Seafair provided me with my first opportunity to shoot the Blue Angels during a display since they transitioned to the Super Hornet.  I was interested to see whether the display seemed any different with the new jets.  Seafair is a nice location over Lake Washington but the alignment of the display box relative to the shore of the lake is not ideal and this does result in the planes being further away than for most venues.  The increased size of the Super Hornet is probably a benefit in this situation.

I was interested whether the larger jets would make things seem a bit slower somehow but I didn’t notice anything in practice to support that idea.  The normal tight flying that the Blues are famous for was there and, if anything, the bigger jets look closer as a result of the changed perspective.  It is not that big a deal, though, so I suspect some of this was in my imagination.  I would like to see them at a different location where the display axis is closer in order to get another view of the display, though.

Aside from watching the display at Lake Washington, I did also Watch them depart and return from Boeing Field.  They always departed to the north and returned from the north even if everything else had been landing from the south.  I spent one arrival down at the south end and watched then run the length of the runway and break for landing.  It was a good spot to watch this from.  Overall, I was happy with the new look for the team.  I hope the jets hold up well.  The Blues have a reputation of having to live with some of the oldest jets in the fleet and reliability will be something to watch.

Cars in Kings Cross

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Our walk along the Regents Canal took us to Kings Cross and, when we got there, plenty of people were out enjoying the sunny Saturday.  This included a bunch of car enthusiasts that had brought a variety of vehicles.  These were not the sort of thing I see at Exotics@RTC.  This was more a focus on enthusiasts for older vehicles that they have restored with much love.  Old vehicles from my childhood were all over the place.  I liked lots of them but the Bond Bug was a particular favorite.  I had quite forgotten about this type of car until I saw it here.

Super Puma On The Doorstep

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I made a kit of an RAF Puma when I was a kid and have had a soft spot for the type ever since.  The Super Puma is a capable airframe that has had a few problems over the years but is still very impressive.  If I can see one anytime, I will try to do so.  The good news is that one has shown up at Arlington.  It was parked outside a hangar without rotors when I saw it and got some shots.  It has since moved indoors and I assume it is being fitted out for operations.  If so, I can’t wait to see it in action.