Josef “Jeff” Sipek

Sunset over Mount Monadnock

Back at the end of June, I hiked up the nearby Gibbet Hill in Wikipedia article: Groton to watch the sunset and get some nice shots of the western sky. (gallery)

Both times I went, I arrived about 20 minutes before the sunset, and got situated. Once the actual sunset started happening, it was a matter of a minute or two before the sun was gone.

Just before sunset @ 24mm:

Sunset @ 70mm:

The peak that the sun sat behind is Wikipedia article: Mount Monadnock—about 50 km from Groton.

I took a couple of panorama shots. I like this one the best (6 shots):

While hiking up the hill, I spotted this tree against the colorful sky. I had to get a silhouette:

I was surprised at how little time the entire trip took. From leaving the house to getting back, it was about 70 minutes. This is certainly a quick photo shoot compared to the day-long trips like the one to Boston in early June ([1,2,3]).

Instrument Flying

I was paging through a smart collection in Lightroom, when I came across a batch of photos from early December that I did not share yet. (A smart collection is filter that will only show you photos satisfying a predicate.)

On December 2nd, one of the people I work with (the same person that told me exactly how easy it is to sign up for lessons) told me that he was going up to do a couple of practice instrument approaches to Jackson (KJXN) in the club’s Cessna 182. He then asked if I wanted to go along. I said yes. It was a warm, overcast day…you know, the kind when the weather seems to sap all the motivation out of you. I was going to sit in the back (the other front seat was occupied by another person I work with — also a pilot) and play with my camera. Below are the some of the better shots; there are more in the gallery.

Getting ready to take off:

US-127 and W Berry Rd:

The pilot:

The co-pilot:

On the way back to Ann Arbor (KARB), we climbed to five thousand feet, which took us out of the clouds. Since I was sitting in the back, I was able to swivel around and enjoy the sunset on a completely overcast day. The experience totally made my day. After I get my private pilot certificate, I am definitely going to consider getting instrument rated.

The clouds were very fluffy.

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