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Heron Hang Out

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The end of the boardwalk at Nisqually brought me to a view over a piece of land that seemed to be the favored spot for the herons.  I had never seen so many in such close proximity.  They were hanging out on the grass rather than by the water so maybe this is a safe spot to rest after a busy session of fishing before heading back to the water to start feeding again.  Periodically, one of them would head back to the mud flats to look for some food but the rest were just hanging around doing nothing much in particular but slowly wandering around their buddies.

P-8 Departs Over My Head

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I was actually out looking for a work project which (I promise this is legit) was right next to Boeing Field.  While I was waiting for my project – which ended up being scrubbed due to a serviceability issue – a P-8 took off from Boeing Field.  I was basically aligned with the end of the runway so I could see it climbing out and it came right over my location.  It turned out to be a good thing since I wouldn’t normally get this angle on a shot so I am glad to have something different.  This view really emphasizes the different wing planform of the P-8 compared to the base 737.  No winglets and the raked tips really changes the appearance of the jet from below.

Meydenbauer Park

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I was on a bike ride through Medina and Bellevue when I came upon Meydenbauer Park.  Nancy had mentioned that we should check it out some time but I hadn’t realized it was on my route.  I stopped off as I came by and, while enjoying the view, realized this was the spot she had been talking about some time before.  I figured we should both go there and so we headed out one weekend.

The park is spread up the side of the hill and then has a beach with a walkway out over the water.  It was a popular spot the day we went.  Lots of families out with kids playing on the park equipment.  There was still no problem keeping spaced from the other visitors.  You are surrounded by some pretty high-end properties – I wonder how much they like having a busy park nearby.  It is a pretty spot to hang out with lots of little spots to have to yourself despite the number of other visitors.  We shall be back.

The First Planes I Flew

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These photos are not too sharp I’m afraid.  However, they are important to me.  The summer of 1986 had me just outside Chichester learning to fly at the historic Goodwood Aerodrome.  Along with a bunch of similarly aged lads, we were being taught the basics of aviation courtesy of HMG.  It was an amazing summer and, since we were flying once or twice a day, we were learning very quickly.  I soloed on the Friday of my first week there having never even been inside a light aircraft prior to the Monday.

At some point during the summer, I borrowed my Mum’s camera and took a few pictures of the PA-38 Tomahawks that the flying school operated.  These are those planes.  In the line up of the planes can be seen G-BGRL.  This was the very first plane I flew and will always be a plane that I am fond of.  The fence behind them had a hole for a while when one student got to close with his wingtip.  It was redefined as a gate named after his student number.  The club had a PA-28 which is I the background in which I was self loading cargo for a flight for a student needing some weight and a couple of Gazelles lived next door.  That was an outstanding summer.

Cattle Traffic Jam in Beaulieu

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For some reason, I don’t think this made it to a post previously.  Nancy and I were going through some old shots from vacations in the UK and we made a stop in Beaulieu at the beginning of a trip nearly a decade ago.  (This stop included me having a nap in the car as the jet lag caught up with me.). One of the funny things of this visit was that some cattle were wandering through the middle of the village.  If you have ever been to Yellowstone, you know that the bison have priority over the cars.  UK cattle might not have the same weight as a bison but I assure you that the average UK motorist is not going to try their luck.

DOJ Duo

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The Department of Justice has a fleet of planes for doing whatever they need to do with them.  I think they move detainees around but presumably their staff also can travel on them for business purposes.  Anyway, I might not know what the details are but I do know they are inconspcuous looking planes (unless you count a plane white airframe as looking more out of place than one with some color on it).  Two came in to Boeing Field while I was there a while back.  One was a 757 and the other was an ATR.  I was in place for the 757 as it was on final approach although the sun did annoyingly go behind a cloud as it came by.  It did depart alter but I was actually driving when that happened so no shots.  The ATR caught me out completely.  I had just pulled up after being away for a bit and was still sitting in the car switching the engine off as a white turboprop sailed by.  No chance to even get out of the vehicle let alone grab a shot.  That was actually the one I would have preferred but it was not to be.

Cape Disappointment Lighthouse

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I have seen many photographs of incredible waves breaking against the shore at Cape Disappointment at the far southwest corner of the state of Washington.  While the storms that can lead to such waves are most likely in the winter months, I decided I wanted to do a recce trip to the Cape to get a feel for the area and see whether I wanted to go back when the weather is more rough.  It is a three and a half hour drive to get there from home so an early start was in order.

The area has much to offer so there will be other posts to come about this visit but today I shall focus on the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse itself.  It sits on a headland on the outlet from the Columbia River and it is this headland that is the backdrop for the most dramatic photos.  There is another lighthouse nearby but more of that on another day.  Looking from the beach up to the lighthouse on a calm day, it is hard to image how violent the waves can really get.

The lighthouse was off limits while I was there – presumably as a result of the pandemic.  However, you could go to the visitors center which was a lot closer to it so you could have a different perspective on the light itself.  While it was early in the day when I first got there, I hung around until mid afternoon before leaving for the drive home and the light had come around a bit by then.  Sunset would be very nice but that was not the plan for this visit.  I hope to go back, though.

Canadian Hornets at Janesville

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There was an airshow in the Midwest that everyone used to say was a great event.  It was held at Janesville and I finally got around to going to it shortly before it ceased to be.  I promise it wasn’t my fault that it ended.  I was there for the arrivals as well as the show and a pair of Hornets came in from Canada.  The nice thing about this arrival was that they seemed to have a little extra fuel.  Consequently, there was time for a few approaches and overshoots.

The light was a bit subdued that evening but it still had a slightly warm feel to it.  Besides, pick your white balance and you can adjust just how warm things actually looked!  I was shooting with the long lens from my location when they arrived so everything was taken at 500mm.  Sometimes that was way too much lens for the distance between us but it was just an opportunity for a tight crop – let’s say that was an artistic decision!

The Hornet gear tucks up in a complex way and I got a few shots of them cleaning up as they powered away in to the pattern.  A few times they pulled downwind pretty quickly and it felt like you were looking over their shoulder into the cockpit.  I can even crop in and see the displays on the panel (later in the day means the ambient light isn’t too much making the cockpit a deep shadow.  This was one of the high points of the evening.  Shame I never got to see other shows at this venue.

777X Over the Top

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Having shot the 777X test aircraft a bunch of times, I was looking for something a little different.  I figured I could head out to the north end of Boeing Field and be under the jet as it was on short final.  I shot something similar at LAX a number of years ago and liked the results so decided to have a go.  This was not as simple as I had hoped for.  First, the plane is out of sight for most of the approach with buildings and power lines in the way.

Second, I didn’t have lots of big jets to pay with.  It was my first opportunity so I didn’t have time to get the hang of it.  As it was, I didn’t do as good a job as I would have liked.  I was shooting with a wide lens and tracking the airframe to fill the frame was trickier than expected.  In the early shots, it was too far to one side of the frame and I ended up with the nose closer to the middle than ideal with the result that many shots lack a back end of the airframe.  I will try it again with these issues in mind and I shall skip the long lens shots first.  Making a quick switch meant I was not as well prepared as I could have been.  I did grab a shot through the fence of the jet heading for touchdown with Mt Rainier in the background too.