Spending the long weekend in Vancouver in the middle of a business trip. If nothing else, it gives me an opportunity to visit all the old sights that I remember from when I lived here about 35 years ago.
Horseshoe Bay is one of the main ferry terminals to Gulf islands and Vancouver Island. Here, the Queen of Oak Bay pulls out for a trip to Nanimo.
We’re just starting a week of vacation. Looks like it will be a busy one! Tomorrow morning (Tuesday), I go for my Class 3 medical which I need for my student pilot’s license and Thursday I’m writing my PSTAR exam.
In between, we’re off to one of our favourite spots – St. Jacob’s Ontario. We arrive Tuesday afternoon and it’s straight off to the outlet mall. Later in the evening we’re off to dinner at Benjamin’s in the centre of the village. Wednesday morning it’s more shopping and we’ll be back home in the afternoon so I can continue studying.
St. Jacob’s is a wonderful town for photography. I took the picture above a few years ago because how often do you run across a broom maker? The village is nestled in Mennonite country and, even though St. Jacob’s is very commercial, time slows down just a little to accommodate their lifestyle.
Back from Ottawa. Still smiling even though my Jeep wouldn’t start at the airport and it cost me $52 to get it going.
Enough bitching. I had an incredible time at the CAHS meetings. I spent last night at dinner talking to an ex-RCAF Fairey Swordfish pilot who flew them in the mid 40’s. Fascinating individual with lots of stories.
This afternoon, I loaded about 300 pictures up to my Flickr site. They’re all fairly low quality as I’ve decided I don’t really want to put my high resolution work up where everyone can steal it. I don’t mind people using them (they’re all covered under a Creative Commons license) but that doesn’t mean I need to make it easy. Really good ones will be loaded here after I finish post-processing.
Anyway, if you want to see a bunch of photos of planes, you’ve got your choice of the Canadian Aviation Museum or Vintage Wings of Canada.
Hope you enjoy them and if there’s one you’d like to see “cleaned up” and supersized, leave a comment.
You couldn’t wipe the smile off my face with a hammer. A visit to Vintage Wings of Canada in Gatienau Quebec and a chance to see their fantastic collection of vintage aircraft. A hot day, the smell of exhaust and the sound of magnificent engines.
One of the stars is this Supermarine Spitfire Mk. XVI. Built in August 1945, she wears the markings of squadron 421 of the RCAF.
(Nikon D80 f11 1/500 second)
Had a great evening last night at the Canadian Aviation Museum. We were treated to an empty museum and we even got a tour of the storage hanger.
I didn’t shoot all 250 pictures – only 233. I’ve got lots of processing to do when I get back home but here’s a little teaser.
RL-206 was the last Avro CF-105 "Arrow" and was still under construction when the project was scrapped and all aircraft ordered destroyed. Some enterprising Avro employees hid the nose section from the wrecking bar and it now sits as a sad tribute to this dark time for the Canadian aviation industry.
The weather this morning is crappy. Guess I’ll attend the sessions instead of going downtown.
The trusty suitcase has hardly had time to air out but it’s time to hit the road again. This time, however, it’s for fun – not business.
I’m off to Ottawa Thursday morning to attend the Canadian Aviation Heritage Society annual general meetings. CAHS is the oldest and largest organization in the world dedicated to the celebration and documentation of Canada’s flying heritage.
This year’s meetings have some really special events that I’m looking forward to attending. Thursday night, we’re off to the Canadian Aviation Museum for a BBQ and behind the scenes tour. Saturday, it’s on the bus to Vintage Wings of Canada in Gatineau Quebec to see the country’s largest collection of privately owned classic and warbird aircraft.
We got a sneak peek at one of the aircraft when they flew their De Havilland Fox Moth into Downsview for the Wings and Wheels Festival.
It’s nice to be flying for fun for a change.
There’s nothing like morning light. Just after dawn, golden light makes everything look better.
This is just an ordinary building on a sidestreet in Niagara-On-The-Lake near Niagara Falls Ontario. Back in 2005 we were there for meetings and I was up early (as usual) so I decided to take a walk around the area. The sun had just risen and the light was perfect.
The photo was taken with my long gone Nikon E995 which was my first digital camera. It cost a fortune back then and I ended up giving it to a friend so his young daughter could learn photography.
(Nikon E995 f4 5/1000 second)
A term that I’ve seen used in books and on photographer’s forums is “Tack Sharp”. It refers to a photo that is so well focused that it is, well, sharp as a tack.
I have significant difficulty getting clear focus when working in manual mode but I know that this is the best way to get it right. Automatic focus is close but never 100% right. Wearing bifocals doesn’t help and moving targets make the job that much harder.
Once in a while I get it right.
This swan was gliding across Rapperswil harbour last Friday and I just happened to have the 70-200 lens on the D80. I managed to get the correct aperture, shutter speed and (most important) focus before he turned.
(Nikon D80 f5.6 1/4000 sec 200mm Photoshop:minor level correction)
Of course today’s pick would come from Switzerland
The sun sets on Lake Zurich. Taken in the scenic town of Rapperswil on a warm May evening.
(Nikon D80 f11 1/1000 sec)
Slept in my own bed last night. Long, long trip home from Switzerland with a couple of opportunities to do some planespotting.
(Nikon D80 f5 1/800 sec)
Had almost 3 hours to kill at Heathrow Airport in London so out came the camera. Unfortunately, the weather was lousy with washed out light caused by the constant rain.
Here’s a British Midlands Airbus A319 climbing out. Couldn’t actually see the runway so I only had a couple of seconds to grab shots as it accelerated out.
The weather was much better in Zurich as seen by this shot of a Swiss Airlines A320 as it lifts off.
(Nikon D80 f4.5 1/1600 sec)
Aviation photography is very challenging. Security restrictions make taking decent photos more a product of good luck than anything else. To get this one, I had to find a window in the departures area that had decent sightlines without glare from the terminal lights. The camera was set to continuous shooting and this was the best result from 5 shots. Lots of looks from other passengers as well as the evil eye from a passing security guard.
