April 28th, Day 118: Long Exposure of a Tree Trunk

Isaac and I went camping this “weekend” (ours, not yours!). We didn’t leave the house until 5:30ish on Sunday, because I had to work that day.

So, the sun was already on it’s way down when we finally got to our site and got everything all set up. It was cloudy, but hadn’t started raining yet (that came later, and in torrents!).

I looked up, and liking what I saw, sat down on a log to try and capture it.

*No tripods were harmed in the making of this photo, though maybe if I wasn’t lazy, they should have been!

March 27th, Day 86: Sweet Trillium

Isaac and I went up to Bridle Trails Park today to do a little hiking.

In related news, I found something very interesting today, while surfing good ol’ Facebook.

I found one of my very own photos, one that was taken last May, being used as the background image for a meme in a Facebook group.

I’ve contacted the page admin, asking them to remove the image. No one ever asked permission, I only happened across it by luck. I posted it watermarked, but on their meme it appears watermark free. Interesting stuff.

I’m not going to post the meme here, because it contains inappropriate language, but this is my photo, taken May 12, 2012 in Bellevue. If you click it it will link to their page and my photo. They still (24 hours later) haven’t taken down my picture.

(Feel free to comment/report to your heart’s content. I alone haven’t had much effect on them)

February 26th, Day 57: A Rose is a Still a Rose

I found this frozen rose bush on a walk with Toby today, and thought it was really beautiful. I played around with the black and white setting that my camera offers. Both of the following images are basically SOOC.

August 7th, photo of the day: China Lake

A lake oddly placed, one border of the park runs alongside Highway 16 through Tacoma.

However, from down at the lake shore it’s hard to comprehend how close to civilization you really are.

 

TED talks

Good Evening! (I can’t help thinking that in a Dracula voice.)

My dad found this site, TED.com, somehow, and recently he told me about it.

“TED is a nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading.”

To be honest, I didn’t check it out until he sent me a link off of the site at the beginning of this month.

This video is amazing, it’s called “the beauty of pollination” check it out for yourselves!

One from the archives, taken back in October on the drive back from my cousin's wedding in Vegas!

And then head over to Ted.com to see what else they have to offer!

They’re called “Indian Plum”

I’m so excited!

For those of you who follow this little blog, I have been taking a lot of photos recently of a certain budding plant, that, until today, I didn’t know the name of.

Well kids, today I found out it’s an “Indian Plum.”  Thank you Redmond Watershed Interpretative Displays! I’m looking forward to seeing them with fruit (and tasting it?)

Here are some Indian Plum photos, and a few others (including some more Chewie…):

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March 18: Chewie and I go for a stroll

Today’s challenge from Capture your 365 is “A mini figure.”

So, while Isaac ran around the Redmond Watershed Preserve today, Chewbacca and I took a walk.

Chewie strolls through the clovers

While he wasn’t much of a conversationalist, it was still a fun walk in the rain! :D

Extras

I’ve been enjoying playing with Photoshop lately. I want to look into classes on the subject, either online or in person, I’ll have to do a little research.

I am slowly figuring out a bit on my own; altering colors, adjusting contrast, and making collages (like the one below) but I have loads more I want to learn. I grew up playing on a computer, so all the typical stuff is like second nature, and I want to get to that point too with Photoshop.

Hurray for the trees!

Tall Trees

I love my new fisheye lens! I just got it for Christmas, and I’m still playing around with it, seeing what it can do.

I took this on the way up to Poo Poo Point yesterday. I was looking for ways to capture the blue sky for my daily photo challenge, but in the end I got this great shot for today.

My other favorite

Also, I just got my newest toy today, a set of Kenko extension tubes. I put them on my 18-55mm lens, but I can’t get it to focus. I think I read somewhere that they don’t automatically  focus with my camera body, a D5000. but I couldn’t get it to focus even on manual. I tried my 55-200 lens and they seem to work okay there…could there be something wrong with my 18-50 lens or is it just with the user? Any thoughts? Do you have extension tubes?

Poo Poo Point

Weird name, right? It’s origins are not what you think!

They used to log in the Tiger Mountain area, and ‘poo poo’ is the sound of the steam whistle they blew before starting to haul trees through the forest. I learned all about it at issaquahpress.com.

It was a beautiful day today, very spring-like! It was about 60 degrees when we started up the trail with me looking for something blue to photograph!

Near the top we got a great view of Mount Rainier, and from the point itself, we could see down into the valley where Lake Sammamish and the town of Issaquah sit, and beyond to Mt Baker!

View from the top

 

 

I found my blue subject at the very end, with this photo of lake Sammamish and the surrounding hills down in the valley. And the sky too, of course!