The Andy Aupperlee Explosion 5000

Somewhere over Oregon on a Boeing 737. April 2, 2008. 7:48 PM.
Nikon D300. Nikon 18-200mm VR lens @ 18mm.
Aperture Priority. 1/50 sec. @ f/7.1. ISO 400.

Several weeks into a new assignment at Boeing Capital Corporation I found myself on a plane bound for California. The mission involved flying into Ontario and conducting an audit of Boeing inventory at Pacific Aviation Group in Victorville, CA. Fortunately I was flying with my co-worker, Dave, who is a member of Alaska Airlines’ MVP Gold Club—take home value of that: he was able to upgrade me to first class. Nice. After years of watching airport workers carelessly toss bags around, I decided to carry-on my relatively new Nikon D300. I brought along the big rig because I planned to visit my brother in nearby Barstow, CA. Legendary Route 66 bisects his town and I figured there would be some good picture taking. At take off it was sunny and pleasant, but I did not expect the gorgeous sunset we were about to witness. Sitting in first class also provided me with ample room to dig through my camera bag and lean over the window to shoot.

This vista is appropriately framed by the wing (with advanced blended winglet) of a Boeing 737 NG and a GE CFM56 jet engine. The D300 was cranked with picture control settings of Vivid and +3 saturation.

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Portage Bay, Seattle, WA. April 9, 2008. 8:43 PM.
Nikon D300. Nikon 18-200mm VR lens @ 22mm.
20 seconds @ f/9. ISO 400

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I try to get out of the house around sunset if the sky looks interesting. Living in Seattle provides endless opportunities to explore new vistas. The city nestled between the Cascade and Olympic mountain ranges and surrounded by water conveniently has hundreds of municipal parks that stay open after dark. The view from each park has its own striking combination of water, mountains, buildings, roads, structures, trees and sky. Couple those elements with Seattle’s interesting weather and finding a good photo is not that hard. (continue reading…)