Tag: An adventure in Awesome

Seattle Adventures Pt.2

For my next adventure, I headed to Seattle, Washington for a long weekend. And due to my wide variety of activities, I’m going to split it up into three posts.

Part Two: Street Photography Around Seattle 

I’ve always admired street photographers and their ability to capture life in the moment. Their creative play of light, a recognizable sense of location, and an honest glance of emotion have always intrigued me. And if have followed me for any amount of time, you would see that I normally don’t photograph people. Upon arriving at Pikes Place Market, I quickly found myself overwhelmed by the excitement. The sites of people eagerly moving through the packed market, the unchecked volume of lively chatter, and the endless smells of ripe fruit, fresh vegetables, and locally caught seafood. But I had to leap out of my comfort zone, test my skills and try some Street photography. I’m not going to lie, my first few shots, I was scared as hell. “What if they see me taking a picture?” What do I say to them if they ask what I’m doing?” While briskly wandering through this amazingly photogenic place, my bullshit started to multiply my fears. From one store front to another, I happen to notice an irresistible scene. And without thinking about it and caring about the outcome, I aimed my palm-sized Sony, quickly composed the shot, took the photo, and moved on like nothing ever happened. It was exciting and liberating at the same time. My subject either didn’t care or didn’t see me. Heck, the reality is I’m not the first person to walk through this market or anywhere with people interacting socially, get excited about seeing something visually interesting, and start taking pictures. But once I got over my groundless fears, the bustling activities of the market were quickly transformed into a “Target-Rich Environment”. And I had so much fun photographing people. So much so, that I went back for a second day. I’m no expert by any stretch of the imagination but from my brief venture into Street photography, I found I had to be constantly on the lookout for the next shot along with having a healthy dose of patience. Letting the scene unfold without interfering, shooting discreetly and creating natural-looking images and not ones that feel orchestrated. I’m so excited to share this set of images and hope you all enjoy them as well. I feel they tell a compelling story. Which one is your favorite and why? Leave your answers in the comments section below.

Thanks for stopping by,

Steven

Click on Thumbnails to view larger images.

Gear used:

Canon EOS 90D DSLR

Canon EOS 5DSR DSLR

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L USM

Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM

Sony ZV-1

iPhone 11 Pro Max

If you like what you see, consider hitting the “Like” button or maybe start to follow my little blog!

Don’t forget to check out Part One, Photo Mission: Seattle

And don’t forget about Part Three: Seattle Seaplanes

Seattle Adventures

For my next adventure, I headed to Seattle, Washington for a long weekend. And due to my wide variety of activities, I’m going to split it up into three posts.

Part One: Photo Mission: Seattle

After the electric-charged photo flights above LAX, there was no question whether I was going to schedule one for my upcoming Seattle adventure. Classic Helicopter Corp is based out of Auburn municipal airport which is south of Seattle and offers a range of services to suit your needs. I chose an hour-long Instagram photo flight that covers both the views of downtown Seattle and the beauty of the natural landscape of the surrounding area.

I’m not going to share a play-by-play commentary of my photo flight. I hope my images will speak for themselves. I do want to share a fun moment of a series of images of the Space Needle. At the time of my flight, a TFR (temporary Flight Restriction) was about to go into effect over the downtown area due to a Mariners game. Meaning, we were not able to spend as much time above the downtown area as I wanted. One image I had envisioned before the start of this adventure, was of the Space Needle with the Seattle skyline in the background. And with minutes to spare, we did two quick orbits around the Needle. To put into perspective how close we orbited, I was using my 18-135mm lens and as we got closer and closer, 18mm was just barely wide enough to show the needle and whatever was behind it. While caught up with the breathtaking point of view and the pace of the circling, I felt I had missed my shot. It wasn’t until after the flight and back in my hotel looking at my results that I realized I did indeed have captured the shot I was after. I was so intensely focused on the Space Needle itself and composing the shot, that I never saw the Seattle skyline pass by in the background.

Here’s a list of things I saw during my Photo flight. 

Boeing Field, Blue Origin Headquarters, Starbucks Center (Starbucks headquarters), T-Mobile Park, Space Needle, Lake Union, Gas Work Park, Husky Stadium, Evergreen Point Floating Bridge, The house of Bill Gates along with Jeff Bezos, Bellevue skyline, Snoqualmie Falls, and Mount Si from Twin Peaks.

Click on thumbnail to view large image.

Big shoutout to Craig Simon and Catroins “Cat” Adam for their friendly service and amazing hospitality. If you’re on Instagram, check out and follow @seattlehelitours.

Until next post,

Steven


Gear used:

Canon EOS 90D DSLR

Canon EOS 5DSR DSLR

Canon EF 100-400mm F/4.5-5.6L IS II USM

Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM

If you like what you see, consider hitting the “Like” button or maybe start to follow my little blog!

Continue the Adventure with Part Two, Street Photography Around Seattle

And don’t forget about Part Three: Seattle Seaplanes

Return to Thunder Over Michigan

It’s been seven years since I’ve been to Yankee Air Museum annual event, Thunder over Michigan. And this year was great year to return. All the familiar sights and sounds of vintage aircraft coming to life and soaring above Willow Run airport. It was a good opportunity for me to catch up with a bunch of fellow aviation geeks and photographers. I had forgotten just how entertaining they can be.

I had only two reasons for attending this year’s event. The first being the Dakota Territory Air Museum newly restored P-47 Razorback named “Bonnie” was supposed to attend. Unfortunately, she had a mechanical issue at EAA Airventure and was unable to make the trip over to Willow Run. And the second was Dan Filer’s MiG-23UB “Flogger”. Which suffered an in-flight emergency during the show on Sunday, forcing the crew to eject. The MiG was destroyed in the crash. After witnessing such a horrible accident, I can’t tell you how relieved I was to hear that both pilots were safe and no one on the ground was injured.

I have to give a ginormous thanks to Kevin Walsh, all the staff and volunteers of The Yankee Air Museum for putting together another wonderful show along with the superb level of professionalism due the MiG accident. Thank You!

During the two-day event, I shoot 8,887 images. Here’s 60 of my favorites. Enjoy!

Click on thumbnail to view large image.

Gear used:

Canon EOS 90D DSLR

Canon EOS 5DSR DSLR

Canon EF 24-70mm F/2.8L II USM

Canon EF 100-400mm F/4.5-5.6L IS II USM

Canon EF 500mm F/4.5L USM

iPhone 11 Pro Max

If you like what you see, consider hitting the “Like” button or maybe start to follow my little blog!

BE SURE TO CHECK OUT

Miami Air & Sea Show

The Story Behind an Image, Part 8

Ever since 2004, I’ve had a passionate love affair with photography. And come to discover that I have a fondness for photos that comes with a story. Over the years, I have shot a few of them. Here’s the next installment in “The Story Behind an Image” series.

Part 8: Capturing the Magic: Unveiling Mother Nature’s Canvas

So, this year I’ve returned to my love of aviation photography. As a birthday gift to myself, I upgraded my gear and have been spotting all around Detroit metro airport (DTW). And before I shot a single frame, I had an image in my mind that I know I wanted to capture. It would be of an airliner landing either at sunrise or sunset with a dramatic sky in the background. The aircraft would be most likely silhouetted but recognizable. And from the start, I never gave much thought to what airline, or the type of aircraft was going to be in the shot. I wanted some type of emotional background to be the subject. Also had no idea exactly when I was going to take the shot. Having to wait for Mother Nature to do her thing to make the shot possible.

My first attempt at the image was back in February, soon after I got my new camera/lens combo. I purchased the 90D along with the 100-400mm Mk2. Spotting for me is my cheap and easy way of getting back into the routine of photographing aircraft. I can grab my gear, and some snacks, drive down to DTW, and I’m only out a few bucks in gas money. There I can get back to being comfortable in my shooting stance, reconstituting that muscle memory of changing settings without looking at the camera and just enjoying the time behind it. Nevertheless, to say those few outings were cold and brief. And from the location I was shooting from, the sun was setting low on the horizon due to it still being winter.

Now that it’s springtime and I’ve been regularly spotting at DTW. Over the long Easter weekend, I found a couple of new shooting locations and became infatuated with two European young ladies, Lufthansa 442 and Air France 378. The following week, my enthusiasm for spotting continued, and found myself back at my new favorite spotting location, an abandoned gas station at the corner of Middlebelt and Goddard Road. And after a busy work week followed by afternoon spotting, by the time Saturday rolled around, I was tired and hesitant to go through the motions of spotting.

The weather had been great all week, but Saturday had a chance of afternoon thunderstorms. All day long, I kept a watchful eye on the weather forecast. Then about 5:30, a fragmented line of storms started popping west of DTW and slowly heading east. Growing thunderstorms definitely qualify for an emotional background. And Air France’s lovely A350 is just about an hour away from touchdown. And with the imagery of a brilliant gloss white Airbus contrasting with the dark gray of afternoon storm clouds was plenty to motivate me to gear up and do some more “spirited driving” down to DTW.

As soon as I merged onto I-94 West and saw the darkened and moody clouds in front of me, I enthusiastically said out loud, “Today could be the day!” My only growing concern was that the storm either blow through before Air France passes in front of my favorite shooting location or they die out before they get there. After exiting the interstate, I made my way to the deserted gas station. Unfortunately, it wasn’t looking like the storms were going to stay together for much longer. But the sky behind the airport was still dramatic. But Air France was still another 25 minutes out and that damn star was playing hide and go-seek with the fading thunderstorms. It would be a gross understatement to say that the sky was magical.

And sure as shit, when Air France shows up, Mother Nature started throwing shade. The Sun hid behind a substantial size cloud and the atmosphere visually quieted down as she glided past in slow motion. My expectations had gotten the best of me, and I felt like it was a lost opportunity with no help from Mother Nature.

But moments after the French Airbus landed, Mother Nature decided to show off once again and I wasn’t going to just pack up and go home. Who knows when or where such rare lighting conditions will happen again, and will I be there to shoot it? I stayed for another hour, photographing some of the most stunning images I’ve had the opportunity to capture. Even on the tiny LCD screen, I knew I had something special. Arrival after arrival, the light, and the tonal range just got better and better. In between flights, I feverishly chimp and was blown away. Amazingly to my fortune, I was the only spotter there photographing the light show.

One thing that I’ve come to understand about photography, especially when it comes to aviation, is that you go out aiming for a particular photo, but the reality is you must accept what you get.

Until next post,

Steven

BE SURE TO CHECK OUT

The Story behind an Image part 9>

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