Our second planespotting (which I guess should really be called planephotographing) trip to Little Rock occurred on one of the steamiest, haziest, scorchingly-hot days we've seen so far here in Central AR. Sparse mushy towering cumulus clouds to the west of the metroplex did little but add a rather more interesting backdrop to our excursion - we saw no rain, and felt no outflow. Still - we had a handful of notes with us on which I had scribbled the departure times of all of the Southwest 737s for the day - and we were confident of being able to nail one of these larger jets this time round.
After a very pleasant (as ever) early lunch at Panera, we headed out to our usual location at the airport for some spotting. The afternoon was made that much more interesting by the shard of almond, courtesy of the bear claw pastry I ate, that actually embedded itself in my left tonsil. For the rest of the trip, my husband was regaled by my impressions of a dog eating a caramel toffee.
The trip would have been hugely successful had it not been for my apparent lack of camera knowledge which once again reared its ugly head. My husband is head-and-shoulders above me in photography knowledge, but even when I applied his recommendations for settings to my camera, I still got slightly blurred images. I don't know which particular setting or group of settings were affecting my images, but suffice to say that my hopes for near-crystal-clear shots of the passing jets never were fully realized. I think that shutter speed was a major culprit - probably combined with my less than top-of-the-range equipment, and for sure my amateurish method of following a moving photography subject.
Regardless, enjoy this group of images for what they are - aviation in action!
After a very pleasant (as ever) early lunch at Panera, we headed out to our usual location at the airport for some spotting. The afternoon was made that much more interesting by the shard of almond, courtesy of the bear claw pastry I ate, that actually embedded itself in my left tonsil. For the rest of the trip, my husband was regaled by my impressions of a dog eating a caramel toffee.
The trip would have been hugely successful had it not been for my apparent lack of camera knowledge which once again reared its ugly head. My husband is head-and-shoulders above me in photography knowledge, but even when I applied his recommendations for settings to my camera, I still got slightly blurred images. I don't know which particular setting or group of settings were affecting my images, but suffice to say that my hopes for near-crystal-clear shots of the passing jets never were fully realized. I think that shutter speed was a major culprit - probably combined with my less than top-of-the-range equipment, and for sure my amateurish method of following a moving photography subject.
Regardless, enjoy this group of images for what they are - aviation in action!
An extremely fitting fountain that sits outside Panera in Little Rock.
Our first CRJ of the day. This one was taken from a small dirt pull-off on the opposite side of the runway than we generally sit at. I disliked the lighting (facing south on a sunny day), and so we moved to our usual camp.
We were lucky enough to see some private general aviation craft up-close and personal thanks to the fact that they taxied to their hangars right down to our end after landing!
Another American CRJ confirms my beliefs that we were in a much better spot lighting-wise. The sky and clouds today were just beautiful - brings to mind that great techno-style song from a while back......".....little fluffy clouds.....". Nice!
This is not a picture of another CRJ taking off - this actually is a picture of me failing to stop my shutter finger upon takeoff and wait until it's actually parallel with me before shooting. Repeat after the voice in my head: "OMG OMG OMG it's off the ground!!! Take photo take photo take photo!!!'. Sheesh.
Okay now there are several things that transpired for this shot and I want them prefaced by my saying that I am still overjoyed at this image. Okay - firstly, this is the plane we had been waiting on for an hour and a half and the main reason for the trip. Secondly - it was 10 minutes late appearing and we had not seen a single Southwest jet on the premesis during our earlier reconnaisance drive along Airport Rd. Thirdly - the last time we came here for spotting, a Southwest jet took off 10 minutes before we arrived at the airport, and 10 minutes after we left. Fourthly - seemingly out of nowhere, directly behind the CRJ in the photo above, when we thad almost given up seeing this plane - it APPEARS! Sliding into view on the apron at the very opposite end of the runway from us, shiny and purple and burnt orange. Fifthly - due to the occurrence of #4, my hands start shaking like crazy and won't quit.So.....yeah. A bit blurry, a bit shaky - but she's a beauty!!!!!!!! :-)
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