Tag Archives: washington

My Attempt At Aurora Shots

There was a prediction that the Aurora Borealis would be visible well south in the US and, with clear skies in the area, I figured I would definitely go and see if I could get some shots. I thought my best location would be Mukilteo since I could be on the waterfront with an unobstructed view to the north. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one to have that thought. There were tons of vehicles lined up trying to find a space in the parking lot at Mukilteo.

I didn’t even bother to mess with this and turned around. I figured I would try the park at the other end of the waterfront and found a parking spot as soon as I arrived. No need to park on the street outside the park. There were still a lot of people there waiting including a few cameras pointed skywards. Unfortunately, we didn’t have anything to shoot. The predicted aurora never got as well developed as far south as us. I got a few shots including some where I tried to work out whether it was just ambient light on clouds in the distance or some sort of illumination from above but it was a bust.

Tale of Two Twins

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I don’t think the single engined Diamond aircraft are particularly good looking but the twins are a lot more elegant looking. The DA62 is a particularly attractive aircraft. A friend of mine has one and he brought it in to BFI a while back. Sadly, he arrived in the middle of the day when the sun was high and the heat haze was harsh. I still got some shots but nothing too special. More recently, another 62 came into BFI but this time from the opposite direction when the light was a lot more favorable. Now I just need Steve to show up again on a clear winter day!

Never Seen This Before And I Want One!

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I was on one of the construction sites for the Sound Transit expansion to Federal Way. As I walked around the parking garage that was under construction, I came across a piece of equipment I had not seen before. I have seen machines for working the surface of concrete before but this one has two rotating elements under a seat. The operator rides on the machine. It looks like some kids version of a jet pack.

The better news was that a second one was in use on the upper levels of the parking structure. When I got up the tower crane, I was able to shoot a little video of it in use. It is a curious looking piece of machinery and, having never seen it before, seeing it in use really made me smile.

IAero’s Old Southwest 737

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I diverted my Sunday outing (not far admittedly and I wasn’t under any pressure to be anywhere at a given time) when I saw that an IAero 737 was coming into SEA. This is a 737-300 which means it isn’t too common anymore. There was a time when these things were everywhere. Southwest had tons of them and this example was one of theirs. The conditions were a bit overcast so not ideal but with the sun angle being on the nose, having some cloud made things a little easier. They were bouncing around on short final.

Electric Karman Ghia

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The Karman Ghia is a car that is rightfully considered a classic. People spend large sums of money on keeping them in working order and as close to or better than the condition in which they left the factory. One I saw at Exotics@RTC had taken things a different way. It had been converted into an electric vehicle.

The owner had everything open to inspect with the batteries and control electronics fitted in to the available space within the car. I would imagine that a car as light as a Karman Ghia would, when given the power and instant torque of an electric drivetrain, go like stink! It was certainly attracting a lot of attention. Getting a photo of it without people all around it proved impossible. After a while of waiting, I concluded that the attention was really part of the story so accepted that it should have a lot of people in the photo.

Civil Air Patrol Cessna 206

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One dull Saturday morning I made a short run to BFI for a bizjet. Since I got there with a little time to spare, I shot a couple of the other arrivals. The light aircraft traffic was using the parallel runway to the one my arrival was due on which meant they were flying right over my head. I had a go at low shutter speed shots to get lots of prop blur since I wasn’t desperate to get keepers. A Civil Air Patrol Cessna 206 was one of the planes working the pattern so I got a few shots of it.

Not a British Airways Max

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As a youth, a British Airways 737 was a regular sight. The 200 series got a ton of use by BA and, in later years, the 400 series did a lot of work at Gatwick. The A320 family gradually displaced them all. However, Comair in South Africa flies in BA colors. They even had 727s in BA colors in days gone by. IAG, the parent of BA, signed a letter of intent with Boeing for 200 737 Max aircraft but this has not been turned into a firm order that I know of. However, Comair did order the Max and one of their aircraft was on test recently. I am not sure if it is still going to Comair or has been reallocated to another customer but it is still in British Airways markings – for now.

Snoqualmie Valley Trail

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I can waste a fair bit of time panning around in Google Maps looking at things I had no idea were there. I was looking up near Snoqualmie Falls when I saw a label for Tokul Trestle. A look around showed a trail on the track bed of a disused railroad. The Snoqualmie Valley Trail starts down in the valley near Carnation and runs up to the town of Snoqualmie. I had no idea it was there and will be looking at riding it at some point. Anyway, I had a rainy Sunday and wanted to check out the falls – see another post specifically about that – and, having finished up there, I decided to take a walk along a section of the trail. It was intermittently raining but I was dressed appropriately so took a stroll. I did see the occasional cyclist, runner or walker but was on my own for most of the time. It did occur to me that the foothills of the Cascades have plenty of mountain lions but they were obviously elsewhere and left me alone.

The area is quite enclosed by the trees and it is clearly a damp place given the amount of lichen growing on the trees. That will also get another post. It does make for some interesting colors when the light does break through, though. The darkness of the trail contrasts nicely with the greens of the lichen as the sun catches it. Sections of it feel like you are walking through a tunnel. (There is an actual tunnel too but, you’ve guessed it, more of that another time.)

I look forward to getting to explore this trail in more detail. A bike seems like the best bet for checking it all out but there are a few trailheads along the way so driving up and walking along it will be a good option.

Return of the G600 Testbed (In The Rain)

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A rainy Saturday afternoon had very little going on except the return of a G600 test aircraft to the Pacific Northwest. I have no idea why Gulfstream has not painted this jet but it is still in primer. I half expected to see it had been painted when it arrived, but it was still green. The conditions were alternating between torrential rain and patches of sun. Indeed, the sun was out five minutes before the G600 arrived but, no surprise, it was back to rain by the time it came in. When conditions are like that, I go with a heavy overexposure and then pull things back down in post. Hopefully, before too long, I will be experimenting with a new body, and we shall see whether I need to modify my exposure techniques in bad conditions.

Sounder In the Fall At Picnic Point

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One evening, while up near Everett, I had a bit of spare time on my hands. I had noticed a park along the waterfront called Picnic Park and had noted that I would check it out at some point. This was a good time to try finding out what it was like. The weather was not great but, with time on my hands, I headed down there. It is a small park along the water and there is a bridge across the railroad to reach it. As I walked across the bridge, there was a nice view down to where the coast curves around and the trees along the shore had some nice fall colors.

With the sun popping in and out on a regular basis, I thought this would be a good place if a train was coming. As it happened, the Sounder commuter rail train from Seattle to Everett was not far off so I decided to wait for it to come through. A few minutes later it came in to view. There was a family with a young child standing on the bridge waving to the crew and, when I looked at the photos at home, I could see both crew waving back. It was a pretty short train. The Sounder North has not been too successful and the commuter rail ridership is well down due to COVID. I guess there is no need for more cars just now.