Last year, I photographed an airport birthday! By all means this was the most unique venue where I have attended a celebration. If I had known this was at all a possibility, I would have asked my parents for this every year!
On this occasion, the airport made lots of areas accessible to the event guests. Firstly, we met at a conference room where food, drink and birthday cake were served. While we were there, a representative from the airport gave us a nice presentation on the details of the facility. Afterwards, we started a tour of the airport. As can be seen, the highlight of the tour was viewing planes arriving on the runway from a spot next to the runway! Thanks to Julie and her parents for inviting us to her awesome birthday celebration – it is one to remember!
Earlier this year, we took a plane out of and back to Reagan National Airport. I accompanied my wife on a business trip. Since I can work remotely, it was a good opportunity for me to visit a new city. While I did have some photography work, I did find some time to go make some new images while there.
The first location on our trip was not far from home. Reagan National is the closest airport to downtown Washington, DC. During the time from checking in with the airline and boarding, the airport has a lot of possibilities to make architecture photos. The largest and most popular photos are made in the main terminal with its Jeffersonian Domes and long promenade.
Additionally, there is another great spot in the former Terminal A. Now, this section is a Conference Center and Historic Lobby as it no longer functions as a place for passengers to board airplanes. I have photographed some events in this space which is a showcase area for the DC area.
The large panoramic window provides a beautiful view of the airfield, the Potomac River, and shores of Maryland. Who doesn’t enjoy viewing planes as they take off or land? Maybe it heightens the anxiety for nervous flyers – lol!
On the flight back from the trip the good weather provided more opportunities for photos out of the window. The challenging approach to the airport follows the path of the Potomac River. On one side you may see the familiar sites of Washington, DC from the air, but this side I had view of Tysons, Arlington, and the Pentagon in Virginia.
All of these are so familiar to me from the ground but are really photo worthy from above. The fleeting time that you have above the area makes you hit the camera trigger much faster knowing there is no time to review them. It’s really time to spray and pray!
This last week, I flew on an airplane for the first time in a long time. My travels of late have all been by car, especially for business where I have to bring so much equipment. This is the first airplane trip I have taken with my iPhone, and I took advantage of having a decent camera on a bright daytime flight. The plane was an Airbus A321, and we were lucky to have seats in the last row! Actually that’s lucky only if you are interested in make photos from out of the window. Being this far back, there was no obstruction to the views below from the wings or engines.
The first thing you notice even without looking through the camera lens is that you do not have that large a field of view out of the window. Use the technology built into phone apps to help. This first image was taken with the panorama feature with the default camera app of the iPhone. It was not a very wide panorama, but you can get a much larger view than in one shot with the normal focal length lens, and small window. The only editing needed was to crop the ends to remove the edges of the windows.
You will have opportunities near the takeoffs and landings to see so much of the surrounding landscapes. During the middle of the flights, the deep blues, and billowy clouds will fill the frame easily. You cannot get the same deep deep blue in the sky taking photos from the ground. Being above the clouds, and in the thinning air makes for a nice minimal background in case other objects come into view like the moon, or other nearby planes.
Another challenge in getting clean photos out of the plane is the reflections from the multiple panes in the window. Two things that help – cup your hands around the lens to block extra light coming from inside the plane from getting to the lens. The second, is to wait until the sun is closer to overhead than at an angle to you. If it is lower, the light can more easily bounce around the window and create flares in the photo. But sometimes, the subject trumps a perfect photo. I tried my best, but with the lowering sun, these have too much flare, but it was a beautiful view of Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center complete with launch pads and the huge Vehicle Assembly Building.
