Shooting Deliberately Tight on Arriving Airliners

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The arrival of the Starlux A350 has already appeared in a previous post.  I got there a little ahead of its scheduled approach and, since I was playing around with using my longer lens, I decided to try shooting some of the preceding arrivals with the same lens from head on to get some tighter compositions and see just what would work before the planes got chopped off by the limited field of view.  I had a variety of types coming in from the little E175s to 777Fs.  They gave me some things to work with and I quite like how some of them came out.  A bit of variety is good when the subjects are very repetitive.

Tiny Crabs in the Tidepool

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I posted about a beach on Vancouver Island that we had scoped out as a possible spot for later.  While looking around, I spent a bit of time checking out some of the tide pools on the shore.  As is often the case, they initially look quiet but, if you spend a little time waiting, you start to notice movement.  I found a crab scuttling around in one of the pools and grabbed some photos of it.  What I didn’t realize was that there was a second one alongside that had obviously been less mobile while I was watching.  Lots of barnacles in the water too and a ton of snail-like creatures.  Don’t think they were hermit crabs but who knows?

Burning the Runway Surface

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I got a sequence of shots of the F-35B as it was taking off for its display at Seafair.  I was a long way down the runway from it so the image quality is not all I would like but what caught my eye was the effect of the afterburner plume on the runway surface.  From shot to shot, there was either this red glow or nothing.  I was wondering whether it was a function of material on the runway like rubber that was burning in the efflux of the engine.  Interesting effect, whatever the reason.

Bringing in the Barge

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I had met my friend mark down at the top of Lake Washington in Kenmore a while back and some of our shots had been compromised by a large barge moored a little way from the shore.  When I went back later a month of so later, no sign of a barge – initially.  After I had been there for a while, I saw a barge coming up the lake with a tug pushing it along.  It came to the same location and slowed to a halt before mooring the barge.

The tug then cast off from the barge and headed into the inlet at the top of the lake.  A little while later it came back out, this time with another barge that was empty, unlike the one it had arrived with.  There is a concrete plant in Kenmore that is along the water, so I assume that the barges are used to bring in the aggregate for the concrete manufacturing process.  From this reverse angle, I got to see the crew working along the barge handling the lines to the tug.  It was rather interesting to see them hard at it.  I also liked the tug’s name.  It clearly had an original name, Willamette Chief, overpainted although the second half had been left exposed.  It had a newer name, Island Chief, on a plate higher up on the superstructure.

Getting the Collection of GlobalX Liveries

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GlobalX (also known as Global Crossing Airlines) seems to have a variety of ways in which it paints its airliners.  Not sure what the strategy is with the liveries.  Maybe they are used for different roles or clients or maybe they just can’t make up their minds.  Whatever it is, there are some interesting ways to brand the airline.  Here are the ones that I have seen so far.

Housing Alongside Sproat Lake

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When you go out on a lake, you figure that there will be some nice properties along the lakeshore.  It’s a desirable place to live so you figure some money is going to be spent to live there.  The top shot is just a view along the shore where we rented the boat, but the others are some of the places we saw.  While most of them seem really good, I was disappointed in one place.  The structure of the house looked really nice but the concrete structures between it and the water look really unappealing from out on the boat.  Sure, if you are in it, you can’t see that.  However, if I am spending that much on a place, I’d want it to look great from outside too!

After Many Years, I Finally See a Duck Fly

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My aviation interests are varied but my favorites are modern and recent jet fighters if I am pushed.  However, vintage aircraft and warbirds are still pretty cool even if they are not something I know a huge amount about.  There will be occasions when such a type might be enough to get me out and about.  I was on the fence about going to the Bremerton Air Show but, when I heard that Erickson was bringing its Grumman J2F Duck to fly at the show, my interest was piqued.

I have seen a few of these amphibious planes in museum collections but I have never seen one airborne.  It is such a quirky looking airframe; I was really interested in getting some shot of it flying so that tipped me over the edge with regard to heading down to Bremerton National Airport for the show.  This is the sort of thing that then results in the plane going tech and me being disappointed.  However, that was not to be the case this time.

Mike Oliver flew the display in the Duck.  We were seated in a location close to where it was parked so got to watch it from start up to shut down.  No great aerobatic performances for a plane like this but the nice thing was that they got their whole collection airborne together and then everything else went off to hold while the Duck took center stage.  A few nice passes and then it came back into land.  The light could have been better, but it was still pretty good.  I finally have ticked it off.  I guess now I’ll see them everywhere!

Looking Down on the Cascades

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A work trip required me to fly across the country for a couple of days.  My departure was quite early in the day and, as is my preference, I booked a window seat.  Sadly, I was far back in the plane which meant the jet efflux would get in the way of some photos but that didn’t deter me.  The view on a sunny day as you head over the Cascades is gorgeous.  Lakes atop mountains, deep valleys, peaks spreading into the distance – it all looks great.  The return was late at night so no chance to see anything in the dark.

I’ve Seen This Before

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A while back, I was wandering around the Kenmore Air base at the top of Lake Washington.  I saw a camouflage painted Otter on the parking area and grabbed some quick shots.  More recently, it was operating on the lake with a new registration and Kenmore’s own markings.  I guess they have taken it on charge.  Not sure where it came from, why it is painted in this scheme and whether it was always the plan for it to be added to the Kenmore fleet but here it is!

Picking A Spot on the Shore Near Victoria Airport

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Before we headed to Sproat Lake to find the Mars, we did a brief recce of the area along the shore where they were due to arrive the following day.  At this time, we still had a plan to return to the island on the Sunday for the final touchdown of Hawaii Mars.  I would later scrap this portion of the trip.  However, we hadn’t got to that point yet.  There were a few possible locations to try out and Steve had noticed a small park that led down to the beach, so we went to check it out.  It was a lovely little spot and there was a tree hanging out from the land over one part of the beach that looked particularly cool.  We didn’t end up returning but this could have been a nice spot to watch the proceedings.