BS: published! thanks are due...

Subject: BS: air photos published! thanks are due...
From: leeneia
Date: 02 May 07 - 11:19 PM

In January and February I posted here, asking for information on aerial photo sites. Kindly Mudcatters helped me by telling me about Google earth, Topozone, etc.

Incredibly enough, my dream of writing an article about my passhion for looking out airplane windows has become a reality! If you go to this webpage,


http://mymidwestmagazine.com/2007/05/01/view-from-above/


you will see an article I prepared for the inflight magazine of Midwest Airlines.

It was a remarkable amount of work, considering how simple it looks. Much of that was due to problems of resolution. The editor wanted intriguing images which were also extremely sharp, and such images are not common.

I have achieved my fifteen minutes of fame and can now die happy.

Subject: RE: BS: published! thanks are due...
From: Alice
Date: 02 May 07 - 11:20 PM

Congratulations!

Subject: RE: BS: published! thanks are due...
From: Peace
Date: 02 May 07 - 11:22 PM

Link to your article, which I will now go read.

Subject: RE: BS: published! thanks are due...
From: Peace
Date: 02 May 07 - 11:27 PM

Link direct to the article, and a beaut it is!

Leeneia, was that you asking many moons ago about the different coloured 'lakes' near the San Francisco Airport?

The shots are wonderful, and the writing to accompany the pics is informative and socially conscious. Congratulations to you, ma'am.

Subject: RE: BS: published! thanks are due...
From: leeneia
Date: 02 May 07 - 11:38 PM

Yes, that was I asking about the colored lakes (salt evaporation pans.)

My husband flew over them a few weeks ago, and the colors were so vivid that a boy near him said they looked like paints. There were quite a few young people on board, and the colors created quite a stir. My husband gave a little talk on how the salt beds work, and everyone seemed interested.

Thanks for the link, Peace. It goes to the first page of the magazine. Click on "View from above" to see my article.

For a while it looked as if the editors were going to simplify my text quite a bit, but I registered sharp disapproval when someone changed "illustrates" to "illuminates," and they caved.

Subject: RE: BS: published! thanks are due...
From: Peace
Date: 02 May 07 - 11:43 PM

LOL. I know that every word counts. You put your blood in the writing and then some editor just has to change a few things. Regardless, that is one heckuvan article and I really hope you are proud of it AND getting it published. It's a neat approach, but I'm guessing you used more than a few disks (or was it with the 'old-fashioned' 35 mm film?

Subject: RE: BS: published! thanks are due...
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 03 May 07 - 01:09 AM

Well done, and quite interesting, leeneia!

Subject: RE: BS: published! thanks are due...
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 03 May 07 - 02:22 AM

magnificent - congratulations for writing the article & for not letting the editors gut it

sandra

Subject: RE: BS: published! thanks are due...
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 03 May 07 - 03:53 AM

Those pictures are stunning! I always try to get a window seat if I can, I love staring out at the scenery too! Is there a special way of sitting so you don't end up with a whiplash headache?

I remember flying to New Zealand in 1986, via Tahiti and the Pacific. I wanted to look at the ocean, dotted with bright green islands and such a shade of blue, but the nasty stewardess kept making me shut the blinds so others could see the film (some depressing French bloke kept trying to commit suicide and failing and ended up sleeping with his flat mate). I managed to leave the blind open a little bit and see something of the view, but I've always wished I could fly over them again, with the blinds open and gawp to my hearts content!

Congratulations!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: published! thanks are due...
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 03 May 07 - 05:05 AM

Too late to be of much help, but the American Scientist magazine, May-June 2007, has a splendid cover picture of your colored salt evaporation pans, with a fairly lengthy article on the peculiar salt-tolerant microbes that produce the color. The article is devoted more to the strange bugs than to the lakes; but might be of some vague interest.

The article is on the website (American Scientist) but unfortunately is one of those articles that requires you to be a member of the sponsoring Sigma Xi Society, or a subscriber to the magazine (i.e. able to log in) to see it.

The mag does appear on news stands and is at some libraries perhaps, but the cover picture probably is about all that's flashy about the issue. (unless you're really into weird life forms.)

John

Subject: RE: BS: published! thanks are due...
From: leeneia
Date: 03 May 07 - 09:13 AM

Thanks, everybody. I'm learning about more and more people who like window seats.

Journalists give the impression that everybody hates to fly, but that is not the case.

Peace, in response to your comment about disks vs film, I didn't take the pictures. They are images that the magazine downloaded after buying Google Earth Pro.

We did try taking some pictures from an actual window, but the thick glass interfered with the quality of the pictures.

When I am Empress of the universe, people will be encouraged to submit pictures they have taken from airplane windows to airline magazines. Editors will be interested in the passengers as people rather than in dpis.

Subject: RE: BS: published! thanks are due...
From: Peace
Date: 03 May 07 - 09:54 AM

Thanks, leeneia. Loved the article. Read it twice--that's a first for me and any airline magazine. You are a good writer. Keep at it.

Subject: RE: BS: published! thanks are due...
From: skipy
Date: 03 May 07 - 10:23 AM

Well done, the bit about the sinkholes is interesting.
Skipy

Subject: RE: BS: published! thanks are due...
From: katlaughing
Date: 03 May 07 - 10:36 AM

Congratulations!

Subject: RE: BS: published! thanks are due...
From: Bill D
Date: 03 May 07 - 11:13 AM

I don't fly much, but I love seeing the Earth from above. I once videotaped almost the entire trip from Kansas to Wash DC. I take pictures from planes whenever the weather cooperates. Features like automated sprinkler systems are fascinating.

I once took slides of the rows of houses made famous by Malvina Reynold's "Little Boxes"

I just got a 3-D graphics card for my PC so I can use all the features of GoogleEarth.

Subject: RE: BS: published! thanks are due...
From: leeneia
Date: 03 May 07 - 11:48 PM

Yes, Google Earth is great. My husband tilts the landscape, holds down an arrow and "flies" into canyons and over mountains while making airplane noises. Life is good.

Subject: RE: BS: published! thanks are due...
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 04 May 07 - 01:49 AM

Oh, and one other thing. I fly nearly every week, and I NEVER sit by the window if I can avoid it. I get a little claustrophobic. So, if you ground-gazers see a guy sitting by the window and looking tense, just ask...I'll gladly give you my seat! ;>)

Subject: RE: BS: published! thanks are due...
From: Donuel
Date: 04 May 07 - 10:40 AM

Riveting!