Saturday, July 31, 2010

Day 122 - Cassady's Graduation Party

It was a small gathering really, but a good one.  I took a few shots of many different things--For example, croquet--But I chose this.  Funny thing:  This picture was just a shot I took to demonstrate to my brother-in-law, Mike, how wide angle shots make things lean inwards.

The croquet shots I took were not as good as the one that Sarah ended up taking, but because she took it, and it was with my camera, the judges wouldn't allow me to post it ;-).  Okay, not really, but I couldn't very well post her picture could I?  (If she wants to though, I will let her use it on her 365 blog.  How's that for a deal Sarah?)

Friday, July 30, 2010

Day 121 - Classic American Iron

Boy, my picture of the day post went from mild to wild as far as color eh?  Yesterday and today are a whole lot different.

Suz and I went to a regular Friday night event here in Covington tonight.  It was the first time either of us had been to it.  I had heard about it but I had no idea how big it actually was.  There were a lot of cars there!  Some were amazing restorations, some original, some hot rods, and some... Well... Just strange.

I thought this picture was just plain beautiful.  I did nothing but resize it.  Not even a crop!

Thursday, July 29, 2010

Day 120 - Late Afternoon In Prison

Okay, it's actually at work, but when they have those accordion security fences pulled together (they do that for 2nd shift so they can have air flowing through and not be watching the door) it reminds me of some kind of prison.

Because this shot was just steel and concrete it was already very close to being grayscale, so I converted it.  It also helped to remove some odd discolorations on the concrete here and there that gave off a weird yellowish tinge.  Oh, it also got a light vignette around it to brighten the edges.

It looks like something from an old B&W TV show.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Day 119 - Lake Meridian Park

There is a park near us over in Kent that has this really cool structure that they made when they built the park (I'm assuming).  It's an open-air circular sidewalk thing and has a "rafter look" to the ceiling of it.  On every one of the uprights, a gnarly well-established Wisteria is trying to stake its claim.

It's a pretty cool spot, and even more so during spring with the Wisteria is blooming.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Day 118 - Eh, Just a Plane...

Anyone that knows Auburn knows that the Lowe's store is right in the flight path of the municipal airport.  I stopped there today to buy something and immediately had plane activity right above my head in the form of a very cool WWII biplane!  Wouldn't you know it--It never made a reappearance.  At least I got something else while I was there...

But it's just a plain plane.

Monday, July 26, 2010

Day 117 - Our Kitchen Motto

Hey... No explanation needed.  If you like what you get--Fine.  If you don't--Tough.

Actually, this sign is a new addition.  It did belong to my friend, Steve, but we bought it from him at his moving sale.  We haven't quite figured out where it's going to go, but it's rustic (and rusty) just like us.  We like that.  Oh, and for the record:  There aren't beer cans laying around everywhere...

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Day 116 - "What are you looking at, mom? FEED ME!"

I was coming out of the garage today and happened to look up when I heard a bunch of tweeting--Just in time to see a beak sticking out.  There is a row of bird houses across the front of it above the roll-up door, and this particular one is apparently the favorite.  Sue says it's constantly got tenants.  I'd say they're hungry ones too!

I did the obvious:  I ran and got my camera and tripod!

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Day 115 - Tipsoo Lake

It was a beautiful day today so we opted to do a two-car excursion with the newly-settled DeBelling family.  My little ugly Neon and Sue's xB carried all of us up to the very top of SR410 at Chinook Pass--Girls in her car and boys in mine.  There, we all wandered around in the still-melting snow and took pictures.  It was very warm up there--Probably 80 or so.  The whole idea was to arrive during the flagrant blooming of wildflowers that happens there every summer at this time.  Trouble is, our weather has been substandard for a while now and there were only some buds here and there... Nothing flowering and colorful yet.  We still had a great time and got a lot of pictures.

Friday, July 23, 2010

Day 114 - Classic T-Bird

I stopped to deposit my paycheck today, and as I was walking back out to my car I spotted this car over in the adjoining bank parking lot.  A putrid color for such a fine-looking car, I was nevertheless intrigued enough to get my camera out and go over.  As I was just finishing up, an old guy came out... Looking more like the driver of an old rusty pickup truck.  Yep, it was his.  We talked for a couple minutes before he sped off.  Turns out he paid $500 for it in 1969.

I have to believe he chose the color though.  It was as ugly as he was.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Day 113 - Flower Field

On the way home today I spotted this place.  It's one of those "driveway sales" shanty places that sells flowers from their house, and nearby was their field.  Cameras can't do these sorts of places justice because there are so many colors to portray that they're fighting each other.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Day 112 - Shadows on the Driveway

I played with this image--I admit.  I saw a cool shadow effect of sun shining underneath the gate when I was walking up the driveway and grabbed it.  Then I did some basic stuff and ended up with what I thought was a superior shot.  When it's all done though... Eh.

It's so-so, but I still like the effect.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Day 111 - Hangin' Out With Cows

We were driving outside of Auburn here on a rural road (Green Valley Road for you locals) and we came across this herd of bovines relaxing in their field.  Although it looks like I was in the field with them, they were actually this close to the edge of the pasture so all I had to do was snap away.

Check out the punk hairdo on Junior over there on the left (click for full size).  Is that cool or what?

Monday, July 19, 2010

Day 110 - Mutant Petunias

Okay, Suz said they're not "mutants" they are just a new variety.  I say, they must have mutated them from something.  At any rate, that doesn't matter.  They are just a cool-looking flower.  I looked at them and was reminded of a black light poster or something.  She said the variety is called Picasso.

All I know is this:  A 100mm macro lens takes pretty good flower and bug shots.  Now if I could just get past the operator idiocy factor...

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Day 109 - The Washington State Capital

Suz and I were on our way down to Chehalis to visit my cousin Melinda, and we opted to veer off the freeway in Olympia to take a few pictures of our state capital.

We wandered all around taking pictures--Most of them in dim light (aka problematic).  I chose this one for both the architecture and the lighting.   It's a view looking straight up into the dome of the building.  The place is very ornate, and it contains the most marble I have ever seen in a structure.  It's hard to get the scope of the size of everything in this shot, but if it helps, according to what we overheard during a tour that was going on while we were there that chandelier in this picture weighs 5 tons!  Yes, it's big.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Day 108 - The Mystical Candle

Okay, a bucket of Citronella isn't very mystical, but I made an attempt at capturing something similar to it.  I purposefully waited until dark to do my picture tonight because we always burn a Citronella candle on the edge of the hot tub while we're in it.  While Sue was lazing blissfully in the hot water, she was mildly entertained by watching me running back and forth.  With a hot tub between me and the camera, I couldn't use my remote trigger and make it work right so I kept running back and forth.

This was another of those rare shots I take where all I had to do was crop it.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Day 107 - Pea Patch Milk Crates

Sue and I stopped at one of Auburn's "Pea Patch" public gardens today.  We both took a lot of pictures of the various things growing in the people's individual garden plots (lots of people with green thumbs!) but these captured my fancy.  This rack of crates caught my eye because they were such a contrast of color.  Between the same-colored crates and the orange rack they were in, it was an eyeful.  Their purpose?  For those farmers that had more of a harvest than they could use, the overabundance could be dropped off in one of these colorful baskets for the food bank to distribute.

I just like color and clean lines I guess.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Day 106 - Solar Happiness

I stopped in and visited with Sarah today on the way home.  I wasn't there long, but I wandered around a little in back and took a few pictures.  This is a garden-type wall hanging of some sort of Aztec sun.

I ran it through a Photoshop filter called Palette to give it a blotchy, daubed paint look.  A little cropping and viola! (Prounounced wah lah.)  I like the look--It reminds me of hammered copper.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Day 105 - Markie: Easy Rider

They don't get much more laid back than Markie.  Add a cool scooter like his and you've a recipe for cool.

Trust me.  You've got it going on when you're on this ride, Markie...

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Day 104 - It Won't Be Long

It's time for all the blackberries all over the Auburn/Kent valley to come out of hiding.  Everywhere you look these new, hard baby blackberries are emerging out of the once white blossoms.  It won't be long--Soon the whole valley will be fragrant with blackberries ripening in the sun.

This picture is an extreme crop.  I narrowed the field of view down to one little ugly berry because it was sharp and looking pristine.  A little edge-brightening and that's it.  No color changes at all.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Day 103 - Uhh... Some Kinda Tank?

This tank-type thing has been sitting in the same place for years.  Actually, I don't remember it ever not being there.  Near a bulk feed store, it seems to be some sort of storage tank with gaudy-colored insulation covering it.

I thought it was so ugly it was cool.  It's very colorful, no?

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Day 102 - Blue Pills

When you get old, you have to rely on pills sometimes.  Me, I need my blue pills to help me get through the day.  No, they're not those blue pills--Just plain ol' Aleve-type Naproxen sodium.

I didn't have a good light to do this shot with but I made do.  Hence the strange-looking shadow it casts.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Day 101 - Being a Kid

This is a kid--A kid during summer.  Their activity level goes way up when the summer sun starts blazing and the water toys come out.

This is Sue's oldest grandson, Joe.  He had already had a lot of fun on the slip-n-slide, but apparently wasn't quite finished tasting all that it had to offer yet.  These boys wear me out just watching them...

Friday, July 9, 2010

Day 100 - Rockin' Out at Break TIme

Wow, I've made it 100 days so far!  I won't say I never would have believed it, but I guess I am surprised when I think about it.  Sometimes being forced to take a picture can be a major hassle--Like when you're sick, tired, or whatever.

I did a few self-portraits today at work during break time and this one survived the weeding out process I do when I look at my pictures.  I'm trying to remember what I was listening to but I can't quite come up with it.  I wasn't going to post this one but Suzie insisted it was good enough.  I dunno...

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Day 99 - Harley Flathead

Sue and I went to the Cumberland City Hall Saloon this evening.  It's located about 10 miles out of town, in the foothills of the Cascade mountains.  It's famous for its biker crowd, and tonight didn't disappoint (maybe it was the 90-degree weather?).  There were probably well over 500 bikes in the parking area.  Although they're open every day, their "taco Thursday" event seems to really bring them out.  Why?  I dunno... I guess standing in lines for mediocre food is the biker way...

When we went to leave, we spent some time out in the parking lot taking pictures.  Although there were tons of beautiful customs, this one stood out to me.  I have this "thing" about older stuff.  I like older cars and older bikes.  This Harley-Davidson 45 flathead was all genuine--Right down to the tank-mounted shifter.  It's hard telling how old it is because they made them from the mid 40's through the early sixties.  I would love to own a bike like this!

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Day 98 - "Green" Light

No, it's certainly not green colored.  This is just your basic screw-in fluorescent replacement low-wattage "green" bulb (You know--Saving the environment and all that... ).  I played with various lighting and ended up with this.  It has bounced back light, a reflection on the front from the light that I bounced the back light with, and light from the ceiling fixtures.

Lighting-wise, it's quite a mishmash.  I like the outcome though.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Day 97 - Angular Grays

Can anyone guess what this picture is?  Okay, it's nothing amazing--Just vertical Venetian blinds.  I guess I like the way all the matching blades of off white end up looking like a total array of different shades of gray.

It also sorta looks like it's moving...

Monday, July 5, 2010

Day 96 - Worn from Travelin'

This weekend we traveled a lot around our state, and even though we had a GPS device, we still found ourselves referring to a well-worn map of the State of Washington.  I noticed how worn it was getting and the idea just popped into my mind a while ago.

I went out on the deck to make use of the disappearing sunlight and tried to arrange the map to best accent its wear and tear.  I dunno... You decide.

Day 95 - Sunset Over Banks Lake

Sue and I were on our way home from our photographic and exploration trip this weekend, and in the last hours of daylight, we stopped at a spot along Banks Lake.  It wasn't that cold, but you can see by the choppy water that it was very, very windy.

Part of me wanted to change the lighting in this picture to add more detail to her as she sat at the edge of the water, but a little voice in my head said, "NO... Leave it be."

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Day 94 - Growing Bicycle

We took a trip north today to stop at "ghost towns" and stuff along the way.  We haven't yet found any ghost towns or anything similar, but we have gotten a lot of interesting pictures.  This shot was taken in the little podunk town of Riverside, Washington, which is about 40 miles south of the Canadian border.

I didn't do anything to this shot other than resize it.  I'm sitting in a motel in Osoyoos, Canada with my little bitty (not my regular) traveling laptop.  It's very underpowered so I didn't want to have to do much to a picture before posting it because it takes too long.  I chose this laptop to bring because I think the colors are more realistic on it.  The trade off is that it's an underpowered Pentium III.

And that's all from Canada for now, eh?

Friday, July 2, 2010

Day 93 - Warning!

Doesn't this look menacing?  This sign on our driveway gate looks even more effective because of the fact that it's broken.  Add a little slant to the picture and you have the effective warning that conveys the message that a giant, man-eating feline lives here.

Okay, not really... But Cookie can be pretty mean--Just try clipping her claws and you'll find that out!  (click for full size of course)

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Day 92 - Wall Art

I found this on a wall outside the Kent Police Department today.  I guess it's a combination police station/city hall actually, but that doesn't matter.  Like many "public" buildings, there are several pieces of commissioned art scattered around.  I snapped a few of everything, and this one stood out to me in the end.  After I turned it into a black & white that is.

I didn't crop it, patch it, or anything else.  After I made it black & white and upped the contrast a bit I just resized it.  That's it.

 
What are you looking down here for? Get outside and take some pictures!