Seeing a new airline is always a nice surprise. I had not come across Fiji Airways before but saw a few of their A330s during my time at LAX. Not a bad looking livery given the boring schemes you often see these days.
Sunset photos are pretty ubiquitous. Since everyone has some form of camera with them at all times, if there is a pretty sunset, someone is probably going to get a picture of it. We were sitting in Rich and Julie’s house after a day out when a glance out of the window showed a really lovely sky. I couldn’t resist and headed out to grab a few shots. As my friend, Hayman, would point out, the range of information in a modern raw file makes for a lot of latitude with processing a shot like this. I had a go with HDR too to compare the results but the basic shots seemed to do pretty well and preserve the tones and contrast better.
Despite having gone to LAX many times to shoot and being aware of the Flightpath Learning Center, a museum about LAX located on the south side of the field, I had never been there before. When visiting with Pete, we were a bit more determined to see what it had to offer. Sadly, we got there at about 2:45 and the place closes at 3:00. Even so, we did have a quick look around in the time available. We even got to see a Singapore Airlines A380 depart from 25R as it rotated right outside the windows. Unfortunately, as seems to have been a theme on this trip, I was not carrying a camera.
The docents at the museum were very friendly and explained a little of the history of the collection and I decided I should go back again. The following day, Pete was on the crew for the return to London and I was due to fly back to Oakland. I decided to get everything ready ahead of returning my rental car and then go to Flightpath to spend some time prior to the trip home.
They have a DC-3 out in front of the museum which you can go inside. It is configured as a corporate transport for Union Oil and looks pretty neat. You can also stand outside their building under supervision and shoot the arrivals and departures. The location is a little closer to the thresholds of the 25 runways so it has a better view of some operations that can be achieved at Imperial Hill. The low shooting angle also provides a different perspective to the norm.
The museum itself has a lot of information on LAX and the operators there. They have a great selection of models, uniforms and memorabilia from the various airlines that have been based there. To see how LAX has evolved over the years is quite interesting. All of this is provided free of charge so is certainly worth a visit if you have some free time.
Fall color is usually associated with trees. However, grape vines are also prone to some nice color changes through autumn and we took a ride up to Napa Valley to see how things were looking. We probably we there a little after the peak of the colors but there were still some nice colors to be seen. A good number of vines were already devoid of leaves but others had developed a strong red hue. Heading up to Calistoga, we could get up on the hillside and see the valley floor below us. The variation in the different fields helped to emphasize the colors more in my opinion.
The Airbus A380 may be a lot more common now than it was a few years ago but they are still comparatively rare. LAX is a place that gets a lot of them so the chance of catching one airborne was high, particularly given the time we were flying. Korean Air were the operator that obliged. We picked up the aircraft as it was on its downwind leg. Knowing it was out there made it easier to keep track of it – particularly knowing which runway it was coming in on.
We spotted it when it was still well out on the approach. As it came across the buildings surrounding the airport were were able to choose how we wanted to have it line up with the background. Finally it was coming across the parking lots, passing the In’n’Out Burger and then coming over the threshold. A little float and then the tires smoked on touchdown. The angles and light were pretty much ideal and Paul, our pilot, had us ideally placed. We could also keep an eye on it as it taxied in including getting on the gate.
Shortly before we moved to California, a change was made to the route of Highway 1 along the Pacific coast. Many stretches of the Pacific Coast Highway run along the tops of cliffs. One section south of Pacifica was very prone to landslides with regular disruption to the accessibility. After many years of debate, the decision was made to create a twin bore tunnel for the highway to bypass the troublesome area without impacting on the surrounding area.
The surplus highway was not abandoned though. Once closed, work was started to convert it into a trail for walkers and bikers. This was opened not long after we arrived. Ever since reading about it, I had been thinking of checking it out and, on our way home from a weekend down in Half a Moon Bay, we stopped to see what it was like.
The whole thing is probably 1.5 miles in length. It certainly includes some pretty steep slopes considering that this was once a highway. The views over the cliffs to the ocean below are stunning. You are pretty exposed though. On the day we were there, there was quite a strong wind. Sections of the trail are a little sheltered so you don’t notice the wind. Others, though, are in the teeth of the wind. One area has a cutting between a rocky peak and the cliff face. The wind really accelerates through here and we were working hard to keep on our feet!
Supposedly you can get migrating whales coming very close in shore at this location. I would certainly want to go back to see if we can some whales. The high angle would certainly make it easier to spot them compared to the normal effort picking out the clouds of spray when they exhale. I will be interested to see how busy it can get. It was not too popular when we were there but maybe the timing was not good for many people.
Getting a parallel approach that actually results in the two planes being close together is something that you always hope for at SFO. While I was waiting for the Qantas jet to arrive, I was given an abundance of parallel approaches. No idea why it was good on this day. Traffic wasn’t particularly heavy. However, it seemed like everything was coming in at the same time. Sadly the conditions were not ideal but it was still okay.
Sometimes, the jets are a bit further apart but, when they first line up, they overlap in the distance. Other times they seem to start out further apart but you know that the perspective is off and they will end up close together. I guess this was just a lucky day. It is good to have lens options on an occasion like this. My longest lens is a prime. It works well for many things at SFO but, when the jets are close together, they will usually end up being too much for the lens. Having a second zoom to hand is ideal in that case.
I have a pretty well defined routine for importing and processing my images in Adobe Lightroom. I have presets for importing images that put them in the right folders, apply copyright information and apply development presets. I can then edit from there as I go. One of the settings I have set as a default is the application of the lens correction settings. This setting deals with any natural vignette in the lens as well as some distortion. Occasionally this can be tricky if you have something close to the edge of a wide lens and it gets slightly chopped by the correction.
I discovered a more extreme version of this while processing some shots from the Lick Observatory. I had taken my 8-15mm fisheye zoom with me as I thought there might be some use for it in the telescope buildings. It turned out to be a good thing to have. When I first had the lens, Adobe had not created a profile for the lens so the shots came in uncorrected with the fisheye look I expected. More recently, Adobe have created a profile for this lens. It was added in one of the updates and, since I don’t use the lens all of the time, I hadn’t noticed.
When I was going through the shots, I noticed the wide shots had some strange distortion at the edges. I was perplexed by this and also wondered where the circular fisheye shots were because I was sure I had taken some. Only then did I realize that these were those shots and the corrections were being applied. Here are some examples of the before and after with the correction to give you a idea of what the transformation is. A pretty dramatic change. I might make use of this sometimes but I shall also have to remember switching this off when shots with this lens are involved.
One of the icons of the aviation scene around LAX is the Proud Bird restaurant. Located under the approach to the 25 complex, it is a restaurant with an aviation theme. Inside there is plenty of memorabilia. Outside there are vintage aircraft (including some replicas) mainly of a Second World War vintage but some others too. Despite its fame, I had never been there other than a brief visit to the parking lot early one morning many years ago.
Pete was keen to check it out too so we headed there for an early lunch. It was the last week that the restaurant would be open prior to a ten month refurbishment program so our timing was fortuitous. The place turned out to be a lot more than either of us had anticipated. The space was very large, the patio (where we ate of course – a sunny day with planes flying by) was very comfortable and the lunch menu, while straightforward, was really nice. Besides, you could walk among the planes while waiting for your food.
I am not sure what the restoration will bring. It will be interesting to see when things reopen. Meanwhile the staff will have to find other jobs which is probably not making them so enthusiastic. I hope they do well. They certainly treated us nicely.
Coming down off Mount Hamilton in the car, my sister, who has the sharpest eyes of anyone I know, said she had seen some cats. I was a bit surprised by this but turned around to have a look. It turns out these were two bobcats. They were already moving off through the tress by the time we got back but I got some distant shots of them as they went. How she saw them I have no idea.