I uploaded a picture of this plane a few months back. Shortly after I fell in love with her when I spied her at the Kenora Air Service docks in Kenora Ontario.

I was always upset by the noise and lack of overall quality in the image, but now I have redeemed myself!!!

When I left the hotel this morning at 9AM, she was gone, in her place was another good looking radial engined Otter from another town, which I also got pictures of. But I knew that my favorite girl would be back and I would be ready for her this time!!!

I walked the 2 km or so to the vantage point on the other side of the lake that I had picked out the day before. I waited there for several hours shooting pics of many other planes coming and going. I shot about 300 digital pics and three rolls of 120 film (30 frames) on my Pentax 67.

At one point, I heard a plane coming in and I just knew it would be her. Not only because of my wishful thinking, but also because I was half way through the tedious process of reloading my Pentax, and I only had room for 5 pictures left on my SD card.

I rushed to get everything ready and watched in the direction she would be coming in. She swooped down behind an island and came out from behind the trees a few feet above the water. I snapped some pics, but my 300mm failed me for quality. (Cheap lens.) The angle was not all that great either.

She disappeared around the bend to come about and I think I switched to my 28-105mm Canon L lens. I had to quickly delete a few sub par pics to get some more space on the card. Then I waited.

I heard her engine now slowed to a steady trolling speed and lifted my camera up as her prop and engine cowling became visible. I shot maybe five pictures and that was it. My card was full.

The very last image proved to be the best in my eyes. The framing is good. The image is quite sharp. The shutter speed was just right to capture the motion of the prop. Yet freeze the water droplets well enough. The background is the lush green wilderness among which the "Bush Plane" is in her element. And the icing on the cake is the way the light is glinting off the windscreen, as if she is just sparkling!!!

I was not super happy with this shot at first, but it has grown on me a lot. I'm now very proud of it!

I watched her glide steadily back towards the docks for a short while. Then I grabbed my equipment and left. I had done what I came to do.

I plan to do my best to make it back to Kenora every year to spot planes. There are many other places in western Ontario that would be nice to see as well. As long as these historic beauties are still flying, I'll have a reason to haul around a few heavy telephoto lenses!