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Flares Aplenty

The USAF has started using flares more in some of their displays recently. I have seen shots of the F-22 Raptor demo pumping out flares at the top of a loop to great effect. The willingness to use flares is dependent on where you are – no point starting a wildfire for a display. Seafair is over water so no risk at all there. Consequently, The F-35A demo this year incorporated flares too.

I was pleased to get some shots with the flares being dispensed. They were not thrown out in quick succession, which was a shame as a closer spacing would have made for a better shot. Even so, having some flare shots was a nice addition. Seafair’s display axis is a long way from the shoreline, so things were a bit distant, but they were still not too bad.

The Northern Flicker is Bug Hunting

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I have written in previous posts about how skittish the local flicker population can be. These woodpeckers are interesting looking birds but hard to get shots of because they fly off whenever they see you. Nancy and I were sitting on our deck when we saw some movement under the eaves of the house behind us. At first, we couldn’t work out what it was. Then we realized it was a flicker. It was moving around under the eaves looking for bugs

A little while later it popped out and then started to move along the rooftop poking under the joints to see what bugs might be there. A progressive examination of the roof followed and then, once it had checked out all that seemed of use there, it moved to the next house to repeat the process. Strangely, it never seemed bothered by my presence watching it. Maybe the food was just so good, it was worth the risk of me being around. Video tells the story better than stills se take a look at some footage I shot below.

Video of Overflying A380

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I happened to be out in the parking lot at work when I noticed the approaching contrail of a large jet. Being next to the car, I grabbed the camera with my longest lens and focused on what turned out to be an Emirates A380 heading to California. I grabbed a few shots as it approached but the view through the viewfinder was more interesting as I watched the contrails curl up in the trailing vortices from the wing. The motion of the ice crystals made me think that video was a more appropriate idea. The stabilization of my lens is so good that handholding this video at 800mm was not a problem and the video below is the result.

Rainbows Over the Neighborhood

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With the arrival of fall, we get rain showing up here in the Pacific Northwest. However, we can also get some sun breaking through at the end of the day – a bit of a feature of Seattle weather. When you combine rain and sun, it’s time for a rainbow. Twice in recent weeks, I looked outside the house late in the afternoon and saw impressive rainbows. The first time, I just grabbed some shots with my phone and stitched them together afterwards. The second time, I grabbed the main camera and took some better shots although the rainbow might not be quite so impressive.

There is something really cool about a rainbow. I may have seen loads of them over the years but they are still a little exciting!

When the TFR is Suspended, Everyone Moves!

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During Seafair on the Sunday, I was up the tower watching the departing and returning performers. For much of the time, a Temporary Flight Restriction or TFR was in effect which meant that no one was flying in the area other than the performers. There was a part of the schedule in the middle of the afternoon that did not involve the high-performance aircraft and, during this time, the TFR was suspended so aircraft could get in or out of Boeing Field.

It was rush-hour at the airport. The first arrivals showed up and seemed to be diving for the runway. Others had been waiting to get out, so they were firing up and taxiing for departure. We had a steady stream of smaller planes and corporate jets making their moves. I don’t know whether the arriving planes had been holding somewhere or had just timed their arrivals well. Whatever it was, it seemed that everything got moved in or out smoothly before the next fast jet display was on the schedule and the TFR was reintroduced.

Boeing’s Contribution to Sunday at Seafair

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The fast jet displays were the stars of the Seafair performances but the home manufacturer, Boeing, also provided a contribution on each day. On Sunday, that contribution was in the form of the 777X development aircraft, a 777-9. I was at Boeing Field on this day so got to see the aircraft launch and recover. An elevated view of an aircraft as large as the 777-9 is most impressive.

Since the plane is so large, I wasn’t going to use a longer lens to shoot it because I would have had way too much lens for the jet as it came by. Consequently, I was a bit short of lens when the aircraft was on the take off roll and rotating. Not enough time to change bodies so the compromise was okay. I still had a decent view of the jet even at 105mm.

The display was a long way away from where we were, but we did get to see the jet as it periodically popped up above the hills. It looked like they were really throwing the jet around. I imagine it looked pretty impressive for the crowd down on Lake Washington. I did stick with a longer lens for the recovery of the aircraft to get a good look at approach and touchdown. There is something really fun about getting to photograph a large jet like this from close proximity.

Diablo Lake Changes with the Seasons

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As fall heads towards winter, I want to make a trip up to the North Cascades Highway. It won’t be too long before the snow sets in up there and WSDOT stops clearing the road and allows it to be taken over by snow for the winter. A sunny Saturday provided a good chance for a trip, and we stopped off at the overlook for Diablo Lake while we were passing. Previous trips have shown how the color of the water in spring can be really vibrant. The water running off the mountains brings lots of sediment with it. The Skagit River will look quite milky in spring.

At this time of year, the color of the lake has changed noticeably. Similarly, the river looks more normal without the particles suspended within it. The comparison of the lake color from the different seasons is quite dramatic.

Let’s Experiment with Silly Shutter Speeds

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I have mentioned this in previous posts but the frame rate capabilities of my R3s have encouraged me to play around with some more aggressive settings. When something is a more important subject and not something I want to risk failing to get, I will be more cautious but there are plenty of other planes that I wouldn’t otherwise care about that provide a good subject to be a bit more ridiculous with. I was going down to 1/50^th of a second shutter speed. With this, I would go to the 30fps setting on the frame rate or even, occasionally, the 194fps setting just to see what might yield a sharp shot. The parallax issues are going to be an issue at this shutter speed but when you are directly abeam, you can get a good outcome. Here are some of the results from experimenting.

A Town Full of Bridges

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A town on a river means there are likely to be lots of bridges. We’ve lived in London and Chicago, and both were not short of a bridge or two. Spokane seems to have done well in the bridge standings too. There are the large structures carrying the roads across the river and then smaller footbridges including suspension structures. As we walked along the river, we got to see a lot of different bridges and tried out a few of them too.

Heavy Departures from SEA

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I have had plenty of chances to shoot the departures from SEA when they are on a northerly flow and the afternoon light provides a good option for the jets. Previously, I have used the 500mm since it gives good reach but, for the larger jets, as you get the jet abeam your position, it will be too large for 500mm. The arrival of my 200-800 provided a great new option. 800mm provided a tighter view on the jets after rotation (provided the heat haze is not negating any focal length benefit) and the ability to zoom out means that you can keep the aircraft fully framed throughout the climb out. I took the lens down when I first had an open afternoon and the right conditions and here are some of the results. As fall moves towards winter and the heat haze and high sun become less of an issue, this combo should get even better.