Two Gulls Looking North

This was taken at the DesMoines Marina about 10am Sunday 8/24/08 with a storm developing, rain arrived about 12:30 PM.

DesMoines Marina Club House

Basement Old Federal Building

This is the basement entrance to the old federal building in Seattle. Not much in the way of security. A chain with padlocks. Don't know what goes on in this building now since the new federal building just across first avenue has been in operation for over a decade. I remember going in this building once for an interview with my draft board in regard to my application for CO status. That was 38 years ago.

Power and Light [again]

Here is a new contribution to my power and light series. I like the architectural chaos evident here. Note that the distortion here is not a fault of the lens, the building really does sag in places and lines don't meet at right angles.

[F]ord with Two Plates

Went to the Thursday farmers market in Burien today. Nothing much happening but found some stuff to shoot in the neighborhood of Old Burien just north of 152nd behind Kirk's Feed Store. The man who owns these trucks pulled up in a 30 year old elcamino and chatted with me about his most exotic truck a '55 GMC 630 cab-over which I will post later.

Seattle Mystery Bookshop

I was standing at the north end of Pioneer Square bracing my camera against a tree or lamppost looking up First Ave when I took this shot.

The Heat

Saint with Roses

This is the second time I have shot this wall. Decided to give it another try. Need to have someone tell me what saint this is, a saint who guards the door to your business. This was taken Thursday August 31st in Old Burien, one of the side streets just off the main drag. I stopped in at several of the shops and chatted with the proprietors. Don't often drive down this street since it is a bottle neck created intentionally by the city 'planners' and the traffic backs up several blocks from the light.

Abstract

I have been running dry on subject matter so I end up shooting stuff like this.

Photo on Demand

This man walked up while I was busy taking photos on 136th and Ambaum, trying to ignore a noisy altercation that was developing between a woman and some of her associates, involving her screaming and yelling and walking out into heavy traffic and truck tires screeching and blue smoke, and then the whole business moved across the street to the 24 hour store and then this man walks up and wants me to take his photo so I said, "stand over there" and took one shot and let him look at it and he was pleased and walked away.

After I got home and looked at the photo it seemed to have some merit, so I am posting it.

Bean Counter - Pike Place

This is a traditional produce stand at the Pike Place market. The vendor was placeing the green beans one at a time which struck me as a rather labor intensive approach.

Off Kingstreet

Winter morning light on third avenue just north of the Kingstreet Station in Seattle.

Six Plates

This was taken from a stairway that leads from Elliot Ave down to Alaskan Way. There is a seafood restaurant at the foot of the stairs.

Blue and Pink - Fourth of July Parade

When I go to a parade (once every decade or two) the people watching are the focus of my attention not the stuff going past on the street. This was taken yesterday in Burien Washington at the Fourth of July parade.

Two Bicycles

The same hot evening up on First Ave near the Market. Lots of people on the street.

Red and Green

More photos from a hot night downtown about sundown near the Market. This one was taken up on First Ave.

Sunday Evening at the Market

It had dropped below 90f when I took this photo about half an hour before sunset. It was still very warm and there wasn't much wind. I could have color corrected this to remove the yellow red cast but I wanted it to look like I saw it.

Pulling the Grade

This was taken late in the afternoon, just up the hill half a block from the Pike Place Market. This street is original equipment. Still paved with cobble stones (not in photo) and it is steep. When I was a teenager our family brought my fathers brother and his family to see the market in his chevy station wagon. We were going down one of these steep streets to the market when brakes failed and the emgergency brake was worthless. My uncle yelled no brakes to clear the sidewalk as we carened into an allyway. Close shave. Otherwise we would have gathered some speed before crashing into the market and killing who knows how many people.

Facing the Wall

Just around the corner from Box Office after the Matinee crowd had dispersed. The hero of Box Office experiences a quiet moment alone.

Work Boats

This was taken at Bell Harbor from the observation deck, a view point which is a favorite with local photographers and tourists alike. These boats look to me like they are together. The fishing boat with several net boats.

This was developed in Lightroom 2.0 beta using the target adjustment tool to balance the values and curves to adjust the contrast. It was resized and sharpened in PSE6.

Parka

Another image from my last Belltown shoot.

Two Stadiums

This was developed twice in ACR4.3.1. Once for the clouds and once for the stadiums and ferry. The cloud layer was masked using a gradient layer. Then each layer was converted using two Hue&Sat layers (four total) with the top layer desaturated and the bottom Hue&Sat layer in color mode using the hue slider to adjust how the grays were rendered. Then a levels layer was added to both cloud layer and the other layer to adjust contrast and white and black end points. All told there were nine layers before the image was merged, straitened, resized, sharpened and framed. The basic technique is describe in Mark Galer's Adobe PSE Maximum Performance pages 116-119.

Cloud Over Fort Lawton

Old photo new treatment using PSE6 Mac b&w conversion to simulate a red filter. This image is a little over cooked. The wall on the building is blown, the shadows in the tress too dark. The jpeg for the web didn't look as good as the tiff in PSE6. May work this up again later when I have time.

View from Pike Place

Box Office

The box office at the Moore Theater in Seattle.

After the Matinee

This was taken in just around the corner from the Moore Theater on 2nd & Pine in Seattle.

Against the Crowd

I could tell you what is going on here but I would rather let the viewer supply their own story for this photograph. It was taken in Pioneer Square on Sunday evening about between six and seven pm.

waiting to cross

Not a Tourist

Pioneer square, saturday evening waiting for the bus. This guy was born to be photographed. I gave him a through working over shooting from both sides of the street. Will post more of him later.

Berth Number One

Went down to Pioneer Square to shoot tourists late this afternoon and after getting my fill of that I walked down to the ferry terminal and did some shooting from there. This was taken from the water end of the terminal looking south.

Man Walking at Low Tide

This was taken a yesterday during a sunbreak. Camera data: E-500 ISO 100, 14-54ZD at 14mm f7.1 1/320th. The raw image was developed in ACR4.4.

Crow's Nest

10th Avenue

Spring 2008

April is the cruelest month, breeding lilacs out of the dead land, mixing memory and desire, stirring dull roots with spring rain. The Waste Land - T.S. Eliot 1922

Harbor Island

Green Wall - White Center

This was taken in White Center same location and time as June's Market.

June's Market - White Center

Went down on the lower Duwamish River today to shoot birds. The tide was in and the birds were all out on the island several hundred yards away. They looked like dust spots in the the viewfinder at 300mm. So to keep from wasting my trip I went up the hill and came back through White Center. This was taken one street west of the main drag just south of Roxbury.

Reading

Another "life imitates art" shot. This time it is Thomas Eakins I have in mind but it could just as well have been Edward Hopper.

This is the plaza between Jackson and Yesler just east of 1st Av. The woman has just finished her lunch. The light falling on the paper bag is nice. I took perhaps 20 exposures of her over a period about about fifteen minutes.

I am speculating that this woman is Scandinavian but I can be fooled. She could also be Russian but I doubt it. Something about her hair and her clothing says Scandinavia. If she were a native of Seattle she would not be sitting alone in this plaza to eat her lunch. She would know better. Even with the police and neighborhood patrol crawling all over the place this is no place for a woman to be eating lunch alone.

The bicycle cops had just left when I started taking photos of her. I may post some shots of the cops and other people eating lunch later.

Like a Rolling Stone

Bluff - Fort Lawton Jan 27, 2008

802 - Fort Lawton Jan 27, 2008

This was taken three years after Mark Toby at the same location in the same season with the same sort of light but a different camera and lens. The camera an e510 with a 70-300mm ZD at 300mm. Mark Toby was taken with a Lumix FZ20. Mark Toby

Blue Ferry

NoSmoking #2

Here is a shot taken just off the railroad tracks in the south end, this tank is used to store oxygen which I suspect it is used to cut steel with. Took this with the vintage e500 and the 14-54mm ZD. For some reason I decided to go with B&W on this one. The pattern of the fence and barbwire against the tank and pipes appealed to me, something from Marshall McLuhan "information brushed against information" I read forty years ago in the summer of 1968.

The Shoot - Fort Lawton Jan 27, 2008