Enjoyment of Flying Things: Photographing Aircraft

Sometimes I enjoy nothing more than to go out somewhere and photograph aircraft. During the time that I was at Coal Harbour on July 30th, I had the opportunity to photograph several Otters and a Twin Otter.



A Westcoast Air DeHavilland Twin Otter coming in for a landing.



A Harbour Air DeHavilland Otter (single engine) taxiing out to takeoff.



Another Harbour Air Otter winding up for it's takeoff run.



A beautifully patriotic Otter in Canadian colors. Notice the Canadian flag paintjob.



A WestCoast Air DeHavilland Twin Otter taxiing for takeoff.

One of the other things that I enjoy doing around this time is going to the Abbotsford International Airshow. However in the last little while I haven't had the oppportunity to as my kids probably are not of the age where they would enjoy listening to loud engines. So here's some photography from Abbotsford Airshow past. This was done with a 35mm SLR (A Mamiya Sekor TL500 that my late father bought me back when I was 14. These shots were taken when I was around 19). I'll post up others when I do get a chance to go again. Probably I'll get to go around the time that the Abbotsford Airshow turns 50 (in two years)


Rockwell B-1B in European Green


The Canadian Forces Snowbirds.


One of the 9 aircraft formation has broken off leaving an 8 aircraft formation


Two Montana National Guard F-16s.


A VF-31 Tomcatters F-14D Tomcat, now retired and gone from service. They've all been scrapped due to Defence Department directive. So the bittersweetness is that I'll never be able to take pictures of F-14 Tomcats again...at least not flying ones.


A side-view shot of the same F-14D Tomcat.

The 2012 Abbotsford International Airshow should be great. But it will be a bittersweet occasion as my Dad used to take me to the Abbotsford Airshow and I'll be thinking about him too as I'm walking the tarmac around the static display.

Day Out At Coal Harbour and Gastown

Yesterday, we went out to Vancouver because we wanted to hang out in the Coal Harbour and Gastown area to take photos. I wanted to pull the D50 out and ended up taking Heather's instead. She used the D300s. Most of the time, I put the 70-200mm f/2.8 VRII on the D50, which noticed a marked difference in the sharpness of the shots.

We started off in Coal Harbour where I got these shots:



The Sails at Canada Place © 2010 FalconRose Photography, all rights reserved



Three Flags at Canada Place © 2010 FalconRose Photography, all rights reserved



Tourists © 2010 FalconRose Photography, all rights reserved



Cruiseship © 2010 FalconRose Photography, all rights reserved



Seaplanes © 2010 FalconRose Photography, all rights reserved

Over all, Coal Harbour and Canada Place yielded some interesting pictures; including a picture of a Pelagic Cormorant.



An iconic view of Harbour Centre's Revolving Restaurant...that restaurant is a landmark in Vancouver immediately identifying Vancouver's skyline to tourists.



Various Street Scenes of Water Street...

Looking East



Looking West



Corner of Carrall and Water



The infamous Blood Alley



Gassy Jack Deighton's Statue stands on the corner across the street from his pub that he founded.



Evidently, he stares down the street right beside the Hotel Europe which is another Vancouver Icon being the only triangular building in the entire Gastown district. Triangles are good.



The Gastown Steam Clock goes off every fifteen minutes for the enjoyment of tourists and to the annoyance of everyone else. After all, how often can you enjoy an off-key rendition of "Westminster Quarters"? Not that I don't like the Gastown Steam Clock. I just wish it wasn't so prolific in it's spouting off. How about every half hour...actually how about every hour like an ordinary clock?



From there we went to Science World (sorry, now known as the Telus World of Science). We hung around the False Creek area for a while taking some images there.

The "unique"-ly (where have I seen this design before...on the Millenium Bridge in London perhaps) shaped Olympic Village bridge...



The iconic Vancouver Skyline as viewed from Olympic Village



The easily recognizable Telus World of Science (there...I got it right this time)...



Sunset on False Creek...as the summer sun dips behind the buildings, I took the final shot and my wife, kids and I turned towards home...

Eerie Creek (Bear Creek Park) - Scene Through a Twisted Mind

B&W Color Reversal © 2010 FalconRose Photography, all rights reserved

New Lens? For Wildlife Photography

I've been vascillating between getting the Sigma 50-500mm f/4.5-6.3 or the Tamron 200-500mm f/5-6.3. I've looked at comparisons online and found that the Tamron is slightly sharper on the 500 end and with the application of judicious retouching...I can get rid of the chromatic aberration that seems to be prevalent in lower end superzooms.

Some examples

Sample Photos from the Tamron 200-500mm taken by other photographers.

Sample Photos from the Sigma 50-500 (the Bigma) by other photographers.

Keep in mind though that the examples shown here were posted up by these other photographers after some retouching (even more so on the Sigma).

To me though, with wildlife and aviation photography as my stock photography forte, I need something with solid, tack sharp imaging at the 500 end...and all the unretouched photos seemed to give the edge at 500mm to the Tamron. So that's the 300-500 range lens that I'm going to go after.

The Bigma (Sigma 50-500)



And the Tammy Long (Tamron 200-500)



At least this will give me the edge and the focal length to go after the birds and the other fauna that I can't usually get close to enough to use my 70-200mm f/2.8 or my 70-300mm f/4-5.6 G

Since wildlife and aviation photography are strees-relaxer genres for me I like have the opportunity to shoot with a long lens and make the day out at the wildlife sanctuary or zoo worthwhile.

This lens will be the stop-gap lens (the interim lens) between the saveup and acquisition of the AF-S NIKKOR 600mm f/4G ED VR and AF-S NIKKOR 400mm f/2.8G ED VR.


AF-S NIKKOR 600mm f/4G ED VR


AF-S NIKKOR 400mm f/2.8G ED VR

I've come to the realization that anything closer than 400...I can manage handheld with either a 1.4X, 1.7X or a 2X teleconverter on my 70-200mm f/2.8

Personal Photo-Walk 07-12-2010

We had a nice photo-walk this morning. I went with Jamie after dropping the kids off at summer school.



I don't know what this orange flower is, but I hope that someone might be able to find out for me. Unfortunately, I'm no horticulturist.



There was a bunch of daisies by David Brankin school, so I had a chance to get in close and photograph the flowers.



Most people who know me know that I'm sarcastic by nature. No Exit...REALLY??? OK...maybe for vehicles.



Saw a lot of dark clouds today.



The thistle that I saw just up on 128th Street.







I finally managed to nail a shot of the Red Winged Blackbird. It wasn't exactly the shot that I wanted because I wanted the red splotch on it's wing to show up too...but that was as much as that "damned bird" was about to cooperate.

A Morning At Holland Park

All pictures taken on July 6, 2010.

© 2010 FalconRose Photography, all rights reserved

Birding on my Birthday

Been rather busy with a move that started at the middle of May and ended up taking until the beginning of June. And the whole damned new place has been in a major league mess and still is. But took some time out of the sorting and placing and went on my birthday (June 12) to Surrey Lake Park to take some photos. Ended up finding some very interesting flora and fauna (mostly fauna in this post)

We had the distinct privilege of seeing a juvenile bald eagle while at Surrey Lake Park. If you should see a nest, please, please do not disturb it. There were two individuals with Canon 400mm and 500mm lenses parked at the site...and I managed to creep in there as quietly as I could with my 70-200mm f/2.8 but I would not recommend staying there for long as it tends to agitate these majestic birds.

Found that I could also see Mount Baker from the area

This little feral rabbit was nice enough to pose for us while we were at Surrey Lake Park

At the entrance from the bridge leading into the park, I was able to shoot a wood duck sitting placidly on the cement log/barrier.

What I found was that Surrey Lake Park is not very well signaged so it was hard to locate it at first. A wrong turn down 72nd Avenue led to a farm where I was able to nail this wildlife action shot of a robin taking off with food in his mouth (which would have turned out much better with a 600mm f/4 however them's the breaks...you use what you can get. The second shot is a panorama crop of Mount Baker from 72nd Avenue.

All in all it was a wonderful trek out and a wonderful time spent on my birthday.