Aerials (not the Disney Princess)

As I mentioned previously, I just love flying across the country. Unfortunately, my crappy wonderful little iPhone camera wasn’t able to capture exactly what I love about being airborne (and remember to take your Airborne before you get on a flight, seriously someone hacked up a lung on one of my flights). Oh yes I love seeing the way the landscape below changes. I also love the whole different perspective you get climbing 10,000 feet in the air. Climbing is the key, as well as descending, because this is when the plane gets a fantastic angle of the world below.

On my recent trip to Washington, D.C. I landed in the evening and was on the wrong side of the plane. Leaving D.C. I had great afternoon lighting and a great seat to get photos from:

Since I knew the lighting would be awesome, I made sure to have the Canon 5D Mark II with me instead of in the overhead bin. I had my trust 24-105 mm lens on for versatility.

The angle during descent is pretty awesome:

In between I love seeing the desert below me:

And I love to see the land begin to change:

Until it looks like nothing I’m used to seeing

I really need to fly across the middle of the country more to grab some more cool shots. I would love to be right at the point where the land changes from desert to lush vegetation (I think I may have been napping at that point).

Thanks as always for stopping by!

Up where the air is light

On a work trip to the East Coast and flew to Washington, D.C. To see the sights since I have never been there. It seems that I got here before my luggage did.

I love sitting right next to the window because as a geographer, I can see the changing patterns of the land below me. As a photographer, I can document the ways the physical geography changes.

I made and edited this image in my iPhone somewhere over Missouri (I think).

Thanks for stopping by...if you see my luggage, tell it to do the same.

Project 365 Las Vegas (Days 35-38)

I have been in Las Vegas this past weekend. Now, Vegas is home to all kinds of debauchery, but also all kinds of interesting architecture. You can visit Venice, Paris and Egypt all within two hours. Day 35- February 4, 2010 Vegas is just a short flight from my home in the San Fernando Valley (45 min). I love looking out of the window when on a plane, and usually take a bunch of photos. I LOVE aerial photography, and this was one of my shots that I used for my project 365: I LOVE the clouds and the snow-capped mountains. And the wing makes it look like a nice ad for Southwest.

Camera: Canon PowerShot SD780 IS Exposure: 0.001 sec (1/1000) Aperture: f/4.0 Focal Length: 8.7 mm ISO Speed: 80

Day 36- February 5, 2010 There is ALWAYS construction in Vegas, no matter what the economy is like. And trust me, Superbowl weekend there shows that there is no recession. (Speaking of Superbowl, did you know that the SAINTS WON??? GEAUX SAINTS!!!!!) Anyhow, one of the newest additions to Vegas is the HUGE City center, which is a shopping/hotel/casino area. This is a photo of the outside of the HUGE shopping center called Crystals: It was a really cloudy day, but I really loved the reflections.

Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II Exposure: 0.002 sec (1/640) Aperture: f/6.3 Focal Length: 45 mm ISO Speed: 3200

Day 37- February 6, 2010 One of the higher end hotel/casinos is the Wynn by none other than Steve Wynn. The hotel/casino Encore is a newer addition to the Wynn, and this weekend was my first time seeing it! well, everything is over the top (of course), and one of the small details is actually a rather large crystal peacock. You read it right.

Of course, mark would have worked so well here, but all I had on me was my little camera. Camera: Canon PowerShot SD780 IS Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60) Aperture: f/3.5 Focal Length: 7.2 mm ISO Speed: 200

Day 38- February 7, 2010

Of course, all good things must come to an end, and so it was time to fly home. But that meant more aerial photography for me:

The mountain in the photo is Oat Mountain. Here is a terrain map of the area--we flew in from the West. The lake that you see behind the mountain in the photo is to its East on the map:
View Larger Map

A wonderful Vegas trip, aerial photography, and the Saints WINNING THE SUPERBOWL all made for a great weekend.

Thanks for stopping by!