Short final


Again in California and again it was my goal to catch a heavy on short final to LAX. Dream was to get a Quantas A380. But without having ATC or mobile internet the only thing you can do is wait (and I saw the Quantas bird already coming in when I still was on the highway). This time I had plenty of time to visit the famous park at Sepulveda Blvd. to watch the birds coming down on runway 24R. But everything I saw was a big cross on the runway marking it as closed. What a disappointment! So I walked down the road to 24L and got an AA triple seven – unfortunately on the best frame a wingtip is missing. Obviously not my day. So I walked back to the car. On the way back I met another photographer and he gave me the information that the Korean A380 is coming around. So I went back to 24L. Plan was to be at the left wing tip fence position and to catch the beast at 11 mm. Really hard to estimate…
This is what I got and I’m quite happy. Not the 24R position, but still an A380 wide angle picture at LAX. Due to the fact that it was done at 11 mm the plane looks smaller than it is. But have a look on it’s mighty shadow and you will get an impression about the size (front part is only from wing tip to No.1 engine)

Stare


I don’t know what you think how I find the spots where I do photographs like this one. Pure luck! Okay, not at all. In most cases I discover the whole area on Google Earth and use Streetview as well. The picture shown here was done on the second last day of my trip and I had a long to-do-list after leaving the office. So I grabbed summer clothing and camera in the morning, changed it on leaving the office and made a big round trip through Orange County and its malls to spend some money. When done with shopping I tried to get to the coast before sunset. On arrival in Newport Beach I took a random road to the beach and what a luck – I directly ended on a place called “Inspiration Point”. I think I have seen why it is called this way. (Inspiration Point on Google Maps)

Newport Beach


As alway on my business trips: leave the office, check the light conditions and drive to a spot already discovered on Google. This time I drove to Newport and threw my stuff on the beach and watched the scene relaxing in the sun and figuring out where to catch some nice shots. This is what I got when I was walking around in the streets near the beach. 

Laguna Beach

The Pacific Ocean seen from the top of the Aliso and Wood Canyons Wilderness Park near Laguna Beach, CA. I found this spot in Google Earth and decided to visit it right after work. Unfortunately the weather conditions were not perfect and there was this cloud layer on the ocean. Anyway, a nice place to be with a fantastic view over the pacific coast line.

Grand Canyon


It seems as the “Non-Travel-Photo-Period” lasted for two pictures only. Sorry for that!
Even if it looks like, I did not travel to Mars aboard a Boeing 747 for photographing one of its various canyons. This photo was taken 30.000 feet above the state of Arizona while flying over the Grand Canyon. Since this pass I’m deeply impressed by its size and I now know why it is called Grand Canyon. The flight over the Canyon took around 40 minutes. Absolutely breathtaking. I think I have to go back, hire a car and watch it from the ground – and take pictures!