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The official photo blog of J. David Buerk Photography.

St. Louis, Missouri, Fall of 2014

This post has been long coming, only because I did so much in St. Louis.  I had the trip to visit and have fun with my family planned since March, when I got an amazing ticket deal from Frontier Airlines the day I photographed their press event announcing new flight service through Dulles.  Unfortunately I had to head to St. Louis a week early when my grandmother suddenly passed away.  And while this was a very sad reason to head to St. Louis, it did mean I'd enjoy an extra week with family.

DC → STL

Since I had to leave a week before my originally scheduled flight, I drove, watching Autumn take hold of the Eastern half of the country.

Arrival in STL

I've seen it before, but never really knew much about it.  A few years ago there was an electrical malfunction that caused the wings to flap backwards.

This was a wonderful suite to relax in each evening.

Also, this photo sums up about half the entire trip.  #NotTheGiants

So the lesson I (re)learned this trip was that when your cousins have kids, your devices will never have battery unless you are vigilant.  Geez; and I thought I killed iPhone / iPad batteries - all my cousins once removed did was play games and take selfies; Goat Simulator, Flight Simulator, and Racing Simulator were the largest battery offenders.

Of course I was guilt of a few myself... but you have to admit this is a good one.  A lot of friends thought this was a T-Shirt design at first glance (I can't really blame them; that would be an AWESOME shirt!).  I've been told the cat's eyes match mine :-)

Obviously I made a kitty friend while in town... or maybe it was just my GMU hoodie, or anything warm for that matter.

Both Ryan and Alex are now learning "violin" - it's actually viola, but I call it a violin just to mess with them.

A Note on Ferguson

The Ferguson protests and riots were still taking place while there, so despite how many people asked me if I was going to get photos in Ferguson, I chose where I went carefully, meaning I avoided Ferguson and anywhere the protests carried into.  There were at least two related fatal shooting incidents, plus Michael Brown's autopsy was leaked, during my two weeks in St. Louis, only reigniting the tensions back to a level not seen in over a month.

The suburbs of St. Louis I always stay in with family are your average, quiet, American suburbia neighborhoods with stripmalls and Starbucks on the corner.  Downtown St. Louis certainly does have a number of rough areas similar to Southeast DC and PG County, however Ferguson isn't quite like the perception given in mainstream news - for a DMV equivalent, think of Ferguson as an area similar to Manassas or Annandale - possibly a little rough in spots due to lower average SES, but not "bad" like Southeast or PG County - those areas are your East St. Louis, which is a wasteland of drugs and prostitution across the river in Illinois.  These are all areas I've been, but thoroughly avoided during this trip.  I am not about to inject myself into a tense, now heavily monitored street dispute for the sake of a few personally (although not historically) insignificant photos.

Politics, disputes, and the various associate implications aside, I had no business injecting myself into the Ferguson situation, and would have only been contributing to the problems by doing so, even despite my strong feelings in the matters of free, uncensored, and minimally biased press coverage.  There are some fantastic photojournalists with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch embedded with both the police and protestors; their coverage has been top-notch.  If I were a paid photojournalist associated with a news agency such as the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, then I would gladly, and safely, do my job to deliver captivating imagery of the story... but that is not who I am, so I remained safely distant and left the reporting to those industry professionals.

Historic Downtown St. Charles

Every time I visit St. Louis, I try to do something new and interesting.  Visit a museum, explore a new part of town.  This time I explored an area I didn't even know existed - Historic Downtown St. Charles.

Historic Downtown St. Charles is on the Western bank of the Missouri River, just West of Lambert - St. Louis International Airport.  With cobblestone streets and gas street lamps, this old town area is chock-full of boutique, handcrafted, and fair-trade shoppes, reminiscent of Annapolis, Old Town Alexandria, and Leesburg.  The historic Main Street, with its pubs and antique stores, runs parallel to the old train racks which is now the Katy Trail; a biking and running trail almost identical to the Eastern Seaboard's W&OD Trail.  More on the Katy Trail later.

The entire old town joins together for a massive December-long Christmas festival, which I plan on attending at night when I visit again this Christmas.  The result of this is a number of year-round Christmas stores.

Running off the thoughts of coffee, not far away I found my newest favorite shop.  Figuero's has a  selection of 140 varieties of coffee, and over 500 hot sauces!  It's almost enough to make me forgive their unfortunate use of an apostrophe in their storefront; who is Coffee Tea, and why do they have an espresso bar?

We hardly explored any, but the antique shops are where my heart lives.

Soon it was time for lunch and more exploring.

From what I'm told, Historic Downtown St. Charles is a popular wedding venue, between the central gazebo and various historic inns; this just further reminds me of Old Town Annapolis, waterfront included.

Before calling it a day, I got my picture with Daniel Boone, and a St. Louis 250th Birthday Cake... and said Hi to a store's parakeet.

Finally, before leaving, I spotted a Superformance GT40, being driven by the owner of Fast Lane Classic Cars.  Unfortunately due to time right then, I was not able to come visit and check out his nearby shop and 300 other classics, exotics, and customs, despite his cordial invitation.

Later that evening I got this picture with my cousin, Patrick, and Grandma's Bichon-Frisé, Sidney.

Illinois Hunting Grounds

The next day I went with my Uncle Ron to his deer hunting grounds two hours away in Illinois to help him install a new, safer deer stand. Most of our drive North followed the Missouri River.  My cousin once removed Alex also came along for his first visit to Ron's friend's farm.

Following the Missouri River promised beautiful open space with a towering wall of fog snaking across the landscape along with every bend.

Alex fell asleep in the car fast, on my GMU hoodie - I think he's actually a cat.  I just enjoyed my coffee.

Also, I found the Giant Boob Nipple Gun from Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back; it's in Illinois, FYI.

When we arrived at the farm, we offloaded the ATV and head through the cornfields to Ron's current stand.  Ron led on foot as I drove the ATV with Alex and the trailer in tow to the site.

Once on site, we began dismantling the old, very small stand, and assembled Ron's new, sturdier tree stand.  Ron only hunts with crossbows; he used to build, sell, and hunt with custom compound bows.

The stand went up without any issue.  After driving back up, Ron let Alex try out the ATV; you knew he'd wanted to all day.

Before heading back, we stopped inside the cabin to check out some of their collective trophies and photos.

Unfortunately, on the way back, we had a trailer tire disintegrate on us - we didn't even feel it; other motorists pointed it out to us, and we pulled off to replace it.  Good thing Ron keeps a fresh spare.  Keep this in mind; it will come up again later...

St. Louis Zoo

Another attraction I had never visited, much to the surprise of everyone on both sides of my family, is the St. Louis Zoo.  Honestly I have nothing to compare it to, because the last time I went to the Smithsonian National Zoo, I was in middle school.  I hardly remember it, beyond the zebras and the meerkats.

The St. Louis Zoo was large and informative.  I didn't even get to explore all the exhibits; some were closed for renovation, and others were just so large we had to breeze through to see the rest of the zoo.

The zoo was gearing up for the first night of Boo at the Zoo; we didn't stick around for it, but all the decorations were up and operating.

For the zoo photos, I'm just going to let you enjoy the pictures without breaking the post up for individual species names, as it's beyond the scope.  If you follow me on Flickr, I have captioned each photo with the species, if you really are curious.

I will also preface this by saying that the longest lens I brought to St. Louis was my 85mm f/1.2; definitely NOT the lens of choice for a zoo visit.  I intend to go check out the Smithsonian National Zoo with my 70-200mm f/2.8 + 2X Extender, since I haven't been in forever.

At the chimpanzee exhibit, the two babies came out of the brush holding hands, walking in unison like soldiers, carrying canvas sacks.  There was a collective "AWWWWWW!!!!!!"

St. Louis Cars And Coffee: Highlights

The next morning, I woke up early to check out a Cars and Coffee I had been invited to by some great people on Oppositelock.

I am only including a few highlights below; if you want to see the full set which I already blogged, go check it out!

Hikes and Parks

Later that day I went hiking a bit with my cousin and her kids.

Dr. Edmund A. Babler Memorial State Park

The next day, I took a trip to Dr. Edmund A. Babler Memorial State Park on my own.

Katy Trail

I enjoy biking.  I always have, although I don't own a bike, which kinda sucks.  Ron is an avid biker, riding 30+ miles on the Katy Trail every day.  The Katy Trail is a 240 mile trail spanning most of Missouri, following what was once the Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad.  The Katy Trail is very similar to Virginia's 45 mile W&OD Trail.

Remember that flat trailer tire from a few days before?  The joke became that Ron is bad luck - we had the flat a few days prior, and then when he and I met up again to bike 30 miles, my bike got a flat rear with 10 miles to go.  After 5 miles of start and stop and re-inflate and slime and restarting, the tire finally held air again... but my legs were dead from the extra effort of riding on a flat, only compounded by riding a bike a size too small for me, adjusted as best possible.

I didn't bring my camera; I shot a few photos on my iPhone using my sunglasses as a polarizer.

St. Peters Athletic Association: St. Louis Athletics

It was my cousin once removed's final baseball game of the season, and I promised him I'd go watch.  His team went on to win the game in a landslide 12-4.

After the game happened to be a team photo... which I of course got snagged for when the rest of the parents found out I'm a pro (NOT complaining - don't take it that way).  Not only did I get the standard team photo on home plate, but I also snagged a super cute photo of the team huddled up.  So awesome!

STL → IAD

All good things must come to an end, and my two weeks in St. Louis was over.  With a little late night help from PJ, who was stealing my socks the entire trip, I packed my bag for a sunrise flight back to IAD.

My original intent for the trip, besides visiting with family during a season I'd never visited St. Louis during, was also to try out Frontier Airlines and see if it was a good choice for affordable airfare.  I got my flight for just $50 (with an additional $50 charged for one carry-on and one checked bag); this is a far cry from the $500 spent on United Express - the only other carrier flying direct from IAD or DCA to STL.  Southwest does fly from BWI to STL, but come on now... I'm loyal to "my airport(s)."

Just has he has in the past, Ron picked me up dark and early to drop me at Lambert - St. Louis International Airport.  On the drive over, I told him if my plane blows a tire upon landing, I'm blaming HIM.  He chuckled and wished me farewell until Christmas.

Although it was designed by Minoru Yamasaki, the Japanese-American architect who designed New York's original World Trade Center, Lambert's Main Terminal interior always makes me think I'm in a smaller, circus-tent-like version of Eero Saarinen's Dulles Main Terminal Building.  I'm 90% sure it's the ceiling material and method of uplighting.

After security, I had breakfast at Schlafly St. Louis Brewery.  Good breakfast; horrid coffee, despite the good presentation.

My flight boarded at sunset, and taxied soon after.

And away we went, in our A319.  The exterior had the new livery, but the interior was beat like a used charter bus.  For a 1.5hr flight it's perfectly fine though.

In case you were wondering, this was my view for most of the flight.

It wasn't long before I spotted a wonderful airport at which to land.

As we arrived at Dulles in my first crosswind landing ever, my trip drew to a close.  I had a lovely time in St. Louis, as I always do, and will only be back again soon!

Stay tuned for a final piece I am still working on, which is a review of the 2015 Dodge Dart SXT rental car I had for two weeks.

CAP at The Winery at Bull Run

For an early Halloween Treat, the Capital Area Photographers descended upon The Winery at Bull Run for a happy four hours of wine tasting, socializing, and of course playing with camera gear.  Everyone knows I'm a total wine enthusiast, so there was no way I would miss an event like this.

Of course, the best way to start off any visit to a vineyard, particularly ones new to you, is a tasting.

Just outside, there happened to be a couple who was celebrating their 25th Wedding Anniversary.  They told me that they don't usually visit vineyards, but it seemed fitting for their quiet evening together.  They were delighted that I snapped a few photos of them; they explained that 25 years ago they had eloped, and have no photos from their wedding.  I told them to "pretend they've been married for 25 years" in the photo, and they laughingly pushed each other away.  Aren't they cute?!?

The Winery at Bull Run is a large vineyard located on a segment of Manassas Battlefield.  A bit of exploring shows the Civil War history is still visible on the property.

More exploration, less Civil War.

As the sun finally set, and the cold front moved in, the fire wasn't enough anymore.  Everyone said their farewells, and went their separate ways until next month's CAP meeting.

St. Louis Cars and Coffee: October 18th, 2014

For the last two weeks I've been in St. Louis, Missouri.  It's where most of my family lives or is from, and each time I visit I try to find different things to check out.  This time, I was lucky enough to be invited to a Cars and Coffee event in St. Louis.  As soon as I heard about it, I knew I was going - I've been curious what the car scene is like out here for quite some time.

The St. Louis Cars and Coffee I attended was at Westport Plaza in Maryland Heights; a suburb just South of Lambert - St. Louis International Airport.  It takes place in a parking lot between a McDonald's and a Starbucks (or an Arsebucks as it was referred to me lol).  As it so happens, this was the final Cars and Coffee for this year (I was told), since most drivers put their cars safely away for the harsher midwestern Winter than we see on the East coast.  I arrived in my rental Dart (more on this soon - stay tuned) bringing along my cousin's 10 year old son to enjoy what I knew was going to be a great show.  What I got was even better than I imagined.

St. Louis' car meet is for true car enthusiasts.  Everyone there wasn't just enjoying car culture, they were living it, and breathing it in along with the fresh brewed coffee.  I'm so very happy after attending St. Louis' Cars and Coffee, because it was a breath of fresh air.  St. Louis' Cars and Coffee is not overcrowded by large families and pets - the only people there are true automotive lifestyle enthusiasts.  It has not been degraded by marketing into a commercial event.  St. Louis' Cars and Coffee is the Cars and Coffee I miss.

So how many cars were there?  A lot.  It was actually a larger show than I expected.  It's probably the 2nd largest show I've been to, which is saying a lot.  The cars in attendance were just as fascinating, if not more unique, than those I've seen in the DC region.  The only real difference I could find in the automotive offerings between St. Louis and DC was the lack of modern exotics; St. Louis had only one Lamborghini, one Aston Martin, and two Ferraris, while DC sees Ferraris at car shows as though they're Italian Mustangs.  Note: this is not a complaint; it is merely an observation.

Everyone knew each other.  There was no irresponsible or unsafe motoring by attendees.  Folks were friendly, and I even met a fellow Jalop / Opponaut - there were four of us in attendance.  I found it ironic that Jaguar brought two F-Types, the convertible and coupe, to the show for display - where have I seen this before?  It makes me wonder if Jaguar dealers are instructed to try to do this across the entire US; if so, that's very forward thinking on their part, but I fear the day when all manufacturers partake in this sort of grassroots marketing - if that happens, we might as well just call it Cars and Coffee: CarMax.

So, without any further description of the wonderful atmosphere I took in on this past Saturday's crisp morning, here are the photos I snapped of St. Louis' Cars and Coffee.  Missouri is the Show Me state, and, boy, did they ever show me some fantastic cars.

As a bonus, here is a Superformance GT40 I spotted in Old Town St. Charles, being driven by the owner of Fast Lane Classic Cars.  Unfortunately due to time right then, I was not able to come visit and check out his nearby shop and 300 other classics, exotics, and customs, despite his cordial invitation.

This blog post has been republished by J. David Buerk.  For the full set of photos, view the album at his Facebook Page.  All photography is by J. David Buerk, and is copyrighted All Rights Reserved.

British Airways A380 at Dulles

For years, British Airways has had daily service between Washington Dulles International Airport and London Heathrow Airport by 747, but this continental air link has now been further strengthened by the introduction of Airbus’ A380; the largest commercial passenger jet in the World.

The A380, if you are somehow unfamiliar with it, is the World’s first fully double decker passenger airliner - where the 747 spearheaded adding a second story to the front fuselage, the A380 manages to push this upper level the entire length of the cabin, allowing for much higher passenger capacity, as well as added amenities, and overall freedom to design newly innovative luxury interiors in an otherwise difficult environment where space is usually a major constraint.

Although British Airways is not the first A380 to serve travelers through Dulles, the jumbo jet is still a rare bird among the skies - a true albatross, but one that is slowly becoming more popular.  30 lucky individuals got the chance to welcome Dulles’ second daily serving A380 on it’s maiden arrival flight on the route, and to Discover Dulles.

Before the flight’s arrival, Discover Dulles guests enjoyed a small reception courtesy of Dulles Food and Shops, and caught up with one another; many Discover Dulles entrants are plane spotters or generally aviation enthusiasts, many of whom know one another as it is a fairly tight community.  One of the primary local groups that has always had at least one member at every Discover Dulles event to-date is The Washington Baltimore Spotters.  Although I am not a member of their spotter group, I’ve come to know a number of their members since a lot of my aviation work directly overlaps with plane spotting - we all love interesting aircraft and aviation news!

During the reception, waiting for the A380 to get closer, spotters and repeat attendees share stories with one another, and talk with first time Discover Dulles guests.  Some are even pilots, showing videos of interesting approaches and landings on their phones.

As the flight drew closer, guests also had had the chance to speak with British Airways Brand Ambassadors, who told details about the aircraft and the amenities offered.  Then it was time to hop on the Plane Mates and head out to the runway.

There was still some time left before the A380 arrived, even with it running early.  Participants got to watch and photograph some of Dulles’ daily operations from as close to the active runway allowed under FAA restrictions, standing along the K2 high-speed to view R/W 19L in operation.  As always, this access is especially great for spotters, since it offers a proximity and on-the-ground perspective that is otherwise impossible without physical access to the airfield - this is what makes the Discover Dulles events so special: it brings people from all walks of life as close as possible to the action on the airfield; if you’re not already an enthusiast, you will be by time you leave for the day.

After about 15 minutes watching the Southerly operations, the A380 finally appeared in the sky.  Even 10 miles away on approach, these aircraft are easy to spot, but on final at less than 5 miles, it’s impossible to miss.  With wheels down just moments away, an electric feeling hushed the small gathering - many of these people have never seen an A380 in person, despite Air France’s daily service to Paris via A380 for the past few years.

At the gate, onlookers anticipated the traditional water arch welcoming the massive aircraft to her newest port.  As the A380 is larger than any passenger aircraft before it, traditional jetbridges are not able to service the aircraft as passengers disembark - at Dulles, larger jetbridges had to be installed at Air France and now British Airways’ gates even to allow service to an A380.  The new and improved jetbridges are longer in order to reach the extra distance along the fuselage, and an additional jetbridge provides service to the upper deck, so that passengers may board both upper and lower levels directly and simultaneously without ever climbing a set of stairs.  777s and 747s were the largest aircraft for decades, so traditional jetbridges had no reason to accommodate more - theses larger jetbridges will gradually become the norm for international and high capacity airports with even a chance of servicing this new class of jumbo jets.

Here is the entire group of Discover Dulles attendees.

Nearby BA’s gate where the freshly landed A380 is parked and being serviced after an 8hr flight is Airport Operations, which monitors all activity on the airport campus, ensures logistical security, and responds to airfield incidents.  These are the guys that often are instrumental in allowing me to work hot from their trucks, getting me close to the action on an active airfield so I may focus on photographing my assignments without being distracted driving and communicating with the towers.  Operations allows myself, and everyone operating on the AOA, to be safe, and you simply won’t find a better group of folks in this line of work.

Once inside Airport Ops, one Discover Dulles attendee was awarded a roundtrip ticket on the British Airways A380 in the raffle - 1 in 30 are pretty amazing odds for winning free plane tickets to London!

The Discover Dulles group was in for a treat - for the first time, these visitors were given a tour of Airport Operations, including the 110 foot tall Ramp Tower; it’s not quite as tall as the 320 foot FAA Air Traffic Control Tower, located on the South side of the airfield, but it still provides a great view of the airfield in a manner most people don’t ever see, plus it has the best view of Eero Saarinen’s historic Main Terminal Building from the rear.  

While up the Ramp Tower, guests took photos of both British Airways’ and Air France’s A380s (both at the B Gates simultaneously), and listened to explanations from different Ramp Controllers about how different aspects of the airfield are managed.  Controllers were asked how gate assignments are made, and demonstrated the radio communications to direct aircraft along taxilanes.

A fact about Dulles that most passengers would never even notice is that every Mobile Lounge is assigned a state name as their callsign.  The ramp controllers direct all ground traffic between the taxilanes and gates, including the behemoth Mobile Lounges - the lounges respond to their state callsigns over the radio; for example, the communication for the lounges leaving Main and going to the runway would have been something like, “Lounge Wisconsin, cleared to proceed via Alpha under escort; hold short Juliet; contact Ground via 121.9.”  Those instructions are of course very uncommon, since lounges rarely drive on taxiways, but it is applicable and demonstrates how each lounge has its own callsign.  These callsigns are printed on the roof and sides of each lounge (WI, VA, etc) as do all airfield vehicles.

After a few selfies with the A380 from above, it was time to head back down and learn about the rest of Airport Operations’ role in managing Dulles’ airfield.

Duty Officers explained explained the role Operations serves, and pointed out some of the networks they monitor, such as continental air traffic, weather, and comms.  Both Air France and British Airways’ A380s were displayed on security cameras side by side; although special, this isn’t unusual.  Officers also took questions; understandably, given Operations’ work is behind the public eye, and the average passenger wouldn’t realize the logistics of feet on the ground managing an active airfield.

Upstairs at British Airways’ gate, Discover Dulles guests were able to board the A380 and explore both decks of the aircraft cabin and cockpit.  For all but one or two, this was their first time inside an A380.

First Class passengers each have their own compartment with reclining seats the fold into a bed, along with adjustable privacy screens and foldaway guest seats for when you are traveling with others.

Club World, or Business Class passengers enjoy similar seats that recline into beds, visitor seats, and privacy screen, in a more compact, but still very spacious and comfortable, package.

World Traveller passengers have standard airline seats in the modern age, including individual LCD screes with privacy tint, and adjustable seats with variable headrests, lumbar, and footrests.  World Traveller Plus passengers enjoy added legroom.

That’s all great, but how do you serve 469 passengers across two levels?  The A380 has two staircases; a large spiral in the tail, and a straight stair in the front; both staircases are completely natural - no more steep stairs like in older generation 747s.

There are plenty of lavatories on board so you don’t have to wait.

Finally, there is the most important part… the fuel… no, not Jet-A; the galleys, including coffeemakers!

And after all of that… cake!