Flying West
It has been a while since I have taken a trip that needed a jetplane to get to the destination. This was a good occasion – an out of town wedding! The best part, is that I did not have any work to do for the wedding! It was another trip that did not have a work-related component attached. So, I went into the trip with a more relaxed approach. However, I still wanted to make some good photos. Especially since it is not every day that I get the chance to travel.
For the trip, I planned what gear to take that would let me take a range of photos without weighing me down too much. Paring down the gear list will also let me carry it onto planes without too much fuss. I brought my Fuji X100s which has a 35mm lens, and my iPhone. For the “big” camera, I brought my Nikon D800 with 3 lenses – a 14mm for a wide angle, a 50mm which is a small, normal, lens, and a 105mm macro lens that I could use as a telephoto or portrait lens.
Fog Over Chicago
The first plane we boarded was an almost factory-new Embraer 175. From the inside, the modern design was really evident with what seemed like a lot of headroom and legroom for a small regional jet. The first leg of the trip was supposed to be from Washington Reagan National Airport (DCA) to Chicago’s O’Hare airport (ORD). The E-175 and the crew provided a smooth flight to Chicago, but Mother Nature had a wrench into the landing plans. Due to the Polar Vortex that brought a lot of cold down from the Arctic, the Great Lakes stayed frozen for much longer than usual. With the warm air starting to arrive it created a lot of fog off the lakes. You can see from this photo, that there is a thick layer of fog closer to the ground. Chicago is usually one of the most beautiful cities to see from the air. With Lake Michigan taking up most of the view, and the tall towers, it is a great view from the plane. Not on this trip! Zooming in, you can just see the top of Willis Tower, the 2nd tallest building in the US.
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