Vacuum Mooring for a Ferry

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I had noticed the marks on the side of the Wightlink ferries at various times. I had thought it was just marks from the dockside when the ship rubbed up against it. However, when walking around Spice Island, I got a look across at the Gunwharf terminal and saw some odd panels alongside the dock. I zoomed in tight on these to see if I could read what was written on the side.

It turns out that these are a vacuum clamp arrangement which holds the ship when it is docked. I assume that this replaces the old process of looping ropes over posts on the docks. The location would explain the marks that I have seen on the ferries. I assume there is some degree of freedom in the connection arms to accommodate the motion of the ferry even while it is in harbour. Now I am going to have to try and see these in operation. Next time we take the ferry, I shall try and get a good look.

Visualise That Trailing Vortex

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I was working through some images that I had taken on my one and only visit to Rainbow Canyon when the military was still flying through that part of region. One of the shots that caught my eye was this one of a Super Hornet. It had passed me and was heading down towards the valley. This involved a few tight pulls around the curves in the canyon. A strong trailing vortex changes the density of the air which affects the refractive index. This distortion of the light makes the vortex visible if only by impacting the view of whatever is behind it. A good view of that effect can be seen in this shot.

A Memorial to a Fellow Cyclist

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As we were driving towards Sparsholt, we came along a lane that I often cycle. At a junction, there was a white painted bike against a tree. It looked like a memorial, but we were in the car so there was nothing much to be done. However, it wasn’t too long before I rode back up this way on my bike. This time I was able to stop. The bike is a memorial to a cyclist that lost their life. There was a message with details of Dave Davenport. As a cyclist, I am very conscious of how vulnerable we are to the inattention of others with whom we share the road. This could be any of us.

Early Morning Arrivals

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A work trip had me at Heathrow just as the sun was peaking above the horizon. It was very low and, as I drove along the perimeter road to the car park, it was right in my eyes. I suspect that wasn’t too much fun for the arrivals that were on the runway aligned to the east. It did mean that the light was right on the nose of the arriving planes. I had brought the camera along because – well when don’t I?

The traffic in had been quite light so I was a touch early arriving and had about ten minutes before I needed to head into the terminal. Consequently, I got a few shots of some of the jets arriving from locations around the world. The light was almost on my side of the planes which, given I was to the north, tells me that we are getting towards summer. Here are a few of the arriving planes.

Sometimes, the Morning Delivers

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As I emerged from Waterloo Station one morning heading to work, I was surprised to find that, unlike the forecast, there was a hint of rain in the air. I almost changed my plan to walk across the city and take the bus but, it wasn’t that bad and I decided to chance it. Thankfully, it wasn’t really that much rain and I needn’t have worried. More importantly, as I came on to Waterloo Bridge, I could see that the sun in the east was creating a rainbow above the city. Once I got onto the bridge properly, there was a cool view of the rainbow looking down towards Westminster. Commuters normally don’t take photos as they don’t want to look like tourists but, on this occasion, lots of people were stopping to take a shot of a cool view.

Stukas Are Rare as Hen’s Teeth

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Given how many of them were built, it is surprising how few Stukas remain. There is one in restoration in Everett at FHCAM which is supposed to be intended to fly when it is complete. I saw that one at various times when still in Seattle. There is also one in the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. The RAF Museum at Hendon also has one and this is the one I saw most recently. Any others are wrecks that have been recovered. The shape of the Stuka is very distinctive. Footage of WWII so often includes them diving in on targets with the sound of the noise trumpet device that they could fit having become synonymous with aircraft diving. Not sure how many more of them I will ever see!

Cattle Scratching an Itch

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It had been a while since I had last taken a walk around Barton Meadows and, with all of the things I had needed to do on a Sunday done, I didn’t want to just doze off on what was a lovely day. I thought a couple of miles around the nature reserve would be a good finish to the afternoon. I wasn’t going to go without the camera, though. There was some wildlife to be seen but most things were a bit distant. The cattle were in the field though. Some of them were up at the gate at the top of one of the fields and using it to scratch themselves. I find this very amusing for some reason so switched to video to capture them looking like they were really enjoying themselves. Not quite Baloo in Jungle Book but similar!

The Belvedere Looks Amazing

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I am far too young to have seen the Bristol Belvedere in flight, despite what some might think! Given how old it is, it really does seem like quite a large helicopter to have been developed and operated. I bet it looked pretty cool when it was flying. Even now, when see in a museum, I think it is still quite a beast. The example at the RAF Museum in Hendon was there when I first visited in the late 80s and it is still on display. Getting shots of something this large in a relatively confined space is tricky but worthwhile. Do you think it looks as good as I do?

One More of the Scotsman

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I had spent a bit of time preparing to photograph the Flying Scotsman on a Saturday morning at the Watercress Line. Once done, I had gone home and picked up Nancy so we could head to an appointment that we had in Itchen Abbas. When we finished there, the plane was to head to Alresford for some other stuff. This was going to take us by the bridge in Bishop’s Sutton that goes over the track. I thought it was about the time that another of the Scotsman’s planned runs should take place. Consequently, we drove by that way.

There were plenty of people on the bridge when we got there so I parked and asked if it was due. Someone said five minutes, so I grabbed the cameras from the car. As I did so, I saw people lifting cameras to their eyes so zipped back. The train was already climbing the hill out of Alresford. The longer shots were not great because the heat haze was already showing itself, but they were okay. As it came up the cutting, it was making plenty of power. Then it was gone. We were back in the car and off to our destination and it had barely taken five minutes out of our day!

Set Up Publicity Photos for Helinet

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Having done the ride along with Alan Purwin of Helinet during the filming of Transformers, Alan was interested in getting some publicity shots of the helicopter to use for their own marketing material. He asked if I would be interested in doing the shots and I was more than up for it. What I wanted was to have a high enough vantage point from which to shoot. You want to be looking across or down on the helicopter to get some real context to the work.

Additionally, Alan wanted the helicopter to be mounted with a different camera mount. He owned a company in New Zealand called Shotover. This was the mount that he wanted on the helicopter for the shots instead of the larger ball mount that had been used during the Transformers filming. I discussed with him where to get an elevated location from which to shoot. He had been staying at the Trump Tower for all of the filming and had developed a good relationship with one of the managers there so got me access to use one of their outside deck areas. This proved to be an ideal spot.

We had a series of runs with the helicopter coming up the Chicago River towards me, pulling up in front of me, hovering close by and making diving runs from the River North area across in front of me to be over the Chicago River. I had a radio so I could call in the next sequence or have them run it again. The weather had become a lot nicer than it had been when I was riding along and so I was really happy with the results. So was Alan and they soon were on the marketing materials for Helinet. No doubt they now have new material, but it was used for a while. Sadly, Alan dies in a plane crash during the filming of a movie in Central America. He was a passenger in a plane that crashed on take-off. He was a super nice guy, and I am sure remains sadly missed.