01. April 2012 · Comments Off on Union Hill Ranch – Redmond · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: , , ,

Today’s posting is a little different as I had two pictures and couldn’t decide which “version” to post.  Let me explain what I mean.  Every day after work I drive home the same way and pass Union Hill Ranch which is around 3 miles from home.  The Ranch is surrounded by trees and has a large pond at it’s front by the road.  There is also a pond overflow that flows towards the road and looks like a mini waterfall.

Anyway I’ve often thought of pulling over and photographing this scene, as I like the trees and pond and the water run-away.

So the other day on the way home I stopped, grabbed the camera and took some shots.  When I got home and looked at the images they looked OK but not in my opinion great.  As a result I tried one of the pictures as a black and white and I felt it looked better.  After that I did what I do every night, I showed Lisa, James and Abi and asked them what they thought, only this time I showed them the color version and the black and white and asked them which one they liked best.

As you can imagine a discussion ensued that covered the pro’s and con’s of each image, the bottom line the family couldn’t decide which one was best and stated they liked them both.  I actually prefer the black and white but thought tonight I’d post both and let you decide.

I should point out (for those that don’t know) digital photographers typically shoot in color all the time and then post process the image if they want black and white, after in software.  While it’s true that most digital cameras have a black & white option or mode, I don’t like the way they process the image – they always look very flat to me, not having enough contrast.  So I always do this after the fact in Photoshop.

Anyway here are the two images, have a look and let me know which one you prefer, feel free to add a comment and vote or email me.

First the Black and White…


And then the color…


Tonight Carter and his mate decided they wanted to play a game of Chess.

15. March 2012 · Comments Off on Abi in Charlotte & Wilbur – Redmond Ridge · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: , ,

Tonight Lisa and I went to see Abi in her school play that was an adaptation of Charlotte’s Web – the play was called Charlotte and Wilbur, I’m guessing the school is not allowed to use the Charlotte’s Web name or something.  Anyway she played “Child of Family 4” and was great.

They had a huge set, a live band and everyone (including all the teachers) were in costume.  I was really proud of Abi as she was super nervous.  She was awake really late last night as she couldn’t sleep and was pretty worried this morning.  Well she needn’t have been because she was fab, she danced round the stage and remembered her lines in front of nearly 200 people.

She actually performed the play three times today (twice for the school and once for the parents in the evening) and she has another evening performance tomorrow.

After the play I asked her if I could take her picture on stage and she jumped up for a final shot.  Poor baby was exhausted but still managed to smile for her dad.

When we got in after the play we found Carter practicing his high wire act!  I thought he was pretty good and had no idea he had such great balance.

18. February 2012 · Comments Off on Sorrento’s Coffee Shop – Redmond Ridge · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: ,

Today is a sad posting.  We have lived in Redmond now for 9 years and love our neighborhood.  Within walking distance of our home we have a small shopping area called the “Marketplace” which has a gas station, bank, restaurant, a few shops and a coffee house.  Or at least it did have a coffee house, as today Sorrento’s closed.

Lisa has been going there every day for 9 years and today I found out that she has spent $9,027.25 in coffee!!!!  So I guess I should be pleased it’s closing down, but I’m really not.  The place was great, the people who served there were really nice, knew our names and exactly what we liked to drink and were always friendly and welcoming.

We would often visit Sorrento’s on a Saturday or Sunday taking the dog for a walk and even use it as a meeting place for friends when we were heading out on a road trip.

Well, the recession has finally started to impact us in Redmond – I know that sounds really bad as for many it’s been going on for years now and yes it’s true we live in a bubble (especially with me working for Microsoft).  But we love this shop and are sad to see it go.  As today was it’s last day (closing at 1pm) we headed down there at 12 noon and had our last coffee and talked to Glen who ran the shop and said goodbye.

I took a couple of pictures, one inside and one outside to remind us of the shop and the fun we’ve had there in the past.

Below you can see Danielle, Glen and Lisa who work at the shop and serve us our coffee.

To add to the disappointment of the day, one of the Halo guys was viciously attacked by a soft cuddly toy!  Fortunately our hero Carter was there to save the day and fight off the rabid animal.

11. February 2012 · Comments Off on Redmond Ridge Community Center – Redmond · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: , ,

I watched a video the other day on something called focus harvesting. This involves taking numerous shots of the same subject but with the focus on different things.  You then blend the images together to create a shot that ‘kinda’ looks three dimensional.

So I headed out today to find something to shoot and found some interesting flowers and foliage that might work.  While out I also took the photograph below.  I actually shot this building back on January 19th (when it was covered in snow), but all the white stuff’s gone now and I thought the building from the other end looked nice, especially with the bushes below.  The down side of today was it was quite overcast, so the sky wasn’t that interesting.

Anyway, when I got home I had a bit of a Halo frenzy and took nine different images for my Halo postings.  By the time I finished taking the pictures and processing the shots, it was too late to fully process my attempt at focus harvesting so I decided to post the community center below.

Look out for the focus attempt in the next few days.  Mind you if it sucks I will never post it! 😉

With Valentines Day approaching, the Halo troops decided some tactical training was required.  No idea why, just thought it was funny.

19. January 2012 · Comments Off on Redmond Ridge Community Center – Redmond · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: , ,

Are you sick of the snow pictures yet? Well this is what happens when you take a picture a day and it’s snowing outside! Anyway I went out today (even though Lisa said I shouldn’t coz it was bad conditions) and took this shot.

This is a picture of our community center. This is the place that James (my son) painted when he was 5 years old. When I say painted, I mean Lisa and I were there for a community meeting and we put the kids in the “safe play area” (no such place) and they found some paints and proceeded to paint the walls, floor and furniture. Some other younger kids were doing most of it and I suspect James realized pretty quickly they shouldn’t be doing it but didn’t know what to do. You could argue it wasn’t him (he tried to) but the paint on his hands kind of gave him away! Needless to say I paid for the place to be cleaned and painted, the other parents just ran off. – So I feel in some strage way I own part of this building 🙂

OK slightly off topic… but it was a pretty scene and the picture came out well. Expect more of the white stuff tomorrow, and the day after, and after that etc. etc (yes I am sick of it).

So Carter here (blue dude) is actually standing up, but like me needs to go on a diet as he’s neck deep…

Neck Deep