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Wade

@setadrift.bsky.social

590 followers 220 following 410 posts

Be kind to yourself, and be kind to others.

I've worked at an airport in the PNW for 12 years. Its been a good time, and its allowed me to travel and take lots of airplane photos.

Travel. Climb. Hike. Photograph. Music.

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Wade @setadrift.bsky.social · Feb 10

Panned.

Another try at a pan shot of the Meatball. It hasn't been here for a while.

Currently listening to - Phantogram Mix.

#aviation #qx #nightscape #airplane #photography

The Meatball is parked at a gate awaiting departure. This photo is of the tail. 4-5 second exposure held on the tail for a second and then panned to the side to create a light trail.

Wade

@setadrift.bsky.social

The Great Horned Owl. It's been living outside my house for the last week.

#birdoftheday #birdsinmygarden #birdphotography #EastCoastKin #owl

An owl is sitting in my tree peering out over my yard. It was actively starting to hunt as the sun was dropping over the background. The owl was looking and listening in different directions looking for prey.

An owl sitting in a tree. It's dusk, and the owl is preparing to start hunting for the night.

The owl was sitting on a post on my deck. It was dozing off and didn't really mind me coming out and taking its picture.

A great horned owl staring straight at the viewer. Its eyes are bright yellow. Its feathers are a mix of browns and greys.

September 27, 2025 at 8:08 AM

Wade

@setadrift.bsky.social

Landing gear is important. Especially when landing.

#avgeek #navion #aviation #whoops #airportops

Navion had a small, minor mishap on the runway today. Whoops. 😅

September 17, 2025 at 9:02 PM

Wade

@setadrift.bsky.social

Watched a storm roll through this morning. Lots of lightning for the PNW.

Love being on the airfield when a storm rolls through. The wide open space just gives an amazing 360 view.

#pnw #lightning #stormhour

A lightning strike just before sunrise. Lightning breaks the red hues of the sky between the distant hills and the dark clouds above.

September 9, 2025 at 1:46 PM

Wade

@setadrift.bsky.social

Smoke in the great PNW.

#avgeek #EastCoastKin #smoke #nightscape

Light trail of a Pilatus pc-12 flying through a smoky night. The hill in the distance has red lights breaking the haze.

September 4, 2025 at 2:00 PM

Wade

@setadrift.bsky.social

Watched lightning over that hill in the background for an hour before this and part of me really hoped it would strike as I was exposing this photo. Too bad. I've never been able to get a takeoff and lightning in the same frame. One day.

#avgeeks #EastCoastKin #aviation #sunrise #stormhour

1 minute ish exposure of an aircraft taking off. The light trail from the aircraft is in front of a stormy sky. The sun is just starting to brighten the horizon.

August 18, 2025 at 12:34 PM

Wade

@setadrift.bsky.social

Pilatus

#avgeeks #EastCoastKin #medevac #nightscape

Pilatus PC-12 on approach. 1 minute exposure. The light trail has a small spiral in the distance. The light trails are made up of several lights creating streaks of white and red. The sky has dark hues at the top of frame with a few stars speckled about. The horizon has a slight tingle of pink as the sun is just starting to rise.

August 11, 2025 at 1:05 PM

Wade

@setadrift.bsky.social

The sunrise is finally getting late enough to snap some light trails.

#avgeeks #EastCoastKin #aviation #nightscape

Early morning takeoff. Light trail from an Embraer with the sun just starting to turn the sky pink behind the ridge. Clouds scattered about the sky. Solid white light trails with dashed green and red from the beacons.

August 4, 2025 at 12:56 PM

Wade

@setadrift.bsky.social

This is how runway lights are checked and calibrated. See alt text for details.

You may not realize the work it takes to keep an airport operating safely.

#aviation #avgeeks #airportops

An elevated runway edge light with an alignment tool set on top. It is used to make sure the lights are properly calibrated.

Side view. The V shape on the left of the tool is a mirror. You look down and align the light with the next light. Each light gets adjusted and cleaned.

Looking into the mirror the sight aligns with the next light.

July 25, 2025 at 2:36 PM

Wade

@setadrift.bsky.social

"Airport 6, Tower, can you exit the 27 RSA for landing traffic?"

"Affirm"

"Boxcar clear to land on Runway 27, taxi to A2 and exit to the ramp via Alpha."

Just airport ops stuff.

#aviation #avgeeks #chinook

Chinook Helicopter landing on Runway 27 while I hold short.

July 24, 2025 at 6:55 PM

Wade

@setadrift.bsky.social

Negative Space. Simplicity.

#aviation #avgeeks #EastCoastKin #negativespace #sunrise #fuji #portra

E175 flying through the sky. A light few puffs of clouds in the top of the frame. Negative space. Simple.

E175 on take off. The sunrise behind. The gradient has warm colors fade into deep blues.

Pilatus PC-12 on take off. A simple almost clear sunrise background. The hills low in the distance.

Pilatus PC-12. Negative space. Muted colors and a dab of clouds.

July 15, 2025 at 9:30 PM

Wade

@setadrift.bsky.social

Colchuck Lake. Enchantments. Washington.

First time to this lake. Beautiful place. I've been in the Enchantments many times but have yet to win the lottery for an overnight up there.

#pnw #EastCoastKin #enchantments #mountains

An image of Colchuck Lake. A tree stump in the foreground, a crystal clear lake, trees, and a mountain saddle in the background.

Water cascading around rocks as it streams down the side of a mountain.

July 7, 2025 at 2:02 PM

Wade

@setadrift.bsky.social

ATC

#aviation #airportops #sunrise #EastCoastKin

Air traffic control tower silhouette in front of a sunrise. The clouds are pink and sweep across the sky as if brushed on by a painter left to right.

July 2, 2025 at 11:46 AM

Wade

@setadrift.bsky.social

People don't really understand the immensity of Mt Rainier.

This is the same photograph. One is a crop showing two climbers.

I sat up there for almost an hour before anyone passed me. That's a benefit of arriving at 5 AM. It's quite serene.

#pnw #rainier #tahoma #mountain #eastcoastkin

Two climbers hike up the ridge just before Pebble Creek. Pebble Creek is the turning point that leads to the Muir Snowfields and Camp Muir. You can see Anvil Rock in the distance.

I have been up there a few times, but decided to just sit and watch the sunrise instead. Sometimes your plan changes mid journey and that's okay.

Two climbers mid frame right side. Mt Rainier looming over the background.

June 20, 2025 at 7:59 PM

Wade

@setadrift.bsky.social

Pike's Market.

Up there!

#streetphotography #fujifilmseries-x

Black and white photo of several people on a set of stairs. One pointing to her group to something unseen.

June 17, 2025 at 6:54 PM

Reposted by Wade

BluFly 🛩

@blufly.media

What with all the widely reported ways drones are being put to use these days, for this particular moment we choose to focus on this application by @abcbirds.bsky.social. We feel the effort to save the Hawaiian honeycreepers 🪶 is a little more uplifting and hope you do, too. | 🛩️ 📡 ⚡️ 🚁 📹 📰 🥇

Drones are Helping Prevent Bird Extinction in Hawai‘i

In a race to protect rare Hawaiian honeycreepers from extinction, American Bird Conservancy (ABC) and members of the multi-agency Birds, Not Mosquitoes (BNM) partnership have started using drones to c...

abcbirds.org

June 11, 2025 at 12:22 PM

Wade

@setadrift.bsky.social

KC-135 Stratotanker taking off.

Gladiator inspired intro 😂

#avgeeks #aviation #planespotting

June 11, 2025 at 1:07 PM

Wade

@setadrift.bsky.social

Pike St Market. Seattle

I love walking around and people watching. Looking for candid shots. See alt text for my thoughts.

#seattle #photography #fuji #candid #streetphotography #pikeplacemarket

Black and white photo showing one person looking for directions on their phone and a couple at the top of the stairs looking for direction the old fashioned way. I think it's actually kind of ironic one is in a darkened hallway while the other is in the light. Pretty symbolic. Neither one is wrong. Just different ways to experience life. I love finding moments of contrast like this in the wild.

June 8, 2025 at 12:42 PM

Wade

@setadrift.bsky.social

Currently listening to Valerie June - Owls, Omens, and Oracles.

Great album. Just love the opening song so much.

#avgeeks #aviation #EastCoastKin #fujifilm-seriesx #sunrise

Silhouette of an Embraer taking off in front of the sunrise.

June 5, 2025 at 1:02 PM

Wade

@setadrift.bsky.social

Mother's Love

Opened the window shades and watched deer TV in the yard.

This mother had two fawns and they would eat and play right outside our backdoor over the weekend.

#wildlife #deer #motherslove #photography #EastCoastKin

Mother deer and fawn. Little tongue poke

June 2, 2025 at 12:22 PM

Wade

@setadrift.bsky.social

Spotted Towhee

Haven't seen one in years. Great to see a few this weekend.

#birdersofbluesky #birding #birds #birdsky #featheredfriends #birdwatching #pnw

May 25, 2025 at 11:24 PM

Wade

@setadrift.bsky.social

Someone tried to tell me that squirrel photography was the pinnacle of wildlife photography. 😂

To be fair they are fun.

Stevenson, Washington

#squirrel #jaws #adhd #mentalhealth #photography #fuji

It reminds me of Jaws. They were playing off and on but to see this squirrel pop its head slowly up was hilarious.

It was frozen lost in thought. The philosopher squirrel.

May 25, 2025 at 1:06 PM

Wade

@setadrift.bsky.social

Having a dynamic subject can be extremely challenging. Framing takes lots of trial and error, patience, and something like a gust of wind can completely alter your photo (for better or worse).

Pilatus PC-12 landing.

#medevac #lighttrail #aviation #avgeeks #nightscape