Profiting from the autumnal season to do some photography, I visited the Tewkesbury region, near Quebec City, were there are always interesting point of views. First, near the Tewkesbury church :
Tewkesbury, Québec 2015
Tewkesbury, Québec 2015
Tewkesbury church, Québec 2015
Tewkesbury Blue Roof, Québec 2015
Then, following a trail heading to the Jacques-Cartier river, I was able to take few shots, sometimes under an overcast sky and, on few occasions, with the sun shining through clouds :
Autumn in Tewkesbury, Quebec 2015
Tewkesbury, Québec 2015
Tewkesbury, Québec 2015
All the photos were taken with a Canon 5D MKII DSLR camera. I mostly used two lens : a Canon 14mm 2.8L fixed lens and a Canon 70-200 f2.8L IS II USM.
For other photos on the province of Quebec and also Quebec City, click on the following links from my blog:
Flying over the Eastern Townships in Quebec under MVFR always represents a problem due to the terrain. Here is a screen capture of a flight from the Quebec international airport to the Sherbrooke airport, to show what a virtual flight looks like during autumn. The terrain has been modelized by Orbx.
A2A Simulations C182T Skylane in the Eastern Townships region in Québec
Here are the first few hills visible but, rapidly, the top of mountains will be obscured in clouds. The downloaded weather is managed by the FSGRW weather engine and the cloud textures are the result of a combination between REX Texture Direct and REX Soft Clouds. A photo software has been used to enhance the contrasts.
The aircraft is a C182T Skylane from A2A Simulations. The similarities between a real aircraft and this virtual aircraft is really unbelievable. The pilot must take care of all corrections, even the gyroscopic precession, otherwise the ADF will indicate the road to follow while the compass sends you in a totally different direction!
Here are few photos taken two days ago in Québec with a Canon 5D MK II camera . The first picture is the exception, having been taken in St-Antoine-de-Tilly.
St-Antoine-de-Tilly, Québec 2015
It was raining when the two following pictures were taken in Sillery. But this normally allows for good results since the colors are more interesting:
Sillery, Québec 2015
Sillery, Québec 2015
The Park Bois-de-Coulonge always means interesting surprises, year after year. There is always something original to shoot, providing the photographer takes his time. One can see the Sillery Marina from the top of the cliff. A row of aligned trees and the numerous masts of the sailboats taken out of the water before the cold season offered an interesting view:
Sillery Marina, Québec 2015
The wind was blowing moderately, which allowed for the following picture:
Parc du Bois-de-Coulonge, Québec 2015
Near a little creek, I tried different shutter speeds on two similar shots:
Parc du Bois-de-Coulonge, Québec 2015
Parc du Bois-de-Coulonge 2015
As I was ready to leave the park, I saw a newly wed and her entourage arriving for a photo shoot session with a professional photographer. I delayed my departure and used the pond to capture the following image, which was then inverted:
Wedding at the Bois-de-Coulonge Park 2015
Two men who were present for the wedding were standing close to the pond, staying at a distance for the photo session. I took the opportunity to discretely add the shadows to my photo:
Parc du Bois-de-Coulonge, Québec 2015
For other photos on the province of Quebec and also Quebec City, click on the following links from my blog:
C182T airborne from the Parry Sound airport in Ontario, Canada.
In order to celebrate autumnal colors, here is a screen capture of an A2A Simulations C182T Skylane airborne from the Parry Sound (CNK4) airport in Ontario, Canada.
The airport was created by Vlad Maly, for ORBX. FSGRW was the weather engine used to follow the actual weather around Georgian Bay. REX Texture Direct was used for the cloud textures.
The screen capture of this virtual flight was slightly retouched by means of a photo software in order to add a bit more intensity to the autumnal scene.
For more articles on flight simulation on my web site, click on the following link : Flight simulation
A quick look on internet provided the exact location and time where the moon would rise in the Quebec City region. On September 27th 2015, one had to look towards 089 degrees and be ready for 18:25 PM.
September 27th 2015. Blood Moon photo taken from Promenade Champlain, Quebec City, with a Canon 5D MKII.
Imagine being able to connect your camera to a modern personal telescope. That would make for fantastic shots. But since I deal with a Canon 70-200 f2.8L IS II USM coupled with an extender, I cannot expect the same results. Nonetheless, it is not a reason to stay at home…
September 27th 2015 Blood Moon Eclipse. As for the blue object to the right of the screen, your explanations are welcomed.
The most interesting effect happened during late evening. I caught the above shot around 22:15. Cranking the ISO, I saw a blue planet or something that looks like it in the frame. The shot was not taken through a window so there was no glass reflection. I was kind of surprised to see this addition to the Blood Moon Eclipse. I wrote to a local astronomy club, asking them what it could be. They answered that unless I took the shot through a window, causing a reflection, they did not know what it was.
I know nothing yet about astronomy. If it is the reflection of the moon, I don’t know how it got there since I was taking the photo outside, without a polarizer. According to a recent comment sent by Mario Cloutier (see the comments) who points the reader to another blog looking at this question, it is possible that the picture of this ghost moon is the result of an overexposed shot combined with the atmosphere’s specific characteristics of temperature and moisture which would increase the reflexion and refraction. That is a logical explanation. The last shot was taken around 22:35:
September 27th 2015 Blood Moon Eclipse. Camera adjusted on BULB priority, with ISO 100 and 2.8 aperture.
In August 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait. This invasion was unanimously condemned, even by countries that are traditionally aligned with Iraq. The United Nations reacted by giving Iraq up to January 15th 1991 to withdraw. But Saddam Hussein’s attitude clearly showed that there would be no withdrawal and that he intended to proceed with Kuwait annexation to the Iraqi territory.
Understanding that military force would obviously be necessary, United States (representing a coalition of 34 countries) started preparing for the conflict. Aircraft movements increased and short range military aircrafts that would have to cross the Atlantic used Iqaluit, on Baffin Island, as a stopover before continuing through Greenland, Iceland, Europe and finally the Middle East.
OV-10 Broncos transiting through Iqaluit in 1990 and heading for the Persian Gulf
Starting summer 1990, the Iqaluit airport then became one of the mandatory stopovers towards Middle East for some military aircrafts. Soon we could see L-382s carrying large size items and some OV-10 Broncos painted with desert colors landing in Iqaluit. Later on during autumn, other specially equipped aircrafts like the U.S.Army RU-21 Guardrail Common Sensor also made stopovers in Iqaluit.
RU-21 Guardrail Common Sensor on a stopover in Iqaluit in 1990 and heading for the Persian Gulf
A Southern Air Transport L-382 also landed in Iqaluit. That company was sometimes used by the CIA for its operations.
Southern Air Transport L-382 N908SJ transiting through Iqaluit in 1990
As soon as a flight service specialist (FSS) was not busy with radio communications, he would head toward the briefing counter to receive the military pilots who had come to obtain the mandatory weather and flight planning information that would be used to safely cross the Atlantic.
HF frequencies used for international communications at the local Transport Canada flight service station were really busy. On top of the regular air traffic services normally associated with commercial aircrafts crossing the Atlantic, we were now dealing with the radio communications associated with numerous military cargo aircrafts like the C-5s Galaxy and others.
In the two weeks preceding the United Nations ultimatum, between January 1st and 15th 1991, the Iqaluit flight service station recorded a 266 % increase against the same period in 1990 in oceanic traffic transiting through its airport. Flights were mostly related with private or chartered business jets linked to international banks, petroleum companies and military organizations preparing for the events to come. We received, among others, aircraft types like the G1, G2, G3, G4, HS25, DA50, DA90, CL60, C550, LR25 and B-727.
Occidental Petroleum B-727 N10XY on a stopover in Iqaluit in 1990
One night of January 1991, while we were at work, one member of the staff took-off his headphones and calmly told me: “Son, the war has started”.
I will remember that special period since we did not receive a military training but, nonetheless, we witnessed and dealt with the preparation and aircraft movements associated with a major military conflict.
Moreover, for a short period, the Iqaluit airport reverted to the use it had initially been planned and built for in 1942, during the Second World War, which was a base created for short-range military aircrafts heading to Europe.
Icefield in sight! A screen capture realized with the following products: FSX, FSGRW, REX, and a combination of Orbx creations. Final editing with a photo editing software (slight corrections only)
The screen capture above, titled “Icefield in sight”, represents a virtual flight using the FSX platform. A combination of FSGRW and REX has been used to improve the cloud effects.
As the basic FSX program does not offer a very realistic representation of clouds, it is necessary to get better cloud sets from a third party provider. In the present screen capture, the clouds are a creation of REX, through their Texture Direct and Soft Clouds used in combination.
It is one thing to have access to realistic clouds but you also need a good weather engine. This engine will download real-weather data and, if you wish, will update it every few minutes when you fly.
Many weather engines are available. In the above picture, I used FSGRW (PILOT’S version 1.7, build 29).
To represent the mountains and the icefield, ORBX creations like SAK, Vector and Open LC Canada-Alaska were used. The DC-3 livery is available as a free download from major sites like FlightSim.com or AVSIM .
Last point: when you take a screen capture, it is possible to use a photo editing software (there are many good ones on the market) to slightly improve a particular aspect of the picture. It takes very little effort to learn how to use few basic functions that will enhance your captures.
For more articles on flight simulation on my web site, click on the following link : Flight simulation
As a boy, Keith Ferris lived at Kelly Field, Texas, where his father was a Lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force. He started drawing airplanes from life at age four or five. He used to carve wooden models, initially in balsa then in pine. This proved useful to visualize aircrafts three dimensionally in drawing.
The aviation art of Keith Ferris
Very young, he knew that he would have a military flying career and soon realized that all his flight training manuals were illustrated byJo Kotula, an artist who was self-employed and could make his living out of his art.
Keith tried to learn aeronautical engineering but eventually abandoned it to concentrate on what he liked the most, drawing and painting. He went on to study at the George Washington University and attended the Corcoran School of Art in New York. He became a member of the Society of Illustrators of New York in 1960.
“The Aviation Art of Keith Ferris” is a superb book filled with sketches, amazing drawings and paintings, aviation facts, real aviation stories, advices on how best to represent a scene, quotes from pilots who were actually involved in dogfights. He explains that some of the most demanding challenges for the aviation artist are painting through glass and simulating rotating propellers.
The aviation art of Keith Ferris
Keith Ferris‘s artwork has appeared in the Aviation Week and Space Technology calendar and the Airman Magazine cover, to name a few. Many international companies have used his work for their publicity. Among them, Mitsubishi Aircraft International, General Dynamics and Fairchild Republic Company. His paintings are part of many collections, among which the U.S. Air Force art collection and the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institute, Washington D.C.
The book presents paintings of the following type of aircrafts: Lockheed T-33, Boeing P-12, Wright Type A Biplane, Loening OA-1B (amphibian), Spirit of St-Louis, Grumman F-14 Tomcat about to land on an aircraft carrier, B-52 and KC-135 in a refueling operation, the Thunderbirds (F-100), Harvest Reaper F-111, Supermarine Spitfire and German Messerschmitt 109E in a dogfight, Atlas Centaur Space Launch Vehicle cutaway, China Air Force Mig-15 and a F-86 Sabre (the dogfight is over), Fiat C.R.42, F-15 and a Soviet SU-15 in a dogfight, Boeing B-17G Flying Fortress in action, Republic P-47D Thunderbolt, F-4C and F4E Phantoms in action, F-105D and F-105E Thunderchiefs in action, Mitsubishi’s A6M2 Zero-Sen and MU2, Bell 47G, PBY Catalina, Handley Page 0/400, Skylab.
There is also a very interesting story about the steps involved in creating a gigantic B-17 mural (25 feet high by 75 feet wide) for the Smithsonian Institution.
(Precedent story: the lady who was robbed before my eyes)
A Trans Ocean Airways DC-8-71 and a Sterling Boeing B-727 in Iqaluit (1989). View from the Iqaluit flight service station.
On a 1989 autumn night in Iqaluit, on Baffin Island, Sterling’s Boeing 727 arrived from Europe and parked near the fuel tanks. From the Transport Canada flight service station tower (FSS), we could see the Canadian Customs and RCMP vehicles parked near the airplane, which was unusual. There was something going on as there were many people standing by the rear door of the plane, moving from one vehicle to the other. That was sure a lengthy stopover.
Few days later, on October 2nd 1989, the Journal de Montréal (one of the Montreal newspaper) published the following article: “[my translation] Two Polish citizen who had planned to request asylum in Newfoundland during the technical stopover of their plane on a flight from Gdansk to Vancouver were told on Saturday, by Canadian authorities, that the plane had landed in Canada’s far North”.
The article continues: “[my translation] The two men, whose identity was kept secret, still requested political asylum, said a RCMP police officer from Iqaluit, on Baffin Island in the Arctic. The Polish citizens, who were on a trip to relieve some fishermen on the west coast of Canada, thought they were in St John’s, Newfoundland capital, indicated the policeman in charge, Corporal Gary Asels”.
“The custom officer, using a map, showed them where Iqaluit [in the Nunavut] was located (2100 kilometers north of Montreal). They could not care less, as long as they were in Canada. They were very happy to be here, commented corporal Asels”.
I was told that in order to succeed with their escape from the plane, they had chosen a seat close to the rear stairway of the Boeing 727. They made sure to look like they were sleeping. When the stairway was lowered and the surveillance suspended for a quick moment, the two men just escaped through the stairway and were immediately on Canadian soil.
I am unfortunately unable to confirm today if they have been received as Canadian citizen or if they have been sent back in their country of origin.
(Precedent story: two airline captains forced to delay their departure from Iqaluit)
Iqaluit NWT 1989
Iqaluit, Nunavut, 1990. One day, just as I was getting out for a walk, a young lady came to me asking that I catch a thief who had just stolen her handbag. Such a request coming from somebody living in a huge city would not have been surprising, but I never thought that I would hear that in a small city like Iqaluit. I initially thought it was a joke and wondered where the hidden cameras where positioned but when I turned around, I saw a man running away with something in his hand.
I instinctively started running after the man and, as I was closing in on him, he had a choice to make: he either slowed down and I caught up with him or he kept the pace while going down a slope made of huge rocks with sharp edges. He chose the second option and started jumping from one rock to the other, lost his balance, and fell head first against the rocks.
Still lying down and with blood all over his face, he saw me closing in progressively until I was just beside him. I requested the bag but he refused to give it back. He certainly expected me to beat him up, but I was not there to give anybody a lesson. I waited a bit, until he calmed down. I then asked him a second time to give me the handbag. He finally agreed.
The man stood back up, barely noticing the blood he had on his face. Without saying a word, he started following me while I was slowly going uphill to meet the lady. Every now and then, I turned around to ensure that he was not coming toward me with a knife or a rock in his hand. Once on flat ground, I meet the lady and give her the handbag. Eventually, the thief caught up with us and the lady started shouting at him, using me as a shield in case the man lost his temper. I did not need another crisis now that everything was settled.
When she was done with him, the thief tried to get closer to me. I made sure to keep the length of an arm between the two of us in order to avoid a sucker punch. I had trouble understanding that after such an incident, the man had chosen to walk with us, like nothing ever happened. He finally said his first words: “You run fast, like Ben Johnson!”
Finally, after a short walk, the three of us arrived exactly where everything had initially started. The incident had been dealt with and the lady decided that she would not call the police. She went away after thanking me, the man returned to the bar where he came from, and I was finally able to take a walk in Iqaluit’s peaceful atmosphere, few hours before going back to work at the Transport Canada flight service station (FSS).
(Next story: two Polish asylum seekers in Iqaluit)
