Day 274 - Cool Sax Man

The sounds were cool, and the weather was too--There was ice on the ground!  Yeah, it was downright cold outside, and here was this guy playing his tenor sax in the North Auburn shopping center.  I first heard of the guy while reading the Auburn Reporter one day several months ago.  The article talked about how somebody blew the whistle on him and made him stop playing his saxophone.  I commented on the article then, voicing my feelings on the matter.  Imagine my surprise when I heard him playing when I stopped by today after work!

The young sax player was taking a short break and I spent a few minutes talking with his dad who was there with him.  These are well spoken good people, and far from vagrants or panhandlers.  My opinion?  Auburn needs more culture like this.  If this is panhandling, it's passive panhandling and is of no concern.  Sure, the sax case was open to collect donations, but in no way, shape, or form was this "panhandling" like the people that follow you in parking lots with their sob stories.

I wish I could offer him a better, more appreciative place to play.  He made my day.

Day 273 - Sunlit Towers

It's almost like I planned to link today and yesterdays picture together isn't it?  Both of them have power line towers in them.  It was coincidence though.

This is what you can see when you turn off the main road into our neighborhood.  I had to stop and snap it because of the dramatic the way the sun was lighting everything up.  The clouds added a nice backdrop too.

Day 272 - Silhouette of a Hunter

Like I shot way back on Day 8, it's a Bald Eagle right outside the building where I work.  Unlike the picture from Day 8, I really had to play with this shot to make it work.  It is nothing at all like it was before I started messing with it.  It was horrible, but now it's less horrible.  It was gray, boring, and totally lackluster. When you get home and look at your pictures and see nothing you have to run with what you have or go take some more pictures.  Because it was dark outside by 4:30 I decided to run with it.

I added color, shading, and even had to de-noise it some.  Yeah, it was that bad.  It's tolerable now.  To me anyway...

Day 271 - Shavings in the Light

I saw a variation of this on a website once, but it was much different than this one because it was made using colored pencils.  I didn't have that luxury so I opted to give a plain ol' pencil a try.

I shot a bunch of pictures of this theme, using minor variations in composition.  Most of the pictures were lit, believe it or not, with the light from a sewing machine!  It was small and directional, which was exactly what I was looking for.  They all came out pretty good and I liked them.  This one was enhanced with a beam from a flashlight, and made the same sort of lighting even more severe.  I liked it best.

Day 270 - Shhh!

We dropped into the library in Covington today while we were out shopping.  They've got a beautiful library--probably the nicest one I've ever seen.

I took lots of pictures inside the place while we were there, but this one said "library" to me.  The others were nice, but they were more about the architectural style of the place than of a library itself.  I gave it a light vignette around it to subdue the outside light at the top of the picture.

Day 269 - Mask of Ages

Today is Christmas Day, but I have nothing to offer in that subject area.  Instead, I have a picture of something that Sarah gave to her mom as a gift.

Doesn't this look like a body that was recently exhumed?  I'm just assuming.  There's no way I would know what that would look like of course.  This is a mask that Sarah did in her ceramics class.  She did something wrong with the glaze or stain she put on it and the whole thing came out with this cracking effect covering it.  The color is still there, but the cracks make for a pretty interesting look.  I think the final product is probably WAY better than it might have normally been.

I don't mind saying I took a lousy picture of this mask.  The angle, the light, and the focus--all substandard in my opinion.  Still I persevered to see what I could do with it.  I gave this a mild treatment to bring a little bit of warmth out because it was shot in unflattering light.

It's a boring picture of an interesting subject, but that's what I have to work with today.

Day 268 - Candles on the Table

Christmas eve day found me at my parents house.  Socializing at their dining room table, I was struck by the centerpiece enough that I went and got my camera out of the case and snapped a few.  It has that warm, fuzzy glow to it.

It is one of those few pictures that I did nothing with (other than resizing) before posting it.

Day 267 - Candles in the Windows

There is a house not far from us that catches our eye every year at this time.  The house is a beautiful 1920's or so era farmhouse, meticulously kept.  This time of the year they put a little light in each window to simulate a lone candle.  The effect is so perfect for the house.  Simple, elegant, and yet still reflects the holiday season that's all around us without the gaudy colored lights almost everyone uses.

I feel strange when I drive somewhere like this and get out my tripod.  It's dark, hardly any traffic, and here I am lurking in the dark taking pictures.  I'm glad I did though because I like the shot.

There wasn't much color to this shot--partly because the house is white, and partly because it's nighttime.  I decided to go ahead and turn it into a monochrome shot, and to further enhance it, I ran it through a little yellowing filter.

Day 266 - Trees Among Trees

Right around the corner from the turn into our neighborhood there is a place where the owners put these lighted Christmas trees up every year.  I have liked them since I first saw them two years ago.  I guess I like the random nature of them--the fact that they are placed here and there among the tall, living trees.

It's a little tricky to get positioned where you can see all the lighted trees without them being blocked by trunks of living trees.  Even with all the trees that are visible in this shot, it's still not all of them.

Day 265 - Faces of the Sun

Hey look at that--only 100 more days to finish up my year of pictures!

Suzie and I dropped into one of our local Goodwill stores to browse around, and naturally we had our cameras with us.  The Goodwill is a good place to take pictures of weird, wacky, and tacky.  Not to mention you can pose, arrange, and move things around all you want.  These small suns were probably made to stand in front of windows and look good.  I couldn't see any other purpose.

I tweaked the color a little, cropped it a little--you know: The basics.  I've always like those suns and moons with faces.  Maybe they remind me of something from my childhood.

Day 264 - Moon Sky

Late tonight (after midnight) there is going to be a lunar eclipse.  I will not be awake for such an event, although it would be cool to post it for tomorrow's pic.  I don't feel too put out about missing it though because I captured our last lunar eclipse in 2008, taking pictures of it every 10 or 15 minutes as it progressed.  Although my pictures of that one aren't too good, I did at least get it.

Tonight I happened to be out and about when the moon came up.  "Whoa!" It was huge and had lots of wispy clouds floating across the front of it.  It looked very "Halloweeny".  Anyway, by the time I got to take pictures of it it was a lot higher up and smaller in diameter.

Believe it or not, there is a bright moon in the center of this washed out mess.  I was dismayed that I missed the visible edge of the moon, but I am sort of pleased by the picture I did get.  I like the lighting and the clouds.

Day 263 - Grilling in the Dark

We have burger night every Sunday night, and this time of year it's always dark by then.  I was looking for a subject tonight and decided to see if I could make a decent snap of the blue flame in it before I put the burgers on.

It's not as easy as it looks.  Come to think of it, it looks like it's nothing much of anything.  Oh well... It is what it is.

Day 262 - The Forgotten Restaurant

We went for a drive out on the other side of our Puget Sound waterway today, ending up around the little town of Union.  We were there last weekend too but we were visiting folks and didn't get a chance to get out taking pictures before it got dark.  Anyway, that's where we found this old empty restaurant called the Oyster House on the water's edge. 

Today, like last weekend, was rainy off and on.  It made for some moody shots when fog and clouds were thrown into the mix.  Add a derelict building like this and you've got a perfect shot to use for an "aged" photo.

Day 261 - Bare Moonlight

This time of year it's amazing how fast the daylight can go away on you.  I left work this afternoon at 2:30 in fairly bright sun.  I noticed the moon as I drove up the street--barely visible in the bright daylight.  After making a couple of stops on the way home, it was only an hour or so later and this was what I was seeing.  It was kind of like a late night summer sky.

Except for the bare trees.

Day 260 - Rusty Ribbons of Steel

Like so many of my pictures, I took this one on my way home from work.  There was a small railroad track spur that looked like it was just used for maintenance and stuff like that, so you could see it was still used, but used very little.  Those weeds were growing all throughout the track.

This shot was chosen by Suzie.  She has the best eye and I value her judgment, even though I usually don't go for the one she likes.  I didn't do much with this shot other than fix the brightness and contrast a little.   I was going to add a vignette around the edges, but it doesn't really need it.  Actually, it almost looks like it has one already.

Day 259 - Mount Rainier

I was on the way home from work this afternoon and was heading down the west side of the valley.  I glanced to the east and saw the tops of the Cascades lit up by the late afternoon sun breaking through the clouds.  Mount Rainier wasn't visible at that point, but I opted to drive up the hill to a vantage point and take some shots anyway because all the other mountains looked good.  When I got to the top, some of the clouds began to clear off the lower right of Mount Rainier.

This was shot from Auburn's cemetery hill, using my 300mm lens.  I was surprised at how well it did because it doesn't always like to focus well on something that far away.  I guess I owe it all to the sun lighting it up so well.  I gave it a liberal crop to bring us in closer.

Day 258 - The Nutcracker

We went next door to Rachyl and Tony's house tonight and I wandered around searching for stuff to take pictures of.  She has 6 or 7 nutcrackers here and there around their living room, and I decided they were more than worthy of being my subject.  I guess I like the colors they are all painted with.

Sometimes when you take pictures like this you're torn between "whitening" the picture because it has the yellow cast of the telltale incandescent light providing the glow.  That is, until you actually make the correction and can see how stark and blah they look without the yellowish tinge.  I think I'll keep it.

Day 257 - Smitten by iPod

This is 'Bekah... Sue's niece.  She came over this afternoon to hang out with us and immediately found herself under the spell of my iPod.

I had to snap her picture.  I love the way her face was lit by the screen!

Day 256 - Atlas Cedar

At least that's what I think it is.  I Googled it for quite a while, using every key word I could think of and it's the closest thing I came up with.  These cones are the strangest things--they look like little beehives or something.  It's a very interesting tree that is in front of a school near our home.

I ran it through a Topaz filter called Venice Painting (I love that filter!) and it gave it a smooth, surreal sort of feeling.

Day 255 - Little Music

We went for a drive today.  Because it was a miserable, rain-soaked day with nothing that could have been done outside we opted to go visit Steve and Maria over by the little town of Belfair and see their new house.

Steve has a lighted display cabinet in their living room totally stuffed with cool miniatures.  Guitars, toys, skulls, and anything small that he deemed "cool" enough to be worthy.  This shot was of a teeny drum with teeny guitars in the background.  I think it was approximately 1.5" tall but pretty detailed.

Day 254 - Mirrored Me

Well I guess it's time for another shameless self-portrait.  As I always say, my camera goes everywhere with me, and work is no exception.  Even when I leave my desk to go on a delivery or pickup run it goes with me.

I happened to catch a glimpse of me in the side mirror when the sun hit me at one point and the "light bulb" went on (albeit dimly).  When I got to my delivery stop, I gave it a try.  The hard part was holding my camera in such a way as to not have it as the first thing you see in the window.  I actually have it sitting over my left shoulder on a timer.

I like the somewhat abstract nature of it.  Skewed, mirrored, and oddly-colored.

Day 253 - Glittery Lava Lamp

This was a hard picture to shoot.  If you take it with too long of a shutter speed, the exposure is too bright.  Too short of an exposure and there is no movement to the glitter flakes.  I did come very close to freezing the movement in a couple shots but it just made it look boring.  I might as well just been turned off and non-moving at that point.  I played and played--using all sorts of variations and settings.  Then out of the ones that did come out well, I had to choose one with an interesting swirly pattern.

I finally ended up choosing this one taken with a 5-second exposure.  Oh, I also added a 4-point star filter to add something to the lower lights.  Not too bad overall I guess...

Day 252 - Ladder Truck

I just happened to be near one of our local fire stations today when I spotted the extended ladder towering over the building.  Cool!  The day was sunny enough (which is rare in December anyway) and I needed a photo op.  I hurried over and drove into their parking lot.  The men were out flushing lines or checking systems or whatever it is that fireguys do on nice days.

I was thankful that I got good colors in my shots.  About all I had to do here was some cropping to even things up.  Too bad they didn't give me a ride up into the bucket like they did with me and my brother Don when we were much younger... That would have been a great picture!

Day 251 - Wartime Brass

This is an amazing piece of art.  My coworker, TJ, brought this in to work today in celebration of Pearl Harbor Day.  If I have the story straight, his father made this completely by hand during his time in the Korean war.  It's made completely out of bullets and shell casings!  Even the stand and the thin ring the plane pivots on--all cut from various ammunition rounds.  It's very intricate and very impressive.

I spent some time after work shooting it in various poses, backgrounds, and angles.  I only had a small clamp light for lighting so I kept moving it around and trying light from all different directions.  It was very hard to pick from over 40 pictures, some only subtly different.

This is one that even full screen isn't enough to do the detail justice.

Day 250 - Lake of Glass

I was on my way home tonight when I came to Lake Meridian on my left.  When I saw how smooth it looked, I hurriedly switched lanes and managed to catch the entrance to the park we sometimes visit.  I took lots of pictures during this shoot, and almost every one amazing.

It was just the right combination of light, stillness, and reflection.

Day 249 - Avian Smorgasbord

Here's a bird-eye view of all the hard, tasteless junk that our little feathered friends (and squirrels) love us for.  Apparently, we have one of the better eateries in town thanks to Suz.  Even crows come to pig out on occasion, but quickly get shooed away if I catch them.  You know how crows are though--They'll eat anything.  In the spring and summer this thing is usually empty in just a couple hours.

I was going to zoom in on this picture (crop it small) so you could see the seeds up close and personal, but eh... It was better left as is.  All that's missing is the birdies...

Day 248 - Landing Formation

I was out driving around the north end of Auburn today and happened across a pair of small ponds.  Both of them had an abundance of Canadian geese milling around them.  I moved closer to them, taking shots as I advanced.  Finally, they decided that they had had enough and took wing.  They didn't go far though--I'd say about 50 feet--So I was able to catch them landing.

They have an interesting formation they land in don't they?  They almost look like they're going to land right on top of each other.

Day 247 - Reflections of a Locket

This is just a locket draped over an antique mirror.  The age of the mirror is sort of apparent by the haze in the glass, but that adds to the look.  It sort of gives the whole thing an antique feel.  The picture of Sarah that's reflected in the background adds to the mood too.

I focused on the locket, purposely throwing everything else into a sort of background haze.  I cropped it and that's it.

Day 246 - Stump Fungus

I took a walk near the building when I got off work and ran across this item.  The whole stump, which was about 1.5 feet tall, was infested with this shelf fungus.

I chose this picture with Suzie's help.  Actually, it was her recommendation.  Because there are other interesting shots of the stump, I posted a few in my Leftovers blog.

Day 245 - Car Wash

I stopped on the way home from work today to get my oil changed.  While that was being done I wandered around the area with my camera.  I was just glancing here and there when I noticed the car wash behind the gas station across the street.  I wandered over and snapped several pictures of two different cars coming through it.

Of all the pictures I took this one stood out as the best.  It doesn't show the brushes whirling, but it had this mystical look to it because of the headlights and driving lights illuminating the water spray.  The lights also fooled my camera's light meter into darkening the picture more than it needed to be.  The result was this strange shot.