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dmpop

Aircraft photography, spaghetti code, half-baked thoughts

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A week in HEL

I wish I came up with this clever pun, but Helsinki airport beat me to it.

Where the HEL is my baggage

As the title suggests, we spent a week working in Helsinki and exploring this wonderful city. Of course, I had time for aircraft photography in HEL, too.

As it's often the case, not having a car meant that my only option was to use a spot with a grandiose sounding name Scenic Terrace. In reality, it's not much of a terrace, but rather a balcony-like area on a corner of a building. Scenic it ain't either, although it provides a decent view of the RWY 04R/22L.

Scenic terrace

The outdoor area of the terrace is closed during inclement weather, which is exactly what happened the first two times I was there. Thankfully, there is also also an indoors area with large windows panes, so it was possible to photograph airplanes through the glass. But the windows panes are made of two layers of fairly thick glass, so the results of my photographic endeavors were rather mediocre. But hey, at least it was warm!

I had better luck on Thursday: the outdoor area was opened, which greatly improved the the success rate and the overall quality of my results.

ATR 72, Finnair

Airplanes wearing Finnair livery are by far the most common sight in HEL, which is hardly surprising since the airport is the airline's hub. Finnair operates a diverse fleet that includes Embraer, Airbus, and ATR aircraft. The latter are rare guests in our neck of the woods, so it was a good opportunity to capture them.

Airbus A330-300, Finnair

Besides that, I was lucky to photograph a Finnair Airbus A330-300 wearing Marimekko livery and a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner from Juneyao Airlines featuring Genshin Impact (原神号) livery.

Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, Juneyao Airlines

I'd be lying if I said that I was perfectly happy with my haul. I wish I had more time, I wish the light was better, I wish the backdrop was cleaner. But I'm not complaining: I was lucky I had a chance to visit HEL, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time capturing airplanes — even if the catch wasn't all that impressive.

Random Helsinki impressions


Published: 2024-11-12Reads: 419
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dmpop

dmpop

Linux user, amateur photographer, aviation enthusiast, clueless developer of ADS-B station, Pellicola and Tinble, author of a bunch of books. I can mix a decent Negroni, too. You can reach me at me@dmpop.xyz