this is the life
Today I went to Changi beach park on a whim. I had always wanted to try out bus 59, which goes to Changi Village, and as the weather was good this afternoon, I made the decision to go. It took me 2 hours to get there from my home -.-" 1 hour to get to the bus stop in Toa Payoh, 1 hour on the bus itself. So I reached there at 5pm which isn't too bad really, because it wasn't too warm. I was bursting with excitement because it was my first planespotting session since... last December!
At about 7pm, the wind direction began to change. It was south-easterly most of the time I was there, but then the storm began to blow towards us. The wind was chilly and dead leaves were flying everywhere. I began to freeze up - yes, you heard right, I was freezing up in Singapore - because I was facing the sea and received the full force of the wind. Slowly, the headwind became crosswind and finally tailwind. So the planes began landing from the other side instead. And it was then I decided to call it a day.
I was walking towards Changi beach park from Changi Village when I saw a Fokker 50 take off and then immediately do a hard bank to the left, its landing lights shining directly into my eyes. At first, I was shocked but I recovered a second later and I wrenched my camera out of my bag and started shooting. And then I realised I had the wrong settings because I had been shooting other stuff earlier this morning, which required me to overexpose by 2/3 stops and have the aperture wide open. Naturally, I panicked. I managed to regain my senses soon enough to adjust the aperture, but not the exposure compensation. Meanwhile, the Fokker, after doing a tight 180 degree turn, landed, seconds after taking off.
Luckily, at least one shot was salvageable:
The park was almost empty when I got there, except for 2 aviation enthusiasts and the occasional cyclist/runner. I found a spot under the trees and waited for the planes to come. Here are some of my better shots, though I won't be uploading any of them to A.net anytime soon...
Qantas A330. When the 787 enters service, A330s will no longer be at the top of my 'sexiest airliners' list...
I had this shot in mind for many months now, but it didn't quite turn out what I had imagined. The aircraft is too small and high in the frame for my liking, but maybe it's because it's an A320.
I figured I had had enough of shooting from that spot, so I prepared to leave to look for another angle when I saw it. Even from so far out, the shape of the A380 was clear. As I had my 18-55 on my camera, shooting close-ups of the plane was out of the question and I didn't have time to change lenses. So I waited until it came closer, and while waiting I took test shots to get the right exposure. I reckoned a shutter speed of 1/100s was too slow so I used 1/160s, but that meant I had to pump up the ISO speed to 400. But my light meter kept saying I was underexposing so I adjusted my ISO to 800. All this while the A380 was coming closer. Then for some reason I decided 1/100s would be acceptable but then I would have to change back to ISO400 for which I had no time as the A380 was already screaming over me. So I had no choice but to be forced to shoot with ISO800 or not have a shot at all. And in all the chaos I forgot all about shooting the A380 with the sea and the trees but instead focused on filling the frame with the plane.
Sigh. I sweated so much for such a common photo.
Managed to keep my head when a 777 arrived and got this shot of it but it would've been much better with an A380 instead...
CX 777, B-HNA. I had been hoping so much for it to be B-HNC, for the lame reason that my first photo on A.net was of that plane, haha.
There was a major storm going on over Pulau Ubin, and every now and then there would be lightning. I was so afraid it would come to Changi and leave me stranded on the beach. (Luckily it didn't)
I was at a new spot when another A380 came. This time, I had the correct settings.
It was then I noticed the orange sky at the other side. Then I thought of my old spotting location - Shore Restaurant at SAFRA country club, to the south of the airport. From there, I could have photographed 20C and 20R departures set against the orange sky, and maybe a sunset shot or two. I turned back and looked at my grey sky. Sigh. The grass (or sky, in this case), is always greener (or more orange) on the other side.
KLM 777. Now how I wish I had a longer and better quality lens (read: 100-400) to capture the plane and the vortices more clearly...
At about 7pm, the wind direction began to change. It was south-easterly most of the time I was there, but then the storm began to blow towards us. The wind was chilly and dead leaves were flying everywhere. I began to freeze up - yes, you heard right, I was freezing up in Singapore - because I was facing the sea and received the full force of the wind. Slowly, the headwind became crosswind and finally tailwind. So the planes began landing from the other side instead. And it was then I decided to call it a day.
I took a photo of this stray cat though!
Had a really tasty dinner of seafood mee goreng at Changi Village before boarding the next bus home. On the bus, I made myself dizzy by reviewing my photos and systematically deleting one photo after another. I have this rule that no matter how brilliant the composition of the photo, if it is blurry/out of focus, it goes into the bin. So this means more than half of the photos I took. :\
I'm going back on Friday! I have thought of other new angles and I'm eager to try them out!
(Oh yes, and in case you're wondering why I'm not posting this on Camera Kid, it's because the photos I took aren't terribly interesting. Maybe I'll put up one or two, but that's the maximum.)
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