LAX: Christmas Spotting Extravaganza-Very Image HEAVY

Hello All,

This year I decided to treat myself to several days at LAX for Christmas, and it turned out to be an incredible treat. Despite some ominous weather early on, it wound up being an incredible few days. This thread is definitely going to be a little on the image heavy side, simply because there were too many images that I loved, and lots of first time catches for me. Rather than create separate posts for each day, I will simply call out each different day and night with individual posts :biggrin: Hope you enjoy, feedback is always welcome, and have an awesome new year!

Let the fun begin...

Day 1-24 December: Rainy weather had me spooked, but reverse ops were interesting, and the sun did finally give way to nice weather at sunset



Aeromexico sneaking past a UAL 788

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My first TACA A320

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My first Delta 777

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Air Tahiti Nui, and the Hobbit for the North Complex

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My favorite AA Jet

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And then another pattern reversal, and some departures

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One airline's 777 that I was very happy to catch

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Awesome and you definitely had a great trip from the looks of it!

Night One: 24 December-night photography was a big part of why I wanted to give LAX a try, and I am sure glad I did. The highlights of night 1


Better photo of the entire China Southern A380 to follow on night 3...

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And when I saw this guy pull out...

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...I knew this guy couldn't be far behind, inbound from JFK

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Thanks Mark!

Now for Day Two-25 December: Santa treated me to miserable clouds and rain, so not too many photos worth posting from the daylight hours....

Somehow this is the only Qantas A380 photo I managed, don't ask me how that was pulled off


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The weirdest special I have seen in a while

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Back on this route after Atlas had been doing it for them for a while (Air Pacific had their 744s in D-Check)

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Night Two-25 December- Also quiet, so to prevent duplication going forward, only a few photos were had, but one nice treat from the Spotting Santa at the end...


Love the Sun Country paint scheme

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The way they park at this gate makes for that lovely roof in the photo, every single time, sadly.

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One Virgin Australia Livery...

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And the star of the evening, the Philippines 747-400 that I wanted so badly. Merry Christmas to me!

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Day Three-26 December: The "big" day. The most successful day of the 3, despite forecasts for 90% overcast and heavy rain.

I love these little Brasilias, and I shot every single one I saw-no exceptions!

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I am incapable of taking a sharp photo of this airline it would seem, first at JFK, now at LAX, always softer than I prefer. Oh Well...

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Always cute to see the Baby Boeing

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I have never seen so many ERJ-190s in my life, and all of them from Air Canada

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Omni Air, Chartering the Stanford Football team in for the big Bowl Game

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Obligatory Frontier shot for Cary

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Simply love their livery, plain as it may be

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I have also never seen so many A380s in my life. I saw 7 frames from 4 airlines this day...

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Lots of Alaska action on the North complex

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Canadian Bus

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All I wanted from KLM was a 747 with the Asia titles, they sent it on the rainy day of course...

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Tulips are getting rarer and rarer, shoot 'em while you can!

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Super on the downwind

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Which leads to a Super on Final

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Asiana 777

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My first Eva passenger bird

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Another Super

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Another "At Long Last" moment, a Eva Cargo 747-400 non-BCF

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Aeroflots A332's are just sharp looking!

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A nice special from Taiwan

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The Las Vegas Sands Corporation's Gulfstream

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The weirdest thing I have seen on a taxiway recently, a huge tumbleweed

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Finally caught this bird in good light!

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Closeup

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Air China Sunset

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Night Three-26 December: This being my last night for shooting, they certainly didn't disappoint! Stuck with a smaller lens for the A380, and was glad I did.

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Virgin Australia livery #2

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Love the A340-600, even more so at night!

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Virgin pushing past LAN

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a LAN Closeup

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And the Chinese Super

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Day Four-27 December: A few hours of spotting before my flight rounded out an awesome Holiday!


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My first 777 Freighter

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Another Brasilia :wink:

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And the morning's real treat for me, the Thai 777-300ER

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Hope you all have enjoyed this photo-fest!


Nick

WOW!! really nice set..

Dang. And you've done LAX. You've gotten more lucky in one night than I feel like I did in six visits there this year!
Fantastic shots.

What body/lens combos did you use?

Akie, Jeremy, thank you both!

Jeremy All the day photos were taken with a Canon 7D and EF 100-400mm. All the night shots, minus those taken on night 3, were taken using the same set-up. Night 3 was taken with a 7D and EF 28-135.

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Canon 7D and EF 100-400mm. All the night shots, minus those taken on night 3, were taken using the same set-up. Night 3 was taken with a 7D and EF 28-135.

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Nice. I never cared for the 7D & 100-400 when I had it...but you're making me wonder a bit now ;-)

Wow wow wow!!!

Great set. Love all of them!


Not to be nit picky but that 787 isn't actually broken. It is being prepped for service. All UA 787's are now being delivered through LAX.

Great shots! I really need to go back to LAX soon!

Cheers!

One of the best sets I have seen in a while .. Great job, Nick !

Great photos,maybe I need to head back to LAX this year!

Doug

Awesome dude I must go for China Southern super.

Great pics, and thanks for the F9 shout out :tongue:

Thank you all! It was an awesome time.

Fasil, you may want to wait until later this year, when the China Southern A380 will arrive during daylight hours.

Seahawks, thank you for the information, I will modify my original post. My people in Houston were claiming that new deliveries were still coming through IAH as recently as the past few weeks. My bad on that one.

Again Nick ........... nice work! I'm definitely looking forward to my next work related trip to LAX sometime in Feb 2013. Spotting in LAX is awesome and a treat.

What kind of exposure were you using on those night shots? They look great!

Again Mark... Thank you!

Lear, these shots were around 3-9 second exposures depending on the lens I was using, and just how late into the evening they were taken. I can provide more detailed info on a shot-by-shot basis if you would like to PM me.

Man this just makes me that much more excited for when I get to go in April!

DeltaA330, you should be excited! It was one of the most impressive airports I have ever been too!

Wow, absolutely amazing set! Nice work!

Damn, you went ALL out. Really like that first AA 762 going out in the golden light. Also a beautiful & vibrant capture of the AA 777 Breast Cancer bird! -Regards from CHO

Nexpos, Cho-Thank you both

Now for some more photos that made it through processing so far

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Epic!

That American Metal is really shining.

WOW....Brilliant set from LAX....what light you had during your trip.First class shots..esp the night shots and the sunset shots..Too good.

Stunning!!

You really made out like a bandit with the WX. Last three times I have been there it has been really poor air conditions, never mind clear or sunny! :P