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Sunset, golf and a fake nuclear missile: How I spent four days taking pictures in Hawaii

27 Jan
Sony a6500 | 18-135mm F3.5-5.6 OSS @ 95mm | ISO 100 | F6.3

Being a child of the Midwest a hike, in my mind, is more or less walking across land that is mostly flat. There are trees, usually a dirt path, and maybe the occasional hill. A hike in Hawaii, I came to learn recently, can mean something vastly different.

I was in Hawaii on a Sony-sponsored trip along with a handful of other photography journalists, on Oahu for two vastly different shooting experiences: shooting pro golf with the a9, and trying out a new 18-135mm F3.5-5.6 zoom for the a6000-series. I was armed with a TSA-approved 3.4 ounces of sunscreen, a handful of memory cards and a pair of running shoes that prove to be woefully outmatched by the “hike” we’re about to embark on.

My first clue should have been when one member of our party put some spiky, chainmail-type overshoes on top of her street shoes. We walked across a parking lot toward the “trailhead,” a rocky slope where a faint suggestion of a path disappeared into some trees. What followed was 30 minutes of scrambling up a steep incline, grabbing at roots, tree branches and rocks for support. Oh, and did I mention I have a slightly weird thing about heights?

Suddenly, I was quite grateful for the a6500 and the lens’ small size. The whole kit fit easily into a low profile backpack and didn’t provide an extra physical challenge to overcome. Along the way we found a couple of points to stop off, breathe, and take a few photos. Every time we stopped I considered chickening out on the rest of the climb. Nobody would judge me, and I’d get perfectly nice photos from halfway up.

Sony a6500 | 18-135mm F3.5-5.6 OSS @ 18mm | ISO 100 | F4.5

Maybe the morning’s events made me feel bolder (more on that later). Maybe being the only lady journalist on the trip made me hungrier to prove my grit. Maybe it was just the beer I had at lunch giving me some extra courage. I kept going whatever the reason, and I’m pretty darn glad that I did.

Insert your favorite inspirational quote / rap lyric about making it to the top here.

Sony a6500 | 18-135mm F3.5-5.6 OSS @ 18mm | ISO 200 | F5.6

I wouldn’t have wanted to carry a lens/camera combo much bigger than the a6500 and 18-135mm on that hike. For its size, it proved to be a pretty versatile kit. The lens was wide enough for a sweeping view of sunset in the valley, but long enough for a quick shot of a helicopter in the distance when it swooped by unexpectedly. Your standard kit zoom wouldn’t have provided quite as many options.

Did you instinctively start humming the Jurassic Park theme when you saw this image? No? You’re a liar.

Sony a6500 | 18-135mm F3.5-5.6 OSS @ 90mm | ISO 100 | F5.6

I tend to gravitate toward wide lenses and like the convenience of carrying lightweight primes, but I was very happy to have the variety that the telezoom offered. When you’re standing on one 3′ x 3′ rock scared to move left or right for fear of falling to your death, you don’t have too many composition options with a 24mm prime.

As it turns out, that hike wasn’t the only time I contemplated my own mortality that day. Let me tell you about the events of that morning.

We all know now what happened, but when you’re woken up by your phone buzzing with this message (special attention to the part that says THIS IS NOT A DRILL) it makes for a very strange start to the day. The short version of my story is that I spent about 15 minutes in a semi-panic, and having only the tornado drills of my youth to call on for guidance, huddled in my hotel bathroom with a single bottle of water. Not exactly your best shot at surviving a nuclear attack.

I wish I could say I had some kind of profound experience when I found out it was all a mistake. In reality, I just put on some shoes and went downstairs for coffee and a yogurt, and more or less just went about my day. I made time to get into the ocean. That was nice.

A couple of days before the threat of nuclear warfare appeared on my phone, I found myself in a very different state of mind as I tried to photograph professional golf.

Sony a9 | FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS @ 121mm | ISO 100 | F5.6

Golf is a mysterious game. As opposed to the tennis tournaments and baseball games I’m familiar with, the action happens all around you. I’ve thought of it as a game with a leisurely pace, but trying to photograph it for the first time, I’m amazed at how quickly the action unfolds. You have to get into position, pray that a caddy doesn’t step into your way at the last moment, and you only have a few seconds to get your shot before it’s all over. Oh, and you have to keep in mind the direction of the sun, ugly things like trash cans creeping into your backgrounds, and woe betide you if you make even a peep as a golfer prepares to swing a club – you’ll be swiftly escorted off the grounds.

“Game changer” has become sort of a joke around the office since it’s a phrase that’s been used to death and rarely lives up to its meaning. But if you’re a golf photographer, you really could consider the a9 to be a game changer. Plenty of resolution, 20 fps and silent shutter – particularly that last bit – is huge for a sport where silence isn’t just golden, it’s mandatory. Jeannette Moses noted this revelation when she photographed the Presidents Cup last year with the a9. I’ve seen it firsthand too, and it really is strange to be so close to a professional golfer raising his club to strike the ball while firing away at 20 fps.

Sony a9 | FE 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 GM OSS @ 100mm | ISO 100 | F5.6

Sony’s making a clear appeal to pro sports photographers with the a9, and before we set foot on the golf course we got a primer on the company’s efforts to bolster its offerings with Pro Support. If you aren’t familiar, this is a program for working photographers that aims to put Sony on even footing with Canon and Nikon.

Sony Pro Support members pay a $ 100 annual fee that entitles them to 24/7 phone and email support and access to service centers in Los Angeles and New York. If you need to send a product in for a fix, Sony claims a three-day turnaround with free loaner gear to cover repairs that take longer. To qualify, photographers must own at least two full-frame Sony bodies, three lenses and must be actively earning income from their photography.

For comparison, Nikon uses a point system and requires at least two camera bodies and two lenses. The system is tiered, but all levels include priority repairs, repair loans and discounts on repairs. Canon also uses a point-based tiered system, but doesn’t require a certain number of lenses or bodies.

I’m by no means a pro, and shooting golf proves to be a much more challenging experience than I was anticipating. An afternoon carrying two camera bodies, one of them with a sizable 100-400mm lens attached, was a fairly taxing endeavor. I also put my finger on the shutter too gingerly a few times, and with 20 fps silent shutter it’s easy to end up with hundreds of photos you didn’t mean to take. From over 3000 (!) images, I managed to scrape together a handful I feel comfortable putting my name next to. Not exactly a stellar hit rate.

Sony Open gallery

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I have a renewed appreciation for the tough job pro sports photographers have, and a respect for Hawaii’s lovely-yet-dizzying hiking trails. I also jump out of my seat now when my phone buzzes too loudly and I’m finally getting serious about putting together an earthquake preparedness kit. But my feeling of having stretched myself as a photographer, and I suppose as a hiker, outweighs my sense of distress over the whole thing. And if you’re going to survive a fake nuclear missile attack, there are worse places to experience it than Hawaii.

Sony 18-135mm F3.5-5.6 OSS sample gallery

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Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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FAA bans drones from flying near 7 nuclear facilities

20 Dec

The Federal Aviation Administration has officially designated seven Department of Energy (DOE) facilities as drone no-fly zones, restricting UAVs from being operated within 122m / 400ft of any of the following sites:

  • Hanford Site, Franklin County, WA
  • Pantex Site, Panhandle, TX
  • Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM
  • Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID
  • Savannah River National Laboratory, Aiken, SC
  • Y-12 National Security Site, Oak Ridge, TN
  • Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN

All seven sites are nuclear facilities (though not all of them are active), including multiple research facilities. The FAA has established the no-drone designation at the DOE’s request, doing so under its Title 14 authority. The FAA refers to these new bans as UAS National Security restrictions, and they’ll become effective on Friday, December 29. The agency will soon update its B4UFLY app to show the new restricted airspace.

According to the FAA, there will be select instances in which a drone operator could get a permit to fly within one of these restricted regions, though the operator will need to get permission from the FAA and/or the facility itself. The cases in which these permits may be granted weren’t specified. These new restrictions follow similar ones applied to Department of Interior facilities and military bases.

Via: Engadget

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Capping Chernobyl: Nuclear Disaster Site Covered in Giant Protective Dome

05 Dec

[ By WebUrbanist in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]

chernobyl-dome

In an unprecedented feat of engineering, the world’s most infamous nuclear disaster site is being covered by a huge prefabricated steel arch designed to shield the world from its fallout. Made to fit over the so-called sarcophagus, a crumbling concrete and lead shelter initially erected at the site, the New Safe Confinement structure spans nearly 1,000 feet horizontally.

The original protective shell over the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant’s reactor was a hurried affair and never meant to be permanent — 4,000 people in the region were still killed in the initial catastrophic meltdown but many more were saved thanks to this hasty intervention. In the days, weeks and months following the disaster, hundreds of thousands of evacuees and emergency workers were exposed to dangerous radiation.

construction-dome

At the cost of 1.5 billion dollars the new lid is also not a solution to last forever, but it is designed to last for 100 years. Weighing 36,000 tons and taller than the statue of liberty (354 feet) the monstrous structure is only partially complete — it still needs to be rendered airtight and radiation equipment is yet to be installed. The entire thing has been constructed offsite on nearby land before being moved into place.

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Rad Rides: Nuclear Power Plant Turned into Amusement Park

18 Apr

[ By WebUrbanist in Architecture & Offices & Commercial. ]

nuclear plant central swing

The iconic central cooling tower has been turned into a swing ride and climbing wall, but the re-purposed complex as a whole features over a dozen attractions including rides, restaurants, bars and hotels.

nuclear plant spinning carousel

nuclear plant rollercoaster ride

Wunderland Kalkar is set near Düsseldorf, Germany, the site of a nuclear power plant that never went live due to local protests and construction problems. The recognizably menacing centerpiece of its industrial landscape is no less noticeable for having been painted with a mountain-and-sky mural.

nuclear plant aerial view

Now that Germany is officially phasing out its use of nuclear energy, this solution (drawing in over a half-million annual visitors) may inspire other projects along similar lines.

nuclear plant park conversion

nuclear plant play space

In this case, billions in funding were ultimately scrapped and a developer was able to pick up the pieces for mere millions before turning a hefty profit through an unlikely conversion.

nuclear plant swing ride

Since the location’s transformation in 1995, visitors from around the country and the world have come to ride its wonderful merry-go-rounds and carousels. Some are drawn by its overt offerings, but many also feel the pull of experiencing a unique look into an what remains of an amazing abandoned nuclear compound.

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Only in Russia: World’s First Floating Nuclear Power Plant

16 Nov

[ By WebUrbanist in Technology & Vehicles & Mods. ]

russian floating power plant

It sounds at best far-fetched and at worst frightening, at least at first, but this unique water-based energy station is already under construction and is designed to (safely) generate power and fresh water to over 200,000 people.

russian nuclear power station

The Akademik Lomonosov is being built at a submarine construction facility and is set to launch before 2020. While it is set to be stationed offshore, it opens up a new world of possibilities for fueling remote settlements, temporary outposts, research stations or floating cities.

russian power plant design

The vessel will produce an impressive 70 megawatts of electricity – more than enough to support a mid-sized city. It will also desalinate ocean water to increase regional freshwater supplies.

russian mobile energy source

With the world wondering about the fate of the Fukushima plant in Japan, following its fateful impact by a tsunami and subsequent fallout, it seems like a strange time to be working on projects where water meats nuclear power. Still, in this case the uranium is far less enriched and of the same type being used in Russian icebreakers already. The power plant is a project of LLC Baltiysky Zavod Shipbuilding, a St. Petersburg division of United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC).

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Gone Fission: 11 Unfinished Nuclear Power Plants

19 Feb

[ By Steve in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]

unfinished nuclear power plants
These 11 unfinished, abandoned, canceled, mothballed and/or suspended nuclear power plants will, for better or worse, never know the warmth of split atoms.

Lemoniz Nuclear Power Plant, Spain

Lemoniz nuclear power plant Spain(images via: Jasonmcconnie, JosebaZ and Wikipedia)

Construction of the Lemóniz Nuclear Power Plant, located on the Bay of Biscay on Spain’s northern coast, began in the mid-1970s but was dogged from its inception by violent opposition from ETA, the terrorist organization dedicated to the independence of Spain’s Basque country. The group managed to smuggle bombs into the facility on several occasions in 1978 and 1979 resulting in a number of fatalities and delaying the plant’s construction.

Lemonix nuclear power plant Spain(image via: Txarama)

In early 1981, ETA members kidnapped and later killed José María Ryan, the plant’s chief engineer. This proved to be too much for Iberduero, the plant’s builder and operator, who temporarily halted construction pending action from civil authorities… it never came. In 1983 the election of Spain’s first left-leaning government since the Spanish Civil War resulted in the project’s official cancellation. Watched over by automatic CCTV cameras and protected by spirals of razor wire, the Lemóniz Nuclear Power Plant sits silently as vegetation takes root in accumulating dirt and debris.

Marble Hill Nuclear Power Station, Indiana, USA

Marble Hill Nuclear Power Station(images via: Craig Moyer and Ulule)

From 1977 to 1984, Public Service Company of Indiana (PSI) spent approximately $ 2.5 billion to build the Marble Hill Nuclear Power Station near Hanover, Indiana, and by the time the financial tap ran dry it was only half-finished! The political and environmental landscape had changed quite a bit over those 7 years with the biggest speed bump being the Three Mile Island crisis in 1979. With costs spiraling out of control and the state government reluctant to provide funding, PSI abandoned the project and auctioned off most of the salvageable material for a mere pittance.

Marble Hill Nuclear Power Station(image via: The Vanishing Point)

Equipment and parts from the Marble Hill Nuclear Power Station continued to be sold off in the early to mid-1990s but by the year 2000 everything of value had been sold. Since 2008, slow and steady demolition under the auspices of MCM Management Corp. has seen first the fuel-handling building and then the twin reactor containment buildings gradually reduced to mounds of scrap. The bright side, if any, is that none of the demolished material is radioactive.

Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, Philippines

Bataan Nuclear Power Plant(images via: Philippine Defense Forum, The Pinoy Explorer and Discover)

Back to Bataan? Let’s hope not: conceived in 1976 as the Philippines’ first nuclear power plant, construction was halted on the BNPP in 1979 just after the Three Mile Island nuclear accident. An official safety inquiry revealed the existence of over 4,000 defects, plus the fact that the plant was being built atop active earthquake fault lines and uncomfortably close to then-dormant Mount Pinatubo. The latter’s surprise awakening on June 15th of 1991 turned out to be the second-largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century.

Bataan Nuclear Power Plant(images via: C.Wolf21)

Repairs prompted by the safety inquiry’s findings ended up adding time and cost to the project, the latter of which had ballooned to $ 2.3 billion US by 1984. Nothing could stop dictator Ferdinand Marcos’ pet project, however, until Marcos himself was toppled and exiled in 1986. One of the first acts of the new “People Power” government was to respect the will of the people and mothball the power plant – the costs weren’t paid off in full until mid-2007. In 2011, the plant was re-opened as a tourist attraction with a significant number of visitors coming from Japan.

Belene Nuclear Power Plant, Bulgaria

Belene Nuclear Power Plant(images via: Expats, Sophia Echo and Cryptome))

Located in northern Bulgaria near the Danube river and the border with Romania, the Belene Nuclear Power Plant was intended to replace four older reactors at the Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant shut down as a prerequisite of Bulgaria’s joining the EU. Construction began in 1987 but in 1990, after Bulgaria’s transition from a communist to a capitalist state, the project was put on hold.

Belene Nuclear Power Plant(image via: Maxwell Woods)

Existing infrastructure was preserved pending a possible restart of construction and this actually came to be in the fall of 2008. However, fierce wrangling over construction costs and the Bulgarian government’s insistence on the inclusion of an American or a European contractor once again derailed the project. Even though the plant was more than half complete, the decision was made in March of 2012 to revise the Belene Nuclear Power Plant as a gas-fired conventional power station.

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Gone Fission: 11 Unfinished Nuclear Power Plants

10 Feb

[ By Steve in Abandoned Places & Architecture. ]

unfinished nuclear power plants
These 11 unfinished, abandoned, canceled, mothballed and/or suspended nuclear power plants will, for better or worse, never know the warmth of split atoms.

Lemoniz Nuclear Power Plant, Spain

Lemoniz nuclear power plant Spain(images via: Jasonmcconnie, JosebaZ and Wikipedia)

Construction of the Lemóniz Nuclear Power Plant, located on the Bay of Biscay on Spain’s northern coast, began in the mid-1970s but was dogged from its inception by violent opposition from ETA, the terrorist organization dedicated to the independence of Spain’s Basque country. The group managed to smuggle bombs into the facility on several occasions in 1978 and 1979 resulting in a number of fatalities and delaying the plant’s construction.

Lemonix nuclear power plant Spain(image via: Txarama)

In early 1981, ETA members kidnapped and later killed José María Ryan, the plant’s chief engineer. This proved to be too much for Iberduero, the plant’s builder and operator, who temporarily halted construction pending action from civil authorities… it never came. In 1983 the election of Spain’s first left-leaning government since the Spanish Civil War resulted in the project’s official cancellation. Watched over by automatic CCTV cameras and protected by spirals of razor wire, the Lemóniz Nuclear Power Plant sits silently as vegetation takes root in accumulating dirt and debris.

Marble Hill Nuclear Power Station, Indiana, USA

Marble Hill Nuclear Power Station(images via: Craig Moyer and Ulule)

From 1977 to 1984, Public Service Company of Indiana (PSI) spent approximately $ 2.5 billion to build the Marble Hill Nuclear Power Station near Hanover, Indiana, and by the time the financial tap ran dry it was only half-finished! The political and environmental landscape had changed quite a bit over those 7 years with the biggest speed bump being the Three Mile Island crisis in 1979. With costs spiraling out of control and the state government reluctant to provide funding, PSI abandoned the project and auctioned off most of the salvageable material for a mere pittance.

Marble Hill Nuclear Power Station(image via: The Vanishing Point)

Equipment and parts from the Marble Hill Nuclear Power Station continued to be sold off in the early to mid-1990s but by the year 2000 everything of value had been sold. Since 2008, slow and steady demolition under the auspices of MCM Management Corp. has seen first the fuel-handling building and then the twin reactor containment buildings gradually reduced to mounds of scrap. The bright side, if any, is that none of the demolished material is radioactive.

Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, Philippines

Bataan Nuclear Power Plant(images via: Philippine Defense Forum, The Pinoy Explorer and Discover)

Back to Bataan? Let’s hope not: conceived in 1976 as the Philippines’ first nuclear power plant, construction was halted on the BNPP in 1979 just after the Three Mile Island nuclear accident. An official safety inquiry revealed the existence of over 4,000 defects, plus the fact that the plant was being built atop active earthquake fault lines and uncomfortably close to then-dormant Mount Pinatubo. The latter’s surprise awakening on June 15th of 1991 turned out to be the second-largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century.

Bataan Nuclear Power Plant(images via: C.Wolf21)

Repairs prompted by the safety inquiry’s findings ended up adding time and cost to the project, the latter of which had ballooned to $ 2.3 billion US by 1984. Nothing could stop dictator Ferdinand Marcos’ pet project, however, until Marcos himself was toppled and exiled in 1986. One of the first acts of the new “People Power” government was to respect the will of the people and mothball the power plant – the costs weren’t paid off in full until mid-2007. In 2011, the plant was re-opened as a tourist attraction with a significant number of visitors coming from Japan.

Belene Nuclear Power Plant, Bulgaria

Belene Nuclear Power Plant(images via: Expats, Sophia Echo and Cryptome))

Located in northern Bulgaria near the Danube river and the border with Romania, the Belene Nuclear Power Plant was intended to replace four older reactors at the Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant shut down as a prerequisite of Bulgaria’s joining the EU. Construction began in 1987 but in 1990, after Bulgaria’s transition from a communist to a capitalist state, the project was put on hold.

Belene Nuclear Power Plant(image via: Maxwell Woods)

Existing infrastructure was preserved pending a possible restart of construction and this actually came to be in the fall of 2008. However, fierce wrangling over construction costs and the Bulgarian government’s insistence on the inclusion of an American or a European contractor once again derailed the project. Even though the plant was more than half complete, the decision was made in March of 2012 to revise the Belene Nuclear Power Plant as a gas-fired conventional power station.

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Gone Fission 11 Unfinished Nuclear Power Plants

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