Big Pixel Pusher

Welcome

to my personal blog. Here I post examples of my photography and writing. I specialize in making unique and highly detailed photographs. Notice I said making and not taking. Yes I take photos but a lot of time and work is involved in pushing and punishing the pixels in my images to achieve the look I like.

Please feel free make comments about any of my words or photos. I enjoy constructive critiques, learning about locations to shoot or photography techniques. Click on the "Share Article" link to share any of my photos via Flickr, Facebook, Instagram, etc.

Want to use one of my posts in your own blog? No problem, but please make sure it links back to the original post here and do the right thing and give me credit. Don't copy my words, crop the images, remove the watermarks or claim my work as your own. This has happened more times than I can count so I've had to report copyright violations to ISP's and regrettably the violators blog is usually taken down.

Can't we all just get along?

Entries in Spacecraft (13)

Tuesday

Nov032009

Milestones in Flight

Tuesday, November 3, 2009 at 10:16AM | in

Aviation,

HDR,

Museum,

National Air and Space Museum,

Spacecraft,

Washington DC

Milestones in Flight, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

So much history in just one photo. From left to right are:

Charles Lindberg's "The Spirit of St. Louis" which was the first aircraft to fly solo from New York to Paris.

Scaled Composites "Space Ship One" which is a rocket powered aircraft that made the first privately funded space flight.

Bell Aircraft's X-1 rocket plane in which US Air Force pilot Charles "Chuck" Yeager first exceeded the speed of sound on October 14, 1947.

The Space Shuttle Enterprise 2

Tuesday, November 3, 2009 at 12:56AM | in

HDR,

National Air and Space Museum,

Space,

Spacecraft,

Travel,

Udvar Hazy Center,

Washington DC

The Space Shuttle Enterprise 2, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

As I was walking around the space hanger, I noticed a flight of stairs with a platform at the top that was 15-20 feet above the floor. There wasn't a sign that said "Museum Staff Only" so I decided to go up there and take another HDR series from there. The Udvar Hazy Center does not allow tripods but I was able to use my gorillapod without anyone objecting.

The Space Shuttle Enterprise

Tuesday, November 3, 2009 at 12:28AM | in

HDR,

Space,

Spacecraft,

Travel,

Udvar Hazy Center,

Washington DC

The Space Shuttle Enterprise, originally uploaded by big_pixel_pusher.

I was amazed when Kathy and I first entered the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Washington Dulles International Airport. Directly before us was the incredible SR-71 Blackbird and in the distance beyond was the Space Shuttle Enterprise. Being a big fan of space flight, I just couldn't believe I was actually standing in front of this incredible (and huge) piece of American history.

This was the first Space Shuttle orbiter vehicle. It was built for flight test in the atmosphere and never flew in space. It was carried to a launch altitude on the back of a specially modified 747 where it was released and then it glided down to land at Edwards Air Force Base.