The space shuttle Endeavour making its pre-interment aerial procession through California, shot from the Palo Alto baylands. Even though I’m a huge space enthusiast, the idea of getting up early to watch this just wasn’t very compelling. Though it’s an engineering marvel, for nearly a generation the shuttle’s breathtaking expense has been sucking the life out of real hopes for space development, so I’ve been enthusiastically cheering for the thing’s retirement for years. However, the flight was delayed a bit due to weather, and a prime viewing spot was right on the way to a client meeting I already had scheduled, so I just left for my meeting an hour early and lucked into a excellent parking spot despite the whole area being filled to capacity with shuttle viewers. And I’m glad I did; despite my distinct lack of enthusiasm for the shuttle program itself, seeing these machines slowly glide past was surprisingly moving. Since heading out to see this was a spur of the moment thing, I didn’t prepare very well — I should have brought a real camera — but I captured a bunch of shots with my phone and this one photo in particular was a bit haunting, so here you go. Another picture in tune with the blog’s title theme: unexpected image.

Shot with a Samsung Galaxy SIII phone camera using the bundled photo app. Cropping, exposure, contrast, levels, and highlights adjustments in Aperture.