Lock Railway Bridge – Ballard

27. August 2012 · Comments Off on Lock Railway Bridge – Ballard · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: , , , ,

In yesterday’s posting I told you about visiting Ballard Locks in Seattle – I was lucky enough to get a few good shots and today’s posting is another one from the visit.   Yesterday’s tug boat entered the lock from Lake Union and to get out of the Lake and into the lock it had to get past the Ballard railway bridge.  I was there at exactly the right time to shoot the boat as the bridge raised and the tug boat sailed underneath.

The boat was moving pretty fast so I couldn’t HDR the image, I had to shoot just one shot and process that when I got home.  We had quite a bit of cloud cover (it rained a little on the way home) but it came out as very grey in the finished picture.  So I single file tone mapped the image to bring a bit of texture and color back.

The end result looked pretty good, with the yellow tug boat under a blue grey sky.

Ten minutes before I took this shot a train went across the bridge, it actually wasn’t that impressive so I didn’t take a picture, but it did show that the bridge was still fully functional.  I actually liked this image best but I let Lisa pick the image for yesterday’s posting.  This really was one of those moments when you knew you had a great shot the moment the shutter closed.

Carter wanted to play basketball this evening but the ball was flat, so he helped pump it up.

Tug Boat – Ballard Locks

26. August 2012 · Comments Off on Tug Boat – Ballard Locks · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: , , , ,

This afternoon we decided to go out for the day and headed over to North Seattle to Ballard Locks.  The locks link Lake Union (that also goes to Lake Washington), with Elliott Bay and ultimately the Pacific.  The locks are pretty busy and open and close daily multiple times.  If you want to ride through a lock there’s an Argosy cruise that takes you from Elliott Bay to Lake Union and they you get a bus back to Seattle’s water front.  We did the cruise a few years ago and it’s pretty cool.

But today we were their on the dock side watching the boats go through.  When we got there the main large lock (there are two one massive one and one small one) was empty.  They were just lowering the water level to let boats enter from Lake Union.  The first boat to come along was this massive tug boat called the Western Titan.  The bridge in Ballard had to raise to let the tug boat through (I got a great picture of that as well) and then moored up in the lock ready for the water to rise.

However being first is bad, as it takes around an hour to fill the lock up and raise the water level, so the guys on the boat got comfortable and sat back to wait.  In the interim they had to put up with loads of people with cameras taking their picture.  In the image below you can see the Western Titan at the front and a load of smaller boats in the lock behind.  This lock is HUGE and can hold a lot of vessels, it would have been nice to see them rise up and sail out but Abi was cold so we left before the rear lock gate closed.

These locks are really cool and definitely worth a visit Ballard also seems like a nice place to live – loads of bars and restaurants and trendy shops (Lisa liked it anyway).  They have some botanical gardens there too (photographed them as well) and a fish ladder for Salmon who want to swim up river to spawn.  But more about that in a future posting.

After visiting Ballard Locks we went to Red Mill Burgers across the road and Carter and Master Chief fell in love – with a Double Bacon Cheese Berger.

Marina – Carillon Point

15. August 2012 · Comments Off on Marina – Carillon Point · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: , , ,

I would bet I could post a year’s worth of picture a day with just “night shots”.   They are starting to be my favorite images, because they are super easy to do (you just set up a tripod and shoot), and the results are always good.

They do say that the perfect time to shoot landscapes is the magic or “Golden” hour that is an hour around sunrise and sunset.  It’s true that you get great pictures at this time but in summer it requires you being up and about at 5:30 in the morning or out waiting for the sun to go down at 9pm!  And when you work for a living that quite frankly is a pain.

That said when the daylight saving goes and we get darker nights I will probably go back to nice sunsets, but I’m digging night shots in the interim.

Today’s image was taken at the Marina in Carillon Point in Kirkland.  This part of Washington is pretty affluent and there are a lot of boats.  So to cater for the demand we have a lot of nice marina’s and this is one of them.

I do think it’s funny though that they put a lock on the gate on the pier, but I guess some of the boats are pretty expensive so it’s a deterrent against board kids, vandals and wan-a-be photographers looking for the perfect picture.

I liked this image when I got home immediately.  The green lilies on the water, the red light in the entrance and the blue sky make a great picture (I think).  Add to that the fact that any lights at night look cool and you get something interesting to look at.

If I’d had a flashlight with me I would have light painted the Marina sign so that stood out more, but such is life I guess.

Today Master Chief and Carter decided to enjoy a game of Jacks!

Kayaks – Bainbridge Island

31. July 2012 · Comments Off on Kayaks – Bainbridge Island · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: , ,

While taking pictures at Fort Ward State Park on Bainbridge Island these three guys turned up with their Kayaks.  Chris and I sat and watched as they started to unload their cars with a load of gear.  I walked over and asked if it was OK if I took some pictures and they said it was fine.  They probably thought it was a little odd that some stranger wanted to photograph them but they said go ahead.

As we watched them set up their kayaks and store all their stuff we started to ask them why they needed so much “gear” and where they were going to.  They told us there plan was to paddle for a couple of hours – I think they said they were going to Blake Island State Park (but I could be wrong) where they were going to camp for the night – kind of a boys weekend away.

One of the three was moving away to California and this was his swan song trip with his mates.

Some of their “Stuff” consisted of cans of beer – quite a few in fact, so they were clearly going prepared.  While they were getting in the water they were trying to photograph each other, so I offered to take some shots and if they emailed me I could send them all the masters.  They liked this idea so took a copy of my business card.  That said I haven’t heard from them yet so a number of things could have happened.  Either they were eaten by orca’s on the paddle over, eaten by bears in the camp site, lost my card or just decided I was an idiot and not worth contacting.  I’m guessing it is probably the last one.

One of them had never been in a kayak before (the guy in the middle) and was a bit wobbly getting in the kayak.  But they did manage to paddle together for a group picture.  I hope they do email me as I got loads of pictures and I’m sure they’ll like them.

Carter and Master Chief were inspired tonight watching the synchronized diving, so they thought they’d give it a go.

Royal Argosy – Seattle

26. June 2012 · Comments Off on Royal Argosy – Seattle · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: , , , ,

If you ever visit Seattle and take a trip down to the city water front on Elliott Bay, you may be tempted to take a boat trip out in the bay and do a tour of the city from the water.  Alternatively you might want to jump on a boat, go through the locks at Ballard and get into Lake Washington and do a sightseeing tour there (who knows you may see Bill Gates in his house in Medina, Bellevue).

Well if you want to do either, you will have to take an Argosy Cruise.  This company provides all sorts of cruises out of Seattle and they all start from Pier 55 on Alaskan Way right down on the waterfront.

Now I have done most of their tours over the years (some multiple times as it’s a great place to take friends and family who visit), but I’ve never done one of their Dining Cruises.  They actually have a few different types including a lunch cruise, a dinner dance cruise and even a murder mystery dinner cruise (I’d like that one).  All of these take place on their largest vessel the Royal Argosy.

It just so happens that when I was there shooting the other night, the Royal Argosy was coming into dock after one of it’s dinner dance cruises.  The ship was beautifully lit and when it docked hundreds of people came off all dressed up in the best evening gowns and tuxedos.

I took this picture from the end of the pier looking back at the Royal Argosy which had docked at port with the city skyline in front of it.  Pier 56 to the left in the picture has some restaurants on it that were all lit up providing cool reflections on the water.

It all looked really nice and made I think a lovely picture.

Tonight the guys decided to play “Littlest Petshop” on Abi’s Nintendo DS.

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