Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Waiting at the gate


Positivity
Shanghai, China, May 2007


Just before pushback, I sat in my port-side window seat and thought about the 15-ish hours I was about to spend in this plane while the planet rotated halfway below me. An American Airlines 777 sat in the adjacent gate, doubtless being prepared for a similar journey to a similarly distant place.

I had always appreciated the branding of this airline, so iconic and timeless and easy to spot from far away. I originally set out to capture the curve of the fuselage against the angled straightness of the ultramodern terminal in the background. After viewing the partially cropped text, I realized the message was decidedly different than I had intended.

Inspiration from an airplane seat. Who woulda thought?

Your turn: Icons of aviation. Please discuss.

9 comments:

tommie said...

cool picture....I would take this as a sign and it would immediately relieve any anxiety I had.

David Edward said...

good thing no airline companies names end in crash or fireball, ehh ?

I have something for your kids, if it would please you to have it.
no real $ value, just something old that I picked up.

Chad Oneil Myers said...

"I can". Great image too, man.

"Aviation Icons". First thing I thought of was "Chuck Yeager". He was the first to break the sound barrier. Supposedly, he's a very distant relative to me through one of my grandfathers.

Anonymous said...

I remember when Pan Am was still flying. It was a real event when one of its planes flew over.

There's a lot of nostalgia in some airlines. So many happy memories for me.

Anna said...

I always love the aviation shots Carmi! Very nice.

D.O.M. Dan said...

Maybe once a year I get to fly for business. I use the very affordable and always fun to fly Southwest airlines. I love their tag line "You are now free to move about the counrty".

Anonymous said...

This visit to your blog is sponsored by Michele, who sent me to share with you that when I still lived in my California townhouse, I liked to sit in the hot tub at night and watched the FedEx planes take off. At twilight their purple paint would get kind of glowy, and those cargo planes always looked like they were working impossibly hard, that I always found some inspiration in their dedication.

I love your photo...I Can indeed.

Azgreeneyes said...

Great photo, it could be one of those 'inspirational' ones, with a great quote underneath.

You asked about aviation icons, and I immediately thought of Amelia Earhardt, in her last photo.

Anonymous said...

As an aviation fanatic, I'm always fascinated by sightings of aircrafts at world airports. Although I'm not impressed with Pudong Airport in Shanghai, I did spot some players of the industry that I normally don't see in, say, HKG. American Airlines flies its 777 to the China's gateway daily.

I've been undertaking a project in progress--to take photos of different gates at different airport. From the pictures I've accumulated I'll put up a collage of all the gates from all over the world in a numeric order. But I'm far from completion. :)