SBA Air Museum?

This post on Edhat announces a new effort to rehabilitate two historic hangars on the Santa Barbara Airport grounds as the core of a new aviation museum. Here’s an aerial pic of those hangars as they looked the Summer of 2016.

Historic SBA Hangars, aerial view Summer 2016

Hiatus

Montecito Golf Club

Many people, when they take a long hiatus, go golfing or take an extended holiday. Somehow, we’ve instead taken a long break from taking many photos or sharing any of those few here. Also a year off of flying, due mainly to covid precautions.

Now we seem to be easing back into familiar things, and thought anyone still following this blog might enjoy a few recent pix. Here’s one of “Hendry’s Beach” that the maps call Arroyo Burro. We notice that the creek is open to the sea, despite our extended drought that’s so browned the foliage compared with the carefully irrigated golf course above.

Hendry’s

AnaGator

From some angles, doesn’t Anacapa Island look like a giant alligator?

0310 Anacapa “Gator” View

Just in case anyone has succeeded with the crossview 3D trick described previously, here’s one of the “Gator” that I like.

0317 Anacapa 3D

Still need to make time for using a 3D app to whip up an HD version for the 93″ screen on our cheapo DLP Link projector.

 

Anacapa Light

What is it about lighthouses?

Maybe the human heart is inspired by an impression of standing courageous, stalwart and resolute amid a fury of sea and storm? Is that some of my fascination, looking over the shoulder of this light at the precipice and imagining the crashing turbulence it faces?

How is our reaction different, looking back from offshore?

This view might remind us of the keepers. On clear days like this did they pause in labors like cleaning windows, painting, fixing, polishing the mirror, and tending all the routine? Maybe quietly befriending a seabird, or just standing at that high railing to survey the vast panorama? Coupled with the light and foghorn themselves, do we feel an appreciation of these guardians patiently guiding explorers, travelers and commerce safely through the hazards of darkness and weather?

⧜

I’m curious whether anyone was able to figure out the crossview 3D trick described in my previous post, and since nobody has complained so far I’ll toss in this one of the light in context with Anacapa Island’s carved eastern tip and the adjacent rock arch. I like how the 3D effect enhances the detail and texture of this perspective.

SY Valley Flight

Flying the Santa Ynez Valley is always interesting and fun, but often remarkably beautiful too. That was the case on this February flight, when we saw some effects from a welcome return of near-normal rain to our region. After the horrors of our monstrous Thomas Fire and subsequent debris flow, it was reassuring to see a light tinge of green on the barren mountains around Jameson Lake.

9311 Jameson Hinting Green

Beyond the full lake and burnt mountains far into the eastern distance, snow on the farthest peaks filled our hearts with hope of a gentler 2019 Summer. To the North, unburned slopes just beyond the Santa Ynez River valley weren’t so far away.

9346 Blued Green Beyond Brown

The different sun angle on moist air made those green slopes look more blue to the camera than to our refreshed eyes. We wondered how much of that still mostly bare foreground slope would erode down into the river valley lakes. Nearing the airport and town of Santa Ynez, the Bradbury Dam on Lake Cachuma was releasing a token amount of precious water to nourish the ground water and the river habitat.

9348 Bradbury Water Release

Last up for this small selection of pix from that flight, I’ll offer a touch of how those distant snowy peaks looked to us. Unlike these flat two-dimensional camera pix, most people see in 3D. Even so, many people have trouble seeing 3D on a 2D medium like a standard tablet or computer screen. When I was a kid we once had a Viewmaster that made it easier. Recently we splurged on a few pair of $20 DLP Link 3D glasses for our inexpensive used Optoma projector to watch a few BluRay 3D movies on the 93″ screen. Anyway, that stimulated me to make up this 3D image of the snowy peaks.

0231 Deeper Peek at Peaks

Now since few people will have a Viewmaster or 3D projector, I’ve made this image for the “crossview” type of “free viewing” that only requires learning the trick. If you’ve followed this blog, my Photo Page, or Edhat posts for long, you’ve seen me share some 3D over the years. Many people have enjoyed them, and many others have been unable to master the trick. I recently came across an excellent Iowa State University crossview tutorial that might help. As always, feel free to use our Contact Us form to share your success (or frustration), or to let us know if you’d like me to share one of the 3D pix I’m creating for display using our new DLP Link 3D glasses. They’ll work on Optoma or any of the many compatible projectors (possibly not compatible with the much more expensive DLP Link TVs).

ps-Anne’s computer didn’t display the two most helpful “animated GIF” files in that ISU tutorial, so here they are in the hope you can see them here if not on that site.
…
What you perceive might be something like the animation below.

…
Since you learned distance control in step 1, align your four squares so that the two in the middle overlap. The “X” will help you do this with precision. What you perceive might be something like the animation below.