Tag Archives: airport

The Pot of Gold Rainbow Over the Las Vegas Strip?

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Rainbow Over the Las Vegas Strip from McCarran Airport

Rainbow Over the Las Vegas Strip from McCarran Airport

I thought I would post something a little different this Thursday for my Throwback Thursday post. Some of you may or may not know that we lived in Las Vegas for a while, and being close to a very accessible airport, photography wise, I shot more images from the Las Vegas McCarran Airport (KLAS) than probably any other single location. Since that was the case, I have several that were my favorites at LAS, but I was also able to get way beyond the normal observation area shot through the fence, which is the standard tourist shot. I was even able to shoot Air Force One when President Bush flew out, and then some just really freak things like this shot, a rainbow opening up right over the Las Vegas Strip. Rain is rare out there, and being in the location where I was in this shot was rare, and the aircraft taking off toward me from this runway was rare as well. They almost always take off and land on the parallels from east to west, so taking off to the south was unique for this day.

This should have been on the cover of any number of Las Vegas Tourism industry publications, but when I took this shot 10 years ago I couldn’t get anyone to even respond to an email, let alone look at a handful of images. Well it’s a different time and a different day. I have a Stories Section where I have some random stories to be told about random images, this is one of those stories. I was told the other day the old adage, a picture is worth a thousand words, well, I’ve never tried that, so next time, I’m going to do a picture, and a thousand words to go along with it. Today it’s only 350.

Heading to Entebbe International Airport for the Long Ride

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This is the last trip post before we get on the plane in a few hours. I will continue to post some photos from the trip over the next several weeks and months as I go through the thousands of images I’ve taken over this trip. I can’t reflect over this trip any more, especially since we really have no distance in time for all our experiences over the last 7-10 days. For now I will leave everyone with the photo above that sums up our awesome driver, who took care of us the entire time. Everyone who has been over knows what this photo means. We love Eddy.

In this post are some shots of us in the crazy fast Eddy van along with one of Olive we all just loved. She was a super nice lady who went with us just about everywhere. It’s hard to sum up this trip. I think I probably will find it hard to sum up the trip for months to come, but overall it was a learning experience, a humbling experience, and hopefully one where we lived out the love of Jesus.

We Arrived in Amsterdam or About Halfway to Uganda

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Well, each trip is different, and this one was interesting. Taking off out of Atlanta on such a beautiful night, not a cloud in the sky, flying up the east coast in calm skies was just a relaxing few hours before heading out over the Atlantic and apparently non-stop weather. We came into Amsterdam in the roughest crosswinds and heavy rain, and it was calculated that 22.22% of us lost our lunch on the way down (they didn’t want to name names), and those who didn’t, wanted to, except perhaps Bart who seemed to be bother by nothing. Now we are sitting in Amsterdam at the gate watching a zero visibility ceiling, very heavy rain as it blows sideways across the tarmac. But, we are all in good spirits, ready to be above 25,000 feet where we can see the sun again.

You can prepare and prepare mentally for two 10-12 hour plane flights but I’m not really sure you are ever ready to sit on a plane that long. This is my 3rd visit to Amsterdam, so far, in the last 2-3 months and I’m getting a little tired of seeing the cloudy gray cold rain of this side of Europe, but that’s Europe. It’s not quite the bustling zoo that is Atlanta Hartsfield but they do have a Starbucks and an Airbus inside the airport (though I still haven’t had time to get over to see it yet).

This flight coming up is by far my more desirable flight out of the two. We fly the entire flight during the daylight hours, except for the last leg when we stop in Rwanda, and it’s over what seems like the most remote areas of the world (to me) that includes almost the entire length of Italy, the Mediterranean Sea, into Egypt, and over Sudan.

Our Uganda Team Says Goodbye To the USA for Now

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The day has finally arrived and today as our team heads for the Atlanta airport, and I know we all have prepared and prayed as much as is possible for this moment. In a few hours we will be over the Atlantic, at which time comes my very favorite feeling of all, having no control of driving the bus whatsoever by sitting in a medal tube at 40,000 feet for the next 2 days. Of course I did contemplate with Deborah for a short time about taking a slow boat to Africa but she reminded me we wouldn’t make it back before 2012 was here, so I guess it’s for the best we have planes now, I guess.

In case you missed my last trip from a few months ago (just hit Uganda on my blog and scroll down), we travel from Atlanta to Amsterdam, then Amsterdam to Rwanda, then on to Uganda (yes, we fly right over Uganda to land in Rwanda), for a total of almost 10,000 miles in just about 36 hours from start to finish. I timed my trip last time from the moment I left my house to the moment I got into the guest house and it was right at 36 hours, which translated into 1 sunrise and 2 sunsets. By the time we landed last time I remember thinking, this has to be Africa, if we traveled any farther we would start to head back home around the other side.

For those few of you who might want to follow a more exact detail of what’s going on as we board and land etc, you can follow my feed on Twitter @scottfillmer or you can friend me on Facebook. For those who are unfamiliar with Twitter, You do NOT have to be a member of Twitter to follow our trip/team on Twitter, it is an open page, just click on my name above and it will give show you the updates (if you want to respond to something on there you do need to join Twitter if you haven’t already). For Facebook of course you will need to be on Facebook. The information and photos I post on Twitter and Facebook are unique to those two media’s so you won’t see those pics on my blog. I will also be able to update both while I’m actually on the ground in Uganda during the day, so if you are so inclined you can read what we are doing over there as well.

For now, I would like you to meet our team. From the photo above (in no particular order here) we have April Olive, Amy Frye, Bart Hyche, Emile Ewing, Jamie Moussirou, John Dow, Lisa Randall, Prabhakar Clement, and me, Scott Fillmer. Please be praying for each of us through the stresses of travel, and being away from our loved ones, that God will give us the strength needed to make a difference in just the way he has called us to do. See you here when we get to Europe if I can.

Know that we all greatly appreciate all your prayers as we leave and while we are over there. For those who have my cell phone number, please feel free to send text message to me while I’m over there, it’s like getting a letter from home, and I can receive unlimited text messages on my phone, just can’t send a large number. I probably will not reply, but I will receive your message.

Finishing Up Atlanta to Denver and Back Home Again

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On one hand traveling anywhere on a plane today is such an incredible pain, and seems to take forever, but in the view of history, two thousand miles in a few hours isn’t so bad I guess. We went from a remote-ish cabin in Estes Park Colorado at 8,000 feet to our house, at sea level in Auburn, in about 12 hours. I have always loved airports, at least at long as I can remember anyway. Today the airlines pack as many people into every single aircraft as they possibly can, which makes for extremely crowded airports, and cabins. My perspective of airline travel has changed tremendously over the last twenty years, but airports, especially the major airports like Atlanta Hartsfield or DIA, are still a great place to just relax, people watch, read, do some photography, and generally take a break from the normal routine of things. I do love visiting different parts of the country, and the world for that matter, but as the cliche goes, there’s no place like home. I have visited every state in the country, lived in a dozen or so, and I can say without a doubt that the south really is a great place to live.

For all the craziness that is involved with traveling today I only have to look at the photo below to remember the reason why all that was worth it. To be there for the birth of our second grandson was an experience we will be able to remember as he grows up, and to be able to photograph his arrival into the world makes those memories even more vivid. I always feel very privileged to photograph specific events. They are all little pieces of history, frozen in time, never to happen exactly that same way again.

The photos in this post are sort of a hodge-podge of images from our trip home. I never did get a chance to do my 50mm airport shoot at Denver International Airport because by the time we got through security we only had about 30 minutes left before we got on our sold out flight, and we arrived hours before our departure time. I have several more photos of baby Luke than just the one below but I will save those for another post sometime.

This season, to me, seems so crazy right now that I find myself looking desperately for some margin (or balance). Fall is always a very busy time of year, but between football season, our multi-site movement at Cornerstone, a grandson being born trip, a niece to be born sometime this week, seminary classes, and a trip to Africa in two weeks, I’m feel a little frazzled (that a very scientific technical term) at times, just like everyone does.

I look at baby Luke in this photo below and it amazes me. God spent nine months to create the perfect little boy who right now knows nothing of the hustle and bustle of this world, and by the time he is my age, around the year 2050, he will no doubt feel the same pressures and anxieties that come with living in this extremely modern world. Maybe he will some day pull out this photo on his whatever electronic fangled device he has and remember that one day he too had no cares in the world other than to be warm and sleep in the sunlight.

Amsterdam Airport Photos and a 50mm Lens :: AMS-EBB

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This is a continuation of my series, airports and a 50mm lens. Since I was in Europe this time I didn’t really get quite a much material as I normally do in a place like Atlanta. For one thing, once I get outside the United States shooting [photos] in an airport isn’t quite the same. The laws are different all over the world. I know what I can and can’t shoot in the U.S., and I can stand my ground in most cases in my own country. Not so much once I get outside the U.S., so this series changes a bit, to err on the side of caution.

Europe is usually ok about photographers as long as you aren’t obnoxious and you don’t look too suspicious but Entebbe is another story. I didn’t take hardly anything once we landed over there but on my next trip I know on the way back home there are a few things I would like to capture. I’ll see. In October I may be as tired as I was when we left in August, but EBB right now is about one single shot.

Here is a quick shoot of Amsterdam. There was a lot I didn’t get since our connection was so short, but next time I have a 5 hour connection so I should be able to improve upon this shoot. If you are wondering what’s the point… well, I actually consider this street photography, something I have really come to love over the years. Trying to capture a mood, or an expression, without someone standing in front of you going “smile” isn’t always the easiest thing to do, but sometimes it’s just more genuine. To me it shows a more realistic view of life. Everything in this (and all my 50mm airport series) is shot with one single focal length lens (obviously a 50mm), and to me, it tells a totally different story than the post from Atlanta 8 hours earlier told.

Atlanta Airport Photos and a 50mm Lens :: ATL-AMS

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I have this random series I have done on my blog for years called “airport in 50mm” that looks photographically at a particular airport with just a 50mm lens. I did this for this last trip except for the airport in Entebbe where I wasn’t sure if I would get shot by the guy holding the M-16 for taking a photo but I was pretty sure they would confiscate my camera and or SD card so I skipped that one, maybe when I go back. I always find it fascinating that you can take photos of the same place but capture a totally different perspective each time, but they always are because every day brings to live a new perspective (see the last Atlanta post). This was the first stop along an extremely long set of flights from Atlanta to Amsterdam to Entebbe. Each image was taken with a 50mm prime lens.

Meet Our Uganda Team as We Head for Atlanta

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The day is finally here, we are actually driving down I-85 as I type this out heading for the Atlanta airport. Next stop will be approximately 5,000 miles across the Atlantic into the Netherlands where we will spend a few hours before heading south. I know our team pictured above is collectively so ready to get there and get to work. Just this morning I read an update on the Secret Church blog, called Secret Church 10 – Uganda, Africa – Part 2, that talked about the issues of telling people about Christ in Africa, and particularly Uganda. As one person put it, “their beliefs have a mixture of several different types of religion. For most because of their illiteracy and limited access to a bible, they cannot confirm what the Word of God really says, so they believe what everyone tells them. You share the gospel and they add it to all the other beliefs they claim”, it’s only through an actual changed life that God’s salvation work is revealed.

I’m really looking forward to seeing God move among this group of guys for the next 10 days and I look forward to bringing some of the story here soon, so stay tuned. I will be updating my blog as I can and our team leader will also be updating his blog as well so you can read up on Brian’s over there too. I will most likely be updating Twitter far more often than my blog, so if you are wanting to see the most current updates please head to @scottfillmer. You don’t have to sign up for anything you can just read updates right from that site. See you back here soon.

Please be praying for our team, which consists of from left to right in the photo Brian Johnson, Myron West, Chris Mills, Rush Hill, Mark Fuller, Jason Welstead, Bo Morrissey, Jordan Ross, and me, Scott Fillmer.

From San Francisco to Paris in a 2 Minute Time Lapse Video

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I love this time lapse by Nate Bolt (@boltron on Twitter) who works/owns this cool looking media firm Bolt Peters, (also on twitter @boltpeters) that went viral recently. There are more details on specifics of how he did it on another blog post here too, along with ABC and I think CBS News, but this is such a creative look at what has become an every day thing (flying).

I love time lapse stuff but I love even more when people find ways to capture the mundane into new and creative ways. Hard to do today. Every time I think of something I think is creative or unique it has already been done by someone else. Bet he didn’t think this one 2 minute video would get so much attention while he was over in France, but it’s just that cool.

Sometimes I think those of us in the church land world give up on being creative because it’s all been done before, or it’s not necessary in order for our message to be heard, but that is our mandate given to us by God Himself starting in Genesis. Right now I’m walking through a new book called The Next Story: Life and Faith after the Digital Explosion by Tim Challies, and he puts it like this:

The Bible reveals that we are created and called to fulfill God’s mandate: that we go into all the world, faithfully stewarding the world God has created and the message he has given us… God has gifted human beings with remarkable ability to dream, create, and invent technologies that serve us as we serve him, technologies that enable us to better serve him.

I love that. If you haven’t seen the video below take a look, really neat shot of the aurora borealis about 15-20 seconds after takeoff. I would love to try this on my next flight but I would get kicked off the flight and placed on the no-fly-list in a second.

Orange County Airport Photos and a 50mm Lens :: SNA-MIA

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On my way from ATL to SNA

Terminal Building at SNA

John Wayne in SNA

Han gliding in SNA

Terminal Building at SNA

Terminal Building at SNA

Terminal Building at SNA

Departure at SNA

On my recent trip to California I decided to continue my 50mm airport series I started a while back.  I generally carry all my equipment with me on the plane since a lost bag will result in a non-existent photo shoot, and a few trips ago I started trying to get the creative juices flowing by using one camera and one single fixed focal length lens (a standard 50mm) to cover each new airport.

This past week the new airport was Orange County’s John Wayne Airport (SNA). I have usually flown into LAX and since I had not been to John Wayne in a while, it was next on my photo list (ATL has long since be shot, see my post Atlanta Airport Photos and a 50mm Lens // Part 1, if that is your interest).  For the extremely busy location of southern California, Orange County is a great place to fly in and out of and almost has the feel of a Midwestern Lubbock or Amarillo feel to it as far as the traffic goes.  I also didn’t get harassed by security, police, FBI, or any other uncomfortable PAX in the area, wonderful.