Day 214 - The Blues

These fine examples of blue glass live in our bathroom.  I have thought about them many times, thinking eventually I would end up using them because I had nothing else.  Well, today it finally happened.  I made it to day 214 before I succumbed though!  It's good I waited because they got cleaned recently.

I love this.  You can see color from one of our trees showing through the diffused window glass too!

Day 213 - School Actors

This is a group of very talented actors at Lake View Elementary School.  We actually went almost out of obligation to see Sue's grandson Joe (the one in the yellow chicken suit eying me with pride on his face), but ended up very surprised at what these kids pulled off.  They had 4 days to practice and put on a very fun and well-done production.

I like the variation in this picture.  The kids looked very colorful and well-lit.  A lot of variation, both in the colors of their costumes, and the looks on their faces.  Some looked indifferent, some looked tired, and some looked proud.

Day 212 - Leaves... Like You've Never Seen Them

Didn't I tell you that there would be more leaves?  What better way to embrace colors of nature than to celebrate them with the fall leaves of trees?

I won't lie--I got this idea off the internet.  Leaves I collected, cut into squares, and scattered on the deck.  I love the effect!

Day 211 - Leaves in the Yard

In the spirit of the fall season, there are a lot of leaf-related posts to be made.  Trees changing colors, leaves falling, leaves laying on the ground... Leaves, leaves, leaves. These are a few of many laying in the back yard.  I'm sure there will be more leafy posts so you might as well get used to it.

I like the beads of rainwater and the glistening dark red leaf.  I guess it's just as much about rain as it is leaves isn't it?

Day 210 - Crest Air Park

This is a small municipal airport on the outskirts of Covington, not far from us.  It's a nice, relaxed place and they had no problem with me taking a few shots.

It was an overcast day, but the picture needed a little sky tweaking to bring it out and give it the right amount of "stormy" to suit me.  I like clouds to be visible if blue sky isn't an option.

Day 209 - Spuds in the Limelight

It's a cold and rainy night outside, so for a picture I opted to place Mr. Potatohead in the spotlight and see how he did.  He didn't perform but he looked pretty good standing there.

I shot this one with him standing on a piece of black foam-core board.  All the room lights were off and he was lit solely by an aging, yellow flashlight.

Day 208 - Along the Green River

This is actually across the street from where the Green River flows--It's the driveway to the Mary Olsen Farm just outside of Auburn.  The trees did it for me... Something about those long, spindly birch (or whatever they are) trees caught my interest.

It's interesting lighting, but I still had to tweak it a bit to get the sky to actually show up.  Oh, and a little vignette too.

Day 207 - The Scented Flame

Suzie and I were cleaning and sorting a bunch of stuff this afternoon.  After all, what better thing to do on a rainy, nasty, cold Sunday afternoon?  That let us stay inside and stay toasty warm.  I ran across a lot of stuff that I hadn't seen in a long time, but none of that really mattered because if I had really needed it I would have hunted it down.

One of the forgotten items I found in one of the boxes was this little bitty scented candle.  It's a teeny thing, but it smells good.  I thought it deserved a little recognition.  When I added this scented candle to the wood fire blazing in the woodstove, my comfort zone was established.

Day 206 - Bricks and Ivy

Sue and I took a trip to Tacoma today.  The day was supposed to rain but only sporadically did so, and that prompted us to go on the hunt for photo-worthy scenery.

We ended up walking around and taking quite a few pictures of the many brick buildings that make up the historic city.  Lots of them had great contrast, but this one one of the few that had good contrast as well as popping color.

Day 205 - The Color of Autumn

Here it is... Fall has arrived.  Everywhere you look, the first thing that catches your eye is the colorful leaves on (and falling off) the trees.

I really like what this picture says.  The colorful leaves is the obvious target for the viewer's eye, followed by the working tools of the yard, visible in the background.

Day 204 - Morning Moon

It wasn't a full moon this morning, but it was an impressive one.  Unfortunately, I didn't have time to drive around aimlessly, searching for just the right spot to shot it from.

This was a 30-second exposure at ISO 100.  I purposely shot it at 100 even though I knew it would be a long exposure so I could minimize the "noise" in the shot.  After I cropped it down a bit to remove stuff I didn't like, I enhanced the colors a bit and ran it through Topaz Adjust, using the "Painting - Venice" filter, to smooth it.  Interesting look...

Day 203 - Wild Light

This is a weird thing.  Let me explain.

At work I used to run a high-speed press that stamped out parts to the tune of over 250 a minute.  On the press we had a clamp light mounted so we could keep tabs on the parts that were flying out the end of it.  One day the clamp light burned out while the press was in operation.  While that's not so unusual, what happened to the light bulb when is burned out is.  The filament burned this cool pattern onto the inside of the glass.  I liked it well enough that I kept the bulb and it's been with me ever since--Sitting on a little stand on my desk at work.

I decided to shoot it, so I brought it home and gave it a little attention with the camera.

Day 202 - Reflection

I was sitting next to a truck in a parking lot today and was just about to get out of the car when I looked over.  "Hey, that's kinda neat looking."  The hard part was holding the camera out of the way of my face.

Never let it be said that I don't have weird taste.

The funny thing is, I got a brand-new lens today and what do I end up using for a picture of the day?  A "blur" shot!  What a doof.  That's okay--The lens ain't going anywhere...

Day 201 - Fishing... Elbow to Elbow

Okay, they're not really that close, but they're pretty close!  I got such a kick out of these guys when I first saw them a few days ago from my car as I passed over a nearby bridge.  Since then I've kept an eye out--Looking over every time I cross the bridge.  Yep, there was a string of fishermen every single time I looked.

I could have done stuff to this shot such as cropping it in and that sort of thing, but instead all I did was brighten it up a little.  After all, it was not very good lighting.  I purposely kept the train trestle with the graffiti in the picture so you could get an idea of what kind of an area they were in.  This is actually shot withing just a few hundred feet of the mouth of Soos Creek, a notable salmon stream in our area.

Day 200 - Boeing Museum of Flight

This is inside a part of their exhibit called The Red Barn.  It's the wooden building that the Boeing Company actually started out in, carefully crafting all the wooden parts of their planes with belt-driven woodworking equipment.  This is actually the Red Barn, moved from its original location to where it resides now.  The rest of the museum was built around it.

The Boeing Museum of Flight is the most photographer-friendly building I think I've ever shot in.  There are windows everywhere, allowing some of the best natural-light shots you can possibly get.  I just loved the warm glow that this shot had from the late-afternoon sun streaming in through all those windows.

Day 199 - North Cascades Highway Stop

Yesterday we bit off a bit more than we could chew--Exploring-wise.  We tried to do a two-day trip in one day.  It was my fault really, and I failed to consider stop (taking pictures) times, daylight hours, and sun angles.  We got to what should have been our almost halfway point, and the sun was about gone.  We didn't bring anything to stay overnight with, so we hoofed it home, arriving at 11:30pm.

The day was fantastic.  Not a cloud in the sky and the sun was shining everywhere we went.  The deciduous trees were all changing color and providing lots of contrast against our states evergreen tree majority.  This was a stop in the teeny town of Newhalem, which is right on scenic Highway 20.  It was a very pretty little town, and had lots of colorful trees scattered around.  This picture was from a path we walked around the back side of their hydroelectric plant.

Day 198 - Tree Rodent

They love our backyard as much as the birds do... These "cute" little rodents that live in the trees.  Funny how a fluffy little tail can transform a creature from the loathed into the loved isn't it?

Sue voted for this picture because it showed the squirrel with his mouth open.  Usually a squirrel picture is portraying them sitting upright--Fluffy tail pointed upward behind them--Munching away on whatever it is they're eating.  This one shows the desperate scouring of the ground for morsels to munch.

Day 197 - Dinner... Asian Style?

Okay, okay... I was feeling lazy tonight.  Besides, it was raining outside.  Plus it was dark.  I was tired... Yeah that's the ticket... Tired.

Okay, the bottom line is:  I didn't get a good picture today.  I had a choice--Either I could take good picture of nothing, or a mediocre picture of something good.  In this case, good was our dinner, and it was good!  Trouble is, taking a picture of something with indoor light is not easy.  I had to play with this picture a lot to get the colors to look halfway correct.

We all have our boring shot days.

Day 196 - Foggy Morning

I was on the way to work this morning and it was foggy all the way.  The closer I got to work the more I kept seeing these potential pictures--Mostly of streetlamp-lit parking lots.  Their lights were casting a conical glow on the ground below and giving it a surreal kind of look.

But I didn't have time to stop.

The more "opportunities" I passed, the worse it got.  Finally, I said, "screw it" and pulled over in a parking lot lit by orange lights and snapped a few.  Yeah, I was late for work--Big deal--I stayed over quitting time just enough to counter it.

Isn't it funny how fog can totally transform an ordinary setting?

Day 195 - Lost in the Moment

It was a nice, sunny day today, and we stopped by Lake Meridian in Kent for some pictures.  This couple was sitting in a good spot to watch the activity around them.  They were probably also soaking up the last rays of the sun before winter sends everyone indoors.

Not a great shot--I just like the framing around them.

Day 194 - "What's that smell?"

Usually I urge my readers to click on the pictures I post to see them full size.  After all--I hate for people to miss out on the whole experience that my pictures might represent right?

Today, however, you might think twice--Seeing this one full size might be a little too real...

I already have these gentle giants on this blog--Way back on Day 139.  Today I stopped for a different reason.  Instead of the cows, I wanted a picture of the trees that their herd has methodically manicured into something vaguely resembling a row of old fashioned shaving brushes.  When I started messing around near the cows and feeding them with fistfuls of grass I ended up with a different focus.

I'll save their strange-looking trees for another day...

Day 193 - Blue Jays

There are many times I wish I had a "real" lens.  I'm talking about one with perfect optics.  See, there are times like this when all the factors are perfect for getting the shot, and yet, it still doesn't come out clean.  Sure, the day could have been more sunny, but it was plenty bright enough, I was able to get plenty close to these guys while they were feasting, and I had the tripod and remote trigger all going for me.  The lens just doesn't quite get it done.

Having said that, it's a very colorful shot.  I got many shots where it was obvious they were eyeing me as they ate, but this one was one of the best because it had two of them in it that were fairly well in focus.  The lawn was so green I actually had to desaturate it slightly so it didn't overpower the rest of the shot.

Day 192 - North Cascades Scene

Today we had a rather odd adventure.  We started out intending to do the North Cascade Loop, which is a fairly famous stretch of highway here in Washington.  Even though rain was forecast we still opted to go ahead with it.  Technically, we got lost.  Funny though--We didn't feel lost because we were doing our usual stop-and-go picture-taking the whole way.  We felt pretty stupid when we ended up in a town a lot farther south than we thought.

Basically, we ended up on a mostly dirt highway (yes I said dirt highway) called the Mountain Loop Highway.  It was still a nice drive, but would have been much better without the rain.  Anyway, this was one of many stops we made during the day.  Lost or not, it was a fun adventure!

Day 191 - Neon

We ended up at a Applebee's for dinner tonight, and as usual we had our cameras with us.  I took a couple shots of various signs and things on their walls and ended up with this Fat Tire Ale neon sign.  It started out much bigger--The whole sign plus some adjacent ones.

I cropped it to make it a little more interesting and bold.

Day 190 - Angles, Wood, and Warning

I like our kittycat warning sign.  Even though I had nothing at all to do with buying it, I've always liked it.  When the old gate was replaced several months ago, it was only natural that we save the sign, whether it was cracked, broken, and warped or not (see the shot on Day 93).  It's just way too cool to let go of.

When I snapped a few pictures this evening, this one jumped out at me.  There are angles going every which way!  The fact that I snapped it at 27mm (wide angle) made the fence boards go different angles, then you have the top of the gate going a different way because I snapped it down low.  Add the house siding up at the top and suddenly the simple shot is a busy one!

Day 189 - Fireman Boots!

This is Shayne and Joe.  We were taking some family group pictures this afternoon when I spotted them:

Those boots... Those are nice boots!

I just had to get them to give me a quick pose and show them off.  Believe me, if you know these boys, any pose they give you will be quick.  They are busy little guys.

With nice, new fireman boots!

Day 188 - Late Afternoon at the Duck Pond

Downtown Auburn right next to the Lowe's store sits a duck pond.  It's actually right next to the kiddie daycare at the edge of the Lowe's parking lot.  At any rate, there are a lot of ducks there.  It's got a nice concrete walkway all the way around it with a couple of benches for people to sit on also.

Although it's a place to drop by for easy duck shots, it still takes a little thought toward the time of day and that sort of thing because it's surrounded by trees and shrubs.  I liked the way this one ended up showing the water beading off its feathers.  I shot this one with the 300mm zoom.

Day 187 - The Groundskeeper

When I got home from work today Suzie was hard at work maintaining the beautiful yard that she has created.  This is her yard, and it's her lawnmower.  She loves this lawnmower--Almost as much as she loves the yard she maintains with it.

I walked out with my camera and started snapping pictures of her.  Her response?  She turned the steering wheel and headed straight for me.  She loves me so much.  See, you can see the wheels turning... She was aiming for me.

Day 186 - Inside Looking Out

I had this idea.  Maybe it had to do with how cold and nasty it was outside--I dunno.  Anyway, I put the fisheye lens on my camera and stuck it in the woodstove.  I took several pictures with the door in various degrees of open, and I got good results.  Then I thought something was missing.  Then I took several with me "lighting the fire" and liked that addition.

I'm convinced I can do better though.  At the very least I need to be holding a wooden match instead of a stupid disposable butane wand.  I couldn't get a decent flame off that thing to same my life.  Maybe as the winter progresses I'll have another go at it.  Of course, as the winter progresses I may never have a chance at a cold woodstove...

Day 185 - Purple... With Empasis

Suzie and I attended the Salmon Days event in the town of Issaquah today.  I want to tell you about crowds.  This event had crowds like I haven't seen in a while.  It was the biggest concentration of people I've seen in one place in a long time.  I have to say, the vendors and their products were a cut above what a lot of small town events have.  But even the vendors were there in amazing numbers.  It was like the vendor tents just went on forever.

We saw a lot of strange things--Almost all of which were people related.  You know the drill:  Clothing, tattoos, all the things that make people worthy of watching and taking pictures of.  I have no idea what these three girls were originally involved in.  Maybe a parade.  They stopped here in the middle of the street and crouched down to offer a pose to someone that apparently knew them.  Walking behind them, I was just amazed at the depth of purple that they were wearing.  It was truly a purple overdose.

Day 184 - Scavengers

This is the time of year around here when the salmon swim upstream to spawn.  Nearby our house is one of the Pacific Northwest area's many salmon hatcheries--This particular one on Soos Creek.  I drive by it every day on the way to and from work, and today I decided to stop by and see what was going on.  I saw many, many salmon, some energetic, some lethargic, and some already dead.  Also present were the many seagulls and ducks that apparently see this as an annual smorgasbord of seafood.

Because I was there somewhat late in the day none of my water pictures came out.  The light was just not in the right mode for illuminating the water the right way.  The activity on the surface was much better.