Pan Am, Hong Kong 3 & Victoria Harbor 1986 by Captain Bill Travis
I should complete part 2 "WORLD'S MOST EXCITING AND DANGEROUS APPROACH AND LANDING" this evening, but while I'm thinking about it I wanted to share this photo (below) of the Hong Kong skyline of 1986.
At that time I was doing a lot of photography. Both my wife and I were taking college photography classes, and doing some semi-professional work. I have a few photos from different places that I'll share from time to time, as I can locate them.
Photo Details
I have a great shot of Harrods at night, and one of a Buckingham Palace guard, and others.
This photograph was taken from the top floor of a hotel parking lot on Kowloon looking across the harbor toward Hong Kong Islands downtown area. What I wanted to capture was the skyline with the lights from the passing boats to add the interest. This was a timed photo of about 5 minutes so that's why you see the boat lights but the boats are not visible.
The boat at the dock on the left is a people ferry that goes from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island. It was there and stationary the entire time. On the right is a freight barge at a long dock which serves to sort of frame in the image and add some more color.
The lines of light coming in towards the bottom and curving left is a tour boat that I knew was scheduled to arrive soon. So I set up and waited for about a half hour for that boat to come in; and as it arrived I opened the shutter to begin the time. The light lines are the boats navigation lights, and the light shining beside it on the water is the lights that were on inside the tour boat, reflecting on the water.
I had taken a bunch of shots but this turned out to be the best. When I took the negative to Image West to develop, they liked the photo and asked permission to use it in their calendar.
The Camera
The camera was a Pentax 6 x 7, so with that large negative you can get a huge print. We have a 24 x 32 inch size copy framed and hanging on one of our walls. Since I dug out the negative, I'll have to go have it scanned so I can have a digital copy. I would love to go to Hong Kong again and get a new shot with the skyline changed after 24 years.
I want to say THANK YOU again to all of you who have commented on Part One of my aviation career history and asked questions and offered words of encouragement. The support has been overwhelming ---- so much more than I would have ever expected.
The stories that I'll recall have never been shared before because I have never talked about the experiences to anyone.
After our children were grown my wife was able to travel with me a lot on my Pan Am flights. At that time I was commuting to New York from San Francisco and shared a commuter apartment in Queens with several other pilots. We were never all there at the same time so my wife could stay there with me.
We would go a day or two early and spend time in New York, then go on my Pan Am flight and maybe spend another day in NY after the trip, going to shows, jazz clubs, and visiting friends. I had a lot of jazz musician friends in NY because I studied at Drummers Collective during my days off there. But that's another story :-)
Anyway, my wife was able to share a few of the experiences with me and gained an understanding of what it was like to fly internationally and be exhausted from the circadian rhythm issues (time zone changes) that we lived with.
On a post coming up soon I'll talk about "Pan Am's Last Flight Out of Kenya", and the experience we had with that one. She reminded me of that today and got a couple of things out for me to use. She had saved the menu and some writings that crew and passengers had done.
I'm in the process of writing a book, half of which will be about the non-aviation phase, and the rest will be about the aviation phase of my life, and I'll tell as many stories as I can recall that I hope people will find interesting, and will give younger generations more insight into Pan Am the once greatest airline in the world.
I'm requesting that if anyone wishes to make any suggestions about what should be in the Pan Am section, or in any other section, that can make the book more interesting, I'm open to all suggestions.
For information or to offer suggestions, send an email to Pan Am Captain Bill Travis
My goal is to have the book completed in ebook form by the end of July 2013.
Other Blogs about Aviation and Pan Am:
Secret Sex Life of a Pan Am International Pilot
Pan Am, Most Exciting and Dangerous Approach and Landing
Pan Am series, First Airline Pilot Job Interview
Pan Am series, My First Flight as an Airline Pilot
Photo of Zantop C-46 on Zantop Ramp at Detroit Metro Airport
Pan Am series, Greenland and Nick Nolte
Pan Am series, Marlon Brando, the Celebrities
Pan Am series, Pan Am Pilot Photos, 1 Don Rees
Pan Am series Pan Am Pilot Photos 2 Bill Spence
Pan Am series Pan Am Pilot Photos 3 Dick Mayer
Pan Am series Pan Am Pilot Photos 4 Keith Woodmansee
Pan Am series Pan Am Pilot Photos 5 The Nude
Pan Am series Famous Pan Am Pilots
Pan Am series Get Ants Out of Her Pants
Pan Am series Yo! This is Your Captain Speaking, Listen Up
Pan Am series The End of a Career
PAN AM, by Captain Bill Travis, Pan Am Retired
Pan Am, Hong Kong 3 & Victoria Harbor 1986 by Captain Bill Travis
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