Saturday, February 11, 2017

Grayscale

Date Aircraft Route of Flight Time (hrs) Total (hrs)
11 Feb 2017 N21481 SDC (Sodus, NY) - FZY (Fulton, NY) - SDC 1.3 1618.5

Winter flying on the south shore of Lake Ontario -- when it can happen -- tends to be about sustainment; circulating warm oil, maintaining pilot currency, and satisfying the urge to fly. Cross country flights during January and February are rare when range is limited by the whim of dynamic weather. I launched on an uninspiring VFR winter morning with a 3,000 foot overcast and visibility that faded into haze somewhere within fifteen miles of my position as though I was flying within a gauzy cylinder that tracked with my airplane. Over the lake itself, gunmetal gray water merged seamlessly with a gunmetal gray sky as though nothing existed beyond the shore, as though it was the edge of the world. As I flew over Sodus Bay, it occurred to me that these sorts of grey days inspire grayscale photography, the patterns in the ice providing interesting detail in the absence of interesting color.









5 comments:

  1. A different perspective....I like it. It certainly fits with the season, temps and the void of activity.

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    1. Thanks, Gary. You might be surprised by the amount of Unicom activity that day. The radio was squealing with overlapping transmissions like it was a perfect summer day. After the lousy weather we've been having, I was definitely not alone in seizing the day.

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  2. Great shots Chris. Always enjoy reading your blog. What camera are you using for these?

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    1. Thanks, Kevin. Nothing fancy: it's a Nikon S8200, which is a handheld point and shoot with a 14x optical zoom and a 16.1 megapixel CCD. That's been my main camera since the end of 2012.

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    2. You have a steady hand! They look stunning. Thanks, as always, for sharing.

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