The Red Arrows operated from ramp space at the eastern end of the show grounds at RIAT. I spent some time down there on one of the days. It provided a chance to watch them brief, crew up, start and then recover after the display. Here area. Few shots of the team in action.
When listening to photographers discussing equipment and technique, I have heard several times that polarizing filters should not be used when you are high up. As you get higher, the skies get clearer and deeper blue and the idea is that the polarizer becomes too much. I was pondering this when we were up in the Washington Pass along the North Cascades Highway. We aren’t very high at this point but still a decent elevation. I thought about taking the polarizer off but I felt like it really improved the colors and vibrancy of the images. Maybe we weren’t high enough for it to matter or maybe some of you will look at these shots and think it is too much. I’m genuinely interested to hear what you think.
The SJ30 is a jet that always has an “almost” feel about it. It has gone through a number of owners and the development has resulted in certification but very little production. There just aren’t many of them around. One of the more recent versions came to Everett. It arrived one weekend early in the day and before I was there. I didn’t get to see it fly but it was parked up in a convenient spot to get a photo. The stalky undercarriage is a distinctive feature of the jet. I wonder whether the current owners of the design will finally make it into a successful project?
A trip to the Chittenden Locks in Ballard in the fall is a good time to see salmon making their way up through the fish ladder en route to their spawning grounds. If we know the salmon are there, so do their predators. On this day, it was seals. Seals and sea lions are both common at the locks when hunting for salmon. A pair of seals were playing around in the waters near the locks, no doubt choosing their moment for a snack. Another pair of seals had been a bit more aggressive in their thinking. They had made their way into the fish ladder itself.
There are gates on the entrance to the ladder that are intended to allow the fish through and not the larger predators but I guess on this day, the gates had been left open. Our first glimpse on one of the seals was as it was chomping its way through a salmon it had already caught. It was making swift work of it. A while later we saw them again. They would haul themselves out on to the walls of the ladder for a break before diving back in to search for the next snack!
We flew across Lake Union on our way back to Kenmore so went over the top of Kenmore Air’s base there. It turned out to be a busy time for the base. There were a bunch of planes on the water heading in and out of the base with others tied up awaiting their next flight. Having watched ops at the base on a number of occasions, the view from above provided a very different perspective to what I have seen before. At some point I hope to fly in there to experience it for myself.
We put up a hummingbird feeder on our deck this year. We also had some hanging baskets and were hoping that they would be attracted. Initially, the plants were their focus but they soon decided that they liked the feeder too. We could be sitting out there happily chatting away as the birds came and went. However, if I brought the camera out, they suddenly become awfully shy. Photos of a bit of a head or a wing behind the feeder were the norm. The shutter sound also seems to have a negative effect. However, I have got a couple of close attempts. One day I shall devote some time to trying to get decent shots but I was more intent on enjoying the summer days than photographing the birds.
The Red Arrows have conducted a North American tour this year. It commenced just after RIAT so, while I saw them there, I hoped to catch them at some point during the tour. Their closest displays were in Oregon and Vancouver and I wasn’t able to go to either sadly. They did stage through Seattle, though, so I figured I would go and see them arrive. The twelve jets showed up on a heavily overcast day. They did some flybys over the city and then a run in across Boeing Field. A pair of jets landed directly while the remaining ten flew around a little more – nine ships in formation and one getting some photos. Then it was run and and break to landing before taxiing off to parking.
On our floatplane trip to the San Juans, our return leg was supposed to include a landing on Lake Union to pick up another passenger. However, they had already got their ride so we didn’t need to stop. However, our pilot thought a trip downtown would be a good way to end our trip so we did a quick run through. The approach to the lake involves a close pass of the Space Needle. We did the same thing and were really close to the visitors checking out the view. It was quite something to see so close up. Looking at the detail of the photos, I can see all of the people staring back at us!
I had a work day up in Vancouver. I finished up in the office at the end of the day just when rush hour traffic would be at its worst. The sun was out and the temperature was still nice so I figured I might delay my drive home for an hour or so and head to Stanley Park. It is a nice place to hang out, there is always plenty going on in the harbor and the floatplane departures might have factored in to my decision making.
There is a bit of an evening rush of departures but, with the days getting shorter and floatplane operations being a very visual thing, I figured they wouldn’t be going out too late if they were to be back before dark. I was actually pretty lucky as there was a wave of departures shortly after I got there and then, when I thought it had all wrapped up, another burst of flights headed out. Meanwhile, there were arrivals coming overhead for landing. It killed a bit of time and made for an easier drive home when I headed back south again.
There was a Nissan showroom in the Ginza district of Tokyo and it had an interesting looking vehicle on display. It was called the IMS. I don’t know whether it is a concept car or something that they are actually going to build but I thought it was interesting enough for a post.
