Pumpkins – Redmond

14. October 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: , ,

Tonight’s picture was taken at the same location as yesterday’s image, the Pumpkin farm on Avondale in Redmond.  This is a pretty small place that seems to have a few fields by the side of the road.  They tend to sell their own produce although I suspect the bring the pumpkins in (but I could be wrong).  They also do a roaring trade in Christmas Trees in December and I know they don’t grow those.

Anyway the sales store is right by the side of the road on the way home and you can see all the pumpkins lined up on tables.  As I said yesterday I couldn’t resist stopping and asking to shoot some images.  This one (tonights) is my favorite, I love these food type shots where you focus on the front item and everything behind falls out of focus.  As you can see from my Halo picture tonight I brought a massive pumplin to bring home and will carve is later in the week.

All the pumpkins in the farm were really large, most had their storks and there weren’t too many miss-shaped ones (those are the ones Lisa usually buys and they are a total pain to carve).  Anyway I loved this idea of this shot, this is what I actually stopped for, hence it’s my favorite.

Carter got himself a little pumpkin and was really pleased, that is until he saw Master Chief’s pumpkin!

Pumpkin Shopping – Redmond

13. October 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: , , ,

Come on, you had to be expecting some pumpkin pictures, I mean it’s the middle of October!  Well not wishing to disappoint tonight I thought we’d start with some halloween themed pictures.

This morning I lead the photowalk in Redmond and despite early morning rain, some people still showed up.  It only rained lightly for 5 minutes at the beginning of the walk, after that it was lovely.  We didn’t have a full turn out though, as 29 said they would come and only 13 turned up, so I guess the threat of rain scared people off.  But that aside we did the walk, everyone got some great pictures and we ended up at the restaurant as planned.  The rain was coming down so hard at 6am, we were really lucky – truth is I nearly postponed the walk too – but I’m pleased we went ahead.

Anyway, on the way home, I passed this local farm that was selling pumpkins.  Now I wouldn’t have normally pulled over but the rows of pumpkins with the trees behind with yellow leaves looked great.  It was pretty overcast by 2pm and the farm had already turned on some overhead lights and I think they added to the image.

When I pulled up at the farm I immediate went to the sales office and asked if I could take some pictures, I also promised to buy a big pumpkin after.  They said no problem and off I went.  I got loads of shots, even lied down on the wet muddy floor to get one picture, and as a result had a few to different images to pick from tonight.  There were three Lisa and Abi really liked but we thought we’d start with this one.  (Others to follow in the week).

And wait till you see the size of the pumpkin I brought – it’s massive!  I can feel some carving coming on…

The boys were feeling creative tonight so they made a pumpkin with melty beads.

Bacon – Green Park

11. August 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: ,

My nephew Regan Smith is visiting us from the UK for a couple of weeks and he’s an aspiring chef.  He cooks for us most evenings and loves to visit food utensil shops (like “Bed Bath & Beyond”) to check out the American equipment.

On TV Regan likes to watch the Food Network and one of his favorite shows is “Man vs Food” with Adam Richman.  When Regan got here there were a number of places he wanted to visit and one was a restaurant featured on Man vs Food called “Red Mill Burgers”.  Now those of you who follow or have seen Adam in the show know that he basically takes on food challenges, but in one particular show he was visiting Seattle and just went to Red Mill Burgers as the burgers there were SO good.

So Regan (who after all wants to open his own burger joint) decided he wanted to check out the restaurant.  So today for dinner we gave it a try.

The restaurant is in Green Park North Seattle but the I90 bridge was closed.  As a result we decided to go round Lake Washington via Lynnwood, and got there around two in the afternoon.  The place is tiny, very little seating and next-door to a Starbucks, literally in the middle of nowhere.

Having said that, the restaurant was packed, there was a huge line of people coming out of the store and fortunately most were getting take-out.  We got in line and I found a table and we had bacon burgers, fries, shakes and onion rings. (The onion rings are to die for, and the burgers are very good too – although rather big).

We had a great meal and all ate too much and now I’m home writing this I think I’m stuck in my chair for the evening!

So why am I telling you all this?  Well on the way out of the restaurant I took a quick peek over the counter (Regan told me the kitchen staff were “Really Hot” – his words) and I saw this unbelievable pile of bacon!  (Clearly I’m getting old as I didn’t notice the girls).

In my “bacon” frenzied excitement I asked the girl behind the counter if I could take a picture and she said sure, and invited me into the kitchen.

I appreciate that this is “unusual”, but look at it!  It’s beautiful!  If you like bacon you will definitely know what I mean.

So go to Red Mill Burgers in Green Park and check out the burgers, onion rings and pile of bacon – you won’t be disappointed.

Carter told me today that he wanted to work on his target practice, I thought he meant with a gun, but clearly not!

Fruit – Pike Place Market

04. May 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: , ,

Pike Place Market is of course a food market and while it’s probably most famous for it’s fish, they also sell a lot of fruit, vegetables and flowers.  Most people tend to hang around the fish store by Rachel the pig waiting for that elusive shot where they guys throw the fish.  Trust me you can wait all day.  The people who work there actually get a little angry if you ask them to “perform”, they will just tell you to buy some fish (which I guess is fare enough)!  So instead I go the for other stalls to get some pictures.

They also have a number of clothes and art/craft stalls where you can by anything from woodcarvings and paintings to clocks and hats!  But these stalls are very small and I always feel a little uncomfortable standing there with a camera pointing at the sellers.

So that just leaves flowers, fruit and veg.  You can get some nice shots here, as the stalls are very big and well lit.  The food also looks fantastic, very appetizing with examples of food types cut open so you can see the quality of the produce.  A great example is below in today’s picture.  What’s more the people at these stores don’t mind you taking pictures, they sometimes even pose for you too.

Here I wanted to get in nice and close and used a very big aperture that had two benefits.  Firstly I it gave me more light into the camera (which is always good) and secondly it gave me a very narrow depth of field (so the fruit in the center is in focus and the edges around the fruit are not).  All in all a successful picture.

At work today I sent the guys to the stationary room to get some stuff.  Took them a while but they got me a new pen!

Kiwi – Home

27. February 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Image a Day · Tags: ,

I’m still looking around the house for “stuff” to shoot – it’s just too cold to go out and play – especially when I don’t get in from work until 7 at night.  Tonight I decided to pull out the macro lens and see what I could shoot close up.

I ended up cutting a kiwi fruit and getting in nice and close with a ring flash.  The hair around the edge of the fruit looks good, and the deep green of the flesh is great.  There’s a little too much flash reflection to make it perfect but I think it’s a nice shot.

Lisa said the center was almost heart shaped which I kind of see now she mentioned it.

When I got home Lisa was fighting the coffee machine (well really it was the grinder), which was not working.  So I got that working and the Halo guys jumped on to make a coffee.

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