Showing posts with label WA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label WA. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Shooting with Gene
A couple Friday's ago, photo-bud-Gene and I went shooting. We started at the Edmonds ferry terminal and waterfront. It was raining the whole time so we eventually gave up and went to Pike's Place Market.
Snowflake Lane
At the Bellevue Square Mall on Bellevue Way in Bellevue, WA, there's an interesting 'show' that happens on the sidewalk most nights in December. It's called Snowflake Lane. They blast holiday music and dress up a bunch of 'young people' that either give you candy canes (whether you want them or not) walk around on stilts, or bang on drums along with the music. Kids seem to love it.
Anyway, I found out I know one of the drummers so I shot him. Twice. On a Monday and a Tuesday.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Backpacking Noble Knob and Lost Lake
I think Lost Lake was meant to stay lost. (It will always be lost among all the other thousands of lakes by the same name) Maybe it's not so bad from an easier direction? We stayed there after a rough 8 mile hike that took us past Noble Knob with a detour to George Lake when we ran out of water. The trail goes up and down along a ridge and the lakes are all at the bottom of the valleys. So we had a lot of elevation gain along the way.
We drove to the Corral Pass campsite on Friday afternoon and car camped for the night. In the morning we drove a few yards to the trail head parking lot and took off with our packs. The views of Mt. Rainier were great along the trail. Panoramic views from the Knob are fabulous (Beljica was better though). We saw three lakes from up there. The closest one had people all over and in it. We decided we didn't want to go there for the night. The next closest lake looked more brown than blue but we didn't see any people on it so we aimed for that one. Between the directions we had and the trail signs, or lack thereof, we ended up on the wrong trail which took us where we didn't want to go. Halfway there we could tell we were headed to the overcrowded lake but we couldn't stop because we were out of water. After discussing our options, we dropped the packs halfway to George Lake so we couldn't change our minds and stay there because we were too tired to keep going. We only took our water bottles, platypus and the filter. There were more people at the lake than we saw from the knob so we pumped water, drank it, pumped some more and left.
By then I was cranky and not looking forward to the 3 miles back up to the ridge and down the other side to the lake we hoped would have fewer people. Along the way C was nice enough to completely distract me from my complaining by asking questions about camera gear. She's so smart.
We found a nice large campsite at the north end of Lost Lake, dropped the packs and went swimming! It had been in the 80's or 90's all day so it really didn't matter how cold the water was. We've never gone swimming in an alpine lake before. But this one wasn't fed by glaciers (this time of year anyway) so it was reasonable.
While setting up the kitchen at our campsite that evening a fearless chipmunk appeared and was very interested in our chocolate. I thought it'd make some interesting photos so I put the whole bar on the ground and backed up to shoot him trying to open the wrapper. It was pretty dark by then so only a few worked.
It was still so hot when we went to bed that we had to pull the rain fly off the tent.
We got up and out really early because we were afraid of hiking up to the ridge in 80 degree heat. It was cloudy enough that we weren't too hot, but I was still sweating fat. And I managed to pull a back muscle lifting C's pack that morning.
The wild blueberries along the trail were delicious. And a cloudy Rainier is pretty photogenic.
It was a tough, but really good trip.
CLICK HERE FOR THE REST OF THE NOBLE KNOB PHOTOS
We drove to the Corral Pass campsite on Friday afternoon and car camped for the night. In the morning we drove a few yards to the trail head parking lot and took off with our packs. The views of Mt. Rainier were great along the trail. Panoramic views from the Knob are fabulous (Beljica was better though). We saw three lakes from up there. The closest one had people all over and in it. We decided we didn't want to go there for the night. The next closest lake looked more brown than blue but we didn't see any people on it so we aimed for that one. Between the directions we had and the trail signs, or lack thereof, we ended up on the wrong trail which took us where we didn't want to go. Halfway there we could tell we were headed to the overcrowded lake but we couldn't stop because we were out of water. After discussing our options, we dropped the packs halfway to George Lake so we couldn't change our minds and stay there because we were too tired to keep going. We only took our water bottles, platypus and the filter. There were more people at the lake than we saw from the knob so we pumped water, drank it, pumped some more and left.
By then I was cranky and not looking forward to the 3 miles back up to the ridge and down the other side to the lake we hoped would have fewer people. Along the way C was nice enough to completely distract me from my complaining by asking questions about camera gear. She's so smart.
We found a nice large campsite at the north end of Lost Lake, dropped the packs and went swimming! It had been in the 80's or 90's all day so it really didn't matter how cold the water was. We've never gone swimming in an alpine lake before. But this one wasn't fed by glaciers (this time of year anyway) so it was reasonable.
While setting up the kitchen at our campsite that evening a fearless chipmunk appeared and was very interested in our chocolate. I thought it'd make some interesting photos so I put the whole bar on the ground and backed up to shoot him trying to open the wrapper. It was pretty dark by then so only a few worked.
It was still so hot when we went to bed that we had to pull the rain fly off the tent.
We got up and out really early because we were afraid of hiking up to the ridge in 80 degree heat. It was cloudy enough that we weren't too hot, but I was still sweating fat. And I managed to pull a back muscle lifting C's pack that morning.
The wild blueberries along the trail were delicious. And a cloudy Rainier is pretty photogenic.
It was a tough, but really good trip.
CLICK HERE FOR THE REST OF THE NOBLE KNOB PHOTOS
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Seattle Waterfront
I took a walk around the Seattle waterfront on Black Friday with Rich. It was a good day for infrared. It was also a good day to watch this random guy play his guitar near the Pike's Place Market. He had a guitar in his hands, a harmonica around his neck, and some percussion bells around his ankle. And he managed to work a hula hoop the whole time. It got better (but I didn't get a picture), he turned his guitar upside down and balanced it on his chin (still working the hoop). Then he played it like that!! (while still working the hula hoop). Dang.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Sailing Lessons
I needed a break during my bike ride home from work because I thought I was going to die... just like I did on the way in. So I pulled over where the Seafair pits were a few weeks earlier and watched some kids work on their sailing skills. I had no idea sailing lessons could be so much fun. I'm not sure if they were doing this on purpose or not. But it sure made me want to take lessons. Eventually some dogs showed up and chased the birds around.
Click here to see the rest of my pictures from this event.
Click here to see the rest of my pictures from this event.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Wallace Falls
Wallace Falls is sweet! There are 3 levels to it. The first one is a mile down the trail. It's ok, kinda small, but not bad. There are sort of sub-falls below the one labeled "lower" that are probably more interesting. The middle fall is by far the coolest. It's the tallest of the three and has two fabulous sets of sub-falls below it. There's a really steep and treacherous path going from the lookout, with the sign that says you'll die if you leave the trail (my paraphrase), to the bottom. It's hard on the knees but totally worth it. Had I been only slightly more prepared I would have gone swimming. There's a deep section to the pool with some tall rocks on the edge that would make a great diving platform. I must go back and take advantage of that sometime soon. The upper falls are quite disappointing because the mile to get there is all switchback. And after all that effort it's not as exciting as the middle falls.
Anyway, it was a little too bright to get good blurry water shots this time. It seems that during the morning the falls are shadowed, but all afternoon they are at least partly lit by the sun. So the best time to shoot them would either be early morning or late evening.
Interesting facts: The trailhead starts at Wallace Falls State Park which is underneath massive buzzing powerlines, there are benches all along the trail, there is pretty good cell phone reception on the trail.
Click here to see the rest of my pictures from this hike.
Anyway, it was a little too bright to get good blurry water shots this time. It seems that during the morning the falls are shadowed, but all afternoon they are at least partly lit by the sun. So the best time to shoot them would either be early morning or late evening.
Interesting facts: The trailhead starts at Wallace Falls State Park which is underneath massive buzzing powerlines, there are benches all along the trail, there is pretty good cell phone reception on the trail.
Click here to see the rest of my pictures from this hike.
Monday, July 23, 2007
Digicam in Kirkland
I was around the Kirkland waterfront one evening when the light got pretty sweet. All I had on me was the new digicam and I wondered if I could pull of some half decent pictures with it. I did process these in Lightroom, but not too much.
Using the macro function does a nice job of blurring the background. It'd be hard to use that on people portraits though.
These were my favorites from that half hour with the digicam...
Using the macro function does a nice job of blurring the background. It'd be hard to use that on people portraits though.
These were my favorites from that half hour with the digicam...
Friday, June 22, 2007
Pete Lake Backpacking (retro post)
(retro post = out of chronological order, a.k.a. Jason's catching up)
On Memorial Day weekend C and I went backpacking. But it was too early in the season for off-roading in the corolla. We were headed to Hyas Lake but didn't make it because of all the snow still on the road.
In one spot I found a way to drive around the snow-blocked road only to find an even bigger pile of snow. I eased the car up to the edge of the snow to confirm it was too high and we'd just get stuck. About then some random guy comes running out of the woods where he and all his friends were partying to tell us that they'd never seen a car make it this far and that it only gets worse farther along.
C still wanted to ram the snow pile and not give up on the weekend. I eventually talked her out of it. It took about a half hour though. She doesn't give up easily. She claims she's going to bring a snow shovel next time and dig us a way through if she has to. We agreed to try a few other forest roads we passed on our way in.
It was late in the evening, when we finally found the trailhead to Pete Lake and decided to try it. There was plenty of snow on the trail, but gaiters weren't really necessary. We crossed a whole bunch of streams and rivers along the way. While still a mile short of the lake magic hour arrived. So C and I took advantage of the good lighting and shot a picture of each other without even stopping to take our packs off.
We had to walk to the far side of the lake before we found an available campsite. I think it was the best one.
The next day we got up really late and I walked around the lake to take a few pictures.
For being plan C or D, it turned out pretty well.
On Memorial Day weekend C and I went backpacking. But it was too early in the season for off-roading in the corolla. We were headed to Hyas Lake but didn't make it because of all the snow still on the road.
In one spot I found a way to drive around the snow-blocked road only to find an even bigger pile of snow. I eased the car up to the edge of the snow to confirm it was too high and we'd just get stuck. About then some random guy comes running out of the woods where he and all his friends were partying to tell us that they'd never seen a car make it this far and that it only gets worse farther along.
C still wanted to ram the snow pile and not give up on the weekend. I eventually talked her out of it. It took about a half hour though. She doesn't give up easily. She claims she's going to bring a snow shovel next time and dig us a way through if she has to. We agreed to try a few other forest roads we passed on our way in.
It was late in the evening, when we finally found the trailhead to Pete Lake and decided to try it. There was plenty of snow on the trail, but gaiters weren't really necessary. We crossed a whole bunch of streams and rivers along the way. While still a mile short of the lake magic hour arrived. So C and I took advantage of the good lighting and shot a picture of each other without even stopping to take our packs off.
We had to walk to the far side of the lake before we found an available campsite. I think it was the best one.
The next day we got up really late and I walked around the lake to take a few pictures.
For being plan C or D, it turned out pretty well.
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