April Calendar

Here's my April Calendar.

April 30th - Sigma

No time for playing today. Almost missed my photo too. Shot this real quick right before midnight. This is my new (used) wide-angle lens.
1/125th sec. f/20 iso 800

April 29th - Fire and Ice

Just playing with strobes and gels. After last night's photo, I thought I'd better get a little more creative tonight.
1/125th sec. f/16 iso 200

April 28th - Hostess Family Reunion

This has to be one of the worst photos I've shot all year, but I'm outta time. This is the Hostess family reunion - more on that later. For now this is it...
1/20th sec. f/4 iso 800

April 27th - Liquid Blue

Well I'm getting there, but man I'm impatient! This still isn't quite how I want it but it's a big improvement over my first attempt. I just need to s-l-o-w d-o-w-n, take some deep breaths and make a better set-up probably. Of course having a bit more time would help too.
1/125th sec. f/8 iso 400

>>>Edit - Couldn't stand it... I had to do some more in photoshop. Got rid of the annoying reflection at top left and straightened it. Wasn't quite level before.

April 26th - Ready for Launch

I've got a feeling there's going to be a few more dandelions before long. Our theme this week is "Family" and I waited until the last minute (Tim who?) and ended up with no time to set anything up. And now Shannon's off to work, Cody's busy, my kids are with their mom, my truck won't start, my dog... Wait, wait, now I'm starting to sound like a country song. Let's just say, IOU a "Family" shot.
1/30th sec. f/4.5 iso 400

April 25th - LPJ's

Doing this daily photo blog, I find that I'm constantly looking for things to photograph, and now with Springtime in full bloom, I see flowers everywhere, so I've been kinda shooting a lot of them. Today is no exception. Previously I've done daffodils, I've done Tulips (although haven't posted any yet as I'm not happy with how they came out). I've even done a dandelion. Today, it's LPJ's. Little Purple Jobs. Shot these with my macro lens. They're only about 3/8" accross (that's roughly 9mm for all you overseas people).
1/2000th sec. f/5 iso 200

April 24th - King for a Day

OK, this might be a stretch, but I thought maybe I could make a weed look glamourous. Kind of like all this Dandelion's cousins - the beautiful Daffodils, the gorgeous Tulips, the ever popular Rose - all those other popular, beautiful flowers. They get all the breaks. Poor dandelions get poisoned, trampled, yanked out by their roots. Maybe today this one will get a taste of what it's like to be admired for a change. (yeah I'm an old softy - always pullin' for the underdog...)
1/2000th sec. f/5.6 iso 400

April 23rd - Rings Around the Cross

Shannon and I went back to the graveyard tonight, but we didn't see any living gargoyles (or undead gargoyles), or anything at all climbing around on the steeple like I did the other night. Good thing too because we forgot to take the Twinkie along. Anyway, I was able to get a 30 minute exposure of star trails. (At least I think it was 30 minutes... I didn't hear a click when I came back to the camera to close the shutter). Anyway, this is the result of tonight's outing.
30 min. f/8 iso 200

>>> Oh and earlier the power was out. I wasn't sure if it would come back on, so I asked Eric to put up a placeholder for me. That's why the post said the Electricity thing earlier...

April 22nd - Earth Day!

Finally, it's Part 2 in my "What's Wrong With This Picture" series... only been about 6 weeks since Part I. Anyway, in honor of Earth Day, I thought it was about time to get on this. These are the contents of a grocery bag after a trip to the store. So study the photo (maybe click on it to see the large version) and try to see how many things just don't add up especially considering it's Earth Day! I found 10. (but then I put them all in there intentionally too, so I kind of have the upper hand). Anyway, see how many you can find, leave me a comment, and then if you want to see my 10, click here.
1/125th sec. f/5.6 iso 400

April 21st - My Dead iPod

It's a sad, sad day. My iPod died. I can't get it to work. I've tried all the fixes on Apple's support site and nothing. It's a high tech paper weight that whirrs and clicks. But it served me well for 5 years or so.
1/25th sec. f/4.5 iso 800

April 20th - Barefootin'

Sometimes it's really tough to come up with a photo idea and at those times it's good to have family members weigh in with their ideas. Tonight Shannon came up with this one. It's based on a similar one we shot on Waikiki Beach last year.
1/6th sec. f/8 iso 800

April 19th - The Heebie Jeebies

Our theme this week is "Spiritual Ground" and I struggled with it all week, not having any idea what to do. But today I thought a nice peaceful shot of the local cemetery might do it. That's spiritual, right? It would probably be more peaceful at night, so that's what I decided. I know, I know... it sounds scary, but hey, I'm a man. I'm 46 years old. I can watch scary movies and not freak out. It's only a graveyard. I don't believe in ghosts. So off I went after dark to see what I could shoot. "I" as in, "me". Alone. By myself. As in, "nobody went with me". (well Chester went but he had to stay in the car - they don't like dogs in graveyards. I guess they figure dogs might dig up a bone). So there I was taking a few shots, being careful not to step on any graves, and having a good time keeping my imagination in check. I looked up at the steeple, and I thought if I moved around to the other side, I could align it with the north star and maybe get some star trails revolving around the cross. (Did I mention I was there with nobody else?) So I went around to the other side of the chapel (or church or whatever it is) and was getting the cross aligned, when I heard a horrible scratching sound. (My first thought was, OK, my imagination is not in check, so check on that will ya?) I checked, and nope, it's REAL SOUND! I'm not kidding. (and the hair on the back of my neck just stood up when I typed that). I looked up, and there on the steeple (jeez, I have goosebumps now!) was something crawling around to the side facing me. And I'm serious by the way, I'm not kidding about this. Then I heard raspy, gasping breathing from up there. It was freakin' wierd, man. That raspy breathing was too much - I didn't stay to investigate. Instead I blew out of there PDQ. Now that I'm home safe (assuming nothing followed me), I'm thinking maybe it was a raccoon. Are raccoons strong enough or are their claws sharp enough that they could crawl around on a near-vertical steeple? Or could it have been an owl maybe? But what would breathe like that..... It gives me the heebie jeebies just thinking about it.
20 sec. f/3.5 iso 800

And yes, I think this is the longest 365 post I've seen yet....

April 18th - Lime Kiln Light

Courtney and I rode bikes again today. This time partially circumnavigating the island for a total 23 miles. We stopped to eat some carbs at Whale Watch Park, and I grabbed a few frames. This shot of Lime Kiln Lighhouse was captured about 100 yards or so south of where my Lime Kiln Rocks photo was shot last week.
1/320th sec. f/9 iso 200

April 17th - Southern Exposure

I got all the way down to Jackson's Beach to take some night shots when I realized I'd forgotten my fully charged battery. The one in the camera had been very busy earlier today, so I cut this exposure short at 10 minutes. I wanted to go about 30 minutes, and I will one of these nights. Anyway, this is Griffin Bay at about 11:00 PM tonight. The original image out of the camera looked like this, but I used Photoshop to make it more realistic. (I don't know where all that yellow came from in the original).
10 minutes f/5.6 iso 800

>>> EDIT: Ooops. This was ISO 800 not 200 so I just corrected that typo.

April 16th - Kent Station

Downtown Kent sure looks nice down by the train station. I'm working here for a couple days, so I thought I'd go shoot an urban twilight scene. I lived in Kent 10 years ago and it's not changed a whole lot but this place by the train station sure is different from the vacant lots and abandoned buildings that were here before. Makes me want to commute to work on the train. Is this urban revitalization?
0.3 sec f/14 iso 800

April 15th - Couple of Pints

Isn't it nice to watch the ferry when you don't have to hurry and catch it? Shannon pointed that out when she and I went out for a quart tonight - (well OK, a couple of pints). We had a nice hour or so with just the two of us. The new place down by the ferry dock is pretty nice. And they have one of the best views in town!
Shot with available light
1/40th sec. F/5 iso 800

April 14th - Shannon and Chester

This is Shannon wearing her Tuque. Neither she nor I had ever heard that word before today. Once again, not a lot of time. I wish I hadn't put the strobe on the backdrop, but too late. It's almost midnight! Look at what a spazz Chester is being! LOL. (I think maybe the strobes freak him out).
1/250th sec. F/8 iso 800

April 13th - Purple & Gold

It's getting late and I want to shoot something. (good thing everyone's reading that in the context of a photo a day, huh?) Anyway, no real ideas today, been pretty busy. But I wanted to try something a little bit creative, so here's this experiment. This is the window shade in my office that was behind the glasses in the shot R/G/B that I did last month. Strobe with purple gel at top pointing down; strobe with gold gel at bottom pointing up. Purple & Gold - my high school colors.

But now my eyes hurt after looking through eighteen versions of this to pick the right one...

1/250th sec. F/16 iso 800

April 12th - Surf's Up

This morning on the boat was a cold, wet miserable day in paradise. Well... all the above except miserable. We had a good time and a great weekend. Today was a little wet and windy though for getting any more wildlife shots. So this photo was taken through the windshield of the boat as we slogged our way back down San Juan Channel this morning. Very wet outside but we were comfy and warm inside.
1/500th sec. F/9 iso 800

April 11th - Big Glass Weekend

My dad, my brother and I took the boat out hunting wildlife with cameras for the weekend. Eric rented some big lenses for each of us and we got a taste of what you can pull in with a huge lens. I now have a healthy respect for the big glass - I was quite humbled by how careful you need to be to make sure you get a sharp image. Most of what I shot didn't turn out very well because of motion blur caused by high magnification, but I did get a few salvageable shots. This is one of them - it's a shot of an extremely rare winged creature found along shorelines. It's called a seagull.
2500th sec. F/5.3 iso 800

April 10th - One Hundred

I don't know about you, but it looks to me like Ben here doesn't approve of something. Look at that expression. What do you suppose he's thinking?
Anyway, our theme this week is "One Hundred" and it seemed fitting to post this today rather than waiting until Sunday because today is the 100th day of 2009. Wow almost 1/3 of the way through the year already!
1/8th sec. F/4.5 iso 200

Also, I'm kinda rushed - getting ready to head out for a few days - so Tune in Monday for the Twinkie photo. (it probably won't look any different between now and then anyway....)

April 9th - Lime Kiln Rocks

I took the fluffy one to Lime Kiln State Park on the west side tonight chasing after a sunset, but it didn't turn out to be much. Instead, I turned around and thought I'd try to get the Madrona trees on the point. This was shot just after sunset and it was quite a bit darker than it appears here because of the 5-second exposure. I like how the water takes on a surreal look from a long exposure like this, even allowing the rocks to show through the surface better than you would see if you were standing there yourself.
5 sec. F/22 iso 200

April 8th - A Model Canine

Tonight it was Chester's turn to be in the spotlight again. (well... strobelight really). Does he look a little confused? I think that's because I was telling him to get ON the furniture.
1/250th sec. F/8 iso 400

April 7th - A Model Citizen

It's not always easy to find people who are willing to put up with my fussing and tweaking and adjusting and trial-and-erroring as I learn how to work the lights. But through a mutual friend, Mallory here heard that I was looking for people to practice portraits with. She just so happened to be interested in what it's like to be a model. So we had a photo shoot this afternoon. This was her first time modeling, and my first time shooting, well - a model! We had fun and got lots of great shots so it was difficult to choose just one. But this really stood out so it's my blog photo for today.
1/250th sec. F/11 iso 400

April 6th - Spring is in the Air

I saw these two bugs on my window this morning and I was a bit surprised they didn't spook and fly away when I shot this. I got right up close with my lens on Macro (they were on the outside of the window). Does anyone know what kind of bugs these are?
1/30th sec. F/20 iso 400

April 5th - The Daffodil Club

Driving home from the big city late this afternoon I passed a sea of yellow when I went through the Skagit Valley. This is where the tulips will be soon, but right now it's daffodils. Very impressive to see a whole field of yellow like this.
1/320th sec. F/4.5 iso 400

April 4th - The Wash Basin

I had the good fortune today to be able to shoot the interior of a very beautiful custom built home here on the island. I'm doing this to work on my technique and try to improve my lighting skills. One of my favorite shots from today was a surprise to me; and it's a room I almost didn't shoot. I was thinking: "Yeah right... the WASHROOM?" LOL "Come on! what up with that?", but I really liked the way the sun was coming in and lighting half of the wash basin, so I quickly grabbed my strobes, and here's what I came up with. To give you an idea of how the strobes helped the shot, look at this one where, by accident, the strobes didn't fire.
1/250th sec. F/7.1 iso 800

April 3rd - One by Three

This week's theme is 1 x 3 and I just barely got this up in time today! Phew!
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And if anyone's interested, the Twinkie just keeps on goin...

April 2nd - Repeat Offender

Normally I wouldn't go posting the same kind of photo twice in so many days, but guess what - The same pilot was buzzing around our airport again today. This time I caught him in the act.
1/250th sec. F/5.6 iso 800

April 1st - Fly By

Sorry for the low quality of tonight's post - I heard a rumble like thunder and looked outside just in time to see a 747 flying over our little airport. I grabbed my camera and was fortunate enough to snap off this shot before the jumbo jet was gone. I just wonder "what was that pilot thinking?"...

What do you think?

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