Night Wanderings with Friends

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As I mentioned in a previous post, sometimes it is useful to have someone come to the city to encourage me to get out and about.  A few friends had been to Chicago in a previous week to do some shooting but I had been tied up when they arrived.  They were planning some evening shooting and I had been out all day and had plans for the evening so missed it.  I was a bit disappointed but there you go.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Consequently, I was pleased to see that a few of them were planning to come back a few days later for another session.  This time I was free so agreed to meet up.  Some of the group that were coming I knew and others I hadn’t met before.  I headed out to the Adler Planetarium – our meeting spot – and started taking some shots.  A few guys were already there taking their own shots so I wandered over to find out if they were some of the people I hadn’t met before.

While it was true I hadn’t met them before, they were not part of our group.  However, in common with many photographers, they were a friendly bunch a we chatted for a while.  They had come to town from Texas and were looking to get as many things in to their trip so I suggested a few spots that they might like to try.

After a while the rest of the guys did show up – well, all but one who had wandered off on his own – and we started taking some pictures.  The skyline was lovely as usual and we took some shots around the Shedd Aquarium and the Field Museum.  Then we headed across to Millennium Park.  I’m becoming a regular.

Shooting around the Bean at night is good since the long exposures you need tend to make any of the other visitors disappear.  You get a cleaner shot if you plan it right.  We got a bunch of shots and then we started playing around with a flashlight.  More of that to come!

Look Down on a Cloudy Day

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While we had our friends in town, we asked what they wanted to do.  One of the things they had in mind was a trip up the Hancock Tower at the end of the day to see the city before and after sunset.  Sounded like a good plan.  We headed up that way with some time in hand and got to the ticket line.   It was quite short and we thought we were in luck.  However, a quick peek through the window to the line for the elevators revealed a different story.  The line was very long and there was no way we were going to be up the tower until long after the light had gone.

We decided to save this for another day.  Sadly, that day turned out to be the one with the best of the weather.  When you only have so much time at a place, you have to go with what you can get so we made a second trip.   This time a lot of the tourist had gone home after the holidays but the weather was more cloudy.  At least this made for a short line.

The view from the Hancock is a good one.  The light can be tricky since you spend a lot of time looking south but with more cloud that was less of an issue.  However, the cloud did obscure some things and the moisture in the air made it harder to see things in the distance.  There were still some nice things to see though so it was worth going up.  Just a shame we didn’t manage to be there when the conditions were at their best!

Dreamliner Introduction

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The development of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner has been a protracted story filled with technical and programmatic challenges which have led to financial challenges as well.  However, while the program is not yet out of the woods, production aircraft are now making their way to service with customers and Boeing is undertaking a promotional tour for those who have been involved in the program or are potential customer.

One of those events was at Rockford, not far from me.  I covered the event for Global Aviation Resource and you can see the full piece at this link.

Expensive Toys

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Not a huge amount to say about this.  It is just a chance to see some nice cars.  The shots are not the greatest but you grab a chance when it is there.  There is a car dealership about 10 minutes walk from us that specializes in very high end cars.  They have a bunch of Bentleys and rollers but lots of sportier types as well.  The odd thing is that they will regularly leave very expensive “motors” out on the street.

As we walked past (when I have visitors I often walk that way just in case there is something nice out) there were a couple of Ferraris and a new Lambo.  Nice!

A Walk in the Park

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One of the nice things about having visitors is that it gives you a reason to take a look around your own town.  We had friends in town for New Year and, while coming to Chicago at the end of December might well be something you consider to be a bit unwise, we ended up experiencing some surprisingly mild and sunny weather.  This meant taking a walk around outside was not such a dumb idea!

Millennium Park was an obvious place to go.  The last time they had visited, the Bean had been partially covered so they had not got the full experience.  A sunny day is a good time to do that.  We were not alone as you might imagine.  Plenty of other people were out in the park and the Bean (I know its real name is Cloud Gate but I am not going to be the only person to call it that) was having its usual effect on people as they marveled at the reflections of the city and themselves.

I have photographed it many times but there is no way I am going to miss out on the chance to do so again.

Some Ski Plane Video

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In the previous post I talked about the trip to Oshkosh for the ski plane fly-in.  While I was mainly taking stills on this trip, I did also take the GoPro with me for the occasional bit of video.  Unfortunately, the bar clamp I took was a little larger than the ideal place to mount it.  Instead I hand held it which makes for some fun bouncing around when on the ground!  However, it isn’t too disastrous so I am prepared to let some of the footage make it out in public.  Hardly broadcast quality work though!  Still, I hope you enjoy it.

Skiing to Success!

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As I wrote before, I was hoping to make a trip to the ski plane fly-in at Oshkosh this year.  The weather had not looked good long in advance but then some snow fell and it looked promising.  Oshkosh still had patches of the runway without snow so it wasn’t clear until the day before.  Then a storm came through on the Friday.  In Chicago we got quite a good fall.  In Oshkosh, it was only 2-3″ but that was enough to cover the gaps.  The next question was with the storm clearing out, was the weather good enough to fly?

The answer was yes.  I was riding up with some of the people from Poplar Grove.  I drove out to Union IL to meet up with some of the guys.  As I left Chicago, the weather was not great with some snow still falling.  I was not optimistic.  However, as I reached Union, I came out into clear skies (and falling temperatures) and suddenly things looked a lot better.

I met Lee, Buck and Jim at Union as they were getting the aircraft ready to go.  I was riding up with Drew who was coming across from Poplar Grove to pick me up.  It was 8F as we got our stuff together.  The Champ and the Cub were prepped and started up just as Drew arrived.  They headed out as I loaded up and we followed on.  Drew has a Piper Clipper so we had a speed advantage to catch up.

The first leg was to Palmyra in Wisconsin.  Here the whole group had agreed to meet up for breakfast.  The good folks at Palmyra had held off from plowing half the runway and one of the taxiways so we had no problem operating on skis.  We all met up and trekked across to the restaurant who did a great job of feeding a raucous bunch!  It was a very friendly group just confirming me previous good experience at Poplar Grove.

From Palmyra we all headed north to Oshkosh.  We departed near the back again and caught up with some of the group.  We managed to get some nice formations going en route and I could grab a few shots.  Shooting through the windows was a little tricky but the results were not too bad.  It was far too cold to consider sliding the windows open!  At Palmyra we had reviewed the arrival procedures for Oshkosh.  Since Pioneer field is not part of the main airport, we have to arrive low on a special route.

This sounds straightforward when reviewing the brief.  However, the arrival height is about 500′ above ground level.  At that height, it is not so easy to make out exactly where everything is.  However, with two pairs of eyes checking it all out, we managed to pick out all of the appropriate waypoints and find the field.  Even doing it right is quite interesting since you have to head straight at the cab of the main tower and then turn final.  You feel like you are doing something wrong even though you aren’t.  Drew made light work of it all.

Once on the field there was time to take a look at all of the other aircraft that had made it – and see the arrivals of those we had left behind.  Chatting with the other crews was a lot of fun and also talking to some of the other visitors made it all the more interesting.  There was a briefing about the departure as well.  Since the wind was calm, departures were in the opposite direction.  This made for great viewing from our location in the parking area with planes taxiing right past us and then turning to depart back past again!

We watched a fair few go.  Our group was nearly last to head out and, again, we waited to be towards the back of the group.  We got airborne and caught up with one of the Cubs which we found had a ski out of alignment.  There are safety wires that limit the travel but a bungee holds the ski in optimal position.  This had dislodged.  They decided it was easiest to land and fix it so found an open field and dropped it in.  They were back up in no time.  A few more pictures of the group and then we left them to it.

They were planning making a few touch and goes at various spots but we were on our way home.  Only in the last section of the trip did a low cloud base come in.  This wasn’t a problem from our perspective other than that the lack of sun meant the cabin suddenly felt a bit colder!  It obviously wasn’t a deterrent to some hot air balloonists we passed on the way back.  They must have been chilly when the burner wasn’t going!

Drew dropped me back at Union and then headed home to Poplar Grove.  It was a great trip and I had a whole lot of fun.  I hope Drew’s passengers on his 767s have as much fun as I did.  Thanks to everyone involved.  It was great and I hope to spend a bunch more time with everyone in the future.

More Young Wildlife

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We took a trip to Brookfield Zoo to see the young snow leopards.  However, we also were aware that there had been some other new arrivals at the zoo since we had last visited.  One of these was a baby White Cheeked Gibbon.  After visiting the leopards, we headed for the large primate building to see how the new arrival was doing.

Shooting in the primate house is tricky since the light is not always great.  I also hadn’t planned for this so didn’t have a flash with me.  After the cold outside, the warm and humid building also made for a lot of steaming up of the gear so we spent a lot of time just looking around while everything cleared up.  The baby was certainly pretty cute.  Mum was taking good care of him while some of the other gibbons seemed to be a bit annoyed about the lack of attention they were getting.  This could involve trying to poke the baby.  However, Mum was up to the task of fending off any unwanted attention!

Will We Ski?

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We are creeping up on a day that may or may not prove to be a good day out.  This one is weather dependent – something that is often true but in this case more so than normal.  At the end of January, EAA schedule their annual ski plane fly in.  Held at Pioneer Field it is combined with a chili cook and a celebration of the birthday or Audrey Poberezney, wife of the founder of EAA.

Aside from the weather being good enough to fly, two other things are required.  First, there has to be enough snow on Pioneer Field for the planes to land.  Second, there has to be snow at wherever they are taking off from!  (Some planes do have skis with wheels that can go through them so are more flexible in operation but they are in the minority.)  If the snow isn’t playing ball, the fly in has lost its main interest.

I originally planned to go a couple of years ago.  Lack of snow canceled that trip for me.  I decided to have another go last year.  This time things were a lot better.  Oshkosh is about two and a half hours north of us if the traffic is flowing.  Since the fly in can start early, you either have to get going really early or stay locally.  If you can find a nice hotel not so far away that your wife likes that has a spa, you can all be happy!

I had been in touch with Jim Koepnik (until very recently, EAA’s chief photographer) to keep an eye on the developments in the days ahead of the event and Jim ended up being an excellent guide (provider of transport and a warm car to hang out in between aircraft) throughout the day.  (Good luck Jim with whatever comes next!)  We ended up having great weather and when wrapped up suitably felt little of the cold.  I got a bunch of shots and ended up writing a piece for Global Aviation Resource on the day.

This year the plans have been less effective.  Originally I intended to repeat what we did last year.  However, there had been no snow for ages and there didn’t appear to be any coming soon.  We decided to scrub the hotel.  I had been in touch with EAA Chapter 1414 about their group trip up and possibly putting cameras on their planes.  They offered a ride up.  Since I originally thought I would already be there, I had not intended to accept.  However, since the hotel cancellation, this became a good possibility if the event went ahead.

Now we have had snow!  A big storm came through Illinois and Wisconsin last week.  I’m not sure whether the conditions will be good by the time of the event or whether the weather will allow flying anyway.  However, we have a plan of sorts so now we just have to wait and see what comes next.  Fingers crossed.  In the mean time, here are the shots from last year.