December 30th - Reflections in a Mud Puddle

Walking home from town today the sky cleared up for a bit and I saw the sky and trees as I looked down.
1/200th sec. f/7.1 iso 400

December 29th - Guitarheads

The guitars actually let me take their photo without the kids!

(yes - I'm running out of ideas....)

1/250th sec. f/11 iso 200

December 28th - Kids

My kids actually let me take a photo of them without their guitars.
1/250th sec. f/11 iso 200

December 27th - Another Birthday

Once again it's birthday time. This time it's Courtney's 15th! My how time flies. It doesn't seem all that long ago she was a brand new baby. But she'll always be my baby. Happy Birthday Corts!
1/6th sec. f/4.5 iso 800

December 26th - Did Someone Say 50?

It's another "50" day today. Happy Birthday Lance! Hoping you had a great day!
1/10th sec. f/4.2 iso 800

December 25th - Lens Envy

Eric and Lance have recently posted videos showing how they achieve some cool results in-camera with some pretty simple materials. Not wanting to be outdone, I too have now made a video. However, I don't have the right lens for it so to compensate, I need to make a much more precise cutout in my paper, something which is difficult to achieve with ordinary run of the mill hobby tools.

December 24th - Briggs Lake

We had lunch today with my folks followed by a nice walk up to Briggs Lake. It was a beautiful day to be outside with not a breath of wind on the lake.
1/125th sec. f/5.6 iso 200

December 23rd - Chocolates

Shannon got these from a co-worker whose boyfriend has a business on Lopez Island making chocolates. Check out Orpheus Chocolates if you'd like to see more. They look delicious but we're not dipping in til Christmas.
1/80th sec. f/8 iso 200

December 22nd - Bokeh Bandwagon Not

My original plan for today's post was to jump on the bandwagon and do a photo like Eric or Lance. But I didn't have much luck. I'm thinking I need a wider aperture lens, or more precise cuts than I can do with a utility knife and my limited amount of patience. So maybe some time in the near future I'll do better, but for now, it's just Shannon and me with a nice quiet evening at home, and a few somewhat out of focus Christmas lights in the background.
1/10th sec. f/7 iso 200

December 21st - Winter Solstice

This is a piece of hanging stained glass art that Shannon's sister Marnie made for us as a wedding gift. I'm not showing the entire thing here (it has chains hanging down with more pieces of colored glass) but rather I'm showing the top part with a strobe illuminating it from behind. Today is our 6 month Anniversary so I thought I'd do a photo fitting the occasion.
1/250th sec. f/11 iso 200

December 20th - Family Portrait

It's family portrait time again! Had a great time doing these shots even though I forgot my tripod! (note to self: remember that checklist you made...? Use it next time, will ya?) Luckily these guys were very forgiving and we got some great shots without the tripod. Even the dog had fun.
1/125th sec. f/5.0 iso 200

December 19th - Chocolate Mouse

Oh I love to eat them mousies
Mousies what I love to eat
Bite they little heads off
Nibble on they tiny feet

1/160th sec. f/6.3 iso 400

December 18th - Refinery Redux

Thinking about it after last night's post, I thought I'd try to get a daylight shot today, and sure enough as I pulled into work at my client's office, I saw a pretty nice sunrise, so I got some shots of it. But then, driving home tonight, I saw the refinery lights reflecting on the bay and I thought one more night shot wouldn't hurt. This looks much better than my sunrise from this morning.
13 sec. f/18 iso 100

December 17th - Lights Again

Here's another nighttime photo. It can be kind of diffu- diffa- hard to get a daytime shot this time of year. These are the holiday decorations at a park in downtown Kent.
6 sec. f/22 iso 200
(that diffu - diffa - hard thing there was from a Dennis the Menace comic book back in the 70's. Thanks Hank! To this day I still chuckle remembering things out of that book...)

December 16th - Seattle Skyline

- Note: - If you had trouble with this image earlier, try hitting your Reload or Refresh button on your browser. I've fixed it now. Thanks -

I've been wanting to do a shot like this for a long time, and I finally found a great location for it. I shot this on my way to the hotel tonight. I'd like to try again a little earlier in the evening before it gets quite this dark. So now that I have the right location, the right timing will be my next goal. (FYI - that's a jetliner headed for Seatac Airport flying over the Space Needle)
6 sec. f/9 iso 200

December 15th - More Portraits

These are the 2 children of a wonderful family I had a portrait session with. Sometimes they can be quite a handful when they're this young but we got some great shots I think. This is one of my favorites.
1/125th sec. f/7.1 iso 200

December 14th - Not Much to Look At

It doesn't look too good from the outside, but it sure feels a lot better on the inside! Holy cow what a difference this little project made on the temperature in the garage. Now the little space heater doesn't run constantly, and it's actually quite pleasant in there. And yes it was pleasant a few days ago too while still freezing outside and before I put the final boards up.
(oh and because it is not much to look at, and it was shot on such a gray day, I went ahead and messed with the color and saturation in photoshop to make the image a little more interesting)
1/125th sec. f/3.5 iso 400

December 13th - Alleyway

We had our 3rd photo club meeting today down at the Naked Bean coffee house. As I was leaving, I went to unleash the dog and I saw this view down the alley and something struck me about it (maybe the perspective?) so I shot a few frames. One thing I would do to improve this if I remember next time is, move to the right about one step so the line on the tile looks vertical in the photo.
1/125th sec. f/3.5 iso 400

December 11th - Framing

It's been pretty freaking c-c-cold out lately... And in! The boys room is now the garage and it's not insulated very well with the drafts coming from that garage door. So we decided to do something about that today... This is Cody helping me frame it in.
1/80th sec. f/3.5 iso 400

December 10th - Spring Street

This is our town late in the evening after everyone has gone home. And well with holiday decorations too. It doesn't always look like this.
5 sec. f/16 iso 400

December 9th - Chester is Safe

We figure Chester is probably safe now - at least for the Winter. Next Spring we'll probably get the kayaks down, and then he'll need to be careful again.
0.6 sec. f/3.5 iso 200

December 8th - Orion

It's that time of year again. Orion, The Pleiades, Taurus. I always remember my astronomy class at Western Washington University when I see Orion. One of my favorite college classes.
2 sec. f/1.4 iso 800

December 7th - Holiday Lights

This is one of the contestants in our town's holiday decorating contest.
3 sec. f/16 iso 400

December 6th - Holidays

This is the same place but shot at a different time of night with different settings and closer viewpoint
6 sec. f/22 iso 400

December 2nd - Chester in the Sun

The sun was shining through the kitchen window this afternoon and when Chester walked through our dimly lit hallway I just had to get a photo of him. Of course, by the time I grabbed the camera he had moved, and then, well if you've ever tried to get a dog to "stand like you were a minute ago"...you'd understand. Anyway, this came out pretty good but I wish I'd had the camera when I first saw him there. I also wish I would have had something for some fill light, but I wanted to get this before the sun moved too much.
1/640th sec. f/1.4 iso 200

December 1st - Moonrise

A friend of mine asked me to go shoot the moon for him today so off I went to see what I could do. I borrowed a camera with a 200mm lens because my 105mm doesn't quite pull it in (although as it turned out, I could have done this shot with mine). I was using a borrowed Canon which I'm unfamiliar with. When I got there I was surprised at how cold it was outside. So being very cold and unable to make the camera do a few things I wanted it to, I fired away for a few minutes before giving up and jumping in the car and cranking the heat. This photo is processed a bit in photoshop to bring out the color of the sky (but not too much) and also includes a 2nd shot of the moon at a better exposure showing more detail. The original moon in this one was a solid white area with all the features blown out.
Main photo - 1/60th sec. f/5.6 iso 400
Moon photo - 1/500th sec. f/8 iso 400 (This is what I needed the borrowed lens for)

November 30th - Berries and Droplets

I went and caught myself a head cold last week sometime, and it's been pretty miserable but I think today I'm finally starting to feel better. Anyhow, that's my excuse and I'm sticking with it as to why I didn't post a picture (AGAIN!) for yesterday. However, I did manage to shoot a picture yesterday, I just never got around to posting. It poured rain in the morning and then the sun came out briefly and I saw all these drops of water hanging on the bushes over the back fence so that's what you're seeing here.
1/640th sec. f/4.5 iso 200

November 30th - Saddened about what I saw last night

Well I think I figured out what the lights were that I saw last night (that was in my post yesterday). Judging by the map on this page, and the news story on this page, I'm guessing I saw flares that were part of an after-dark search and rescue operation for the victims of a crashed float plane on Saturna Island in Canada's Gulf Islands. I feel very humbled that my excitement and curiosity turned out to be something so tragic for the people on that plane and their families. My heart goes out to them...

November 29th - Speedo

OK, I thought that title might get your attention... Anyways. This post is not about the photo today. It's about those crazy lights in the sky to the north. Can anyone (locals) tell me what I saw way up north tonight from the ferry between 8:00 and 9:00? Looked like it must have been up Northwest of Waldron or maybe even the Gulf Islands. At first it looked like emergency flares from a boat (the kind with little parachutes) that drift slowly down, down, down... but they would have had to have been HUGE and way high altitude for that (given the apparent distance involved). Kinda orange-yellow in color, very bright... I remember seeing on a nautical chart years ago, some kind of military area up in Georgia Strait near Texada Island. I wonder if this was some kind of military exercise??? Anyway, if you can tell me what they were I'd sure appreciate it - my inquiring mind wants to know!

About the photo - This is our Toyota 4Runner. Shot this right when I got home. That's how many miles I drove today on the trip meter, and the odometer is how many miles the thing has driven all told....since the rollover. Yes, we rolled the odometer once already. This thing just keeps going. Gotta love Toyota.
1/5th sec. f/4.2 iso 400

November 28th - Chester the Splash

Whoops. Here it is Sunday and I missed a photo again. Been a busy weekend with family here and all and me not feeling too well with a head cold. Anyway, here's one more shot from the other day. Not to be outdone by Sheba, Chester splashed through a big puddle for the camera.
1/125th sec. f/5.6 iso 400

November 27th - Sheba the Streak

Here it is Saturday and I just realized I never did a photo for yesterday so this is from the walk the day before. This is Eric's family's dog Sheba one of the many times she streaked past.
1/20th sec. f/3.8 iso 400

November 26th - A Grand Day Out

After a good meal today the whole family went out for a nice walk in some nice clear November weather. The wind calmed and the rain gone, we had a great time. I shot 48 photos and this is the 48th one.
1/10th sec. f/4.5 iso 800

November 25th - Macbook Pro x 4

T'was the night before Thanksgiving and all through the house, nothing was stirring, because we forgot our mice and used the trackpads instead.
1/100th sec. f/1.4 iso 800

November 24th - Mt. Vernon Station

While waiting for the train this morning to take Shannon's dad to Portland, I wandered around taking snaps of whatever caught my eye. This one is the winner for today.
1/800th sec. f/1.4 iso 400

November 23rd - Les, Shannon and Cody

Les is going home tomorrow (well after a Thanksgiving in Portland) so we thought we'd try for a 3 generation family portrait. Luckily the rain let up for a bit and I was able to get these 3 to step outside for a few moments and we got this nice image of them.
1/200th sec. f/1.4 iso 400

November 22nd - Final Approach

"What's our vector Victor?" "One-niner-five, over" "Roger!" "Huh?"
1/1000th sec. f/1.4 iso 800

November 21st - Dining Room

Here's another room in the house for sale.
1/60th sec. f/8 iso 400

November 20th -Perspective

Not too many people on the late ferry tonight. Good chance for me to get a photo without bothering anyone. Snuck this one in at the last minute, right before we arrived at Friday Harbor.
1/40th sec. f/3.5 iso 400

November 19th - Overhead Walkway

This is the overhead pedestrian bridge at Kent Station. You can go up a few flights of stairs to get to it, or take an elevator. Or just walk over to where the street crosses the RR Tracks and use the crosswalk. But I think the overhead would be more fun. Probably a good place to watch a train go by.
1/4th sec. f/8 iso 400

November 18th - It's a coming...

...She's gonna blow...
...With the next shift of the tide...
Yep. It blew today. Gusts to sixty-five according to weather station at Smith Island. This was shot in the "protected" waters of San Juan Channel. That's Turn Rock Light in the foreground, and the South end of San Juan Island in the background. We ended up taking the storm route to Anacortes - over the North sides of Blakely and Cypress Islands. When I got to my hotel I checked the news and saw that they cancelled 2 ferry runs tonight because of high winds and heavy seas. My favorite part is when the whole ferry shakes and shudders when getting pummeled by the waves. Kinda puts things in perspective...
1/125th sec. f/1.4 iso 400

November 17th - The Living Room

I had a photo gig this afternoon shooting an interior of a home for sale. This is the living room. What a great house - I love that stained glass by the entry door! I'll be back shooting some more tomorrow.
1/4th sec. f/7.1 iso 200

November 16th - Old School

This was the state of the art when I studied graphic design back in the late 80's. With these markers, you could make fat lines OR thin lines! Way cool.

And I'm killing two birds with one stone again: 1- Getting a daily photo, and 2- Making another comparison with this 50mm prime lens I rented. I wanted to see the difference in sharpness between this lens and my 28-105mm zoom. This image is of 2 photos, one shot with my zoom lens layered over the other in photoshop with some holes in it so the layer below (shot with the rental lens) can show through. I don't see a whole lot of difference...
1/125th sec. f/16 iso 200

November 15th- The Facilities

OK, this is the 2nd time I've shot public restrooms at night. I promise I'm not stalking them or anything; I guess I like the lighting and the architecture. For today's post I would have preferred a good shot of my ferry ride home which was only a few hours after Eric shot this photo, but the best one I came up with didn't quite measure up to my high standards. So it's restrooms at night again...
1/30th sec. f/1.4 iso 400

November 14th - Drywall

I know this image isn't very interesting to anyone outside our family, but for us it's huge. We finally got this part of the project almost done and will now be able to put energy into other things. Very happy to have that insulation covered up!
1/5th sec. f/6.3 iso 400

November 13th - Depth of Field Comparison

I got a 50mm Prime lens from rentglass.com and thought I'd see how some real narrow D.O.F. compares with real wide D.O.F. The image on the left was shot at f/1.4, the one on the right stopped all the way down to f/16.
1/60th sec. f/1.4 iso 400 and 1/15th sec. f/16 iso 400

November 12th - Got Giant Leap?

Tonight's image is a classic example of it's late, I'm tired, and I need a photo for the day. This is another area of our remodel that could use a giant leap like yesterday. I'm hoping that this will be finished soon, but so was not the case today.
1/15th sec. f/4 iso 400

November 11th - Sawzall

Today our remodel project took a giant leap forward - (we won't be done until about 38 more giant leaps forward, but eh.. this was good today) anyway, today we got our new patio doors installed. We replaced a low quality sliding glass door with a beautiful set of French Doors that will open out onto the patio. This is one of the installers getting ready to make some more noise with his Sawzall. (Raw file 3.5 stops underexposed with photoshop)
1/60th sec. f/4 iso 400

November 10th - Sweet Seventeen

My son is 17 years old today. Happy Birthday TJ! Hope you're having a great day!
1/13th sec. f/4.2 iso 400

November 9th - The Ripple Effect

Kind of abstract image for today. This is the water down at the port docks. I had to turn the camera to fill the viewfinder with nothing but water. Otherwise the dock I was standing on was in the lower right of the frame. So - turned the camera, then bumped up the saturation and contrast with photoshop.
1/180th sec. f/7.1 iso 400

November 8th - Diver Down

Today was the 2nd meeting of our newly-forming photo club, and this time we actually got outside and did some shooting. It was a fun, informal group walking around taking pictures of stuff down at the port docks. I shot this one at the bottom of Spring Street, and somehow it was my favorite from this outing. If you're wondering why I titled it "Diver Down", click here.
1/350th sec. f/3.8 iso 400

November 7th - Rainbow

Good thing I went out in the rain this afternoon and shot a few attempts on this rainbow, because here it is 11:30 and this is all I got for today. I had to pump up the vibrance and saturation in Lightroom to get the rainbow to show up better.
1/500th sec. f/11 iso 200

November 6th - Kitchen Floor

We're in the slow process of remodeling (which, you may already know that if you've been following this blog), anyhow today we finally picked out some floor coverings we're going to order - tile for entryway and kitchen, and carpet to replace the old stuff. This is how our kitchen floor looks now. Nuthin' but a big slab of concrete. I'm gonna kinda miss it - this is about as low maintenance as you can get...
1/15th sec. f/3.5 iso 400