Lens-Artists Challenge#144: Taking Flight

I don’t have many regrets, but one is when I had the opportunity to hang glide tandem and said “no.” If given the same opportunity today, I’d gladly accept. I did have the opportunity to take flight in a small plane and took it. What a feeling! Thank you Wright Brothers!

And thank you Tina for giving us this challenge. At first I thought of nature’s fliers–birds. Then I thought of our own history of flight, and what better way to understand that then a museum dedicated to soaring the skies and space. In North Highlands we have the Aerospace Museum of California. Inside the museum, there are small planes, engines and replicas of fighter jets. Part of the large interior is dedicated to various space exhibits. Leaving now is the Hubble exhibit. Upstairs is the Flight Zone, where everyone, in turn, gets to pilot a plane in simulation. That’s where my husband docents.

We go to take photos at the Aerospace Museum to practice, especially on rainy or hot days. Here is where I learned how to shoot HDR (bracketing). And, when you go to a place often, you learn how to see the same thing differently, and present a different composition. Let’s take a look. Comments are in the captions.

Inside

Outside: I don’t remember the type of planes these are and when they were flown. If my husband were here, he would tell us. But he’s off doing astronomy.

We take flight in many ways. Another of my goals is to go up in a hot air balloon. Someday!

Almost escaping the heat: The California Aerospace Museum

It’s not going to be a pleasant summer here in California. We’ve had more triple digit days in June than I remember during the entire summer in past years. So, we went to another museum. I’ve posted images from the Aerospace Museum of California before, but the exhibits change. I’m hoping I won’t be repetitive.

Our Tuesday group got there when the museum opened at 10 a.m., giving us an hour outside before the heat drove us inside. I did a lot of HDR outside in the planes and was happy with the results. Inside proved to be more of a challenge. I took the camera off the tripod and tried close ups and long angles.

Most of the planes are from the WWII and Vietnam wars. Although the docents are wonderful with their knowledge, I was busy shooting what I could before the heat became unbearable. Inside is mostly engines and smaller planes. Some of these planes are on loan and will be rotated with others as they come in.

It was a fun morning and somewhat challenging in the heat.