My son had rowing practice on the Potomac and I had to drive him there. I spent the time waiting for him at Gravelly Point. I haven't tried my 500mm lens on aircraft, so I went to the airport even though it was an awful, muddy, cloudy day. And it was windy, which made for some interesting crosswind takeoffs, but man was it colder than the temperature would lead you to believe. I was glad for the extra coat and gloves in the car.
The aircraft were taking off to the north. I don't like this departure very much. I can't shoot the approaching aircraft because they are too far away. And many of the aircraft are so high by the time they pass over me that all I get to see is their bellies. So I made do with shooting them head on as they lifted off, and I stumbled upon a theme as the arriving aircraft were visible in the background.
There was lots of heat haze to be seen.
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| Heat Haze Blurs an Aircraft that's Lining Up for Departure |
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| Heat Haze Magnifies the Aircraft Lined Up |
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| Crosswind Takeoff |
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| A Rare Takeoff from an Intersecting Runway |
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| Going and Coming |
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| Heat Haze Obscures the Landing Aircraft |
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| Gear Retraction |
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| 757s are the Largest Aircraft There |
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| With Trailing Aircraft Stacked Up |
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| One Leaving, Three Arriving |
I ended up with quite a few examples of the jet exhaust of departing aircraft obscuring or blurring the view of the landing aircraft that were well behind the departure. I think I'll try for this look again when there's better sky to work with.
