I was visiting my parents at their trailer last night at Presqu'ile Provincial Park on the north shores of Lake Ontario and had just finished supper when I decided to grab my camera and go for a drive.
I honestly didn't expect to get much of anything and planned to only be gone for about 30 minutes. I wanted to get back for the always enjoyable campfire with family and friends.
Actually, I probably wasn't much longer than 30 minutes but I did stop once to watch a Mute Swan and two of her young feeding in the calm waters of what's known as the Calf Pasture. This used to be a boat launch area to get out into Brighton Bay from inside the park. Now for some reason they frown upon this. Who knows the thinking behind it. We used to drive a hovercraft over there when I was a lot younger because it was a lot more calm than the lake.
Anyway...the three swans that were feeding honestly weren't providing much in the way of quality photo opportunities. Certainly nothing I hadn't already photographed a dozen or more times before.
All of a sudden I heard a noise of wings hitting the water and I swung around to spot the mate of the swan getting airborne and racing right at me. I'm guessing he probably didn't like the fact that I was intruding on his kids supper activities.
I only had a few moments to bang off a couple of quick frames. I didn't have time to change my focus type, shutter speed or anything for that matter. I would have loved to have my Nikon D7000 in high burst mode to rattle off more shots but instead I quickly focused and shot about 4 frames.
He landed in the water and I started moving back to let him know I got the message. As I walked back to the car I did a quick review of the photos on the camera and was encouraged by what I saw but there was no way of knowing how good the quality of image would be until I got it on my computer.
As you can see above, I had at least one shot that was fairly sharp and contained some nice action as the swan was touching down. The sunlight was rather harsh as it was setting and very bright but overall I think I was able to work around that issue okay and captured an image I could live with and be a little proud of. These birds are so powerful I could photograph them landing and taking off all day.
Showing posts with label Landing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Landing. Show all posts
Friday, August 02, 2013
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Slight Fear Of Flight
When it comes to flying, I'm more apprehensive then nervous when I step foot on a plane.
The two things that make me nervous are take-off and landing. Of those two, the take-off is the worst part for me. I'm fine going down the runway but as soon as I feel the plane leave the ground I tend to grip my arm rest a little tighter.
I'll try to avoid looking out the window as the plane ascends or banks left or right probably because in my mind if I can see the ground and all I can think about is falling to the earth below. Now once we're at a cruising altitude of 30-plus-thousand feet, I'll stare out the window at the ground, the clouds and other passing aircraft.
Landing isn't too bad I guess but on my first ever flight years ago we had some pretty bad turbulence as we descended through a thunderstorm and that freaked me out a bit. Just ask the lady in the seat ahead of mine after I grabbed for the seat on one particular drop and grabbed her hair instead.
I'm not a veteran flier by any stretch of the imagination but I've done it at least a dozen or more times. I've even flown in a Canadian Air Force C-130 Hercules a couple of times. Once I rode in the cockpit the whole time as I knew the pilot. That was pretty cool and oddly enough, the take-off or landing didn't really bother me in the least.
I have been fortunate to land at airports which aren't too scary either. The St. Petersburg / Clearwater International Airport in Florida was a little freaky the first time as you come in over Old Tampa Bay and not until just before you land do you see the ground. Up until then I thought I was going to land in the water and I had checked my bathing suit.
The Tampa International Airport is similar but not quite as bad. You circle over the water to line up for the approach to the runway but you see the land a bit sooner.
There are some airports that I would probably want to avoid. Among them would be the Courchevel Airport located in the French Alps. It has a very short runway of only 525 m and you have to land going up-hill and take-off going down. Only small private aircraft and helicopters are allowed to land there and the pilots need plenty of skill.
The other location I have in mind is one you want to avoid landing at and you also want to avoid laying on the beach near it. Princess Juliana International Airport is located on the Dutch part of the island of Saint Martin. It is the second busiest airport in the Eastern Caribbean.
The airport is famous for its short landing strip — only 2,180 metres, which as you might guess, just barely leaves enough room for the big boys to land. The planes approach the island flying just above the water and moments before landing they go right over the Maho Beach.
You may have seen pictures of the big jets just missing the tourists at the beach and think they were manipulated in some way with Photoshop but that just isn't the case.
Below is a video of a jet landing at the airport. After watching it you might be surprised to learn that there have been no major aviation incidents at the airport. I think I can avoid landing there any time in the near future.
The two things that make me nervous are take-off and landing. Of those two, the take-off is the worst part for me. I'm fine going down the runway but as soon as I feel the plane leave the ground I tend to grip my arm rest a little tighter.
I'll try to avoid looking out the window as the plane ascends or banks left or right probably because in my mind if I can see the ground and all I can think about is falling to the earth below. Now once we're at a cruising altitude of 30-plus-thousand feet, I'll stare out the window at the ground, the clouds and other passing aircraft.
Landing isn't too bad I guess but on my first ever flight years ago we had some pretty bad turbulence as we descended through a thunderstorm and that freaked me out a bit. Just ask the lady in the seat ahead of mine after I grabbed for the seat on one particular drop and grabbed her hair instead.
I'm not a veteran flier by any stretch of the imagination but I've done it at least a dozen or more times. I've even flown in a Canadian Air Force C-130 Hercules a couple of times. Once I rode in the cockpit the whole time as I knew the pilot. That was pretty cool and oddly enough, the take-off or landing didn't really bother me in the least.
I have been fortunate to land at airports which aren't too scary either. The St. Petersburg / Clearwater International Airport in Florida was a little freaky the first time as you come in over Old Tampa Bay and not until just before you land do you see the ground. Up until then I thought I was going to land in the water and I had checked my bathing suit.
The Tampa International Airport is similar but not quite as bad. You circle over the water to line up for the approach to the runway but you see the land a bit sooner.
There are some airports that I would probably want to avoid. Among them would be the Courchevel Airport located in the French Alps. It has a very short runway of only 525 m and you have to land going up-hill and take-off going down. Only small private aircraft and helicopters are allowed to land there and the pilots need plenty of skill.The other location I have in mind is one you want to avoid landing at and you also want to avoid laying on the beach near it. Princess Juliana International Airport is located on the Dutch part of the island of Saint Martin. It is the second busiest airport in the Eastern Caribbean.
The airport is famous for its short landing strip — only 2,180 metres, which as you might guess, just barely leaves enough room for the big boys to land. The planes approach the island flying just above the water and moments before landing they go right over the Maho Beach.
You may have seen pictures of the big jets just missing the tourists at the beach and think they were manipulated in some way with Photoshop but that just isn't the case.
Below is a video of a jet landing at the airport. After watching it you might be surprised to learn that there have been no major aviation incidents at the airport. I think I can avoid landing there any time in the near future.
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