Seven Gables Inn

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Monterey Bay is an area that we have visited many times but we have always made it a day trip.  With the area shortly to be a lot less accessible to us, we decided to have a weekend down there so we could relax and enjoy the area without having to think about getting in the car for a drive back.  Nancy looked at various places to stay and she picked the Seven Gables Inn.  Located in Pacific Grove, it sits right on the shore road.  We have driven and walked by many times but this time we stayed.

The hotel has a great location.  They have a lounge area with views over the bay that you can relax in with wine and cheese in the evenings.  Meanwhile, the breakfast room has a panoramic view out over the water.  Sitting eating your breakfast while looking out at the bay is very tranquil.  The original building is a Victorian structure while additions have been made to expand things over the years.  It proved to be a great base for our weekend away.

Typhoons are Back in Town

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The Royal Air Force was back at Red Flag and the Typhoons were a big part of what they brought.  It’s always nice to see Typhoons up and about but, sadly, the RAF has adopted an approach of combining the squadron jets into a maintenance pool.  This means that they don’t carry individual squadron colors.  A couple off the jets still had markings – one from 6 Squadron and one from 41 Squadron – but, sadly, the rest of the jets were all plain gray.  Nothing colorful about them at all.  We did get some nice winter light to photograph them in but even that is not going to make them look that great.

Hangar 1 on a Misty Morning

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When I am on a shoot, the main focus is on the subject that you are there for.  However, I have rarely had a shoot when I didn’t get some pictures of something else while I was there.  The problem comes when I am going through the shoot.  I need to get the shots I am going to use selected and edited.  The other shots are put to one side and, it is really easy to forget about them when the next shoot needs to be worked through.

While this is a bit annoying, it does mean that you periodically come across something long afterwards when you are running through images for another reason.  This shot of Hangar 1 at Moffett Field is just such a shot.  I saw the shots while looking for a shot of an IL-76.  I quickly realized that they were shot to be a panorama and had never been tagged as such.  This time I ran it quickly through the pano function and got the shot out.  It was shot early in the morning awaiting the departure of Solar Impulse and I like the misty look in the air.

I’m Glad He’s Waving Because the Alternative…

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I was directly under the flightpath of an HH-60 Pave Hawk as it headed out on a mission.  Looking up at the helo as it passed over, it was possible to see the feet of the crewman/gunner.  What I didn’t realize until I looked at the photos afterwards was that he was waving at me!  I wish I had waved back.  Given the large weapon mounted to the side of the airframe that he uses in action, I am glad that waving is what he chose to do!

Amtrak Over the River

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Having watched a guy walking across a narrow railroad bridge over the Alameda Creek in Fremont as you can read about here, a train was now coming across the bridge.  The train was a Capital Corridor service heading to San Jose.  I am currently working on a project to acquire new locomotives for Caltrans that will see service on the Capital Corridor and will replace borrowed Amtrak locomotives.  This train was being hauled by one of these Amtrak locomotives.  All being well, this will soon no longer be a regular sight.

Puffy Cloud Backdrops

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My personal preference is to shoot planes tight.  I like to see the detail up close and usually strive to get that in my shots.  However, sometimes I remember that there is more to it than that and there is something interesting about the context of the shot.  It doesn’t have to be a detailed shot of the plane.  It can be a wider shot when no one is looking at the plane expecting to see the intricacies of its structure.

Having some nice clouds to play with is an important part of the story.  Going wide when the sky is blue is not really going to add any drama.  However, some nice puffy clouds will certainly be appreciated in this situation.  In this case I was with some friends at O’Hare shortly after a storm had passed through.  Things had cleared up nicely but there was still plenty of evidence in the air of what had been dumping water on us a short while before.

I doubt closer shots would have been much use anyway.  With the amount of moisture in the air and the warmth that was quickly coming back now that the sun was out, heat haze would have destroyed an detail with a longer lens.  Going wider was probably the only option.  It was certainly worth it though.  The texture of the clouds after the storm was there to see and to be emphasized in the shots.  The plane provides a focal point to explore the image from but is not too important itself.  You can’t just do this but, from time to time, it is good to fight your normal style.

Avaya Stadium for a Pre-Season Game

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I was down in San Jose and I ended up getting some lunch next to the Avaya Stadium.  This is the home of the San Jose Earthquakes, a Major League Soccer side.  They were having a pre-season game and a steady stream of people was showing up.  The stands didn’t look like they were filling up to much.  I don’t know whether the Quakes get a good attendance or not or whether being a pre-season game made a difference.  Either way, some of the fans up at the top of the stand were certainly making their presence felt.  I decided to shoot a pano sequence of the stadium for fun.  Blending it proved a little difficult because of the constant movement of vehicles and people in the foreground but most of the odd artifacts will probably not be too obvious.

Lots of “Daves” to See

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If you ask Nancy about a name that I think has good comic potential, it is Dave.  It is not that the name Dave is strange in any way but, if you asked me to name something, my first choice would be Dave.  It has something that just works for being offbeat.  Apparently, I am not alone in this (which will come as a great disappointment to Nancy who will now know I am not alone and will never stop).  The online forum for aerospace, PPRUNE, has apparently decided to call the F-35 Lightning II the Dave.  Tornados are Tonkas, F-16s are Vipers and now F-35s are Daves.  I love it!

Red Flag 17-1 was the first of the Red Flag exercises to which the USAF brought the F-35A.  The Marine Corps had brought the F-35B previously but they tended to go out in pairs.  This time the Air Force took the jets out in significant numbers.  Consequently, I was able to get lots of shots of the jets.  Whether it was groups returning as four ships, individual jets departing or odd Daves in formation with other jets, there were plenty of options.  They also turned in really nicely on approach for the spot I had chosen so some nice close top sides were also possible.

I won’t yet say that I have grown to like the look of the jet but I am certainly starting to thaw.  Since they are all new and spotlessly clean, the colors (is that right given how variations of gray are what we are talking about) really come out nicely in the low light.  There are some nice lines to the jet.  It may be a bit chunky but it doesn’t have the same problems as the F-22 with angles at which it looks positively uncomfortable.  Hopefully, the time will come when the operators are able to move away from the purely gray and adopt some nice colors on the jets.  We shall see.

Holocaust Memorial

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After our trip around the Legion of Honor, we took a stroll around the grounds by the museum.  The majority of the land is taken up with a golf course – a sad use for some great open space in the city – but, as we walked around the sidewalk, there was a sign for a holocaust memorial.  We figured we would take a look.  We were anticipating some sort of plaque or a wall.  We weren’t prepared for what was actually there.

Tucked behind a wall was a sculpture that really made you stop.  A solitary figure stood behind a barbed wire fence while many bodies lay on the ground behind him.  It was striking.  I know I had been anticipating something straightforward so the contrast was marked but, even so, the effect when I first saw the memorial was dramatic.  It really struck you hard.  I hope the pictures provide even a hint of how effective the memorial was.

Before There Were 400s

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The 747-400 has been around for so long now and has sold so well that it is by far the dominant version of the jet in service.  However, before the late 80s, there were previous versions of the 747.  The 100 series through to the 300 series and the SP.  The 400 series is the one you see now but, before the 400 took over, the earlier models were the ones that were everywhere.  Since I wasn’t taking a lot of photos in those days, I have a lot less photos of the earlier models but I do have some.

Pan Am operated the 100 Series jets and I saw them at Heathrow in the 80s.  200 Series freighters were built in some numbers and many are still around or were until relatively recently.  I think the only 300 Series jet I ever photographed was a Saudia example at Heathrow.  These shots are some of the ones I have come across in my time.  With the 400 Series jets now starting to disappear, it is no surprise that these earlier jets are mainly a thing of the past.