Seaplanes

Growing up, I knew a family (The Vollums) who had a Turbo Grumman Goose. On weekends the Vollums would fly their Goose to a lake house in British Columbia or McCall Idaho. In under two hours they could be worlds away from their house in downtown Portland (Oregon). I will always remember my first ride in an "Airplane-go-water," as I lovingly called them.

Seaplanes are used for exploring the territories and connecting urban and remote worlds and thus are inherently rugged.

A couple times an hour, commercial seaplanes leave from Lake Union in downtown Seattle, shuttling commuters to and from the San Juan Islands and British Columbia. These seaplanes turn a 4 hour commute involving ferries and multiple highways into 45 minute plane ride.

This is what I imagine every seaplane pilot looking like.

Despite improved roads and highways, Seaplanes remain the preferred means of transportation in much of Alaska and British Columbia.

I want to live on a secluded island or lake and commute to work one of these guys.

The location of runways doesn't hold these guys back. Seaplanes can land on roughly 75% of the Earth's surface. Ohh the freedom...

Thanks to Seaplanes in the Great Northwest for some photos.

Here are some more links,
Seaplanes in the Great North West (Blog),
Grumman Goose (Wiki),
Howard Vollum (Wiki),
NW Seaplanes (Scheduled Seaplane flights from Seatle to the San Juan Islands and BC),
DHC-2 Beaver Wiki.

Harry McCotty and His Rose Tattoo

Harry McCotty is the real deal. During the summer, he is a stone foremen. During the winter, he splits wood in his backyard outside of East Dorset Vermont. Regardless of the season, he wears wool.

Although born and raised in southern Vermont, Harry received formal training as a topiarist in London, England in his early twenties.

Harry got this Rose tattoo during a 5 year stint in traveling throughout Europe in his mid 20s.

Harry manning his hydraulic wood splitter.

Here are some more links,
Harry McCotty (Picasa),
Side of the Road (ART).

Canon 430EX II Speedlight Flash

Over the weekend I got a Canon 430EX II Speedlight Flash to use during both night and daytime photography. Needless to say I am pumped. It giving me a whole new venue to experiment with and I recommend a hot shoe flash to any one interested in photography. I wager that a $300 flash will help your photography more than a $1000 super fast lens.

Unlike the built in a flash, a hot shoe can pivot and be aimed away from the subject enabling the light to be bounced off the ground or a nearby window. For this photo I aimed the flash away from the subject and bounced it off the ground.

In addition to using my flash at night, I also use it in the daytime to illuminate faces and details. Here is an example.

Without a Flash.

With a flash. Here is another one during the day with a flash.

Here are some more Links,

Canon 430EX II Speedlight Flash (Amazon),
Canon 430EX II Speedlight Flash (Review),

Sir John Norton-Griffiths

I have to read a lot for school. Normally, I read assignments while watching a movie or wondering around on my computer and thus the pages blend together in a haze. Every now and again something catches my eye. A couple days ago I was reading Daniel Yergin's "The Prize" and stumbled across a brief discussion of an adventurer named Sir John Norton-Griffiths (pictured above). Here is the exert that captured my imagination:

“The British Government took matters into its own hands (the sabotaging of German occupied Russian oil fields) and recruited Colonel John Norton-Griffiths M.P., to organize the destruction of the Romanian oil industry. A larger-than-life figure, Norton-Griffiths was one of the great engineering contractors of the British Empire. He had undertaken construction projects in almost every corner of the world—railways in Angola and Chile and Australia, harbors in Canada, aqueducts in Baku, sewage systems in Battersea and Manchester. On the eve of World War I, he was in the midst of promoting a plan for a new subway for Chicago. Handsome, physically imposing and with the strength and endurance of a prize fighter, Norton-Griffiths was a charming swashbuckler and a persuasive showman. Men invested in his projects, women were attracted to him. He was considered ‘one of the most dashing men of the Edwardian era.’ He was also a man of fiery temperament, rebellious nature, and uncontrollable rages. He lacked discipline and perseverance, and some of his projects were spectacular financial flops. But he did achieve prominence as a Parliamentary back-bencher, variously known as ‘Hell-fire Jack,’ and ‘the Monkey’ (for having eaten a monkey while in Africa) and since he was a thoroughgoing imperialist—by the sobriquet he treasured most, ‘Empire Jack.’” (Daniel Yergin, The Prize, 180)

I will leave it at that....

Here are some more links,
The Prize (Amazon),
Sir John Norton-Griffiths (Wikipedia),
Sir John Norton-Griffiths (Royal Engineering Museum and Library),