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alixlee.com (Ali Speakman)
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Flight 101-2
Flight 101-2

The Taipei 101 skyscraper, the tallest building in the world from 2004 to 2011, and still one of the tallest, at over half a kilometre in height. The plane had just taken off from Taipei city airport (the city's regional airport, not Taiwan's main international airport, which lies to the south).

This photo (and the other one with the same name uploaded earlier) was actually a very difficult shot to get. I wanted a photo of an aircraft flying at around the height of the Taipei 101's spire. I knew in theory that it should be possible as Taipei's regional airport, Songshan, lies in the north of the city, with the mountainous Yangmingshan National Park to the north if that, so I knew there had to be a vantage point from which planes taking off from the airport could be seen at an altitude of around 500 metres (the spire's height), with the spire behind. But finding the right spot, at the same approximate elevation, took a very long time. Then I had to make seven trips to that spot before I even got a useful shot (and I don't live anywhere nearby). Three times it rained by the time I arrived, and when it was dry the problem was pollution haze. The next problem was the distance. Using a 300mm telephoto, I focused on the spire and waited for planes, but most didn't enter the frame, and whenever one did it happened so fast I failed to capture anything useful. So I had to follow each plane taking off from the runway with the camera, every few minutes, and this was a very tiring and tiresome process because although the flight path is the same, their actual trajectories varied and in fact most were either too high or too low, or completely out of the frame by the time my lens was pointing at the spire. Finally I did get a few useful shots, but an internet search will reveal that there are very few similar shots around with a plane at around the height of the spire, and most of them are by me!
Like most of my images (including all those on Flickr), this one is in the public domain and free for anyone to re-use without giving me credit.

Taken on: May 11, 2025
Tags: Everybody's photos tagged with YBSUrban YBSUrban Everybody's photos tagged with Taipei Taipei Everybody's photos tagged with 101 101
Sets appears in:   • Taipei 101   
Groups appears in:   • Your Best Shot 2022   
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Flight 101-2

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