Tag Archives: photo

Two Carriers Not Going Anywhere

I’m not sure when this post will go live but, on the day I am writing it, the HMS Prince of Wales and its carrier strike group has sailed from Portsmouth for an eight-month deployment. A few weeks ago, we took a trip to the Isle of Wight and, as the ferry came through Portsmouth Harbour, I could see both carriers were tied up in the naval base. They were bow to bow alongside. Neither was showing much sign of going anywhere. However, as I now know, one of them was in the final stages of preparation for the deployment. I hope they have a successful mission.

Second Weekend Flyover – Super Bugs

Leave a Reply

The football season includes both college and professional games. I shared some shots of some US Navy F-35Cs that had been in Seattle for a UW football game flyover. They were not alone, though. The Navy also brought some Super Hornets for the Seahawks game on the Sunday. Nancy had come along with me to see the F-35s depart and I was ready to move on, but she enjoyed the departure of the first jets and was happy to wait for the Hornets to go out too.

The nice thing about flyovers is that you know that they will go on time because the game will start to a schedule. They often depart early and fly around locally until the time comes for the flyover. I assume this also builds in some capacity in case they have an issue with one of the jets. We watched them blast out of Boeing Field and then headed on. The return would have been okay, but I wasn’t that bothered, and it was a nice day to be out.

Bluebells Are Starting

Leave a Reply

Spring in the UK means bluebells will start showing up. I will come back to this topic in another post but, when we went to Farm Shop in Leckford , the road in came through some trees which had a carpet of bluebells beneath them. While Nancy was wandering around the shop, I did grab the camera and head along the road to get some bluebell shots. This was a nice start to the season but there will be more to come.

Metalwork Used to be More Complex

Leave a Reply

One of the cool features of older large stations in the UK is that their original owners were into making statements with the architecture. Consequently, you end up with some gran roof structures – not least to allow a number of tracks to be covered to keep the travelling public dry – it does rain in the UK occasionally. In the Victoria era, they would make sure every detail was taken care of. The cast iron pillars on which everything was built would not just be functional. They would let you know who built it. I loved the ironwork detail on this part of the station in York. The North Eastern Railway may have been superseded by many other companies, but they are still remembered here.

Cargolux Turns on to the Approach

Leave a Reply

The joy of the 200-800 lens is the ability to get some really distant shots of something when a spontaneous opportunity presents itself. I was in Seattle at the locks in Ballard when I saw the familiar shape of a 747 approaching. Since passenger 747s are few and far between these days, I figured it would be a freighter and, sure enough, the Cargolux colours were on this example. It came close overhead as it headed for the approach path to SEA.

It was well beyond our location when it started to turn south on the approach but, courtesy of the long reach of this lens, I was able to get a decent shot of it as the topside came into view during the turn. It was a bit of a gloomy winter day, so the conditions weren’t ideal. However, no big heat haze issues to reduce image quality too much – although you aren’t getting great clarity at that range. How nice it is to see a 747 these days.

Retro Livery on an Old 455

Leave a Reply

When I was a youth in the ‘80s, I remember new trains showing up in the area where my dad lived. At the time, I wasn’t familiar with the details of the classes of train, but I could recognise the differences as things changed. The big deal with these new trains was that they had sliding doors rather than the older slam doors. In the years to come, I came to know that these were known as Class 455s.

It is now 2025 and some of them are still in service. A lot of them have already been replaced and the new trains to replace the remainder have been built but their service entry has been a protracted process. Meanwhile, one of the units has been repainted to be in something close to the colours that it wore when it was introduced. You can’t have exactly the old BR livery because modern access requirements mean contrasting colours are needed for doors but, otherwise, it is close. I had been wondering whether I would see it soon one morning on my way to London and, lo and behold, as I got off my train, it was on an adjacent platform. Not sure that I will get a chance to get a better shot of it so glad to have caught this one.

The Thai Air Force A340 Tempts But Thwarts

Leave a Reply

On my last visit to LA before I left the US, I was quite surprised by an interesting airframe parked at LAX. The FBO ramps on the south side of the airport often have interesting visitors but this one was quite special. The Thai Air Force A340-500 was parked up in a corner. I last saw this plane as it overflew Seattle, and I happened to see it. I was in the back of an Uber as we left the airport, and I tried to get a shot with my phone as we drove by outside.

When I got to the airport hotel in the evening, the plane was still there. I got a more distant shot but from a better angle as it sat in the same location. It did have some lights on, and I wondered whether it would depart while I was watching. Sadly, nothing before I turned in for the night. The next morning, I came back and it was gone. The lights were clearly an indicator that it was heading out that night. It must have been quite late.

BT Tower

Leave a Reply

As I look from our office on Tavistock Square, the BT Tower is the conspicuous landmark to the west of us. When I was a kid, this was called the Post Office Tower. Then it became the Telecom Tower and then the BT Tower. In those days, large microwave antennae were mounted on the structure to communicate with other parts of the country. The need for them is now gone and so there is a rather bare part of the structure beneath the floor space at the top. It changes the whole look of the building. I believe it has recently been sold to a hotel group so maybe I will get a chance to finally go up it. I shall probably make the effort to get closer to it in the coming months to try other photo angles than just looking out of the window.

A Quick Evening Stop at Heathrow

Leave a Reply

I made a visit to Kemble for a Buccaneer event that will get a separate post. As the day went on, the weather got nicer and nicer. I took a look at the weather at Heathrow and saw that they were operating on easterlies. I figured that, since I had very limited time photographing at Heathrow and that there would be the chance to shoot from Feltham Park which I had never tried before, I would make a brief stop off there before heading home.

It was a bit late in the day which has its pluses and minuses. The light was a bit lower and would be on the jets that were turning south after getting airborne. However, I had missed the busier time for the long haul departures. However, this is Heathrow so there are always going to be some long-haul flights heading out.

I was pleasantly surprised by what I managed to catch in a relatively short period. I did just miss an Emirates A380, but I got Saudia, Cathay, American and Royal Jordanian along with the local BA and Virgin traffic. I did focus more on the widebodies but there was a Lufthansa neo and my first Air France A220-300. I needed to get home so this was a quick stop off for me but it was fun to try a new place to me, even if it is one that has been used by so many.

Springtime Means Lambs

Leave a Reply

One of the things that I used to love about spring in the UK was the arrival of the lambs. When they are very young, they are so energetic and will be bouncing around all over the place. I thought the time would be right to see them not long after I arrived but didn’t have a good chance to see any. This led to me thinking I had missed the opportunity. However, luck was on my side.

We took a trip to Polesdon Lacey with the family and, while the house and gardens were the point of the visit, the fact that there were loads of sheep in an adjoining field and they had a bunch of lambs was not going to escape me. The lambs were gambolling energetically. There was a dip in the ground which they would jump down into. Sadly, this meant they would be out of sight but, a little patience would pay off. My favourite shots came when one of the lambs was alone coming across the field to join its friends and it bounced its way across the field. Soon they will be bigger and heavier and less cute!