Day 183 - Half Way?

Apparently I've arrived at the halfway point in this 365 project!  It's been good and bad.  I hate it and I like it.  It's a lot like doing homework some days, but yet some days the hardest part is choosing which of the great pictures to post.

Today's picture was a product of running out of time.  I fiddled around and didn't get anything.  I took this shot in the kitchen and played with the cropping and angles, then decided I like the light best when it was in black & white.

(sigh) Only another half year to go...

Day 182 - Two Colors

Colors and contrast mark the fall season's arrival, and no two colors throw quite as much pizazz into a shot as sunlit yellow trees with a bold, blue background.  It just screams color at you!

I stopped on the way home from work when I saw soccer being played.  I snapped a lot of pictures of soccer in action, but I was shooting through a cyclone fence, so I was limited.  Luckily I took a few shots of the tree in the parking lot.  When I got home and saw it I threw out all the soccer shots.

What can you do to a shot like this?  Not much.  I cropped it slightly and there you have it.  Of course, it helps that I shot it with a polarizing filter...

Day 181 - Reflections of a Nerd

What better way to do a self-portrait of a nerd than like this?  For those of you that have never seen such a thing, this is the inside of a computer hard drive.  These drives are assembled in clean rooms and sealed tightly from the factory because they are susceptible to the tiniest grain of dust, so most people would never see inside of one.  This one went bad long ago but I kept it around for whatever reason.  You can actually plug it in and power it up and watch it run. 

I just thought it was a whimsical way to do a self-portrait.  After all, the platters in hard drives are polished about as highly and perfectly as a Hubble telescope lens and make an excellent mirror.

Day 180 - Autumn In Progress

I walked out to the back yard today to go to the wood pile and this teeny little tree caught my eye.  It only had few dozen leaves to begin with, but when I saw it today all but just a few were on the ground already.

I ran this one through a "portrait smooth" filter to make the grass go crazy.  The leaves and the droplets on top of them are virtually unchanged.

Day 179 - The Backyard Ferry

I moved a lot of firewood today, and I would have been lost without my trusty wheelbarrow.  Maybe I should say "rusty" wheelbarrow?  I didn't go anywhere exciting today because I was having cord of firewood delivered and had to wait for the guy to show up.  I had the camera out so I could take a "before and after" picture of the woodpile, so while I was waiting I took a few random pictures... One of which was this wheelbarrow shot.

Sure it's boring, but that's okay.  That sort of thing happens.  Anyway, it has fairly acceptable composition so I just brightened it a bit and added a little bit o' vignette around the edges.  (What a cop-out...)

Day 178 - Tiki Biker

One of the days I was in Kauai Suzie and I were wandering the tourist shops looking for... Well, we'd know it when we saw it.  We were open for whatever.  When I saw this little wooden Tiki carving I just had to have it!

The guy's posture and his hair make him what he is.  The hair reminds me of the Troll Dolls of the 60's.  He's ugly and his bike looks stupid, but he has the look!

Day 177 - The Color of October

Okay, it's still September.  I didn't say it was October, I just called this the color of October.  When I see pumpkins I think October.  When I see a field of pumpkins, I pull over and grab my camera.

I took a lot of shots.  You look at 20 or 30 shots of pumpkins and you start to get dizzy... Only seeing orange and green in every picture.  I had to keep wrestling with this batch of shots until I finally picked one.  Whew.

Day 176 - Night Time in the 'Burbs

Not a creature was stirring... Well, except for Dave across the street that doesn't know how his Corvette's car alarm works...

I just figured I'd amble on out the door with my trusty (albeit wobbly) tripod and a crisscross filter.  It's kinda neat how a star filter can add some class to such a crappy subject...

Day 175 - Conversation

I was downtown Auburn today... Looking for picture ideas for both this blog and an upcoming project I'm toying with.  At one point I was up on the top of the local parking garage near the train station, trying to shoot a city demolition job a couple of blocks away when I happened to look down at the bottom of the building.

It's pretty cool what kind of perspective a zoom lens can give you when you're shooting down from 6 floors up.

Day 174 - Lampshade Pattern

A lampshade can be a strange thing.  It has color, it has texture, it has shape, and it has a certain level of translucence.

This one started out as a avocado green with a texture to it, but I just had to play with it.  I little filtering and I got something from it that pops but yet doesn't really tell you anything about what it is.

See?  Now that I'm back from Kauai you're going to get my whimsy again.  Get used to it.

Day 173 - The Prismatic Tarmac

Funny thing about airplane windows--They are strangely polarized.  I say strangely because sometimes they do nothing different when you're taking a picture whether you have your camera polarizing filter on it or not.  Sometimes you can get a "normal" picture by taking your camera polarizer off and just shooting with the naked lens.  Other times it will do the rainbow thing whether you have your filter on it or not.

When I shot this picture out the airplane window this morning in Lihue, Kauai, I was at first annoyed at the rainbow.  When I got home and looked at it, I was somewhat taken aback.  I thought it ended up being a pretty cool effect!  I never would have expected prismatic rainbows to appear in just the wet areas.  I love it!

Day 172 - Boogie Board!

This was my last full day in Kauai and we spent it like it should be spent:  In the sun!  We bounced around to a few places that we had yet to see, and this was one of them.  It's called Shipwreck Beach. There were not a lot of boarders or surfers out today, but there were plenty enough to make it interesting.  As you can see, the water at this beach was amazingly clear.  We had a great time taking surfer shots, and I'm sure we'll go back to this beach next time I'm in Kauai.

All the shots I took were very clear due to the bright sun and clear water, and needed only the tiniest bit of fixing.  All I did to this particular shot was to tweak the contrast slightly.  No other alterations... Not even cropping.

Day 171 - Flat Tree Alley

Not only is that not the name of the road, it's not even the name of the tree.  I just fell in love with these trees since the first time I saw one.  I think they have a sort of "African Serengeti" feel to them.  One of the directions we take from here on our daily excursions takes us over this bridge.  When I first saw this view I just went "whoa" and vowed that I would take a shot of it while I was here.

Today we made it happen.

Sue dropped me off along the highway and I had to walk quite a ways before I was in place for the shot.  There is just no place for any car to pull over for at least 1/4 mile in either direction.  She tried to pick me up when I was finished (cell phone coordination) but the traffic wouldn't let that take place.  After all, the speed limit is 50mph and there are no shoulders on a bridge.  She found a place a ways up the road and waited for me to come trudging up to the car.

Mission accomplished.  Like many shots I've taken since I've been on Kauai, pictures don't do it justice.  It's a pretty majestic panorama.

Day 170 - Tourist Traps

We spent a little time today going around being true tourists.  True?  Yeah, we hit all those cheesy run-of-the-mill souvenir shops that have been around since who knows when.  We hit them all--Beads, shirts, and everything else souvenir.  Sure, I bought some things.  We may go back tomorrow even.

I just thought this was one element of our vacation that my 365 hadn't covered yet:  Signs and souvenirs.

Day 169 - Bubba's Burgers

Okay, okay... Here's the deal.  Suzie and I worked our butts off around the house today so I didn't get out for any good pictures.  Can you imagine?  On Kauai and I failed to take a beautiful picture.  Instead of "touristing" today we stayed here and worked.  I spent most of the day with a caulking gun, getting their newly-built carport storage ready for painting.  During the course of that, I was accosted by most of the mosquitoes that live here.  I swear I must have gotten 20+ bites.  During the time I was doing all that, Suzie was doing a bunch of work herself, gardening the neglected grounds, also getting bitten to death.

So what's all this have to do with Bubba's Burgers?  When we finished, we cleaned up and went into town.  Not much was open and we were tired, so we sat at this cool open-air table that faced the street.  We dined on mediocre burgers & fries and enjoyed an awesome cool breeze as we watched the cars go by.  It was fun.

Day 168 - Kalalau Valley

The Kalalau Valley is on the north shore of Kauai, and marks the beginning of the Na Pali Coast area.  This valley is the most amazing place I have ever looked down upon.  You just can't believe the size of it even when you see it in person.  Can you see the power boat down in the surf?  That might give you a bit of an idea of the scope of what you're looking at.  At one point while we were there, a helicopter flew in down near the bottom and we could just barely see it.

Be sure to view this one full-size... It deserves it!

Day 167 - Sandpiper on Secret Beach

The actual name of this beach is Secret Beach.  I guess it's not really much of a secret though, is it?  After all--We found it in a book... We spent quite a while on this beach.  It had a lot of black, volcanic rock all around, and all kinds of tide pools.

We also made stops at an interesting spot called Queens Bath, but I didn't get any pictures at that spot.  After all, could I really top this little Sandpiper skipping around such a perfect beach?

Day 166 - Donkey Beach

Donkey Beach is very close by where we're staying.  It is commonly known around the country as the only nude beach on Kauai (although it is undocumented).  While we didn't use it as such, I found it to be a very interesting beach.  It was pretty big yet fairly secluded.  The waves were big and nice to look at but you probably wouldn't want to swim in them because of the riptide.  As we walked along we saw lots of little bright blue Portuguese Man-o-War jellyfish lying here and there in the sand.  It unfortunate also that it was the first (and hopefully only) beach that had litter strewn here and there.

This group of rocks was near the end of the beach.  The light was dimming but I thought the waning sun put an interesting light to the rocks and sand.

Day 165 - Nawiliwili Lighthouse

What?  Another lighthouse!?  Hey, when you're on vacation and lighthouses are on the photography list, you're going to get lighthouses.  I also have chickens and scenery pictures galore... Would you rather see those instead?

Anyway, this is the Nawiliwili Lighthouse.  This lighthouse is barely off the beaten path, but just try to get to it--You have to zigzag your way through new hotels and stuff.  It took us quite a while to find the right road/path that would lead us there.  We had to try a bunch of different routes before we finally hit on the right one, and even then we ended up walking a long ways.

This will probably be the last lighthouse.  Almost promise.

Day 164 - Kilauea Lighthouse

We did a little driving and exploration today, and one of the places we found ourselves was the Kilauea Lighthouse.  The weather was phenominal and the air was full of Frigate Birds gliding up and down with the air currents.  When it came time to choose a picture, the lighthouse ones were my first choice!

Day 163 - Kauai: Poultry Paradise

There are a lot of chickens roaming around Kauai.  A lot.  Everywhere you go you see them--In town, near beaches, along the roads, in yards--You name it.  (Come to think of it though, I've never yet seen one crossing a road.)  Some of the roosters I've seen have been beautiful, with lots of different and bright colors covering their bodies.  I think I'm going to make it a point to try and capture a particularly pretty one while I'm here.  In the short time I've been here I've seen chickens of all sizes, some of which are very tiny.  I've seen plenty of them in trees too.

I woke to the sound of roosters and chickens this morning.  When I walked out on the deck this morning, this was my view:

 

Day 162 - Winging Over the Clouds

We flew to Kauai yesterday, and there was so much activity in such limited places that my only choice for a shot was either in the airport or on the airplane.  Because I didn't feel like wandering around the sneaking shots of people snoozing or yakking in the airport, I chose the plane.

Not much going on here.  I found out a bit late that I should have taken my polarizer off because all my "out the window" shots had a little prizmatic effect going on.

I found this one to be marginally acceptable:

Day 161 - Obsidian Needles

Most people have probably never heard of obsidian.  Even fewer have ever heard of or seen obsidian "needles" before.  These are actually pretty small.  Most of them are about an inch long.

Suzie brought these home when we were down in Lakewood, California a couple years ago taking care of her late uncle Eugene's estate.  One of his hobbies was rock collecting and he had quite a few specimens.  While many of his things were sold, she kept a bottle of these.

Because several of them are translucent, I thought I'd try them out in a light-table picture.  Okay, I admit--I skewed the color.  Ordinarily, the translucent are very bland looking--Kind of between ivory and yellow.  Add an incandescent light doing the back-lighting and you have a boring shot.  Add some contrast and skew the tint and little and you have something that pops!

Day 160 - Marble Ghosts of Veterans

We went out shooting this afternoon and chose a cemetery that neither of us had ever been to, but yet it's not far away: Tahoma National Cemetery.

Like most cemeteries, it's a somber place, but unlike most cemeteries, this one has a very precise order to it.  It projects military and discipline.  I didn't take any shots that were outstanding, but I liked this one well enough.  I dunno.

Day 159 - Classic Fossil Clock

Lots of people have Fossil collectible clocks.  I got this one from my parents several years ago for Christmas I think, and I've never really had it out of its protective collectible tin other than to look at it or show it to someone.

Today's picture was kind of a "look around the house for a picture" kind of day because it's raining outside.  I consider pictures like this kind of a cop out, but they can be interesting anyway.  I added a little vignette to this one and ran it through a detail filter to bring out some "age".

Day 158 - Floating Whites

Part of the yard decorations from yesterday's event at our house were still up today.  This consisted of white tulle (pronounced TOOL) draped over fishing line.  It formed "pockets" and those pockets had handfuls of fake rose petals in them.  We went out today to take them all down and I took a few shots first.

I like the contrast of this shot.  The clouds formed an additional white--Both very dramatic against the blue sky.

Day 157 - Innocence

This is Faith.  We hosted a social event at our house, and this little cutie was the youngest daughter of one of the couples that attended.

When I looked at this picture on my computer it looked like a perfect candidate for black & white.  The more I looked at it the more I couldn't see it any other way.

Day 156 - Sunrise Fog

I saw the beginnings of sunrise glinting off the clouds this morning while I was at work, so I looked around, grabbed my camera, and zoomed upstairs to the ladder that leads to the roof.

I didn't get a lot of time to set up good shots because I was doing it on the sly.  I didn't have a tripod with me either.  Taking pictures like this without a tripod are hard to pull off.  Because of that, I had to tweak them a little here and there, but for the most part, what you see is what I saw this morning.  It was pretty cool.

I wish I could go up there with a lawn chair and a cuppa coffee...

Day 155 - Flying Chips

This is a hard one to shoot with my limited choices (and experience).  I have found that you need, at the very least, a good bounce flash to shoot a shot like this.  I tried so many various camera settings and speeds, but after taking a lot of shots I narrowed it down to this one--Taken with my built-in flash.  It still came out fairly well, but the whole idea was for me to capture the spinning chips as the drill bit carved away at the plate of aluminum.

Oh well.

Day 154 - The Pit

So I was getting the oil changed on my car this afternoon and I wandered around taking pictures.  All up and down the street... Only a handful of "eh" pictures.  When I was paying my bill I thought, "What the hell" and asked the guy if I could take a couple pictures, explaining why I did that sort of thing.  Imagine my surprise when he said something like, "Sure, whatever, wherever... Knock yourself out."  After all, you'd think they'd frown on that sort of thing for insurance reasons or whatever.

I liked this because it was just a clean, bright, contrasty picture.  I think it was the safety hats all lined up that caught my eye.