The weather forecast called for cloudy skies—not exactly an ideal day for photography—but I still grabbed my camera and headed out to try my luck. After all, it had been nearly a year since I last photographed the night view at Tokyo International Airport’s (Haneda) Terminal 1.

It turned out to be a slightly eerie sunset. After the sun went down, in the dark of night, a ray of afterglow illuminated both Mount Fuji and the airport terminal, yielding an unexpected harvest.

In the past, my eyes focused solely on the subject when shooting. Now, however, I spend most of my time searching for the light.

First, I find satisfactory lighting. Then, I select the composition and anticipate where the aircraft will appear. Finally, I hold the camera and wait for the decisive moment.

When the plane enters the frame, I wait for it to reach a pleasing position within the composition before pressing the shutter 2 or 3 times, capturing the subject onto the memory card.

Here is a photo from just a few minutes earlier. The lighting is even more surreal during this period.

You can see the sun had just set. Part of the afterglow was blocked by the body of Mount Fuji, resulting in a strange shadow line across the summit.

It’s just a pity that no suitably sized aircraft entered the frame, so the photo above remains merely a landscape shot.

A few minutes later, a cloud over the summit of Mount Fuji became brighter, and a Boeing 787 Dreamliner was slowly towed over. The reflections in the small puddles on the Apron, formed by the rain, were also quite striking, so I included them in the composition. Next came the wait for the anti-collision strobe lights to flash.

Naturally, the reflection of the anti-collision lights in the puddle was also expected.

Japan Airlines (JAL) recently introduced the Airbus A350. I have written many blog posts about the A350 since 2014 and have a great fondness for this type, but this was my first time photographing JAL’s first brand-new JA01XJ special livery aircraft.

The ISO reached 10000, making it difficult to identify details on the fuselage. Given the extremely low light, I suppose the composition is barely passable. Actually, there is another JA02XJ in the bottom right corner of the photo; you can tell it is also an A350 by its distinctive curved winglets.

A lonely All Nippon Airways (ANA) Boeing 777, with the Yokohama skyline and a fiery sky in the background. The last photo of the day.

Handheld night photography with the Canon 5D4 is basically no problem, but there is still a certain gap compared to the amazing stability of the 1DX2. However, the Canon 1DX2 is a flagship beast of a machine and is simply too heavy. As a photography enthusiast, I do not regret giving it up, even though I miss it from time to time. After all, the photo with the highest views on airliners.net was taken with that camera.