Taking A Chance on Late Evening Light on the 727

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I had been disappointed by a Kalitta 727 that had come into Boeing Field during the day when I was unable to see it.  I was heading home from meetings south of the city and stopped by to see if it was leaving that evening and they almost did and then had a technical issue.  I had to get home so missed it.  I was, therefore, rather pleased when I saw it was coming to Paine Field a little while later.  It was due to arrive early in the evening.

The 727s are rare beasts these days but Kalitta has been picking up more and more 737s so you have to wonder how long the 727s will be around.  My enthusiasm was tempered a bit when I saw that the previous leg had been a few hours late so the planned arrival time was not realistic.  Instead, once it got airborne, it was due in around 9pm.  Sunset was 9:12 so this would be tight for time and would require the weather to cooperate.

I had dinner with Nancy, and we hung out for a while at which point I had to make the call.  Would I go up to Everett or not.  The weather looked okay where we are, but you never know what it will be like further up towards the coast.  At that time of the evening, it is a quick run so I figured I would just see how things looked.  As it turned out, the weather was pretty clear, and they made good time and a pretty direct approach.  As the three-holed beast came down the approach, there was low sun illuminating it.

I then headed around to the terminal to see if I could get a shot of them unloading.  The sun was now setting so the sky was glowing behind the jet as the crew worked to offload the cargo.  The fuselage was in deep shadow, but I used some HDR bracketing to give me options to work with.  Overall, it couldn’t have gone better.  They were looking for a quick turnaround and return to Michigan, but I knew it would be dark by then so headed home.  I actually heard it climb out over us just after I had got into bed!

Views from the Top of Bristol

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I posted about Cabot Tower in a previous post about our Bristol visit.  When there is a high point to try, it is likely I will head up there.  Nancy is less enthusiastic about this sort of thing than me so I left her below and headed up.  There is a narrow stone spiral staircase to get to the upper levels and I was rather glad that it wasn’t a busy day because the stairs would not be ideal to pass on.  It would work but it was better to not have to!

The view from the top was great.  You are already high when up on the hill but the extra 30m gives you a great view of the city in all directions.  You can see the various buildings within the city center, you have a great view over the harbour area, and you can see the stadium further out as well as the Ashton estate.  The stadium is Ashton Gate which is the home of Bristol City football club but from my perspective is more importantly the home ground for Bristol Bears rugby team.  Since Nancy was waiting below, I didn’t hang around too long up the tower but I did take in the views.  Shame it wasn’t a slightly nicer day but at least we got down and back to the car before the rain started.

Ospreys Through BFI – Not The Birds, Though

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I spent a portion of a Saturday with my buddy Chris as he was passing through town.  While I was waiting for him, I headed to Boeing Field and was surprised to see a V-22 Osprey on the ramp across the field.  The crew was working around it with some panels on the nacelles open but it became clear that they were buttoning things up for a while.  They soon headed off and I did similarly to get Chris from the airport.

When he had made it through immigration, we headed back to Boeing Field and, while walking near the terminal building, the sound of rotors caught our attention.  I barely had time to get the camera ready as a V-22 came into view.  It was heading to the same area as the other one, so we got some shots of it in the semi-transitioned configuration and then went around to the other side of the field to see the pair of them parked up.  I have no idea when they left but at least I got a little activity, even if on a grey and overcast day.

Finally, the Foxes Are Easy to Find

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Having got back to the car and seen the fox hanging around in the parking lot, I at least had now got a shot of a fox.  Nancy and I decided to head to South Beach to see if there were more foxes over there.  As we turned on to the road to the beach, there was a dark shape sitting in the middle of the road.  As we got closer, it was clear it was another fox.  It hopped across the fence and into the field.  I jumped out and got some shots of it as it rummaged through the ground in the field.  There were tons of rabbits in the field and they were watching the fox intently, but it seemed interested in whatever was below the surface – presumably some rodents.

As it headed further away, we went down to the beach to park up and have lunch.  I strolled around down there and saw more foxes in the distance but nothing to get images of.  We then retraced our route back up the hill and saw more fox activity on one side of the road.  I was getting some shots when I noticed another person looking up the hill on the other side of the road.  I decided to see if he had spotted something and sure enough, he had.

A fox was coming down the hill and ended up walking alongside the road just over the fence.  I was able to skip ahead and get shots as it came towards me and then repeat the process.  It really didn’t seem to car about us.  Eventually, it decided it wanted to be on the other side of the road.  It hopped over the fence a short distance from me and crossed the road.  It was so close, I couldn’t do anything with a long lens on the camera so I just watched it go.  It hopped the next fence and then went on its way.

We moved on up the hill in the direction that another of the foxes seemed to have taken and it looked like it might come to us but then it just vanished, so we had nothing.  We instead went back to Cattle Point and, as we got close to the parking lot, saw another fox in the field beside the road.  I jumped out and was able to watch it drift across the field so close to me.  It seemed so uninterested in my presence which was really cool.  It is probably a problem how habituated to humans that they now are.

As it moved away, we completed our trip to the parking lot at Cattle Point and found another fox there.  It was hanging around watching everyone and then it too headed off to the beach.  At this point, it was really time for us to head back to the ferry, so we called it a day.  The good news was that Nancy got to see all of the cool fox activity without ever having to leave the car.

How Many Jets in One Approach Shot?

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I was waiting for one specific jet at SEA (which has long ago made an appearance on this blog) but, while I was hanging around, I was shooting different angles up the approach.  In a few shots I could see a number of aircraft lined up on the approach or turning on to it.  I played around with seeing how many I might get in one shot.  It needed relatively clear air to get the more distant planes visible.  A hazy day would not do the trick.

Tour de Lopez

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I get plenty of emails about cycling events taking place in the Pacific Northwest.  Some of them are of interest, some are way too hard for me, and some are not at a time that works for me.  However, the Tour de Lopez ticked all the right boxes.  It was a ride around Lopez Island in the San Juans so I asked various people to see whether they would be interested in taking part.  I got a few positive responses, so I registered.

The ferry times to Lopez are not normally good for an early start but Washington State Ferries had arranged for the 7:30 from Anacortes to make an extra stop at Lopez for the event.  This was good but it did mean an early start from home to get up to Anacortes in time to put the bike together, get a ticket and board.  Unfortunately, in the days prior to the event, everyone progressively bailed on me.  The night before, it was just me.  I decided to go for it anyway.

The weather on the island was forecast to be nice but the temps are significantly lower on the islands at this time of year, so I decided to layer up.  This worked well.  I also decided to take my old GoPro with me to record the day.  I was glad I did.  It was an excellent ride.  The route winds around the island and comes through a variety of bays.  With the sun shining, these bays look so idyllic.  On a normal ride, I might be more focused on keeping moving but on this I was in no hurry so I would stop to make sure I could get some video of the ride.

There were a bunch of rest stops along the route.  Plenty of cyclists were taking part – it was sold out – but it never felt crowded.  You would see people passing by but wouldn’t be in large groups.  The nice thing about the island is that there is not a huge amount of traffic, so it is a great place to ride.  I would occasionally see some familiar faces from earlier in the ride too.  It ended up back at Lopez Village where they had laid on some food.  I bumped into a couple of guys I had seen before, and we had lunch and then rode back towards the ferry.

The ferry ride back was a nice way to end off the day and I was able to pack up my stuff in the car and head home.  The day was so much fun, and I hope the video shows just how good it was.  The guys that had been unable to join clearly liked the video because we ended up setting up a second attempt.  We did this a few weeks later and used a later ferry to start the day so it was a more relaxed affair.

Qantaslink 717 Finally Makes It Through Seattle

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Word was circulating amongst the local photographers about the impending arrival of a Boeing 717.  Qantaslink has been operating the 717s in Australia for many years but is now in the process of replacing them.  One of the first to be replaced had made its way as far as Anchorage and was heading to Victorville for repainting and refitting for its next operator.  It was due to stage through Seattle before the final leg to California.  However, while the flight plan was filed, it never left Anchorage.

The process was repeated for multiple days.  I think it may have been over a week before the plane actually moved from its parking spot in Anchorage and headed for the runway.  To be honest, I was still wondering whether it would get airborne but, once it did, I prepared to head down to BFI.  The journey must have been relatively uneventful as they arrived when expected.  There was already a flight plan for the next stage of the trip, so I hung around waiting for the departure.

Part of me wondered whether the jet would break again but all was well, and they headed off.  The flight crew had Australian accents and were working for a ferry company judging by the flight number.  With the plane safely delivered, I am now curious to see whether more of the fleet will make the same journey.  Maybe we’ll get bored of Qantas liveried 717s coming through.

Turtles Are Back and Stacked Up

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The arrival of warmer weather encourages the turtles to show themselves in Juanita Bay Park.  I am used to seeing a lot of them but, one weekend, I wandered out to the water and there were more turtles than I had ever seen before.  There was not enough space for them on their regular logs so they were climbing up on each other to get a spot to sunbathe.  Seeing them stacked up like that was really funny to me and it certainly amused many of the other visitors.  Plenty of shots were taken that day, I think.

Skylease Cargo 747 Makes a Gloomy Weekend Appearance

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Not long ago I posted about the variety of operators of 747s that I have photographed over the years.  The number of operators is gradually declining so, the likelihood of a new one showing up near me is reducing.  However, I did get a new opportunity one weekend.  Skylease Cargo had made a few trips to Paine Field for Boeing but these had all been when I was at work.  This time, one was due in on a weekend.

I headed up first thing in the morning to catch it coming in from Miami.  The weather was not good at home and it was worse at Everett.  There was a low cloud base.  Things were rather gloomy but you take the opportunities when they come along.  At least, since the weather was bad, I wasn’t going to have to worry about being backlit this early in the morning.

No doubt about it, the conditions did not result in shots that I am going to treasure.  A white jet on a cloudy day is never going to provide a competition winner.  Never mind.  It was a new operator of a favorite jet and what else was I doing on a dull weekend morning anyway?

Cabot Tower

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I previously posted some shots of Brandon Park in Bristol.  At the top of the hill in the park is Cabot Tower.  Cabot was an explorer of Italian heritage and is tied to the exploration of Canada.  His voyage set forth from Bristol – hence the association.  It is on the high point of the park, but it adds some height to the views of the surrounding city.  That will be the subject of another post.  For now, I shall focus on the views of the tower itself.

The grounds surrounding the tower are ornamental and provide a nice setting for the tower.  It is a cool stone structure and provides a focal point for the park.  It is about 30m tall, which gives you an enhanced vantage point to view the surroundings.  It was recently restored after having suffered some degradation and hopefully will be in good shape for a while before requiring any further work.