This is a short and whimsical article for today that I thought to quickly write after I came across the photo above while working on a project.

I have a special category in my photography for pictures taken from airplane windows. I bet most people love looking out at the amazing views from above, but for me, it’s become something I really look forward to every time I fly.  It’s also turned into a hobby of mine, and when I have a window seat, my camera is always nearby for the entire flight.  Because of this, I’ve taken a great collection of photos over the years that I describe as “skyscapes”.

Above is the photo that started my skyscape hobby.  Even though it was taken more than fifteen years ago, I’ll never forget the moment I took it.  It sparked my imagination and led me in a new photography direction, which is why I remember it and why it’s special to me.

Before I retired, I had the chance to travel to Europe on Singapore Airlines more than twenty times in business class on the magnificent Airbus A380 and Boeing 747 airplanes.  They’re the “King and Queen of the Skies”, and Singapore is one of the best airlines in the world.  Most of these were overnight flights, so I was able to capture a lot of sunset and sunrise photos as I crossed the time zones.   

No matter what the weather was like on the ground, I learned that there’s often magical light up in the sky once the plane breaks through the first layer of cloud cover during takeoff.  Business class seats on both of these planes usually have two windows, and on the A380, they’re quite large.  Rising through the clouds to emerge and see what’s up there is always a fun moment of revelation for me on each flight.  Often it’s clear blue sky as far as the eye can see, but other times there are surprises waiting.

On this day, I was taking the Friday evening flight out of Frankfurt on a Lufthansa 747, and I was exhausted from an intense week of work in Germany.  I fell asleep while still on the ground waiting for the plane to depart.  The 747 and A380 are comfy and quiet in business class, so it’s easy to stay asleep once you nod off.  But as we started to move away from the gate and down the runway, I woke up during takeoff as we climbed and broke through the thick clouds over the airport.  I turned to the side and looked out the window at the amazing scene above.

I rubbed my eyes and looked around.  I could hardly believe what I was seeing.  The light was glowing all around, almost like it was from another world.  Ethereal, soft, and with no edges.  Painterly.  There was no reference point to focus on above or below me, or off in the distance.  The clouds reflected different colors from the sun’s soft rays, which were hidden by a haze.  I felt like I was between two places, nothing up or down, just what was there in the middle space.  It was a quiet, surprising, and peaceful scene as the plane quietly drifted along.  I grabbed my camera and took this single photo before it was gone.

I have hundreds of terrific skyscape photos in all types of amazing light from the years since this photo was taken.  Writing this has inspired me to create a dedicated page on this website for the best of them, which I will do in the near future.  After all the flights I’ve taken and all the amazing scenes I’ve experienced, I never saw this type of light again.  All the more reason why this is a special moment, captured forever, just by looking out the window.    

After I took the photo above, it was time to settle back and enjoy the flight.  Eventually, the dinner service started, and I enjoyed a nice meal with several Warsteiner beers as we flew over London.  After dinner and with the beer making me tired, I put the seat back, pulled a blanket over me, and began to drift off to sleep for the crossing of the Atlantic.  

I can’t quite recall where the flight was when I woke up a few hours later, but I think it was getting close to landing back in New York. I looked out the window and snapped my last photo of the trip below, capturing the sunset’s warm glow on the 747’s engines. I especially like the beautiful mix of saturated colors from the different cloud layers. It’s another favorite shot of mine that reminds me to always keep my camera handy when I travel. There are great photos up in the clouds!

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