Wednesday, October 6, 2010

eye see you see me



Originally uploaded by bade_md

Spectacles in the International District, Seattle.

Yellowstone - Mammoth Hot Springs

A fellow photographer in front of the Mammoth Hot Springs really gives you some sense of scale for the surroundings.

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Mammoth Hot Springs

One of a few posts to come, this series is part of a recent trip to Yellowstone National Park towards the end of September. This series, shot at the Mammoth Hot Springs, was the first stop on our 1.5 day venture throughout the park. The stench of sulphur was almost immediate, as were the beautiful colors and intricate formations created from the geothermal activity. Unfortunately, these are not the hot springs to wade about in, as you would probably receive severe skin burns....too bad.



Thursday, September 2, 2010

San Juan Island

I went to San Juan Island at the end of August for a weekend visit with my parents. The ferry ride out was nice, as the ferry ride always is, and we arrived to a sunny island and instantly began touring. We headed out to the American Camp beach for a short while, then out to one of the lighthouses to see if any Orcas were passing by.....they weren't, or at least we didn't see them. We continued touring through Roche Harbor and then to see if Mona the camel was hanging about. We didn't see her at first so we headed to our hotel. The next morning we headed back towards Mona, where she lingered in the corner of her 'house', but her Alpaca friend did come up to the fence to say hello. We then departed on our whale watching tour, where we saw plenty of sea-fairing creatures, including Orcas, sea lions, seals, and porpoises. Pretty awesome! We returned on the ferry during the sunset and watched the colors change on Mt. Baker as we pulled in to Anacortes. Awesome trip!
Photo 1 - f/11 1/500 ISO 100 @ 155mm
Photo 2 - f/10 1/400 ISO 100 @ 300mm
Photo 3 - f/11 1/400 ISO 100 @ 70mm
Photo 4 - f/11 1/320 ISO 100 @ 15mm



Ballard Shipyards

I took my first, and long overdue, trip to the fisherman's market in Ballard for some dinner and to explore a bit. It was the evening, close to the sunset so the light was great. I want to go back soon in the very early morning to see the fisherman bringing in their catch!
Photo 1 - f/5 1/400 ISO 100 @ 14mm
Photo 2 - f/5 1/400 ISO 100 @ 10mm
Photo 3 - f/14 13 seconds ISO 100 @ 22mm - ND.9 filter
Photo 4 - f/14 20 seconds ISO 100 @ 18mm - ND.9 filter



Thursday, August 26, 2010

Snoqualmie Falls

A recent trip was taken to the Snoqualmie Falls with my parents with hopes of hiking to the bottom of the falls to check out the falls a bit more up close. Little did we know was that the whole hiking trail is now closed, and will remain closed for the next three years.....THREE YEARS!!! I understand a lot of things take time, but that seems a bit lengthy...who knows, though, it could be a more extreme project than I know! Anyways, the falls were nice, minus the cranes and general garbage at the top of them. I definitely want to go back here at winter once the mist has frozen onto the stone walls...that will be awesome!
Photo 1 - f/16 1 second ISO 100 @ 31mm - combo of ND filters used
Photo 2 - f/11 1/100 ISO 100 @ 70mm
Photo 3 - f/5 1/250 ISO 100 @ 157mm


Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Twin Harbors Camping

Recently a group of men went out to a campground for another installment of what we like to call 'ManCamp'. Twin Harbors was our destination, where such events as surfing, eating, and general manliness occurred. These photos were taken at our campsite through the implementation of some very long exposures, coupled with several headlamps and flashlights for added effect. Great weekend!


Monday, August 9, 2010

Opposites

So I didn't have to really 'wander' anywhere for these photos, except to the local grocery store for some food and props and then to my kitchen table for the actual shooting. These images are for an assignment revolving around the them of 'opposites and their common ground'. Sure there are some issues that I could have delved deeper into metaphorically, but with minimal time and overall resources, I decided to pursue a more humorous route, and thus the emergence of the food-related battles came to mind: Mustard vs. Ketchup, Peanut Butter vs. Jelly, and Spoon vs. Fork. Feras and I had quite a bit of fun with all of them!
All images used an off-camera flash for lighting support.



Sunday, August 1, 2010

San Diego

I recently took a trip to San Diego, and though it isn't technically part of the Northwest, I am still going to upload a few images! I went to visit my best friend, Adam, for a short vacation and to lounge around on the beaches for a couple of days. The weather and the company was great, not to mention the California burritos which I can never seem to eat enough of. That, and the In-n-Out Burger!
Photo 1 - f/8.0 1/800 ISO 100 @ 70mm
Photo 2 - f/6.0 1/1600 ISO 100 @ 300mm
Photo 3 - f/8.0 1/160 ISO 100 @ 15mm w/polariser


Friday, July 30, 2010

Mt. Adams Attempt

Ryan and I made an attempt on Mt. Adams throughout the day on July 24. We drove out of Seattle the day before, sat in way too much traffic, and finally made it to the trailhead parking lot around 11:30pm. After 3 hours of sleep, we began to get ready and finally set out at just before 3:30 at around 5600'. The trail was easy-going for the first mile, and we both felt pretty good. The moon was a beautiful bright amber and hovered just above the horizon. By 4:30 we had reached snow at just above 6500', and decided to put on the crampons at just above 7000'. The sun came up and cast Adams' shadow across the skyline, which was impressive, and stayed out for the entire day. It felt like the temperatures never dropped below 80 degrees! Just above 10,000' I started to feel the onset of altitude-related issues, and once we topped out on Piker's Peak at 11,600' at around 9:45, I decided to turn myself around due to nausea, dizziness, and general altitude problems. Just wasn't my day, and I'm more comfortable knowing it wasn't a physical issue but something that no matter how hard you try sometimes it just happens. I'll be back, but probably not until next year!


Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Chinatown Seafair Parade

With a last-minute decision, Feras and I decided to visit the Chinatown Seafair Parade on July 25 after we had heard that there would be a small contingent of costumed characters (more to come in a later post) participating in said parade. We anticipated a somewhat 'small' grouping of people and were quite surprised to see all of the different types of groups that would soon be in the parade. Pirates, clowns, musical groups, costumed characters, floats, everything. Since we arrived well before the start of the parade, we were able to mingle with the crowds and get some more candid shots. The following images are from one of the groups carrying one of the Chinese dragons through the streets. I set the white balance off of a teal color near the scene, as I wanted the shots to have a red hue to them. All of the images below were also taken with the Sigma 10-20 lens @ 100 ISO.



Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Mt. Townsend

8 of us decided to ascend Mt. Townsend in the Olympic mountain range over the Fourth of July weekend for a couple nights of camping. Our initial idea was to hike in to Silver Lake, camp, then head up to the ridge and camp another night. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't so great on Saturday so we decided to go all the way up to the ridge after hearing reports of sun up there. The trail itself is of a medium grade, not too steep but not too shallow either, with small patches of snow that we had to pass through around 5500'. After a few hours we made it to the ridge and set up camp, where we had a few snowball fights and did some exploring. At around 8pm the clouds finally sank, revealing a fantastic sunset over the Western Olympics. We woke the next morning to gusting winds and low clouds once again, so we packed up and headed back out to Seattle for the fireworks. Mt. Townsend is always a great hike with some stunning scenery!


Thursday, June 10, 2010

Astoria, OR

Our main destination for Memorial weekend was Astoria, home such things as the Goonies, and a strong surf and fishing heritage. We were able to experience some of this heritage as we had the opportunity to stay at the Alderbrook Station, and salmon old fisherman's destination and part of Astoria's history (built in 1903). The place is awesome, all of it. Our new friend Darren Doss is the owner/renovator of the property and has done an excellent job! The net shed remains as it has since he acquired the property, and served as our workshop as we aided him in some renovation work to the boathouse. Few things could beat watching the sun set over the Columbia river while lounging in a wood-fueled hot tub. The town itself is very neat, with remnants of the city's fishing history scattered throughout the town and the coastline. We visited part of it's surfing heritage, but will not say exactly where to keep the surfer's secret. Photographic opportunities abound, and I'd love to go back!
Photo 1 - 1/80s f/13 ISO 160 Nikon 18-50 @ 40mm, polarizer
Photo 2 - 30s f/14 ISO 100 Sigma 10-20 @ 19mm, polarizer + ND.9
Photo 3 - 30s f/14 ISO 100 Sigma 10-20 @ 19mm, polarizer + ND.9
Photo 4 - 1/100s f/5 ISO 250 Sigma 10-20 @ 14mm



Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Cannon Beach, OR

Memorial Day weekend was spent traveling out to the northwest coast of Oregon. Our first stop of the trip was to Cannon Beach, which is located roughly 30 miles south of Astoria off of HWY 101. I'd seen photos of this beach before, and had an idea of what I wanted to shoot, but as it turned out, the weather didn't want to cooperate one way or the other, and the time of our arrival probably wasn't the most appropriate for certain shots. The wind was low, the sun was in and out of clouds, and the haystack rock was much larger in person than I anticipated...photos don't do it justice at all. I definitely want to come back and shoot this beach either at sunrise or sunset to see what happens.
Photo 1 - 1/100 f/14 ISO 125 Sigma 10-20 @ 10mm, polarizer
Photo 2 - 1/2 f/14 ISO 125 Sigma 10-20 @ 13mm, polarizer and ND.9
Photo 3 - 1/100 f/10 ISO 125 Sigma 10-20 @ 10mm, polarizer


Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Westport, WA

In a trip that lasted slightly more than 24 hours, we drove out early Saturday morning to the town of Westport, WA, for some coastal camping. The drive is really quick, just over 2 hours, and the campsite that was chose was awesome. It's a few minute walk from the ocean huddled in this forest of tall grass and dense trees. The town itself looks like it is going through a makeover, so there was very little people activity, but the fishing boats were plentiful and pretty neat. I shot most of my photos at or near the beach this trip, as we were only in town for a short while. Again, the sun was in the best position to throw my shadow onto a lot of things, so some careful maneuvering was needed. When I go back I would like to see what happens at sunset, as by that time we were already back at our camp next to the fire. I used a polarizer for all shots, and some with an ND .6 and .9, at ISO 125. All shots were taken with the Sigma 10-20 as well! There's also a pretty awesome sausage shop just outside of town...very tasty stuff!



Thursday, May 20, 2010

Discovery Park

This weather was awesome this last weekend, and in order to take advantage of this, a few of us decided to go to Discovery Park for an afternoon. We arrived shortly after 11, the sun was shining brightly, and as it turned out the tide was out leaving large(er) expanses of exposed beach and rockscapes. If one had planned to photograph this beach in a more 'planned' manner than I had, one would have known that the early afternoon is not the time to photograph, as the sun was in the perfect position to cast shadow directly on to any photo taken towards the water. So upon realizing this, i made the best out of what I could do, and had some fun searching for starfish and other assorted sea creatures that were hidden in the rocks!
Info: Image 1- 1/60 f10 ISO 100 @ 20mm (image 1) and 10mm (image 2)
Image - 1/80 f8 ISO 100 @ 20mm - polarizing filter used on all