Video of Overflying A380

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I happened to be out in the parking lot at work when I noticed the approaching contrail of a large jet. Being next to the car, I grabbed the camera with my longest lens and focused on what turned out to be an Emirates A380 heading to California. I grabbed a few shots as it approached but the view through the viewfinder was more interesting as I watched the contrails curl up in the trailing vortices from the wing. The motion of the ice crystals made me think that video was a more appropriate idea. The stabilization of my lens is so good that handholding this video at 800mm was not a problem and the video below is the result.

Rainbows Over the Neighborhood

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With the arrival of fall, we get rain showing up here in the Pacific Northwest.  However, we can also get some sun breaking through at the end of the day – a bit of a feature of Seattle weather. When you combine rain and sun, it’s time for a rainbow. Twice in recent weeks, I looked outside the house late in the afternoon and saw impressive rainbows.  The first time, I just grabbed some shots with my phone and stitched them together afterwards. The second time, I grabbed the main camera and took some better shots although the rainbow might not be quite so impressive.

There is something really cool about a rainbow. I may have seen loads of them over the years but they are still a little exciting!

When the TFR is Suspended, Everyone Moves!

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During Seafair on the Sunday, I was up the tower watching the departing and returning performers. For much of the time, a Temporary Flight Restriction or TFR was in effect which meant that no one was flying in the area other than the performers. There was a part of the schedule in the middle of the afternoon that did not involve the high-performance aircraft and, during this time, the TFR was suspended so aircraft could get in or out of Boeing Field.

It was rush-hour at the airport. The first arrivals showed up and seemed to be diving for the runway. Others had been waiting to get out, so they were firing up and taxiing for departure. We had a steady stream of smaller planes and corporate jets making their moves. I don’t know whether the arriving planes had been holding somewhere or had just timed their arrivals well. Whatever it was, it seemed that everything got moved in or out smoothly before the next fast jet display was on the schedule and the TFR was reintroduced.

Strolling Through Canmore

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Our trip to the Canadian Rockies had us in the area around Banff. However, we had chosen to stay in the town of Canmore – a short distance away from Banff rather than in Banff itself. This proved to be a great decision. I’ll share some thoughts from Banff in another post, but it was a very busy and touristy place. Canmore was not immune to that, but it had a far more comfortable feel to it. We were staying within walking distance of everything in the town so could easily go exploring.

I include a few shots here of the town itself but there will be some more posts that include some specific elements of what we were doing while we were there from where we stayed to the wildlife we encountered. Definitely a nice spot to use as a base. A bit of a drive to get to some of the more famous parts but it worked well for us. Very accessible and plenty of good food options!

DM A-10s Are Gradually Going Away

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For the longest time, there have been efforts by the USAF to drawn down the A-10 force. Various things have held them back from doing this but now there is a pretty concerted effort to retire them. Units are closing down, and it does seem that the aircraft might no longer have a role in the order of battle. There are many fans of the A-10 including me and some will never accept it can be replaced while others will think its time has come. They were produced from the late 70s to the early 80s, so they are definitely old, even if parts of them are a lot newer like the wings.

What we like or think doesn’t matter. They seem to be going away. Consequently, when we were at Davis-Monthan during the Arizona trip, I was pleased to get to shoot a few of the jets working around the pattern there. I know my Harrier experiences this year have shown how wrong you can be about when you will ever see things again, but I figure the number of encounters I shall have with these jets will be limited. Even so, they are continuing to make new developments as Mark found on a follow up visit when he saw a new store mounted on one of the evaluation jets. The A-10 was a favorite of mine in my teens, and it will be a shame when they are all gone.

Boeing’s Contribution to Sunday at Seafair

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The fast jet displays were the stars of the Seafair performances but the home manufacturer, Boeing, also provided a contribution on each day.  On Sunday, that contribution was in the form of the 777X development aircraft, a 777-9.  I was at Boeing Field on this day so got to see the aircraft launch and recover.  An elevated view of an aircraft as large as the 777-9 is most impressive.

Since the plane is so large, I wasn’t going to use a longer lens to shoot it because I would have had way too much lens for the jet as it came by.  Consequently, I was a bit short of lens when the aircraft was on the take off roll and rotating.  Not enough time to change bodies so the compromise was okay.  I still had a decent view of the jet even at 105mm.

The display was a long way away from where we were, but we did get to see the jet as it periodically popped up above the hills.  It looked like they were really throwing the jet around.  I imagine it looked pretty impressive for the crowd down on Lake Washington.  I did stick with a longer lens for the recovery of the aircraft to get a good look at approach and touchdown.  There is something really fun about getting to photograph a large jet like this from close proximity.

Diablo Lake Changes with the Seasons

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As fall heads towards winter, I want to make a trip up to the North Cascades Highway. It won’t be too long before the snow sets in up there and WSDOT stops clearing the road and allows it to be taken over by snow for the winter. A sunny Saturday provided a good chance for a trip, and we stopped off at the overlook for Diablo Lake while we were passing. Previous trips have shown how the color of the water in spring can be really vibrant. The water running off the mountains brings lots of sediment with it. The Skagit River will look quite milky in spring.

At this time of year, the color of the lake has changed noticeably. Similarly, the river looks more normal without the particles suspended within it. The comparison of the lake color from the different seasons is quite dramatic.

Let’s Experiment with Silly Shutter Speeds

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I have mentioned this in previous posts but the frame rate capabilities of my R3s have encouraged me to play around with some more aggressive settings.  When something is a more important subject and not something I want to risk failing to get, I will be more cautious but there are plenty of other planes that I wouldn’t otherwise care about that provide a good subject to be a bit more ridiculous with.  I was going down to 1/50th of a second shutter speed.  With this, I would go to the 30fps setting on the frame rate or even, occasionally, the 194fps setting just to see what might yield a sharp shot.  The parallax issues are going to be an issue at this shutter speed but when you are directly abeam, you can get a good outcome.  Here are some of the results from experimenting.

A Town Full of Bridges

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A town on a river means there are likely to be lots of bridges. We’ve lived in London and Chicago, and both were not short of a bridge or two. Spokane seems to have done well in the bridge standings too. There are the large structures carrying the roads across the river and then smaller footbridges including suspension structures. As we walked along the river, we got to see a lot of different bridges and tried out a few of them too.

Heavy Departures from SEA

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I have had plenty of chances to shoot the departures from SEA when they are on a northerly flow and the afternoon light provides a good option for the jets.  Previously, I have used the 500mm since it gives good reach but, for the larger jets, as you get the jet abeam your position, it will be too large for 500mm.  The arrival of my 200-800 provided a great new option.  800mm provided a tighter view on the jets after rotation (provided the heat haze is not negating any focal length benefit) and the ability to zoom out means that you can keep the aircraft fully framed throughout the climb out.  I took the lens down when I first had an open afternoon and the right conditions and here are some of the results.  As fall moves towards winter and the heat haze and high sun become less of an issue, this combo should get even better.