The Fisherman

This is one from my early days of digital photography. This was a commissioned photo, done for Focus Watertown, an organization promotes Watertown, South Dakota, to outside businesses.

04-17-09 Gliding In For A Landing

I wasn't trying to find another picture where yellow is the dominant color for two consecutive "A Photo A Day" pictures. But here's another photo with yellow. . .

A few years ago I was invited to take a ride in the Lake Area Technical Institute glider. Greg Klein was the pilot and we had a great trip. This is a powered glider, which means that it uses a conventional engine and propeller to take off but once the plane climbs to 10,000 feet or so, the engine is turned off. Greg told me that the engine could be re-started but I could tell that this wasn't considered "cool." Thus, we landed as a glider. Another thing that wasn't cool was when Greg took his hands off the controls and told me to steer. Shortly after that, I started to hear a beep, which Greg calmly told me was the "stall warning indicator." I quickly turned control over to him. I'd rather take pictures than fly a plane.

In this photo we are a little north of Lake Kampeska. The skinny body of water towards the top of the photo is Lake Pelican. The Watertown airport is visible just forward of the end of the wing. If you are wondering why there is a military insignia on the wing, it is because this plane was used as a trainer by the Air Force Academy and then was "retired." Now LATI is putting it to good use with their students in the aviation program. Another good use is giving people like me rides. Have I said how impressed I am with Lake Area Technical Institute?

Canon 1D Mark II 1/500s f/16.0 ISO320 17mm (Canon 17-24mm f/4.0L)