Day 91 - Class of 74

Yes folks--This is the actual tassel that was on my graduation mortarboard in 1974.  Wow, that was 36 years ago!  This poor thing has lost most of its color, the metal pieces are badly without any shine they once had, and the strings are to the point of falling apart.  If you do pull one of the strings it will just sort of disintegrate.

Yep, I'm old.  It's been in many of the cars I've owned and still it lives...  Sorta.

Day 90 - Gunpowder Sales

This is the time of the year when our local Native American tribe, The Muckleshoots, has their over-the-top fireworks extravaganza.  I talked to a guy running one of the booths for a while, and he estimated 60-70 booths up there this year.  It's crazy.

Not much up there is "Safe and Sane"... The madness is rampant and it's all for sale!

Day 89 - Stormy Sky

This is funny--Believe it or not, I shot this out the window of my car at about 45mph on the way home from work today.  They have a law about talking on cell phones while driving, but I don't think they have one for taking pictures of cool skies with barns in them.

Yet.

For the record, I took a lot of other shots but came back to this one, so it's not like this was the only thing I took and didn't work at it.  I like the stark appearance of this shot.  It's also somewhat monochromatic.  Not much color going on here.

Day 88 - Traffic Circle

They're showing up all over the place aren't they?  People seem to be pretty divided on them, but personally I love them.  They speed intersections up immensely in my opinion.  This one is next to Costco in Covington.  I did this as a test--I wanted to see how the slight elevation on the overlooking parking lot would work as far as viewing the entire circle.  I thought it worked pretty well.

My main objective was to show motion.  It was very easy to achieve, but it would be much easier and cooler-looking at night.  Daytime motion shots are tough if it's too bright out.  Anyway, I'll do night shots after summer winds down and the days get shorter, so you can bank on another of these shots some day, only with light trails instead of paint smears.

Day 87 - Fire!

I had this idea pop into my pointy, little head the other day:  I wonder if we could photograph fire trucks in a fire station?  Well, the notion sounded more interesting to me than to Suzie (probably a guy thing), but she agreed that it might be interesting.  Then I asked her if her 365 group had done a "red" theme yet?  No, not yet.  I thought it might be fun to put the two together.  Well, it turns out that today is RED in her 365 group.

While we were out driving around this afternoon, we swung into a local fire station.  Like many fire stations, it was closed up and deserted-looking, even though there were personal vehicles parked in their parking area.  I rang the bell and the door.  The guy that answered the door said, "Sure, why not?"  I motioned to Suz who was waiting in the car.  Two guys hung out with us while we shot pictures, talking the whole while.  It was a fun stop.  It's probably not every day they get someone that rings the bell and asks for photo access.  We were a little surprised that they only had one fire engine in the place though.  It's a brand-new station--Maybe that's why.  At any rate, it was something I'd like to do again at another station someday.

Although I have shots of their truck (red of course), I opted for this one instead.  I like orderly things, and I figured, how often does one get a chance to see a whole rack of bright yellow fire hoses?  Anyway, I like this shot:

Day 86 - Desert Bug

This is the license plate on the front of a VW Beetle that Suzie's brother Mark bought from a guy out in the desert in Nevada.  I guess it had spent quite a while there considering California hasn't had these old black and orange license plates in years.

It has character.

Day 85 - Morning Sun in the Valley

Once again I stopped on the way to work.  I found myself along our Green River, taking a shot across freshly-planted fields.  The morning sun wasn't optimum, but I do like the way the shadows accent the ground.

Also, how can you lose with Mount Rainier in the picture too?

Day 84 - Daisies?

I don't know if that's what they are--I think so.  I was by the Costco in Covington and was walking around taking shots of things when this told me to shoot it.

So I did.

I think this is only my second flower shot.  I find them very pretty, but alas--Very boring as well.

Day 83 - Morning Sun

I got off to work a tad bit earlier than usual this morning.  I was feeling good about that fact because there had been several times in the past when I was exposed to interesting sunrise/fog spots on the way to work but had no time to stop.  Today it was very, very foggy for most of the drive on the freeway, but did clear out when I got near my exit.  The place I work is on the end of a street, and it borders a grassland/bike path area.  When I got to work I walked out to that path in time to capture several pictures of fog and sunrise in the distance.

Not much needed with this shot--Just a little brightness adjust and cropping to size.

Day 82 - Electric Green

Today's picture is brought to you by Green Valley Meats (not really--They're not paying me), owners of the the brightest shade of green store you've ever seen in your life.  I guess it was painted that way so people like us would want to take pictures of it.  Or maybe it was just the word "Green" in their name.

I hardly did anything other than crop and resize this one.  It's hard to improve on this color and contrast...

Day 81 - Flaming Coffee

This is my coffee cup.  It holds a whopping 16 ounces of coffee.  It's a heavy-duty cup that's worthy of the famous (and pricey) Harley-Davidson logo.

It's a moody, rainy day so I didn't get outdoors today.  This shot near the sliding door to the deck had the right lighting though.  It's a 30-second time exposure shot that was taken with the camera sitting right on the floor.  I also added a little vignette around the edge.  It's not one of my better shots that's for sure...

Day 80 - Foot Traffic

Today was a nasty day outside, so later in the afternoon Sue and I went down to a local mall to wander around for the possibility of an indoor shot.  We chose the Auburn Stupidmall (okay, it's actually Supermall, but I don't think all that highly of it).  Because it's laid out in a large oval like a racetrack, it's not bad to wander in because you always end up back where you started.

I chose this shot over a lot of others--Even some interesting shots of a brightly-lit indoor carousel they have going all the time.  I just liked how this shot portrayed how busy the foot traffic can look from floor level.  You decide (don't forget to click it for full size):

Day 79 - Happy Sol

This is a garden hanging thing that we've got out back.  Each of its lower, uh, "things" have bells hanging off them, one of which you can see part of.  It's extremely rusty, and therefore has lots of character (for those of you that are not in the know, rust = character).

I shot this against a weathered wall of our garage using a fisheye lens adapter, then cropped it to keep the part of it that I wanted (I like how the fisheye lens "bends" lines).  I also smoothed it out using a Topaz filter in Photoshop to remove a little of the harshness.

Day 78 - A Bad Day

Obviously, I don't know what's going on in this poor guy's head.  All I know is that during the entire time I sat at this traffic light (which was pretty long thanks to some stinkin' pedestrians pushing the "walk" button) he never moved.  Not one little bit.  I think it's safe to say he was a thousand miles away...

After some cropping, desaturation, then a little filter work, I had the picture I was looking for.

Day 77 - A Gazebo in Kent

Right downtown Kent, stuck in a little bitty park-like plot of grass is an old-timey gazebo.  This is a pretty big one as they go.  It reminds me of those sort of things you see in movies where a politician is orating to the clueless crowd around him.

After I cropped stuff out of the picture that I didn't feel did it any justice at all, I gave it a little bit of a "dreamy" haze to set it off.

Day 76 - Bowls of Color

So, we were shopping at Home Depot again today, and yes--I had my camera with me.  I always have my camera with me.  This was a very cool display of glass wash basin bowls (I guess that's what you call em) in all different colors and textures, mounted onto a post that pointed upward.

It commanded my attention.  I had to shoot pictures of it.

Day 75 - Antique Electrolux

It really is an antique--Around 1948 I think.  I claimed it at work one day a few years ago when they were going to throw it out.  My mind said, "Ebay!"  Several years later... It's still here.  It's starting to show its age now, but I still think it's cool looking--Very art-deco.  Especially the "sled runners" it sits on (you will probably have to click it and view it full size to see them).

Not much to say about the picture... Just some minor fixing here and there.

Day 74 - Gassing Up

Yeah, this shot isn't much.  It actually looks like I'm filling up my car at the end of a street doesn't it?  Well, I'm not--It's just a stop sign going from the gas station part into the main Costco parking lot.

At least it's got a teeny bit of wide angle perspective...

Day 73 - A Sunny Day in Seattle

Today was a beautiful day in the Pacific Northwest, and Sue and I spent the entire day out in it.  After starting out our day with some sunbathing in the back yard, we motored into downtown Seattle for a big wingding at a camera store.  The rest of the day was devoted to wandering.  We found new places and took lots of pictures.

This was taken up on the southwest corner of Queen Anne Hill near a small park.  Everywhere we looked people were enjoying the sun in their own way.  This guy apparently decided that the edge railing of this walkway was where he wanted to read and catch some rays.

Day 72 - Ball of Green

This is the coolest thing.  It's a garden trinket for lack of a better explanation.  I know I've taken several pictures of it already, but haven't yet posted it on here.  I guess the reason I'm posting it this time is because it's freshly cleaned and it's sunny out.  In other words:  It pops! This is a spiral-wound metal thing that encapsulates a green ball.  I don't know if it's acrylic or glass, but it's pretty cool.  Have I said it's cool?

It is therefore today's Picture of the Day!

Day 71 - Stay Out!

I love rusty, painted signs.  I don't know what it is about rusty signs that makes me take notice, but apparently I'm not alone, as there are companies that are "re-creating" rusty signs.  I even bought one once.  But I digressed.

This is a sign I go past every single day, and I've had my eye on it for some time now.  It's on the corner where I turn off the highway onto the street that leads to our house and it's purpose is to keep people out of the power line access road there.  Allow me to present it to you at this time:

Day 70 - Patterns of Vinyl

We had to buy a new floating thermal barrier for the hot tub the other day because the old one finally disintegrated. After cutting it to fit this is the remnant that was left over.  I saw it sitting there in a heap by the back door and said to myself, "Self?  Hmmm!"

I like patterns that replicate, and this one has the added bonus of bending as well.  Just a little minor tweaking is all I did on this one... Basic stuff like a little brightening and tint.

Day 69 - Street Lamps

Okay, they aren't exactly street lamps... They're made to look like street lamps.  I "stole" these from someone's house when they weren't watching their front yard.  Okay, I didn't steal anything.  Just a picture.

I tweaked it with Topaz in Photoshop to give it a bit of a painting look.

Day 68 - The Secret Garden

I wish I was more artistic sometimes.  I liked the idea of the half-open gate revealing a little of what's behind it, but as usual for a lot of my high-falootin' ideas, it didn't quite come off.

But I still like it.

Day 67 - Gage the Forlorn

It was time to pack up and leave our rented house in Ocean Shores this morning.  Multiple families all scurrying this way and that.  Chaos, noise, and all in infamiliar surroundings.  Gage didn't know what to do.  At one point I caught him at the top of the stairs, looking about as forsaken and sad as you can get.

I think he was homesick.

Day 66 - Blazing Kite Colors

Saturday's post presented quite a problem:  The day was split into multiple "happenings" and I had to select from over 500 pictures!  There were choices like deer in the back yard, seagull nests on roofs, giant waves, surfers, and--not the least of which--The big kite festival that took place there this weekend.  There were even pictures of us each flying our own kites later on, and a sunset after that.  I'm telling you:  It was a tough choice!

In the end, just plain colorful photography won out.  When I saw this blast of color on a blue sky it looked like an ad for Kodak.  Ok, maybe it's a tad boring... Click it to view it in its larger size and you'll see what I mean.  I'll post the other pictures from our weekend adventure on our Smugmug site in the near future.

Day 65 - Surf Jeep

The members of Suzie's family rented a house for the weekend at Ocean Shores, and because we had no access to internet I had to wait until getting home to post.  Along with Suzie's family Sarah and her boyfriend Sopha came along too.

Friday evening around sunset someone (probably Tony because it's his Jeep) got the idea that we should head to the beach for some pictures.  A bunch of the guys took turns playing in the surf, doing donuts and spewing spray as they zoomed by we photographers. There were some interesting pictures from that session--Not the least of which was Suzie getting doused with spray when he went by one time.

Day 64 - Speeding Boys

This is Shayne.  Like most little boys, it's hard to get them to be still for any length of time.  Add to that the fact that he has just learned to ride a 2-wheeler without training wheels like his big brother, Joe, and this is how you are going to see him.

I could have taken this shot easily with no blurring (and did) but it didn't give me the effect I wanted.  I wanted to show motion.  After all, that's what little boys are made of:  Motion.

Day 63 - Pot Patterns

Back at a store again... This time it's the local Home Depot.  There are always good things to shoot in a store.  Sometimes store policy or personnel won't let you take pictures inside of their store, but I usually shoot first.  I figure I can just plead innocent.  What's the worst that could happen?

This was a series of flower pots that I found back in the outdoor-but-under-cover garden department.  I tweaked it in Adobe Lightroom with a "preset" called Direct Positive.  There were other minor things I did but I don't remember them.  I like the pattern and color variation between the three of them.

Day 62 - Patiently Waiting

All these John Deere, Husqvarna, and MTD tractors and mowers lined up at my local Lowe's store--Patiently enduring off and on rain and lackluster sales.  All sizes of them, all trying to look their prettiest to catch the eye of that feller with the need to own a fancy lawn tractor.

I shot this one with my 70-300, maxed from a distance out to achieve the desired look I was after:  Squashing the picture's depth and rendering it flat.