Ferris Wheel – Seattle

23. June 2012 · Comments Off on Ferris Wheel – Seattle · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: , , ,

After 6 months of waiting I finally have my new camera and would you believe that since it arrived, it’s not stopped raining.  I wanted to go out today to get some shots (as yesterday was totally written off) so I jumped into the car after breakfast and drove over to Issaquah.

I thought I’d go to the Lake Sammamish Park and see if I could shoot something on the water.  It was dry when I left home and spotting as I entered the park, but I figured I had enough time to get some pictures.  How wrong can you be.  As I parked up, the sky’s opened and it was like a bucket of water was pored over my car, I couldn’t believe how heavy it started to come down.

So, feeling dejected I headed home convinced that this would be another day with no new pictures.  When I got home Lisa was going to Bell Square Mall so I thought I’d go with her, we were dropping Abi off at a party and thought we’d hang in the Mall for a couple of hours.  While there I popped into the Talls Camera store and saw they had a D4 for sale.  I asked the guy working there when he got it in and he told me he gets them in every week – has for ages – and has sold loads!  I couldn’t believe it – I could have had my camera months ago!  So it was clearly turning into a really crappy day.

After we picked up Abi we headed home and the skies cleared and the sun came out – typical. Lisa, Abi and I went out for dinner (James wasn’t interested) and got home at 8:30 at night.  On the way home the sky looked great and the sun was going down.  So I decided to go out again with the camera and look for a nice sunset shot.

So I grabbed the gear and drove to Seattle, I had around 40 minutes to get to the city, find a parking place and get a shot.  Fortunately the roads were pretty empty and I made great time, I was parked up on the water front in 35 minutes.  I ran to a pier and looked for a subject to shoot.

I haven’t been to Seattle for a while and apparently Seattle had decided to put up a large ferris wheel, similar to the London Eye in England.  It isn’t open to the public yet, Lisa told me it wont be until later in the summer, but I thought it might make a good subject.  The sun was going down just behind the wheel and the pier was lit up with red and orange lights.  So I set up the tripod and started shooting.

I’m pretty pleased with the image I got and just relieved that I finally captured a nice image with the camera (and it stopped raining). Hopefully I’ll get some more shots tomorrow.

Carter and Master Chief decided to make a model of the Space Needle today.  Here you can see Master Chief adding the finishing touches.

Harbor Stairs – Carillon Point

17. June 2012 · Comments Off on Harbor Stairs – Carillon Point · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: , , ,

Here’s another image from Friday night at Carillon Point.  In the picture you can see the waterfront at the bottom of the stairs, you can also see the pier that goes out into the lake and around the harbor (on the left).  All along the water front and the pier are big round lights that make it look really nice once the sun has set.

The sun had gone down so I captured this shot with a long exposure so it almost looks almost like daylight.  The clouds in the sky are clearly visible in the picture, but when I was there you couldn’t really make them out.

At the top of the stairs are the restaurants and the Woodmark Hotel.  This is a really nice hotel that overlooks Lake Washington.  If you could make out the skyline on the other side of the lake (on the horizon) you’d see Seattle.

Fortunately there weren’t too many people working around, they were all in the restaurants enjoying their dinner.  But I wouldn’t be surprised if they all walk off their meal after they leave walking along the waterfront.  As it was quiet, I had plenty of time to compose the image and take a few shots.  I think the exposure time was around 4 seconds, so ironically even if someone did walk past they would only appear as ghosts.  That said there was very little work to do in Photoshop.  Hope you like the shot.

Cater and Master Chief started a game of “Find-it” just after breakfast and they were still playing 4 hours later!

Rose – Carillon Point

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

I wanted to post something different tonight so I waited until the sun went down and hit the road.  At first I was looking for something interesting to shoot in Redmond Town Center, but the security guys don’t like me there (you’ll have to read an earlier post to find out why) so I kept driving.

In the end I found myself in Carillon Point in Kirkland.  This is a private harbor for local residents who clearly have some money – you should see the size of the boats.  They have lots of lights along the water’s edge and piers that head out and around the harbor, these piers are also lit up.  On the water front there are loads of bars and restaurants and they were all full of people.

So there I am walking around with a camera bag around my neck and a huge tripod and camera in my hand – everyone is looking at me like I’m nuts.  I took lots of shots and got some really nice images – it’s very pretty there.  I even bumped into a friend from work and stopped to talk to him and his wife for a bit.  When I was done I started walking back to the car.

Just before I reached the car I noticed these huge pink roses in a massive bush.  There were three roses and they bigger than both my hands together.  Just by the roses there was a large group of people standing outside a bar drinking.  Anyway I thought a close up shot of the rose in focus with the boats in the background in soft focus may look nice so I set up my tripod and took a few pictures.

When I got home I showed Lisa all my shots and she fell for this rose image so that’s the one I’m posting tonight.  This was taken with quite a long exposure so while it looks pretty light outside it’s really not.  The sun had set and the sky was dark.  Anyway I think it came out well, hope you like the image.

The guys found a mouse trap today and started to play with it, big mistake!

Jolanda Lake – Tumwater Canyon

21. May 2012 · Comments Off on Jolanda Lake – Tumwater Canyon · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: , , ,

As you drive home to Redmond from Leavenworth you go west and take highway 2 towards Steven’s Pass with the Wenatchee River on the right.   Before you start to climb up to the Pass you go through Tumwater Canyon and come across Jolanda Lake.  This is an amazingly scenic Canyon and the Lake is just beautiful.

To the north of the Lake are some pretty big rapids and to the south you find the Tumwater Dam that throws the water down a man made waterfall that used to power an old hydro-electric plant.  The Lake seems so tranquil, you’d never know there was so much going on at each end.  Right by the Lake is the Alps Candy Store.

Chris and I stopped to take some pictures of the lake and grab a drink.  We went into the store and they asked us if we wanted to buy some fudge.  It appears that the store made their own fudge and had every flavor imaginable.  I thought I’d better get something for the kids so I tried some “orange cream” fudge that was so sweet it made my teeth hurt – it was disgusting!  But I got some anyway as the kids would love it – and they did.

Apparently this lake looks even better in fall when the trees change color, so I’ll be going back then.  Hope you like the image.

I think the Halo guys are making a statement to all our women readers.  They were quite passionate to get this message across, personally I have no idea what they are on about!

Lake Union – Seattle

09. May 2012 · Comments Off on Lake Union – Seattle · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: , , , ,

Lake Union is a fresh water lake that sits between Lake Washington and Puget Sound.  On the north shore of Lake Union is Gasworks Park which provides a fantastic view of downtown Seattle which is directly opposite on the other side of the lake.

I guess the thing that Lake Union is most famous for, is that this is where Sleepless in Seattle was filmed.  In fact the house boat that the male lead Sam Baldwin (Tom Hanks) lived in was on Lake Washington.

When you visit Seattle you can go on the “Duck Tours” which are amphibious World War II vehicles that take you round Seattle showing you all the local sites and end up going into Lake Union.  They actually take you past the house boats and tell you that after the film these homes became supper popular.  One reason being they don’t pay property tax (as they are classed as boats).  Apparently the city of Seattle was concerned they were losing money so now there is a limit on the number of house boats on the lake.

Today’s picture was taken from Gasworks Park right by the waters edge.  There was this small wall that had graffiti on it – something you don’t see much around Seattle.  Anyway I thought it looked cool with the painted wall in the bottom of the picture, the choppy water in the center and the Seattle skyline at the top.

Today Carter was caught enjoying his secret passion – reading “Reality Weekly”.

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