Head on Big Boys

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My day out shooting with Hayman was mainly an aviation themed event. One of the things I was interested in was looking for something more head on as the heavier jets launch out of SFO. Most aircraft depart off 01 and head out across the bay. however, the heavier widebodies launch off 28 and climb out towards South San Francisco. A head on shot of them coming off the runway is what i really want.

Hayman had a location which was halfway to what we wanted. You are a bit further from the airport and so they rise out of the surrounding landscape rather than seeing them come off the runway itself. The location has a lot of promise. Sadly, on this day the weather was not nice and, as the day was moving along, what light there was after the clouds had taken their share was fading fast. however, it was rather fun to see the 747s and A380 climbing out over us. Definitely something to try again some time. As for the runway shot, we shall have to keep exploring to find the right spot for that!

Unplanned Sunrise

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Through an unfortunate set of circumstances, I happened to find myself parked up at an interchange along I-80 early one morning. I had the misfortune to be just behind an accident on the interstate and ran over the bumper of the car that had just crashed in the dark ahead. This did not please two of the wheels on the car and I had limped off an exit road to sit and wait for the tow truck to come and rescue me.

As I sat there, in my wing mirror I saw a hint of morning light in the sky followed by the appearance of the sun through the trees. I had my camera gear in the trunk so went to grab it. As is the way of these things, the sun moves quite fast and by the time I had got my stuff out, the image had change a bit. However, it still looked basically as I envisaged it so I got a few shots before it had risen too far. Then i hopped back in the car (it was a bit chilly) and resumed my wait for the tow…

Pelicans

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I was out shooting with my friend Hayman in the San Francisco Bay area. Our primary goals were aviation (of course) but one of the nice things about the Bay is that some cool wildlife also lives there. I am always keen to see the pelicans that live there. They will often be seen cruising along the shoreline. Occasionally you will see them fishing as well. The plunge into the water with wings folded back is very impressive.

I suspect if you grew up with them around, you wouldn’t be so bothered and maybe view them as nothing more than a larger seagull. However, I didn’t grow up with them so they always get me interested. This day wasn’t the best to try and shoot them but I wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity whenever one (or more) flew by. Hopefully I will be back in the Bay before too long and I might make an effort to focus on them for a change.

New Gallery

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For a while I have been looking at changing the gallery software I use on this site. The gallery is a relatively fixed part of the site. New images are included as posts are published but the gallery is relatively unchanging over time. However, the previous software I had used was based on Flash technology. A look at the demographics of those visiting the site shows that a significant number are now coming from mobile devices, particularly those running iOS.

Consequently, a large portion of the visitors would get nothing if they tried to see the gallery. This wasn’t something that I could accept. I have now introduce a new gallery that runs on html5 as opposed to Flash. Configuring it took a little work but it seems to be running now. Therefore, it is now live. If you click on Gallery above, you should be able to see the new format irrespective of your device. However, I don’t have the resources to try it on every operating system so please let me know if it doesn’t work on whatever you are looking at.

Thanks

Rob

Misty Morning

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While on the road, I often stay at the same hotel. It is across from a lot of open fields and, when I have left just after sunrise, I have been impressed by the low lying mist that hangs across the fields. I tend to notice this as i am driving out. Thinking clearly early in the morning is not always something I can be relied on to do but one morning I had some forethought and a little time and decided to wander out with the camera.

The mist was a little deeper than in some previous mornings so less was obviously poking out of the top of it but it still was quite attractive. The fields are flat as a pancake so there are none of the little dips that can make a shot like this more interesting but it still worked out reasonably well. While I was shooting, the sun came up behind me and started to color in the scene with some really warm light. I grabbed a few shots before heading back to the hotel to start the day for real.

Cloudy SFO

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I was in the Bay Area visiting my friend Hayman, a fellow ISAP member, so it wasn’t hard to predict what we would do with the day. we actually decided to stay locally checking out whatever SFO had to offer. We did not have the best run of luck. First the weather was a bit crappy so the photo opportunities were going to be a bit more limited. However, sometimes, bad weather can give something different so we weren’t to be deterred.

One location we had in mind was crowded and we couldn’t even park. This coincided with the arrival of the Lufthansa A380 so we already had missed one opportunity. Oh well. More strange was that everything was departing from 10 as we approached the airport. This is a very strange procedure for SFO, particularly given the wind was calm so not forcing something different. This could have given us some unusual departure shots. Just as we approached, they reverted to normal operations. See a pattern developing?

We still had some fun and got a few shots. As you can see, nothing terribly special from me. Hayman may have done better. None of these will be seen beyond this post but a day out with a friend shooting aircraft is still better than a lot of the alternatives! Cheers Hayman.

SF City Hall

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A meeting in the heart of San Francisco meant a bunch of our team were meeting downtown. A few of us got there a little head of the meeting and, with a couple of minutes available, I wanted to check out the City Hall building since it was only a couple of blocks away. As an old City, San Francisco has some classic architecture and this is no exception. For some reason, despite the numerous times I have been to the city, I have never been to City Hall before.

A group of school kids were playing some orchestral music in the main hall and plenty of family members were there. I wandered around taking a look. Since I didn’t have my normal cameras, the phone had to serve duty. Fortunately, that also allowed me to try another one of the 360 panoramas. I suspect I shall be carrying another camera with me when I am next in the area.

Office Picture

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I have been working in an office in Sacramento on a project for a while. With the end of the year coming up, an office calendar is being put together. The majority of the pictures in the calendar are from the team members and their activities throughout the year. However, there was also a need for a group photo. I was asked if I would take the shot. I was happy to do it but I also am a little less happy taking pictures of people than I am when it comes to inanimate objects!

I took a couple of flashes along with me and a remote trigger. However, I was not willing to find out whether the whole thing would work only when everyone was there. Therefore, a little early setup was in order. I had a couple of volunteers to help by standing in various places to see how the light was working out. Initially it was not good with the spread of light not avoiding some harsh shadows. A bit of tweaking improved things a bit. When everyone arrived for the shot, the result was a little different but acceptable. A few people still managed to get in shadows and the corners did not look as good as I would have liked but the team seemed happy with the result. I shall have to work out how I would do it differently another time. Not an area I work in a lot but one I would like to be better at.

Oakland tree lights

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Downtown Oakland is an interesting combination of old buildings and newer structures. It has some appealing parts and some that are a little less attractive. However, one thing did catch my eye once I had checked in to my hotel. A neighboring building had decorated a tree in its grounds with some great lights. These lights had a rippling effect which looked really great. Video is the only way to give an impression of this so here is a clip to explain what I mean.

Natomas Evil Sky

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You are always supposed to have a camera with you so you can be ready when the shot presents itself. Sadly, there have been far too many times when I have failed in that regard and this blog has plenty of entries describing exactly that. However, in this case, I was actually prepared. The view out of the office window was suddenly filled with some very ominous clouds. This would have been good on its own but the sun was still on the shops that are next to the office. The contrast was pretty dramatic and made the clouds look even more impressive. We even had some birds flying through the scene that caught the light too!