Hanging from the ceiling of MOHAI in Seattle is a hydroplane, Slo-Mo-Shun IV. According to the museum information, this boat brought innovative design concepts to hulls that continue to be relevant to current boats. It is quite a striking looking boat and will have been cool to see in action. August in Seattle is Seafair time so the latest generation of boats will be competing, but this one is now preserved in pristine condition.
Alaska Air Cargo has been having a tricky time with its new freighters. These are conversions of some of its older 737-800s and will provide more capacity than the current 737-300BDSF fleet. I got the first of the jets not long after it arrived, but it then was out of service for ages. They have finally got it in regular use now but the delivery of the second aircraft was delayed while they sorted things out. It is now delivered and operating regularly, and I caught it climbing out of SEA one weekend. The second shot is the same airframe back when it was in passenger service a few years ago.
The German day at Exotics@RTC included some rather high-end Mercedes and there was one with a lot of little aero details that caught my eye. When I see how someone with a good eye can find the details on a subject in a way that I can’t I am very jealous. It doesn’t stop me from looking to see which details do gain my interest, though. Carbon fiber can be tricky to shoot on a sunny day since it is dark but can also be reflective. I used a polarizer to try and cut the glare and show off the texture of the layup.
I recently posted some photos of the Kaman HH-43 Huskie doing a display at Olympia. I mentioned in that post that I also shot some video. The way in which the Huskie flies is quite different from most helicopters and stills do not portray that. I figured some video was in order. We got lucky in that, after it landed, there was some other movement on the field, so they ended up getting airborne again and flying another pattern to land over near the hangars. I hope the air show music in the background doesn’t get me in trouble with YouTube!
Parakeets must be remarkably adaptable birds. When they escape, they seem to rapidly establish themselves in cities from which they did not originate. When we lived in Chicago, there was a park on the south side of the city which had a large parakeet colony. Richmond Park in London is a similar spot. We heard the parakeets before we saw them, but their bright flashes of color made them easy enough to spot when they got moving. They just seem to flourish wherever they are, even if they really should not be there.
The older and less common that planes get, the more interesting they become. The IAI Westwind is definitely in that category for me now. I have only seen a few over the years and I have even less that I have photographed. One was coming to SEA one weekend and that was too good to miss. It was going to be landing at a time of day which meant I needed a new location to try and get reasonable shots of it. Being close was also a good thing since heat haze was going to be a problem.
I found a spot I thought might work along with some backup options. I was able to experiment on the other arrivals to see whether things would work out before the Westwind showed up. Fortunately, the location proved to be adequate to the task and this low-slung little rocket was soon in my viewfinder and then gone. This one looked in great condition.
Exotics@RTC gets a lot of regular attendees so you will often see the same cars week after week. Getting something a little different is really appreciated. I have seen some old Volvos at Exotics before but whether it was these or not, I don’t know. (The modified one has definitely been before but more of that in a second.)
The P1800 is a cool looking car and, if you are old enough and have seen episodes of the original Saint TV show, you will recognize it. It was partnered with a more sedate vehicle which was also in great condition. Next to it was one that was a bit more tricked out. I don’t think carbon fiber was a key element of Volvos in those days and I imagine under the surface, this one has been uprated a touch. Good to have something a little different amongst the regular vehicles.
I was running through some images of a Dornier 328Jet that I had shot at Boeing Field. I was zoomed in close to check for image sharpness when my eye caught the inside of the nozzle of the engine nacelle. There was an interesting pattern on the inside. Judging by the layout of the staining, I think the mixer in the exhaust results in varying deposition of material on the walls. This is the sort of thing that really appeals to me and probably no one else but it is my blog!
Organized gardens can certainly look very attractive, but the wildflower look can be even better at times. There are some meadow areas at Bloedel Reserve and one of them was overloaded with poppies when we visited. There were restrictions on how close you could get at the time because they were protecting various areas from foot traffic. I had left the longer lens in the car so I was limited to what I could manage with the 24-105 but that didn’t matter too much. The reds and golds of the poppies looked fantastic and, while I would have liked to have shot a tighter crop through the flowers, I was happy to make do with the views available to me.
Just when I think I have seen the last of something, I get proved wrong. The Lufthansa service to Seattle was being provided by A340-300s over the winter but they then switched to A350s. I thought that might be the last I would see of the A340s but lo and behold, Lufthansa has switched again and this time to the A340-600s. That was a really pleasant surprise. At first, I thought it was a short-term change, but they have been in use for some time now.
I went down shortly after they returned to catch some shots. I didn’t realize that there would be plenty of chances at that point, so I figured I should try and catch them quickly. With it being midsummer, the heat haze is a significant problem – particularly at the time of day that they depart. I decided to try and slightly different location that might provide a nicer angle, would be closer but was more problematic with trees getting in the way.
The results are okay, but the conditions are just not conducive to getting the cleanest shots. Even closer in, the haze issues are apparent. A while later, I did go back to another favorite spot and shot from there with similar issues regarding the conditions. I don’t know how long they will remain on this route and whether I will have a chance to try in slightly better times – a nice delay to later in the day would help – but at least they are in the old Lufthansa colors for the most part, so we get a bit more color than is the case for most of the fleet at this point.