Who doesn’t like Airplane pictures? New images added!

Once upon a time, flying was a big deal – people got dressed up to fly, there were manners and decorum, and it was an event.  Today in many respects, it’s like a cattle car with wings.  And, every time you turn around, there’s a fee or a charge for something else.  Someday, somewhere out there, there will be an airline that will have a credit card machine on the lavatory door – and you’ll have to pay extra for the privilege…

I’ve been taking pictures of trains for a long time.  Until recently, I had no idea that there were people out there who were downright serious about taking pictures of planes.  A friend of mine from Ohio introduced me to a hill near LAX that’s a popular place to photograph planes.  Who knew that I was an hour away from one of the hottest plane watching spots around?  I’ve been on that hill with people from Asia and Europe.  One day, I caught a serious case of lens envy (a serious medical and mental affliction of photographers who spot someone with a bigger/better lens than they have) on the hill – and despite that, I’ve gone back.  If nothing else, planes are colorful – and no one has figured out how to tag a plane (but they sure as heck have tagging trains down to a science) yet!

I finished cleaning up some images to add to the Commercial Gallery in the Planes section, and uploaded them this morning.  As I was doing so, I had a bit of an epiphany, and took a step back.  There are some images that I’ve uploaded that are less than perfect, and some were taken with my iPhone – so they’re never going to make it onto someone’s wall.  It occurred to me that Laughing Frog isn’t just about seeking a place to be able to sell my images in unique and personal ways – it’s also about sharing things.  There are people out there who enjoy looking at airplane pictures who don’t have the opportunity to see TAM or SwissAir, or many other airlines.  So, as I was uploading the high quality images, I also decided to upload some other images of different airlines, recognizing that sharing and entertaining is as important as selling.

The gallery makes an interesting slide show.  Pull it up, click on Slide Show (the triangle that points to the right), sit back with a beverage of your choice, and enjoy!

Lastly, keep the passengers and the families affected by the disappearance of Malaysia 370 in your thoughts.  777s just don’t disappear…