Echohotelaviation's (Barely Active) Year in Review

Real World Aviation Spotting
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You saw Mr. WuGPT's. Now it's my turn although I am well aware that no one asked

Honestly a crazy year for me. From absolutely grinding through highschool to surviving first-year engineering to upgrading to mirrorless (finally), 2025 has been nothing short of eventful. While not the most active year in terms of spotting for me, I feel like I've improved the most across this year lol.

January

Started off New Year's Day with a spotting trip to KSEA. Coincidentally caught the inaugural flight of this new Emirates livery (it's already gone tho lmao)

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February

YVR didn't get any proper snowfall until like February (which is pretty diabolical btw ehem global warming) but it didn't disappoint!

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March

"This lighting gonna be peak bro" unfortunately yes and no. BUT this shot did end up in the 2026 Airways Magazine calendar, so...

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April

Cherry blossoms? You could say I tried cooking but the kitchen burnt down (chopped ahh)

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May + June

So unfortunately because I got rejected by my desired university I got depressed and didn't feel like doing anything spotting-related throughout May and June. Lol womp womp better luck next time (I can't be saying this 💀)

July

My first taste of full-frame mirrorless. It tastes pretty good.

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August

With 46 MP, I was finally able to a crop a lot more which actually gave me the images that I wanted. Also more of exploiting the ability to go over ISO3200 💀💀💀

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September - November

The great spotting drought. Absolutely nothing of note happened during this period because engineering means sacrificing all of your freetime and locking in on school 23/7 (I say 23 and not 24 cus I'm a bit lazy)

November

I'm pretty sure I fell off hard but oh well. Also now legally allowed to own a PayPal account.

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December

December means Raincouver season which means either spotting in the rain or at night. Not that I mind anymore.

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Also my first time going over ISO12800 lol. I don’t think my camera was built for that though.

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Butyeah. If you’re still here. Thank you so much for reading - hope this was at least somewhat of an enjoyable read!

Here’s my Instagram if anyone is interested:

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Shhhh… it’s gorgeous, as with all of the rest.

Also how much auto denoise was used for this one?

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Thanks dude. I used 50 denoise in Lightroom then played around with Topaz sharpen and denoise, so honestly, I don’t really know haha

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ahhhh, I see. With my poor photos I jet let PS’s Camera Raw Filter do whatever and walk away with what it gives me :joy:

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nah that’s all good

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Yeah buddy start making your topics in DM

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why does bro have notifs on for this

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I have my spotting notifs on for new topics

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All the pictures are amazing, congrats!!

As an engineering student in my 4th year, I can confirm this is 100% true. (I am writing this while in class :skull:)

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Thanks!

I hope the degree will be worth it :skull:

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good stuff bro! i remember seeing the China Airlines 777 photo recovery on your insta, it’s insane how you managed to pull the colors out!

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Nice shots! Currently in the process of getting accustomed to my new mirrorless

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Ah omg the Porter E2 stunning :heart_eyes:

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How do you do that without all that noise? Like what settings?
And amazing photos btw

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Did you meet up w jakobkphotos (IG) for this shot?

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He’s my best friend so yeah

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Thanks man! Crazy to think that was a year ago

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f/2.8 ISO12800 1/80

I used Lightroom denoise, Topaz sharpen and Topaz Denoise and just prayed and hoped for the best

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Nice! What did you get?

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Canon EOS R10 with the 18-150mm STM as a kit lens

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