Starbuck’s Mugs – Seattle

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

It’s kind of funny that when I started this picture a day thing at the beginning of the year, I didn’t have any pictures to post, I had to photograph something each day to get a picture up.  That first week was really hard.  Over time I found that I could go out for the day (on a Saturday or Sunday) and take lots of shots, then I’d post one and have some back ups.  Now I have LOADS of pictures to choose from.  I still go out at the weekend, but the pressure is definitely off.

So it’s quite odd that I’m sitting here tonight and I can’t decide what to post.  I have all these pictures and I can’t pick one.  One of the problems is that when I take and save the pictures, I like them.  But after a few weeks I look at the pictures and think, “it’s just OK” and one of the things I didn’t want to do was post “just OK” images.  As a result I spend a lot of time asking Lisa and the kids for their opinion.

Anyway, I was looking though my collection and came across this picture of mugs from Starbucks in Seattle.  When I took this, I walked in the shop and took a couple of pictures and saw these mugs on the shelf.  I kind of like to do these depth of field images where the front and back is slightly out of focus and the middle is in focus and I thought the mugs might look cool.

Another reason I’m posting this image tonight is in homage to Lisa.  She is currently off dairy and for a person who LOVES her coffee (like 2 or 3 latte’s a day), she is suffering.  So Lisa, this ones for you.  You’ll get your coffee back soon.

Today Carter and Master Chief decided to enjoy a little robot torture.

Houseboats – Lake Union

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

I’ve posted on the blog about Lake Union before and talked about the Houseboats on the lake, but I haven’t uploaded any pictures of them.  Until now.  I was in Gasworks Park taking some pictures of downtown Seattle when I saw these homes moored on the water front.  (I hope the owners don’t mind I took these).  Anyway I thought I’d take some pictures.

The water was quite rough so they were moving all over the place and there was great cloud cover in the sky (that I think added to the picture).  As you can see some of the homes are painted bright colors and some are definitely bigger than others – remember, you don’t pay house tax if you’re on the lake so these homes are highly desirable as they’re close to the city and low cost to own – although you can pay a lot of money to buy one.

The Bridge you can see behind the houseboats and below the clouds is the George Washington Memorial Bridge (or more commonly called the Aurora Bridge).  This is a huge cantilever bridge that links the Queen Anne and Fremont districts of Seattle together.  It’s actually a very cool bridge in it’s own right so well worth another visit for a future picture of the day.

The guys decided today to carry out some stealth training.  Some Canadian Geese landed outside my office and Halo and Master Chief decided to creep up on them.

Red Room – Seattle Public Library

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

Seattle considers itself a bit of a “hip” arty city and you can see evidence of this everywhere you go.  Along the waterfront there are a number of sculptures in our “sculpture park”, we have a large amount of urban art like the troll under the bridge eating a VW Beetle – I’ll photograph that one one day.  We have weird paintings and murals around the city – we even have a gum wall (that’s a wall covered in chewing gum) and of course the “Hammering Man”, a 60 foot animated sculpture outside the Art Museum that is literally a metal dude with a hammer! (No I don’t get that one either).

So we are progressive, and cool and very arty, as you would expect from the city that gave us Jimmy Hendrix and Grunge music.

What’s unusual is that you tend to encounter the “art” in the most surprising places.  For example, the Seattle Public Library.  This is an amazing building that actually justifies a photograph in itself (an idea for another day).  The building is predominantly glass and is bigger at the top that it is at the bottom – really cool.

Inside the Library they have brightly colored escalators (check out my posting on January 28th) and then they have the “Red Room”.  This room is the subject of today’s posting and it’s quite appropriately named.  Basically the Red Room is a room that is completely red! (Told you it had the right name).  The floor, walls and ceiling are all red.  Why is that, you may ask.  What purpose does it serve?

Well, I have no bloody idea!  I even asked at the Library and they just said “because” and then nodded at me in a knowing way.  So they don’t know either.  The bottom line is Seattle is cool and arty, the Public Library is cool and arty, and the Red Room is cool and “RED”.

Does make an interesting picture though…

Carter and Master Chief had a tough day at work today and needed some love – a bit of a cuddle in fact.

Pike Place Market – Seattle

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

You really can’t post a series of pictures of Pike Place Market without posting one of the actual market.  So that’s tonight’s image.  This was taken from the north entrance and as you can see it’s super busy.  Actually it’s not because this was early on a week day, if you go to the market at the weekend you can see about 4 floor tiles in and then it’s just a mass of people.

As you can see on the left of the market you find all the fresh flowers and fruit, and on the right the preservatives and crafts.  As you walk through the market the people behind the counters offer you samples so you can walk your way through and get a pretty decent meal – for free.

The market has a load of neon signs and lights and looks great and this came across a little in the picture.   You’ll be pleased to hear that I only have one more Pike Place image to post, so I had better get out of the house over the weekend to take some more pictures.  I can hear the farmer’s markets calling me – they all start this weekend.  (I wonder if I could do a year of market pictures?)

Carter and Master Chief decided to draw on my whiteboard today, and who am I to say no!

Lake Union – Seattle

09. May 2012 · Write a comment · 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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