Air Force One

President Obama was in Schenectady on Friday.  He visited the General Electric plant where large steam turbines are built.  I myself did not see him but I did see his airplane, Air Force One.  I would have thought the plane would have landed at the Schenectady County Airport, which has an excellent, long runway, but they came in at Albany International instead.  That necessitated closing down portions of the NYS Thruway and Interstate 890 to make sure he arrived without incident.  That process was pretty efficient.

Anyway, the plan was parked at the Albany airport, and since I work nearthere, I decided to take a drive to see if I could get a photo.  Every place one could pull over had a police car in it, lights flashing and officers making sure you kept driving.  I ended up circling the airport and was lucky enough to be stuck in traffic after the President boarded to leave.  The 747's engines are spooled up and 10 seconds from now, she turns tail toward the road and goes down the taxiway.  In 2 minutes, she's aloft again, winging back to the capital.

The photo was taken from the car on the road but I wasn't moving when I took it!  It's the first (and probably only!) time I saw this famous plane, and it was a stroke of luck.  A few minutes either way and I'd have missed her.

After looking at the photo on the computer I was struck by the TV trucks - I count 5 of them.  I didn't notice them at all when I drove past.  They blend in with the parking lot lamp standards; urban camouflage I guess!

F Number	5.6
Lens ID	LUMIX G VARIO 14-45mm F3.5-5.6
Focal Length	45.0 mm (35 mm equivalent: 90.0 mm)
Exposure Time	1/1000
Exposure Program	Manual
Exposure Compensation	0
Flash	Off, Did not fire

Airport window

The Albany International Airport has artistic works in many places. This window is one of them. This one is Flying Fishes by Lillian Mulero
Digital print on vinyl applied to the window. The accompanying card reads: 'A Flying Fish darts through both sea and sky in this work that transforms our view to an aquarium of great proportions. The massive silver bodies of planes and fish overlap against the blue of air and water in this visual pun meant to cleverly delight and displace.'

It's beautiful.

Eye level

When I was at the airport, several National Guard helicopters came in to land at the attached base. It's not that often I get to see helicopters at eye level!

Airport art gallery

Larry Kagan manipulates tangled masses of steel into meticulously wrought linear constructions that reveal surprising images when strategically lit. Kagan's seemingly simple combination of metal and shadow yields the illusion of an object that is at once convincingly present, yet nowhere to be actually seen. The incongruity between the sculptural form and its shadow is mystifying and presented with all the finesse and apparent effortlessness of a magician's performance.

So reads the card next to this amazing sculpture.

Schenectady has a small local airport, but passenger traffic goes through the Albany International Airport. I had to see someone off today, and so had the opportunity to visit the art gallery on the second floor. Local artists are displayed here, and it's worth the trip to see the talent our area has.