Airplane Art Extra from the 10th floor of the Hyatt Regency O’Hare
More Pleasure, More Business.
In this divided trip report
Part One: The Pleasure
- Part 1
- Two o’clock in the morning. I love this time of day. Honestly.
- The Cathay Pacific, American Airlines Lounges… and a five-hour delay
- AA87 London Heathrow to Chicago O’Hare International (Premium Economy)
- Crowne Plaza O’Hare
- A photographer’s paradise? The Central Camera Company
- Hyatt Regency O’Hare
- Airplane Art Extra: From the Balcony of the Hyatt Regency O’Hare
- Back to the Bunny, British Airways Lounge
- BA294 Chicago O’Hare to London Heathrow (World Traveller Plus)
- Wait. My Bag is Re-Flighted???
- Part 2
Airplane Art Extra from the 10th floor of the Hyatt Regency O’Hare
For those who know, there’s one great feature about the Hyatt Regency O’Hare – and that’s the views you can get from this hotel of the City of Chicago, and if you enjoy watching planes arrive and depart.
There are a few things you’ll need if you want to go spotting here. First up, is your spotting platform
- A room either facing towards:
- The City of Chicago
- Facing Rosemont Station
- The other views are ok – but if you want your arrivals/departure traffic, this gives a good combination
- A room in the main block.
- Ignore the executive wing upgrades (least of all – you’ll be spending hours hiking back and forth from your room).
- Do not go for the rooms in the turrets as well.
- If you’ve done this, you’ll end up with a room with a balcony.
- Try a high floor if possible. Lower floors work ok too
Camera Gear
- A Camera with a decent frame buffer/frame rate is needed. Most cameras should do the job, but the more frames the better.
- A lens with a decent length with at least 200mm at least at the telephoto end of the lens, 300mm ideally
- If your lens is 200mm or less, expect to do a lot of cropping
- Memory Cards
Finally
- A copy of FlightRadar24 running on a computer or phone (I suggest a laptop) so you’re not running out to capture a picture of a regional jet.
- A decent ear too so you can hear what’s coming in case your eyes are not glued to FlightRadar24
My set-up
If you’ve read my EOS R review, you’ll know it inside out – but for those who are new I’m using the following:
- Canon EOS R
- EOS RF to EF lens converter
- Canon EF 100mm-400mm f4.5-f5.6 Mark I L Series Lens
Onto the pictures!
I’ll first show you why you need a decent lens on the camera. This was shot with my normal 24-105mm lens at 105mm
Well it’s a plane.
Zooming into the crop at a 1:1 view, we can make out it’s a United Airlines Airbus A320.
So, a bit more throw will allow us to capture more detail, and rely less on crops. Which makes life a lot easier.
With a 400mm lens, a bit of cropping helps – but we can see a lot more detail in this photo alone.
American Airlines Airbus A321
Onto the pictures!
Bear in mind, winds change. As such, runway movements change. Later that same day, planes were departing eastbound from O’Hare. And again G-BYGC – the BOAC livered British Airways 747 plane was stalking me.
Oh. You again.
Angle is everything. Departure angle shots can be tough, as you can end up with a lot of underbelly, and not a lot of the livery. It also doesn’t help this was shot in late spring in the evening.
JetBlue Airbus A320
Get the right turn, things can get a little interesting.
United Airlines Boeing 757-200
United Airlines Boeing 737-900ER
However, add a little light, and things become a lot easier, a lot faster.
Skylease Cargo Boeing 747-400 Freighter.
Sprit Airbus A321 – the yellow of the fuselage really pos out here
This a lovely picture. With the downtown skyline of Chicago in the background, and an American Airlines Boeing 787-8 on approach to O’Hare
And the Boeing 787-9 in question
Korean Air Boeing 777-300ER
Western Global Cargo Boeing 747-400 Freighter
Someitumes the stars align and you get the perfect shot line up. This was the case with this United Airlines Boeing 777-200 on final approach to O’Hare.
United Airlines Boeing 777-200ER
Nippon Cargo Boeing 747-8F
Overall: The Hyatt Regency O’Hare offers great possibilities for the aviation photographer wanting a range of traffic as well as some good angles to get photos (depending on the way the traffic is approaching or arriving into the O’Hare area). Use FlightRadar24 and your chances go up well for planning for your perfect photo.
Next: Back to O’Hare and the British Airways Terraces Lounge
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