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First of all, photo's appear a little off (mainly soft), I suspect the resizing by Photobucket is the cause of this...
The 17th was my last day on the job in the USA and at LAX. I was sleeping in the Crowne Plaza Hotel on West Century Boulevard and had my car parked at the next door parking garage. I noticed that nice pictures could be made from the roof. However, security doesn't like that, so I decided to go up at the last moment to catch the Qantas A380 which are always landing on the 24's.
Some runner ups before the Qantas;
Good looking Southern:
Nice change from the normal flow of DHC-8-400's of Horizon:
And the one I was waiting for, the Qantas WhaleJet:
After that the security guy in his golf car was coming to the top of the garage, so it was time for me to go. Next stop Imperial Hill for some last shots before returning the rental car.
Korean Air B777:
Great to also catch the OneWorld B777 from American:
Republic Airways E-190. I first thought it was Lufthansa or something...
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Aero Union:
I really like these rotation shots... B747 of Korean lifting off:
Once again, the B-6050...:
Slowly gaining heighth... Air Tahiti Nui:
JAL extra long B777:
Definitely a little heavier than the JAL, Cathay B777:
Sharp looking Jumbo of United:
MAS in take-off:
Nice to finally catch a El Al B777:
Lightly loaded Shanghai Airlines in take-off for Anchorage:
Even a common B747 of Singapore looks nice at LAX...:
And my very last shot (for now) at LAX is this Asiana B747:
All in all a nice week, with nice work and enough time-off for plane photography. Just to help everyone who is planning to do a trip to LAX anytime soon, a recap of the spotting points.
Imperial Hill
Together with the small park at the In-N-Out Burger, the Imperiall Hill viewing location is the most relaxed place for spotting. Benches are provided at this location, which is in the suburb of El Segundo. You'll need a 300 mm lens as a minimum in order to catch some of the smaller planes taking off in full frame. Heathwaves are a real pain in the a$$, so only pictures of planes which are already airborn are the best. Light can be tricky during the summer months, as the sun is almost directly above you for the bigger part of the day. Spring and Autumn should be the best as you are facing North. As I said, a relaxed spot. No hassles from the authority (LAPD and El Segundo PD lunches sometimes lunches at the benches and are quite friendly). Refreshments can be obtained at the Subway and SevenEleven just down the road. If you need to go to the bathroom, you can go to the Embassy Suites Hotel, which is also just down the road.
In-N-Out Burger
Also a very nice and relaxed spotting point. It is at the corner of Sepulveda and Westchester. In front of the In-N-Out is a small park. Just take a nice blanket or something and find yourself a nice spot on the grass for those typical LAX close-up landing shots. The planes are very up-close, so expect a noisy stay and smell the kerosine! I've used both lenses here, my 18-55 and my 70-300, depending on my mood of the day. Note that parking here can be very difficult and during weekdays curbside parking at the park is limited to one hour. During my stay this curfew was not enforced, but it wasn't that busy, so maybe this changes when there are too many cars. Food can be obtained from the In-N-Out ofcourse, which has great burgers. Toilets are inside as well. Also just further down Sepulveda is a small shopping center with a Ralph's supermarket.
The Proud Bird Restaurant
On Aviation Boulevard is this restaurant, which is on the approach path of the runway 25's. The plane also has some preserved planes in the garden. It has a large parking lot and it used to be my main spotting point ten years ago. The lens I used was the 70-300 which was sufficient to catch the planes. During my week, I stood here some three times, but the last time I was sent away by the owner of the restaurant. He told me the police didn't like people standing there and photographing planes, which was odd as I was visited by the police earlier in the week at the parking lot and they had no problem... I just think the owner has a problem and that's his good right because you are on his property. Nevertheless, some nice approach pictures can be made, but they can be a little boring as they are just side-on.
Well, I hope you enjoyed my small reports from a week in California. Any comments of questions are welcome!
Cheers!
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