Tag: Aerial Photography

Travel Day (15)

Takeoff from PDX
Takeoff from PDX | 1/1000 sec – f/8 – ISO 200 – 100mm

Back home from yet another week in Portland. The week itself was uneventful and just work. But my flight back, unfortunately once more with my “favorite” airline United,  provided for another bad experience, just two weeks after my United disaster on my way to Memphis. This time all seemed perfect. Initially. Our Airbus A320 was perfectly on time, already out of the gate at PDX airport, when suddenly the captain came on and said we need to go back into the gate, as the aircraft was imbalanced due to improper loading, so they would need to unload bags from the back and put them into the front.

For sure I was happy the pilots found out while still on the ground, but then, fixing the screw up of the ground ops team cost us 45 minutes. Which is not good when my connection time in Chicago was just 55 minutes, which is already on the short side for such a big airport. I asked the flight attendant if they have any information on the connections, if they hold the plane or if we get rebooked. The answer I got was that they have no information and can’t get in touch with anyone on the ground. Comfortingly she said that they normally don’t hold planes and even try to get the international flights out on time and helpfully suggested that I could check the inflight magazine in the seat pocket for the fastest way to get from one concourse to the other. But she did offer me a red wine to help relaxing.

I had a window seat, and at least I got treated to some nice aerial views of Mount Hood, the barren landscape of Montana and of the Chicago skyline during arrival. For those photographs and how the story ended, continue after the jump…

Continue reading “Travel Day (15)” →

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Big Blue

Sea Life
Sea Life | North Sea | 2018

I’m back home in Nuremberg, after an eventless, smooth flight across the Northern Atlantic.  The 9h 30 min flight from PDX to AMS (I was able to rebook to the direct flight instead going via Seattle) was long enough to watch two movies (“12 Strong” and “The Post”), enjoy a wood plank grilled salmon dinner and get in some sleep before landing in Amsterdam. There I had only 60 minutes connection time, so I was back  home in time for a late family breakfast. My long travel back at least helped my to unwind after a hard work week in Portland.

The photo above, taken with my iPhone somewhere from high above the North Sea, was actually the only one I got out of this business trip. The OM-D didn’t even leave her bag all week (is a camera a she??). The scenery with the wind park and the passing boat visually attracted me. The soft color gradient from dark to light blue, the lines of the offshore wind mills, the 90 degree angled line of the passing ship (the pic would have made a great entry to this week’s WPC challenge).  So I took my phone and clicked.

It made me feel good.

It was my visual push-up of the day.

Have an awesome and creative weekend!

Marcus

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Travel Day (10)

Travel Day (8)

Inflight Polar Lights

The Earth from above in monochrome

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Monday Mountains (8)

Snowcapped Pyramid
Snowcapped Pyramid | Washington | 2018

I haven’t done a “Monday Mountain” in quite a while, but I thought I show off this photograph of a rugged, snowcapped peak in the Northern Cascades. Unless previous episodes, where I wrote about particular mountains, I have no clue how this peak is called. If anyone recognizes this quite distinctive shape and has an idea, please leave the name in the comment section.

Image specs are 1/800 sec @ f/7.1 and ISO 200, focal length was 100mm (200mm focal length full frame equivalent). The photo was taken with my OM-D E-M1 and the mZuiko 12-100mm F/4 Pro Zoom a few minutes after takeoff in Seattle, on our way towards Canada, while we were still climbing to cruising altitude.

Raw- and monochrome conversion in Lightroom CC Classic

I finally got home from Portland at Saturday evening, in the middle of a little snow storm. And I made the birthday party with only one hour of delay.  Next time I set a foot into an airplane it will be for a week of vacation in NYC with the Significant Other. Less than three weeks to go. Life is not too bad 😉

Wish you all a great week!

Marcus

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Monday Mountains (7)

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Kissed By The Light And Happy

Aurea Borealis
Aurea Borealis | Northern Atlantic | 2018

I made it safely to Amsterdam, where I will be stuck for the next eight hours due to my canceled flight to Nuremberg. I tried various options to get home earlier, but nothing worked out. I hope that at least my 16:45 flight is on time so I make it to the birthday party of  a good friend the Significant Other and I are invited to.

But at least the heaven tried to cheer me up, and this with much success. I was kissed by a magic heavenly light show high above the Northern Atlantic, just as the Delta Airbus left North Western Canada (Baffin Island) for Greenland. And this time I saw the inflight Northern Lights sitting on the right side of the plane, the window facing south. For my how-to and more photos continue after the jump… Continue reading “Kissed By The Light And Happy” →

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Travel Day (11)

Mt. Rainier
Mt. Rainier | Washington | 2018

My return travel to the Streets of Nuremberg got off to a bad start this morning, when just after 6am I got a text message from KLM that the flight from Amsterdam to Nuremberg tomorrow (Saturday morning) has been cancelled.

Well, let me guess, if KLM cancels a flight from their home airport 20 hours before it actually happens, it probably won’t be due to a malfunctioning aircraft or the weather (which will be fine, I already checked). Maybe because the flight to Nuremberg on a weekend morning had a low load, so it’s cheaper to cancel and cope with a few angry passengers?

Just speculating…..not the first time that happened to me…Lufthansa does that regularly with their short haul connections from Frankfurt or Munich to my city (but here I can get at least on a train). And we got already notified that Air France cancelled the originally booked morning flight Paris to Nuremberg in coming August when we return from our vacation in the Pacific Northwest on a Saturday morning. We get to wait an extra 10 hours in Paris before eventually being transported to Nuremberg on the evening flight….anyone seeing a pattern here?

Now you could argue that I shouldn’t complain as long as I eventually get safely home in one piece. But I’m just not looking forward to this 8 hour layover in Amsterdam when I could be home with the family. And to make things worse, I will need to go directly to an evening event in my clothes that I’ve been wearing for 28 hours by the time I land, because I won’t have time to head home to shower and change. Thanks KLM, much appreciated! And a platinum status card doesn’t help either….

On a brighter note, I got another nice view of Mt. Rainier while approaching Seattle. With the sun pretty much behind it, it was difficult to shoot, colors were dull, for that I already had a B&W conversion in mind when taking the photo at 1/2000 sec @ f/4.5 and ISO 200. Remember, when shooting out of an airplane window, make sure you use a wide open aperture to minimize degrading effects through a dirty or scratched window. Camera was my Olympus OM-D E-M1 and the mZuiko 12-100mm F/4 Pro Zoom.

Now I’m sitting in sunny Seattle waiting for my flight to Amsterdam to board. In the end all will be well. I hope!

Have a great Friday!

Marcus

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Travel Day (8)

Clockmanagement
Clockmanagement | Schiphol | 2018

My first business travel of 2018 took me once more from Nuremberg via Amsterdam and Seattle to Portland, Oregon, where I arrived in surprisingly warm and dry weather after 19 hours total travel time at 2pm in the afternoon. For the airport I went straight to the office for an afternoon of meetings, before I collapsed in my hotel bed at 8pm in the evening and logged 8 hours of sleep before waking up at 4am this morning, a surprisingly long night considering the jet lag effects. To sum it up, back to business as usual for the job that pays the bills.

While connecting through Amsterdam Schiphol I saw a lady taking shots of the famous video screen clock in the international terminal area between the D and E gates. As during previous visits to AMS I myself have taken quite a few shots of the man inside the clock drawing, erasing and re-drawing the hands, I took my Ricoh Gr II I brought along as camera on this trip and shot this monochrome photo of a fascinated fellow traveler.

After the jump you find my original color shot of the video clock, a few photos of passengers on the walkway between B and C gates before I finish off with the high contrast monochrome landscape photo of a “broken mountain” that I took with my iPhone from the window of my Alaska Airlines Dash-8 on yesterday’s last leg from Seattle to Portland…. Continue reading “Travel Day (8)” →

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Travel Day (7)

Airport Rush
Catch the Plane | Amsterdam | 2017 

After all,  I slept three full nights in my own bed before heading westward across the big ocean once more,  for about the gazillionth time this year. Sometimes I wonder what the constant exposure to high altitude radiation will do to my body. Today’s trip is Nuremberg – Amsterdam (where I am now)  – Chicago. Instead of my usual Delta flight I’m on a KLM flight with the hope to find some new inflight movies that I haven’t seen yet (which is almost impossible) and a new menu (Delta changes it’s food offerings only once every three months, so honestly I can’t see that stuff any more).

I absolutely love Chicago, the perfect city to combine street- and architectural photography, but this trip is business only and I won’t even make it downtown during my roughly 30 hours on the ground. In an office park near O’Hare airport  I will meet my peers from other international corporations for our annual round table get together, and I’m really looking forward to this meeting. Tomorrow night I will continue on to Portland for a full week of regular project work, before flying back home in time for the last October weekend (and hopefully a week off).  After the jump you can see a few shots I took while being bored during my air travel, there is always an opportunity for some photography 😉 … Continue reading “Travel Day (7)” →

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Inflight Polar Lights

Polar Lights
Polar Lights | Northern Atlantic | 2017

Last night it happened again. During my crossing of the Northern Atlantic on a Delta flight from Portland to Amsterdam I was blessed with another of nature’s most magic light shows, the Aurea Borealis.

Please excuse that the photographs I took with my little Ricoh GR II are not the sharpest. I took the photos out of a slightly shaking airplane with 6 seconds shutter speed and ISO 3200, the camera resting on a book I put onto the pillow I stuffed between seat and window. All I could do. But I wanted to share the magic of that moment.

I was consciously looking for the Northern Lights, as a fellow blogger currently on the ground in Norway captured them the night before. So I made sure I had a window seat on the left side, facing north. And then it was just a matter of waiting (and not falling asleep). And I got indeed lucky! More than enough compensation for the stress of a 4 day US trip.

Polar Lights
Polar Lights | Northern Atlantic |2017
Polar Lights
Polar Lights | Northern Atlantic | 2017

Have a splendid weekend!

Marcus

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Business Travel Reality – A Day in a Picture

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Travel Day (6)

Alone in the Air
Planespotting | 2017

Another ten day stretch in the Pacific Northwest comes to an end, in a few minutes a Delta Airlines Airbus A330 will take me into the afternoon Portland sky for its 10 hour journey across Canada and the North Atlantic Ocean to Amsterdam, from where I take the connecting flight back to Nuremberg.

On the flight I will open the digital darkroom to go through my photos from last weekend’s trip to the Oregon coast, where I had plenty opportunity for some nice travel photography (you might have seen the two appetizers here and here). But there are even better times ahead (not only photographically 😉 )….three more days in the office and then I made it to summer vacation. And my destination will be Namibia.

The photo above was taken with the Olympus PEN F and the mZuiko 14-150mm travel zoom. Image specs are 1/500 sec @ f/8 and ISO 200, focal length was 150mm (equals 300mm in full frame due to the m4/3 crop factor of 2).

Have a great day!

Marcus

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13

Weekly Photo Challenge: Textures

Greenland from air 02

This week the weekly photo challenge (WPC) from Word Press’ “The Daily Post” has the theme “Textures“. Without questions there are innumerable ways to photography textures, both man made and natural. To meet the challenge I decided to post a small collection of textures from the surface of our planet that I took from airplane windows, both natural and man made. To see more continue after the jump…. Continue reading “Weekly Photo Challenge: Textures” →

22

Around the World in 12 Days – Home again

Rainbow Flight
Rainbow Flight | Munich | 2017

10 Flights. 19300 miles (31000 km) distance flown. 44 hours of flight time. Nuremberg-Frankfurt-Vancouver-Portland-Vancouver-Taipei-Shanghai-Seoul-Tokyo-Munich-Nuremberg. Amazingly, non of the flights where in any way delayed. After 12 days of traveling westbound around the world I’m safe and sound back home on the Streets of Nuremberg.

It was a very intense but productive business trip, and it included some opportunities to see something outside airports, taxis, hotels, and meeting rooms, and I’m very grateful for that. The best thing was meeting all those great people in Taiwan, China, Korea and Japan. But also revisiting Shanghai‘s amazing citycenter and being able to explore Tokyo for the first time was a treat.

A somehow perfect ending to this special voyage was the last short flight from Munich to Nuremberg, when a rainbow graced the sky above the plane when we boarded and that pointed exactly into the northerly direction towards home.

Dramatic Landscape
Home | Franken | 2017

And the special light that flooded the ground near the village we live in during final approach to Nuremberg airport. I love to travel and explore the world. But it’s always good to return home.

Have a great week!

Marcus

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Around the World in Twelve Days

Around the World in 12 Days – Greenland

Around the World in 12 Days – Rose City Waterfront

Around the World in 12 Days – Hiking on Mount Hood

Around the World in 12 Days – Taiwan

Around the World in 12 Days – Shanghai

Around the World in 12 Days – On the Streets of Tokyo

Around the World in 12 Days – Tokyo Impressions

 

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Around the World in 12 Days – Greenland

Greenland from air 10
Greenland | 2017

So my Round the World trip has started. Right now it is not very exiting, as I’m spending the first four days in our Portland office fully tied up in work, not able to benefit even a bit from the splendid summer weather the Pacific Northwest has been enjoying the past weeks.

But whilst flying the first leg of my world tour I was treated to some spectacular views of Greenland’s east coast that I want to share with you today. For more photos and details about the flights continue reading after the jump…. Continue reading “Around the World in 12 Days – Greenland” →

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