Bridge – Duvall

22. November 2012 · Comments Off on Bridge – Duvall · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: , ,

I live in Redmond, I actually live on the edge of Redmond at the top of a huge hill.  If you drive over the hill and go down the other side (away from Redmond) the road takes you to a valley between Redmond and Duvall.  To get to Duvall you have to cross the Snoqualmie River and there’s a road and bridge that get’s you there.

Today’s picture is of the road you take to Duvall that crosses the river.  I was driving around looking for something to shoot and decided to pull over and take a picture of the valley with the bridge.  I liked the look of the bridge and thought it might make an interesting landscape shot.  However, what I like most about this bridge is what happens in Winter.

Here in the Pacific North West we are well know for our rainfall.  This is probably a little unfair as there are loads of cities in the US that get more rain than us, New York is a great example.  However when we talk about rainfall we normally refer to inches of water.  While New York does get more than us, we have drizzly rain that falls more months of the year – hence the bad reputation.  What does happen here though is that each winter a lot of our rivers breach and water covers a lot of farm land (and unfortunately some peoples homes).

The Snoqualmie River breaches its banks in this valley every year.  So when they built the bridge they thought “lets raise the bridge higher so people can still cross”.  Great idea you say.  Well yes it is except they didn’t raise the road one either side.  So every year the valley floods and there’s this island in the middle with a bridge on it.  How funny is that!  Of course when this happens all the people in Duvall say they can’t come to work!  It’s not possible to drive an extra 10 miles to work I guess.

Tonight the guys decided to have a game of Monopoly.  But Master Chief got suck in jail and was there for most of the game.

Old “New” Ford – Duvall

14. June 2012 · Comments Off on Old “New” Ford – Duvall · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: , ,

I guess there’s two approaches to car refurbishing.  There is the “make it like it rolled off the production line” version, you know what I mean, refurbish the car back to it’s original state, and then there’s the Custom Car version, when you supe up a car, drop the suspension chrome it up and add a massive engine and add a super cool paint job.

I have to say that I actually prefer the first type, I love the idea of an old 1950’s car looking brand new, exactly like it did when the first owner drove it off the sales lot.  I can appreciate those custom cars, even admire them, but I don’t think I’d want to own one myself.  Clearly I’m getting old, but that’s what I like.

Now having said all this, Lisa and I saw some refurbished cars that fell into both camps at the Big Rock Classic Car Show in Duvall.  Of course as you’d expect I was all over the 1950 Chevy’s and Oldsmobile, but Lisa found this Ford.

This car, even I have to say, was pretty amazing.  It was a 1940s Ford (I have no idea what model) that had been heavily customized.  The interior was completely carpeted, the seats looked totally luxurious and the dials and dash (pinocle) was modern and super cool.  The engine was surprisingly boring as it was predominantly the same color as the car.  I think the car had like 800 miles on the clock so was really a new, “old” Ford.

What caught Lisa’s eye however was the paint job.  I know in this picture it looks flat gold, but it’s actually covered in tiny specks of color.  It was truly amazing and when I get my beautiful 1950’s Chevy Bel Air (in my dreams), I’m having this paint job.

I think Carter was bored tonight, I found him “note tabbing” Master Chief up!

Chrome Engine – Duvall

04. June 2012 · Comments Off on Chrome Engine – Duvall · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: ,

While in Duvall at the Big Rock Classic Car Show I captured this shot of a chrome engine.  I have no idea what the car is (I didn’t check) but I loved the three carburetors on the top and the fact that it was all bright and shiny.  After a while you tend to just walk around taking lots of pictures, some you know will look good and some you just hope.  This was a shot I kind of saw as I captured it and while it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, I like the mechanical busy look of the engine.  I just wish I owned an engine this clean – never going to happen.

I really don’t know how much time these guys spend adding bright-work to their cars, but you have to admire this kind of dedication.  I mean how long does it take to polish the engine?  And what happens if you get an oil leak?  Clearly these are questions I will never know the answer to.  Anyway I hope you like the image.

Tonight Carter and Master Chief were once again playing with fruit, who knew you could have so much fun.

Red Barn – Duvall

03. June 2012 · Comments Off on Red Barn – Duvall · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: , ,

Lisa, Abi and I drove over to Duvall yesterday to go to the Big Rock Classic Car Show and on the Duvall/Carnation road passed this red barn. On the way to Duvall the sky was totally overcast and I didn’t think a picture would look that great, so I decided to remember the location for another day.

After visiting Duvall and the car show the clouds parted and blue sky appeared (in fact it got really warm) so on the way home we stopped by the barn to get a shot.  I’ve driven this road many times and I must have passed this barn, but I’ve never noticed it before.  So Lisa and I think that the owners probably recently painted the barn as it was very red.

Lisa pulled over and I jumped out, I didn’t want to keep her waiting so I didn’t bother with a tripod, I just hand held multiple shots so I could HDR a nice image when I got home.  When I processed the image I didn’t want to over do it, I really wanted a natural look as the barn looked great just as it was.  I know the color here looks saturated but it really was this red.

I think the image came out nicely, the fact that the whole image is composed of the primary Red, Blue and Green colors really makes it stand out.

Carter found out that you make wine from grapes so he started a little wine processing plant with Master Chief.

Chevy Bel Air – Duvall

02. June 2012 · Comments Off on Chevy Bel Air – Duvall · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: ,

Today we drove over to Duvall to go to the “Duvall Day” event.  I have to say I was totally underwhelmed.  They closed off all the roads into town so we had to park up outside of town and then walk in.  So we parked the car, and Lisa, Abi and myself started walking.  We reached a police road block as the cop was opening the road, so we ran (OK walked quickly) back to the car and drove instead.  And I’m glad we did as we were a good couple of miles from the center of town.  When we got there it was clearly over and there wasn’t much to see.  So we started for home.

On the way home we popped into Safeway’s and found the “Big Rock Classic Car Show”.  Lisa found us a parking place (no mean feat as there were loads of cars circling) and we went to look at the cars.  This really made the trip, there were some beautiful old cars there and I got lots of pictures.  The one captured below is a favorite of mine, it’s a 1957 Chevy Bel Air.  They really don’t make cars like this any more, it has a huge bench front seat and enormous rear fins on the wings.  The car is really very large (in size) and when you look under the hood it has a tiny engine, but I love it.  I don’t think you buy one of these to go fast, you get one to drive on a sunny day and cruise around town.

They had a blue one there too and you could buy a raffle ticket and win it, so I’ll let you know how I do – in fact if I win it you will probably hear me screaming for joy.

There is a great show on TV from the UK called Wheeler Dealers where two guys (Mike Brewer and Ed China) buy and refurbish old classic cars and sell them on for a profit.  In one of the shows they came to the US and brought a Chevy Bel Air and took it back to the UK.  They did an amazing job and sold a beautiful model for £16,000 making around two grand profit.  That’s around $24,000!  This is an amazing price, here a mint Bel Air can cost you as much as $80,000 – so if I don’t win one I’m not getting one.  Better keep my fingers crossed.

Apparently Master Chief misunderstood when Carter asked him if he wanted some orange.

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