Tag Archives: sunrise

Morning Tahoma

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An early morning flight was needed for a trip that I needed to take for work, and it was taking me south.  The departure time was before the sun was due up, but I hoped that I might get a view of Mt Rainier (also known as Tahoma) as we headed south so I had selected a seat on the left side of the plane.  The plan was a good one even if the quality of the window of the jet was not.  I have not seen such a scruffy window on an airliner in ages!  Some random repositioning of the lens to try different parts of the window resulted in some reasonable shots.  Nothing special but nice to get when you have to be up early anyway.

Sunsets and Sunrises Over the African Plains

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I may have spent a lot of time watching and photographing wildlife while we were in Kenya and Tanzania but the times of day when were out were early morning and late afternoon which meant that there were going to be sunrises and sunsets that I could photograph too.  We had quite the selection of lovely opportunities to take these shots and here are some of the images that I like the most.  We did also get some interesting skies with the light at either end of the day, but I shall give those moments their own posts.

Aloha Air Cargo 767

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A 767 freighter conversion made its way across the country and stopped off at Boeing Field recently.  Unfortunately, there was no way I was going to be able to get there to see it so I figured it was just one of those things I had missed.  However, not long after that, it showed up with a flight plan to SEA.  The flight plan was listed against Northern Air Cargo but the plane is marked for Aloha Air Cargo.  I was taking the day off and it was due in at the beginning of the day so I decided to head down to try and get a shot.

Sadly, the traffic was getting busy at SEA and, with plenty of departures and not too much on arrival, they put it on the outer runway.  It was a bit far out from where I was but I got some shots, although nothing too special.  I then saw it was coming back on the Sunday but this time it was due to land at 5:30.  With sunrise just after 5am, this would produce some good light.  However, I didn’t plan on getting up.

At 4:30 on Sunday morning, I woke up.  I thought this was an opportunity so decided to get up and head out.  At that time of the morning, no risk of traffic problems.  I got down there in good time and, while it was a few minutes early, I was ready for it.  The sun was barely up so the light was really excellent.  Also, with no departures at that time of the morning, they came in on the closer runway so a total win!

Winter Light on the Ferries

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I spent some time early one morning waiting for the return of a warship as covered in this post.  It was dark and rainy when I first got there but then the sun snuck under the clouds and the result was some very pleasing light.  I was down in Mukilteo which is the departure point for the ferry to Whidbey Island.  They leave every half hour and I was able to get a few departures while I waited and after the ship has passed through.  The white superstructure of the ferries glowed in the morning light with the dark background of the island behind them.

Sunrise and Moonset

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I had to travel up to Blaine for an immigration interview early one morning.  The sun was just coming up as I headed north and the nearly full moon was setting on the other horizon.  The moon was sitting just above the mountains of the Olympics and looked stunning.  Sadly, I was on the interstate so no option to get a photo.  I did eventually manage to find a spot to pull off near Mt Vernon and was able to get some photos.  The angle of elevation made it look a little higher in the sky and this far north there were some clouds on the horizon obscuring the mountains so it wasn’t quite what I was hoping for.  However, it still looked rather nice.

Sunrise over the Beach

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The sunsets at Tofino were beautiful and I included some shots of those in this post.  Sunrise was also pretty impressive.  Winter means the sun is pretty far south so the position it comes up is not so far off that in which it sets.  It does provide a very different light to things with some of the headlands that we could see from the hotel now having nice light on them.  When you wake up to a view like this out of your hotel window, you know you are a lucky guy and are likely to have a good day!

Dallas Sunrise

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A work visit to Dallas and I was meeting some colleagues for breakfast early one morning.  Looking out of the window at the hotel and the view looked pretty dramatic.  Everyone was heading to the window to get a picture.  Making the best of avoiding a reflection from the window was pretty tricky but I managed to sneak a couple that minimized a view of the inside of the room.  It only lasted a few minutes so the timing of getting there was lucky.  A minute or two either way and I’d have been sitting at the table eating breakfast.

Sunrise on Stored KC-46s

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Boeing is now delivering KC-46s to the Air Force at a rate that is a bit of an improvement.  There are still plenty of issues with the project (with some only recently discovered) but at least jets are now making their way to the customer, even if they are not flying them too much!  However, there are still a lot of the jets parked at Paine Field.  The early morning sun provides some nice light on the line of aircraft.  It is a rather cluttered view with plenty of airfield material in the shot but the light makes it a bit more appealing.

Dreamlifter in the Early Mist

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My buddy Paul was visiting so we had a day out looking for some interesting shot opportunities.  We started off the day at Paine Field before the sun was really up.  A Dreamlifter was due in and we figured we would give it a try.  However, as we drove towards Everett, the fog was pretty thick.  The field is on the top of the hill so we thought it might be clear, but things did not look promising as we got closer.  The low cloud was also blocking off the sun that was just above the horizon which, given that it would have been backlighting the jet, might have been a bonus.

The Dreamlifter came out of the cloud very late on the approach and I was able to grab a few shots of it as it emerged.  It was a rather ethereal look as it came into view.  The dampness of the air meant that the plane was pulling vortices as it floated across the threshold and in to the touchdown zone.  Conditions might not have been the sort of thing that sounded good, but the result was a really cool shot opportunity.  As the plane taxied in to park, we got more shots of it although there was one that would have been fantastic, but Paul only spotted it when it was too late and I didn’t see it at all.  I won’t say what it was but maybe there will be another chance in which case you will see it here!