Post by patrickm on May 15, 2010 19:03:24 GMT -6
After seeing Steppenwolf's brave rendition of Samuel Becket's Endgame, I headed to the parking garage, grabbed my wife's Cannon and binocs, and then popped up to the top of the parking garage. The top of the four story garage turned out to be a pretty great urban place to watch-above the street lights and empty! I was hoping to see the new moon, but clouds were rolling in from the west and everything below about 15deg was obscured.
Venus and Saturn were both visible, with Venus shining like a lighthouse beacon, and I was now about to be presented with a bonus flyover by STS-132 Endeavor. I've never tried to shoot photos of any of them, but threw my wife's zoom on and started shooting.
I got terrible depictions of all of the above, but some pretty nice pieces of abstract art.
Venus
STS-132 Inbound
(Not sure about the ghost image lower right. Must have been a distant plane, but looks cool.)
STS-132 Overhead
STS-132 Outbound
It was the brightest I've ever seen one of their flyovers. I have seen one nearly as bright when STS+ISS were linked up, but that had a lot larger surface area. Still, I don't remember it being this luminous. Julia called me from the car and said she'd had to pull over to call because it was freaking her out how bright it was!
After STS-132 had finished streaking overhead to my delight, I turned back west to see a plane approaching me from its takeoff at O'Hare. After using the zoom lens to confirm the presence of red and green navigation lights, I decided to see if I could shoot a couple just to see how they would look.
I was then given a bonus, when it banked to the north as it continued to ascend. When I took my eye off of the finder, I realized that it was making a beeline right for Venus!
Plane horizontal from left to right and Venus vertical on right. Note the nav lights on the approaching aircraft. I think this pic is my favorite of the group.
I packed up to leave and started walking when I spied Saturn above. I stopped for a second and used the hood of somebody's car to shoot a couple, not that it appears to have done any good steadying the frame!
So there ya go. With the right instructor, I think this would make a good tenth grade photography project...I wish I'd taken photography!
Lots to work on for technique, but sometimes the lemons make good lemonade!
My favorite picture from the hundreds I took during out trip to Peru in March was an accidental shot of the ground as I jogged back to the car.
Blind squirrel-nut
All photos ©2010 pkm
Venus and Saturn were both visible, with Venus shining like a lighthouse beacon, and I was now about to be presented with a bonus flyover by STS-132 Endeavor. I've never tried to shoot photos of any of them, but threw my wife's zoom on and started shooting.
I got terrible depictions of all of the above, but some pretty nice pieces of abstract art.
Venus
STS-132 Inbound
(Not sure about the ghost image lower right. Must have been a distant plane, but looks cool.)
STS-132 Overhead
STS-132 Outbound
It was the brightest I've ever seen one of their flyovers. I have seen one nearly as bright when STS+ISS were linked up, but that had a lot larger surface area. Still, I don't remember it being this luminous. Julia called me from the car and said she'd had to pull over to call because it was freaking her out how bright it was!
After STS-132 had finished streaking overhead to my delight, I turned back west to see a plane approaching me from its takeoff at O'Hare. After using the zoom lens to confirm the presence of red and green navigation lights, I decided to see if I could shoot a couple just to see how they would look.
I was then given a bonus, when it banked to the north as it continued to ascend. When I took my eye off of the finder, I realized that it was making a beeline right for Venus!
Plane horizontal from left to right and Venus vertical on right. Note the nav lights on the approaching aircraft. I think this pic is my favorite of the group.
I packed up to leave and started walking when I spied Saturn above. I stopped for a second and used the hood of somebody's car to shoot a couple, not that it appears to have done any good steadying the frame!
So there ya go. With the right instructor, I think this would make a good tenth grade photography project...I wish I'd taken photography!
Lots to work on for technique, but sometimes the lemons make good lemonade!
My favorite picture from the hundreds I took during out trip to Peru in March was an accidental shot of the ground as I jogged back to the car.
Blind squirrel-nut
All photos ©2010 pkm