Tag Archives: washington

Night Skies on San Juans

One great feature of traveling to more remote areas away from the cities is the clear skies you can get at night. The ability to see plenty of stars when the sun has gone is great. With summer approaching, the sun takes quite a while to go down so I had to wait until quite late to get a shot that I wanted. I could have waited even later but I wasn’t that committed to the shot. I wasn’t using a fast lens so, even with higher ISO, I was still using a 30 second exposure. Even at 16mm, this still shows up some motion in the stars. Ideally, I would have taken a fast wide lens but I didn’t bother renting one for the trip so this will have to do.

More Black Hawk Shots

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I posted some shots of the Black Hawks that were delivering personnel to Paine Field for their onward flight in a USAF C-32. There were only a few shots in that post, but I took a lot of photos of the Black Hawks as they made there approach. Since there is a limit to what I get to shoot these days, I felt a post could certainly be made of some of the other shots from that day. Nice evening light really helps a Black Hawk look good.

Some Odd Maritime Contraption

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This is a weird looking boat. It passed me twice at Ruston while I was hanging out. At first I thought it was a catamaran with two people in it but I then realized there was a third person in there. I’m not sure whether they were pedaling too. That got my wondering how many hulls it really does have. Is it two or three? Who came up with it? Is it fun to use?

Dreamlifter Cheats Me

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Dreamlifter operations at Paine Field are heavily curtailed these days. No more 787s are being built there so no parts deliveries are required. However, the jet is being used to deliver the occasional 767 cockpit section which means there are still occasions when they show up. One morning, the light was great, and one was due in. Moreover, the wind was from the north and the airport was on northerly flow, so it meant getting an approach shot was achievable. I was ready and waiting. However, despite the other ops being northerly, the Dreamlifter was sent to the north to make a southerly approach – maybe for the ILS? I was at the wrong end. It didn’t even taxi all the way to the end, so I only got it as it turned off a bit north of me. These chances are not frequent, so I was pretty annoyed!

Watch Where You Are Going At High Tide!

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The view out over the water from pour rental house on Orcas Island was looking towards Shaw Island. Straight across from us, when the tide was low, there was a string of rocky outcrops in the water, often populated by resting seabirds. When I was first shooting these tiny islands, it occurred to me that I didn’t remember seeing them before. It seemed likely that this was a low tide and that they would be concealed as the tide rose.

Consequently, I took a sequence of shots at different times to see whether these rocks were partially or fully covered at high tide. It looks like they are gone when the water is at its highest. Therefore, the many boats that moor up in the area must need to be well aware of the local charts to avoid either grounding themselves or, worse still, ripping the bottom out of the boats. Tricky area to navigate!

Dreamliner In the Mist

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During the winter, I shot a British Airways 787 as it approached landing at Seattle Tacoma International. There was some low cloud base and it was just skirting the bottom of the clouds as it passed me by. It was appearing and disappearing from view within the clouds and, even when clear, was pulling a bit of vapor along with it! An all-white jet against a cloudy backdrop does not make for a contrasty shot but the elusive nature of the plane with such a background made the shots interesting to process.

Hummers on Real Flowers

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With the feeders in our backyard, I have been able to shoot plenty of photos and videos of the hummingbirds coming in to feed. This has been a lot of fun but it has always lacked a little something because of the artificial nature of the environment. Our recent acquisition of new hanging baskets for the backyard has changed this a bit. They are plenty of tiny flowers in these baskets and these have appealed to some of the hummers.

Not all of them, though. The majority still seem to prefer the sugar water in the feeders but some like to work their way around the flowers. This requires a lot more flexibility from the hummingbird to get in to the flowers but they make it look so simple. The flowers are only in sun for part of the day so some of the shots I have got have been in shade while others have been better lit. What matters, though, is that a bird against a flower backdrop has a far more natural feel to it than when they are feeding from one of the artificial food suppliers.

I spent most of the time getting stills of them working around the flowers. It all looks good when you are watching it but only certain angles make for good photos. I did get some video too so a little edit of that is included below.

More 777X Test Shots

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With the extended test program for the Boeing 777X, I have had ample time to shoot the four test aircraft. (The fact I have only shot the third jet on the ground is a function of the very limited flying it has done to date. It is the performance aircraft so they are not using the engines much to maximize performance until the configuration is tightened up and the performance tests are required.). That hasn’t stopped me getting shots of the jets when the opportunity arises.

They have flown over the house a few times when on the return journey to Boeing Field. I have also caught them on occasions when down at Boeing Field. I got two in one day with the second and fourth airframes heading out close together. I got the second as it rolled for take off and the fourth taxied past while I was eating my lunch. I’m sure I will get more shots of them with the test program scheduled to continue through certification at the end of 2023!

Crows Mobbing a Bald Eagle

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I never fail to be amazed at the crap that large birds of prey take from smaller birds. The eagles fly around here with crows and other birds swooping in at them and trying to drive them away. The strangest part is that the eagles barely do anything about it. I have seen how agile an eagle can be in flight and a rapid turn to point some talons at an incoming crow is well within their capability but they just don’t bother. I was down south of Seattle recently and heard the familiar call of a bald eagle (not as cool as you might think). It was sitting on a tree top. Crows were coming in to hassle it regularly and it barely flinched. I shot a small video clip to show the crows working as a pair and that is included below.

Early Pegasus Jets Getting Reworked

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The KC-46 Pegasus program continues to be a problem for Boeing. Delivery rates are lower than planned and articles describing the shortcomings in the jets continue to get circulated. They have a long way to go, and Boeing is going to have to spend a lot more money before they are fully capable. Meanwhile, jet do continue to be built and delivered. The earliest jets were given civil registrations because they were undergoing a civil certification program as well as a military one. Two of those jets are now back at Everett getting reworked – presumably because they will ultimately get delivered to the USAF. I shot a couple of them on the airfield while up there one sunny weekend.