Day 306 - House Number

It's pretty lame, but for today I drove a few zigzags on the way home to see if I could find a house with the number 306.  The advantage here is that downtown Auburn has lots of places where there could be a number 306.

Well, I found a total of one.  The numberings kept jumping from, say, 302 to 310 or something similar.  They just kept jumping over what might have been a 306.  This one was on K street southeast.  I may have possibly found a few more 306's elsewhere in town but I was finished looking.  Like I said--it's a pretty lame topic for today's picture.

I tried to at least give it some character by making it monochrome and grainy.  I guess we'll have to live with it.

Day 305 - Your Tax Dollars at Work

We were out driving today in Sumner and found this sign at the end of a cul-de-sac.  Any way you slice it, they spend money.  If they do extend the road that's one thing, but even if they don't they still managed to plan and spend for the materials and labor to put the sign up.

Given the location I doubt if that road will ever go anywhere.  It will never amount to more than just a picture on an obscure 365 Project page.  Just my 2¢.

Day 304 - Echoes of a Deserted Playground

A school can be an empty place on a weekend.  If you add a dreary, rainy day into the formula it seems even more so.

This was shot near home at Lakeview Elementary School.  Their covered basketball play area is the perfect place for a game of basketball during inclement weather.  Apparently not many people know of it because there are no sounds in it except for your own echoing footsteps as you walk through.

Day 303 - Art in the Parking Lot

I stopped in at the local Fred Meyer store on the way home from work today, and was immediately taken with this Jeep Grand Cherokee.  It was parked in the closest spot to the main store entrance, so clearly it was meant to be seen and admired.

And admire I did.

The whole thing was strictly business.  You can see it even has mud falling off it where it sits!  For example, the wheel openings had all been carefully carved out for maximum tire and mud clearance.  There were no frivolous chrome or painted items on it that needed to be maintained (or they had been ripped off on rocks or logs).  It was all just dull paint that you could just hose off and forget about.

My favorite part was all the witty sayings and slogans that were strategically placed all over it.  In addition to the ones that are visible on this side, there were plenty on the other side too.  Things like, "Do Not Wash - This Vehicle Undergoing a Scientific Dirt Study", "MUD ABOVE LINE - NOT RECOMMENDED" (the line was placed conspicuously high), "Don't Worry... That Noise is Normal", "Honk If Parts Fall Off", "Mud Bogging: A Life Sentence With No Possibility of Parole", "Because 1/3rd of the Planet is Dirt", and many others.  There were ample signs of use everywhere on it.  Both rear doors had been bashed, the rocker panels were both pretty hammered, and lots of other things showed evidence of fun on four wheels.  I enjoyed it, and I'm sure its owner does too. 

Obviously I tweaked the picture somewhat.  The ordinary brownish rig with brown mud on it needed help, so I enhanced a few things to give it a different feel.  The mud wasn't originally this yellow.

Day 302 - Balancing Act

I was on the rooftop of one of the hospital parking garages today shooting pictures.  This seagull insisted on doing some sort of stork imitation, stretching and leaning, all the time on just the one leg.

Maybe he was just showing off.

I like the way the building behind him has a sort of dilapidated feel to it.  If memory serves me, it was far from dilapidated, but in this shot the building has a "bent" look to it like it's an old building and has settled.  Actually, this shot probably would be a good candidate for an antique look.

Day 301 - Biker Swine

This is a cookie jar that I bought on eBay several years ago.  I always loved the expression on their faces--his look of determination, and her look of ecstasy--like she didn't have another place in the world where she'd rather be than right there.

Day 300 - Pioneer Cemetery

Wow, day 300--only 65 days to go until the end of this journey of amateur photography!

Pioneer Cemetery is a teeny little cemetery in the heart of Auburn that has been there for over a century.  Today I was across the street shopping and passed by it when I headed home.  There was a hubbub of activity going on.  It seems that the city was cutting down the ancient oak trees that were probably planted back when the cemetery was first created.  They were old.  I hate to see them go!  It's just another nail in the coffin of the pleasant little town that Auburn used to be.

I ran this through an 'antique grayscale' filter, then ran it through a heavy grain filter, then gave it a bit of a vignette.  Kind of fitting for a cemetery sign... Wouldn't you agree?

Day 299 - Raindrops

Taking a picture of raindrops falling into a puddle is harder than it seems.  It seems that no matter how hard you try to capture the feel it never quite looks right.  I have tried many times before, but today I guess I got the right lighting and the right density of raindrops.

I cropped it in and gave it some bold blue to give it some punch.  Remember, it's best in full screen!

Day 298 - Sarah's Arrival

I didn't get a chance to post this yesterday when it was taken.  Through a series of unfortunate events, I had to reformat my computer.  Let me just say it was not a good day for computer stuff.

It was, however, a good day in the fact that Sarah got back to her native gray Pacific Northwest after spending 3 weeks in India with a few of her classmates.  I know people will probably look at this and say, "Eh, it's just a plane."  The fact is, I got to Seatac Airport early enough to scope out which way the planes were flying in and positioned myself accordingly.  I actually got there in time to see the three preceding planes land before hers (theirs) landed.  So, yes--This is the plane!

Okay, not much to it.  Because of the gray nature of the sky and the color of the plane, it needed some work to make it look better but not all that much.  A little brightening and a little noise reduction (I shot it at ISO 400 so it was a tad grainy) and it was pretty good.

Welcome back, Sarah!

Day 297 - Steppin' Out in Seattle

We went out on a picture-taking trip again today.  It was a beautiful day and we decided we would go to Seattle.  Recently Seattle has raised parking rates to astronomical levels, and we wanted to go somewhere we could park for free or cheap. We decided we'd hit Capitol Hill.

The Capitol Hill area of Seattle is known as a kind of hot spot for people that think and live "outside the box".  They don't care about what everybody else is doing--they do their own unique thing.  Anyway, we had an excellent day of wandering Broadway street, taking pictures of the trendy city folk.  I'll tell you--some of them really know how to put "a look" together.  I decided that the Capitol Hill area is the place to go when you want to see creative footwear.  Fashion there was all over the map.  Although I did get a few pictures of some of them, my guerrilla photography skills need work.

Instead I'll present these bronze dance moves inlaid into the sidewalk.  Rumba anyone?

Day 296 - Uh... Green?

It's hard gathering up everything up in the house that's green.  Excluding bottles of green spices and stuff in the fridge that is.  Nope, it's not easy.

You know else isn't easy?  Getting this sort of shot to look good.  I fussed and fussed... Finally I threw in the towel.  Yeah, it's green.  Yeah, it's a lot of variation.  Yeah, it's weird.  I don't like the lighting, and as much as I messed with it I never did get what I consider good lighting for this shot.  Maybe it's just too busy.

I guess there's a reason why green is my least favorite color.

Day 295 - Speak No Evil

It's reached that time of year when the imagination is going, going, gone.  I guess it's the winter, shut-in syndrome.  The lack of daylight hours wears on you.  I found myself perusing the internet in search of ideas, and this one grabbed me by my odd sense of humor.

Besides, it was about time I included another self-portrait.

Day 294 - Luna on the Rise

I have an app on my iPod that tells us precisely (based on our latitude and longitude) when the sun and moon rise and set times are.  We also knew from previous experience that the moon rises over the Cascade mountains about 30 minutes after the official moonrise time because it's that much higher than the horizon.  We went driving around rural areas near Enumclaw this evening in anticipation of the event.  When it got dangerously close to "showtime" we went and settled for the spot that we figured would do the job.

We no sooner got out of the car and started getting our cameras set up when the moon began peeking over the mountains.  It worked out pretty well!

I just put the camera on the tripod, camera on manual, ISO 200, F4, and use the BULB setting so the shutter stays open as long as I hold the remote button down.  This one was 30 seconds.

Day 293 - A Treasured Archive

I pulled an old classic off the shelf this evening:  The Sears Automotive Parts and Accessories Catalog from 1961.  I've owned it since I first laid eyes on it in a Goodwill store a couple decades ago.  You wouldn't believe the prices and odd stuff in it.  It's fun to peruse!

While the tone of the yellowed pages would be easy to eliminate with Photoshop, I chose instead to just minimize it slightly.  I just threw the magnifying glass in to make the picture a tad more interesting.

Day 292 - Art in the Sky

Hooda thunkit?  Something beautiful at Walmart!?  Well, this is what greeted our eyes when we came out of Walmart this afternoon.  I was lucky I made it to the car in time to get my camera and get a few shots off because it didn't last much longer.  Everything had a golden tone from the sun as well.

I only wish I was in a nicer spot... I could have included some more scenery.

Day 291 - Play Ball!

What better place to find a big pile of well-used baseballs than at the local Goodwill store?  When you gaze into a pile of balls like this you have to wonder what kind of history there is in there.  There have been lots of fun games played with all those retired baseballs.

I can't help but think about Joyce though.  She was boyish enough to play baseball, but girly enough to put her name on it in pink.

Day 290 - Fleishmann's Plant

Yes, I'm talking about the Fleishmann's of yeast fame.  This is one side of their old, dilapidated building in Sumner, Washington.  Based on what we saw and smelled around there, vinegar is their forte' now.  I can't believe nobody came out while we were there.  I guess security is of no concern to them in that line of work.

Today was a nasty, rainy day and we went out on the hunt for nasty looking buildings, and I'd say this is a prime example.

Day 289 - The Colors of Fun

We were walking in a mall this evening after dinner, taking pictures.  There was a game kiosk in the middle of the mall floor made from an old, 60's Volkswagen bus.

I don't remember the details of what kind of game stuff it had, but the stuff that was in it was colorful.  This time of year is drab and lifeless.  I wanted color!

Day 288 - The Mask on the Wall

Sarah made this is a really cool pottery mask in her ceramics class this year and gave it to me for Christmas.  I ended up drilling a small hole in it to hang it with and it now lives in front of our computer desks here.  We love it!

It already featured some patterned light bouncing off of it courtesy of the desk lamp and woven shade, and I added a 4-point star filter to give it highlights.

Day 287 - Rainy Day Shopping

I stopped at Costco on the way home today and got a kick out of watching this lady.  She made sure to not let go of her umbrella under any circumstances.  She methodically moved every item from her cart to the trunk of her car with one hand--one item at a time.

I made it B&W to toss a little more gloom into the shot.

Day 286 - Bird Party

Driving home from work today I was fascinated by the sun.  It was hazy--stubbornly trying to shine through thick clouds, and it was succeeding just enough to catch my attention.  I took a few shots of it, but nothing very good.

As I came down one road I looked over and saw these birds roosting.  Just what I needed to make the shot a little less boring!

I was looking for just the right shading and was tweaking a few settings and looking through some filter presets.  When I saw this "Yesteryear" preset I stopped right there.  Don't forget:  Click for full screen.

Day 285 - A Nice Bowl of... Ice?!

It's kinda funny how this shot sort of progressed.  I had no idea for a shot today, so I went into the back room to use our light tent... Intending to take some sort of a macro shot using the 100mm macro lens.  Well, I took a few of this and that, and while I browsing for another item to shoot, I thought, "Hey, maybe ice."  Well, the ice in a bowl idea was fine, but it didn't work with the 100mm macro lens, so back to my 17-70.

The bottom line:  Started macro, finished art magazine.

Day 284 - Spying on Auntie Anne

We did a little walking around in the gigantic mall at Southcenter today.  Partly just to "go somewhere" and partly to take pictures.  No, I'd say mostly to take pictures.  We had a good time wandering around, trying to catch interesting people or whatever.

Sometimes it's just the perspective that turns an ordinary shot into something a little different.  This one kind of fits that category.  They had no way of knowing that I was perched quite a ways up and spying on them.  Actually, when I think of it that way it's kinda creepy.

Day 283 - Cookie Cutter

Doesn't this look like one of those "Can you spot the differences?" pictures?  I have never seen such a fine example of replication in my life.  Every one looks the same... But are they?  Every single one has something different about it.  I have been meaning to get a shot of this place for some time, and I just happened to drive by it again today.  There is nothing like it anywhere else in town that I know of.

It's kind of interesting in a strange, chameleon-like way.  I almost expect a mime to pop out of one of them.

Day 282 - Following the Bus

It was one of those evenings:  Every few blocks the lights would start to flash and the bus would stop.  At first I got tired of it.  Then I whipped out my camera and started taking pictures.

I decided to do a little something different with this one.  It's a "medium sketch" filter.  It both skewed the colors and textures a bit, as well as adding a pencil line look to it here and there.  I dunno... I just had to give it a shot.

Day 281 - Fog Over the Pasture

Driving home from work today along the Green River (which is one of my usual routes), I noticed occasional fog here and there.  Every now and then I would see it on the river too.  It looked very promising, but not quite dense enough.  When I got to the Auburn Golf Course I had to stop.  The fog was thick and winding around through the trees and sand traps.  I took several pictures but none quite "did it" for me.  As I got almost home, the fog got significantly thicker, prompting me to stop again near Neeley Mansion and take few shots.

This one was tweaked a little to bring out some more sky, and a little color filter was added to give it a little more interest.

Day 280 - The Dregs of M&M's

I was sitting at work today and Dana (who took over Sue's job when she left) came by and dropped a kleenex full of M&M's on my desk.  "That's the end of the bag." she said as she whooshed on by.  They were dark chocolate with a hint of mint, and came in red, white, and blue as I recall.  I could be wrong.  All I know is my pile of them was only white and blue.  As I was devouring them it occurred to me that I should whip out my camera and snap a few shots.

That's about all there is to it.

Day 279 - Chili in my Sights

This is a fun but easy thing to shoot.  I didn't come up with the idea, but I'm glad I found it.  It's easy enough that anyone can do it.

I played with distance, f-stop, lighting, and all sorts of stuff before I finally chose this particular picture, but in reality almost all of them came out okay.  Suzie owns a little portable light box (also known a soft box) and that makes product photography a little easier too. There's no trick to it either.  The item in the back shows up nicely in the lens in front.  All you have to do it center it however you want it.

Nice effect and easy to pull off.  How can you lose?

Day 278 - Frozen Cattails

It's been very cold around here lately.  For us that is.  Even though we're at the top of the country, we generally are saved from extreme temperatures during the winter months by our proximity to the waterways.  Also the mountain ranges shelter us somewhat.  As I said, we are having a pretty good cold snap here lately though.

This was a shot along a small road that gets nothing but local traffic.  It's in enough of a sheltered area that the sun never touches it, consequently the ice crystals just keep growing and growing.  It almost doesn't even look like a barbed wire fence does it?

Be sure to look at these pictures I post in full size by clicking on them.  Some of them are cropped enough in the blog preview that it really changes them when you look at them blown up.  The Christmas trees post on Day 266 comes to mind...

Day 277 - Airport Lonliness

I took Sarah to Seatac Airport today where she began her 3-week odyssey to India with some of her classmates in college.  It's her first solo flight to anywhere and it was pretty exciting for us all.

After seeing her safely on her way I was on the way out of the airport security area I walked over toward a large windowed wall in the terminal.  Looking down at the floor below I saw this guy sitting there in the streaming sunlight.

Day 276 - Park Citizen

This little guy lives in Les Gove Park.  The parks in Auburn are full of squirrels, and a lot of times they will come right up to you.  This little guy was doing a good job of posing for me, and came up within just a few feet at one point.

I thought about posting something having to do with the new year, but nothing came to mind other than a sunrise, and I missed that.

Day 275 - New Year's Eve

Our celebration of New Year's Eve was right across the street at Rachyl and Tony's house.  The weather was very cold so the fire pit usage was a requirement.  It made it much more fun than just sitting in a house.  There was food in a heated tent and lots of chairs around the fire.

Apparently this was one of the rare occasions when the chairs were empty.