European Flyovers

Our last aviation photos in this series are two from a flyover we saw in Europe last July. Perhaps it was Paris; it might have been Berlin or Helsinki. I could look through the location albums, but it is more enjoyable to watch the planes fly and remember all of the wonderful cities we visited in 2009.
A new topic is scheduled for tomorrow.

More Private Planes

Occasionally a private plane will appear to be radically different in design when seen parked at a smaller airport. The one parked here looks almost like a cross between a plane and a helicopter. The likely thing, though, is that it will look a lot like others when it is in flight.

Private Planes

DuPage County Airport and Schaumburg Airport are both closer to my home than O'Hare is, and some interesting shots are avaiable there. As was the case with the pontoon planes in Alaska, the size of the planes and of the airports allows the photographer to get in close for these photos.

Into the Sky

Boring winter clouds forming a completely gray sky this morning make it enjoyable for me to look at some blue sky -- backdropping another pair of airplane photos.

Flying High

At O'Hare there are so many takeoffs and landings that there will be something to see every few seconds. Literally.

Yonder

More views from the daily Irving Park Road aircraft exhibit, which most drivers drive under without stopping to watch. Including me, most days!

Into the Wild Blue

Living close to O'Hare Field allows me the opportunity on the occasional sunny afternoon to drive down Irving Park Road, locate the takeoff or the landing pattern, and wait. Wait a few seconds, that is, for the next aircraft in action, climbing or lowering, right in view of the telephoto lens.

Off We Go

Today's aircraft photos feature dramatic clouds, one with standard color and one with color enhanced in some Photoshop experiments. Feel free to decide for yourself which is which. We will be working on airplanes for several more days.

Alaska Sky

Another reason to love aircraft photography in Alaska is the quality of the sky. Some of the days the weather was cloudy, which cancels much airplane photography, but on a clear day you can see the most perfect blue backdrop to the airplanes.

Close Up Aviation

Pontoon boats look quite solid and ungainly until they glide across the surface of a lake and rise quickly into the sky. The size and nature of the aircraft allows a photographer to be much closer and with a great vantage point compared to larger airplanes.

Soar into 2010

Happy New Year! One of my photographer's collections is of images of flight. I always enjoyed shooting airplanes in action, or for that matter just preparing for action, and I began a collection of such in 2008. The impetus was seeing a lake outside Anchorage, Alaska where no boats are allowed. The reason? The center is the airstrip for the airplanes docked all along the shoreline.
It is a real chance to get up close and look carefully at some personal aircraft.

Backtrack to Anchorage

Image seen all over Anchorage, July 2008

Thinking back on the first few posts, I realize I was in such a hurry to depict Mt. McKinley that I skipped over our day in Anchorage. A bit rain-spattered, the city was so attractive and the people were so friendly that I really could have started here. So today we will cover the only true city in the huge state, population just over a quarter-million. And a wonderful place for an Alaskan adventure to begin.

Imagine a colorful skyline, lots of buildings whose windows act as mirrors to one another, and an in-city river lined with fishermen pulling salmon out of the water one after another. Imagine, too, a wonderful, thought-provoking museum on the history of the state, from Seward to the pipeline. And imagine two adjoining lakes, attached with canals, on which boats are not allowed. Of course boats cannot clog up the lakes -- they form an airport for the many Alaskan private planes.

A great place to visit and I have it in mind that I would actually like to visit again -- in the winter. That might be one of the unfulfilled list items, only time will tell. But last week it was more than 50 degrees warmer in Anchorage than it was in Chicago.