Big Container Ship Making Waves

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Tacoma is one of the largest container ports on the west coast.  It gets a lot of big container ship traffic and, at some point, I intend to explore the port a little more to see if there are any interesting photo opportunities.  While waiting around at Ruston, I saw a large ship heading down the sound towards the harbor.  It seemed to be making good speed considering how close it was to its destination.  They say it takes a long time to stop big ships but I guess they still had a decent distance to go and plenty of time to slow down.  As it headed towards me, I was taken by the wake it was creating as it plowed forward.  It turned to enter the harbor so I got a last look at it as it disappeared behind the marina wall.

A Pair of New 737s in Nice Light

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With Max flight activity pretty much back to normal at BFI, there is no shortage of opportunities to shoot the jets on the approach.  However, since it is now mid summer, the lighting is going to be pretty harsh most of the time.  A little later in the day, though, and the light can be improved.  I have also taken to using the polarizer to cut down on the harsher glare which is boosting the vibrancy of the shots.  I got two of the jets during one visit.

One of them was a Ryanair Max 8-200.  This is a special configuration that Ryanair has ordered that has an extra reader fuselage exit added to the -8 fuselage to allow the seat count to be increased.  This jet turned out to be the first one to be delivered to the airline shortly after this was taken.  The other was an Oman Air jet.  Nice colors for the livery of this airline which were enhanced with the lower light angle and the polarizer.  Sure, 737s are incredibly common but sometimes it can still be nice to shoot them.

Heron Fast Food Joint

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I walked out on to the jetty at Olga to look back at the shoreline.  A short distance around the shore was an inlet which had about a dozen herons fishing within it.  They were constantly stalking through the shallows and grabbing at fish as they passed by.  With so many of them there, it must be a productive place to hunt.  A heron drive through (or should that be fly through?).

Competitor Dreamliners

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I took this shot at Haneda Airport in Tokyo.  The 787 has sold well with the Japanese carriers – my trip to Tokyo was on a JAL 787-8 and ANA was the launch operator – and with these two airlines competing strongly for the Japanese market, it seemed slightly appropriate that they should both be in this single shot.

Goats

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I shared some shots of lambs from Maltby Farm quite a while back.  The lambs weren’t the only creatures that got a lot of attention from the visitors.  There was an enclosure with a lot of goats.  Goats are curious creatures to look at.  They have a look that I guess is not very appealing since the goats head seems to have a lot of diabolical associations.  Not sure why but they can be a bit creepy.

Smaller goats have a cuter look like a lot of smaller versions of large animals do.  They do seem to like standing on precarious things.  There were some wooden structures for them to walk along and one of the goats came up behind another that wasn’t moving.  It was a small diversion to drop down to the ground and go around but, instead, it just stood behind the first goat waiting until it finally moved.  Maybe it is like a game you play as a kid (pun intended) where you won’t step on the cracks in the ground.

Finally I Get The NEO

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I complained recently about my lack of luck when shooting the A330NEOs that Delta operates out of SEA.  I finally got some better light on them.  I was out for the Aloha Air Cargo 767 which was coming in just after sunrise.  About half an hour later, Delta had a NEO coming in from Honolulu so I hung around.  The light changed a lot in that half hour with the super warm light getting a little subdued as the sun came up but it was still by far the best light I have had on one of these jets.  Thankfully it came in on the inner runway so no shooting it in the distance!

Rescue Boat Drills for WSF

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On our most recent trip to Orcas, we had an unusual experience during the ferry crossing to the islands.  The crew announced that there would be a rescue boat drill and that we weren’t to worry or do anything.  The ferry came to a halt in the open water and the crew manned up the RIB.  Fortunately, the RIB they were using was the one mounted on the side of the ferry we were parked on so I was able to lean out through the opening of the car deck and watch the launch.

Two crew members got in the boat and then the davit was swung out and the boat lowered to the surface.  They got the motor going, let out the lines and zipped off in to the distance.  I figured they would shortly be back but they seemed to go quite a way off and then disappear from view.  Instead, the ferry powered up and continued on its way.

As we got closer to our first stop at Lopez, we caught up with the RIB and, after bringing the ferry to a stop again, the process was reversed and the boat was brought back on board before we resumed our normal crossing.  Reading the Washington State Ferries news emails, it appears that rescues are a pretty regular feature with the ferries picking up various water users that have got themselves in to trouble.  Good that they keep well practiced!

Malibu Downwind Fast

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A Piper Malibu was launching out of Boeing Field last year.  Things were quite busy and the tower asked them to make an early turn downwind once airborne.  They clearly took them at their word because they barely seemed to be off the ground before yanking it in to a tight turn to the north.  I doubt they even passed the tower!  They were only going a short distance and were due back about fifteen minutes later so I guess they know the area well.

A Pair of Alpines

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If you follow Formula One, you will have seen that the Renault team recently changed their name to Alpine.  This is an old brand that has recently been reintroduced by the company.  I popped down to Exotics@RTC recently to see what was showing up and came across a pair of Alpines of differing vintages.  One was a new one to me but the younger example did seem rather familiar.  I guess I must have seen them in the UK when I was younger.

A few people were hanging around them but I thought they weren’t getting the attention that they deserved.  Exotics@RTC has a never ending supply of McLarens, Ferraris, Porsches and Lambos but these were something that definitely deserved the title exotic.

Polarizing the Overfliers

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I was in a location where a couple of the departures from SEA were overflying me.  I happened to have the camera to hand (of course I did) and I had the polarizer on there at the time.  I had an Alaska Airlines 737 (what a shock from SEA) and a Hawaiian Airlines A330.  I grabbed a few shots.  The thing I like about the polarizer is cutting down on the glare from the white fuselages but they were still pretty bright.  The rest of the sky was darkened considerably and, when editing to address the white fuselages, even more dark.  I quite like the deep and moody look it gives to the shots with very little editing involved.  Both jets pulled some vapor as they came through the same area so clearly there was extra moisture in that one spot.  Maybe it was a thermal?