Random Shots Around Seattle

That don't really fit anywhere else.  These were primarily messing around with my camera wandering from place to place or stuck waiting for others.

Waiting for the bus and playing with composition a little bit:

A slightly different view of the space needle:

Manual focus fun with the tripod in the snow storm.  I really like how the tree ended up looking:

Waiting at Pacific Place for Yachi to buy me a Christmas present.  The lattice in the ceiling skylight is something I have been taking a lot of pictures of lately and this is one of the few to look even remotely presentable:

A cropped piece of graffiti:

Some garish lights downtown:

Cops at the bus situation mentioned previously:

More here.

Purposefully Blurry?

Not really.  The goal was to have the objects in motion and the background remain still which I managed to catch in a few but not all.

This was easily my favorite as the background is mostly frozen and I was able to catch the car and the lights which I think looks pretty cool.

As a random side note I almost got frostbite in my fingers from taking these as it was soooo cold that night:

 

This was my second favorite and I will need to spend more time playing around with this concept.  I think the juxtaposition of the images is something I have liked since I fell in love with Magritte.  I have been thinking about it a lot and am looking forward to taking some time to figure out how to make better versions of this idea:

Even though everything is moving here I like the sense of motion and the sky:

This just kind of looks like spiders on the orange which I thought was fun:

 

As always more here.

Sharing The Pain

Last weekend I met up with Tim and Ann for the anti-passing prop 8 parade.  I think there was a more succinct name but it is escaping me right now.  I was impressed with the amount of families there.  It was also good catching up with Tim and Ann.  I brought the camera with me and here are some of my favorite photos from the day.

This was at the beginning and one of my favorites:

The guy's jacket has a cross on it so you know I am going to like it:

Tim and Anne walking up the street:

Further down Pine with one of the better signs:

This was probably the best picture which really showed how many people there were.  I am not sure of the exact number but it looked like it stretched from Westlake Center to Broadway at one point:

A true patriot :):

A little confrontation:

 

Additional pics are here.

New Camera Pics

Available here.  After waiting 3 years to buy a SLR I have to say I am really happy to finally get this.  I picked up a Canon 30D from Ebay through the current Live Search 25% cashback offer which means I got it for about $350 which is a smoking deal.  I also picked up a really good cheap lens which is a prime so less moving parts which makes me focus exclusively on learning the body which has been cool. 

Overall I have been really happy playing with the camera and enjoy even my crappiest pics which I am going to force on all of you here.

The first pic ever taking with my uncooperative model:

On the walk to the store:

At the store:

 

Outside the store:

With a slightly more cooperative model:

 

And the most cooperative:

Geotag Test

The geotag info did not show up in the previous post so trying again through Picasa.

Cats In Drag?

Oh my!  Max modeling some underwears:

Me hanging out with some womens at the department store while Yachi shopped.  I was amazed they were so forward:

Eileen warming up on one of the cold days:

Screaming babies rocking out:

Space Ghost holding forth to his audience about the dangers of the dollar losing it's position as the reserve currency:

I Have Not Had Enough Snaps Of Random Trips Recently

So these photos are from about 1-2 years ago now and have been sitting in draft form in the Blogger cloud.

They are pics from when I went to Seoul that I thought were interesting for one reason or another.

This was shot on the train going to Seoul from the airport. The landscape looked surprisingly desert like.

This was from the hotel window and was our view of the city.

This was a canal through the city that the government just refurbished and made available to people again. It had been covered with concrete and inaccessible. It was pretty cool seeing so many people out at night enjoying the park atmosphere.

Same place just a little blurrier. I was actually trying to do something like this and was pretty happy with the results.

Same thought for some street traffic.

This was in the canal. I had to wait for 25 minutes for the light show to reset to different colors after I missed it the first time.

A floating cross.

Part of a show we watched.

Holiday Travels, Pt. 2 AKA Chrysler, Ford Or Foreign

As heard on the radio in this land of Buicks and Oldsmobiles.  That's right this version of the holidays is coming to you straight from the great lakes state.

It is always good to go home.  There are a lot of things that are uniquely Michigan and it is great to see and experience them.  It is also a lot of fun to catch up with family, both old and new.

Yachi and I have spent a week here shuttling between her and my families homes to see everyone.  Along the way we have run into some great things. 

We started out in Lansing (after a brief stop for rest, food and TV in Detroit) where we got to catch up with my family.  We got to see the home of Jiffy <Link here> mix for delicious corn bread and muffins after having a spectacular lunch at the Common Grill.  Surprisingly that was my fist time eating there and I am glad I finally was able to sample their wares.

We also were able to see a trailer park in the shadow of a landfill which I think wins the award for worst place to live.  I also managed to develop quite the addiction to Project runway by watching the entire Third season and all the Fourth season episodes that exist now.

On Thanksgiving it snowed quite a bit which made for a really beautiful day.  It was a wonderful day with lots of food and family.

I also got to see Trixie who has to win an award for cutest and smelliest dog ever.  She is 14 and about to die so appropriately she smells like death.  She had a great Thanksgiving as well as she managed to scarf down half a blueberry pie and step all over the pecan one.  She is getting frail and there was some discussion of digging a grave for her now before the ground freezes.  I am pretty happy that I was able to see her and spend some time with her.

We then went back to Yachi's parent's place and had another Thanksgiving dinner with her family (on Friday).  Her mom brined the turkey for about 36 hours and it showed.  Normally I do not really eat much turkey (the night before I just had a lot of my Aunt's outstanding stuffing) but this turkey was good.  I mostly ended up eating that.

Saturday we had a reception for Yachi's family friends whom were unable to make it to the wedding which was cool.  Great food and fun times were had by all.

Overall a most enjoyable holiday and fitting with the whole theme of what I picture Thanksgiving to look like and be about.  Hopefully everyone else enjoyed theirs.

Holiday Travel, Pt.1 Of Possibly 3

Yachi and I just got back from Vegas and I am writing this on a plan to Michigan.  We were in Seattle for about 17 hours.

To go to Vegas I had to betray my basketball team and miss a game.  From what I heard it was a bad game to miss as we needed more players.  I felt bad for a couple of minutes but then sat down at the poker table and the guilt rapidly disappeared.

I am glad Yachi and I got married as we both are partial to gambling.  Every night we both played our respective games until way too late.  The biggest thing I learned is that I am a limit game poker player as opposed to a no limit player.  In limit I have to ignore the voice that keeps telling me to push all my chips into the pot.

Our room at The Hotel:

Yachi and I went to see our first Cirque De Soliel show which I highly recommend.  It was really entertaining both from a music and physicality standpoint.  The performers were amazing and the stage made me turn into a huge geek.

Us before the show:

 

After the show, they offer you glamour shots of yourselves taken during the show.  Yachi and I might have purchased one for an excessive amount of money.  A airbrushed photo of yourself is something ever house needs.

Yachi with flowers which cracks me up:

I was also able to catch up with a friend who I found out was in town for a conference.  It was good hanging out with him as he was unable to make the wedding.  Yachi hung out with us for an hour until her obsession with video poker took a hold and she had to head back.

 

Alright the plane is landing, on to the next part of the trip, family.

I Want To Be A Shadow Hawk

I am not even sure what one is but if I don't have to deal with pigeons sign me up.



As an additional note this is why I love walking. You would never see this from a car.

What You Want To See More Pictures Of China?

OK.

Here you go. As you might have guessed from seeing a second post on the same subject these are the photos I like for nothing more than aesthetic reasons.

Many tiles. Piles of tiles you could say, hahahahahahaha!

Some color in the hutongs

$6 tea. That was the equivalent of 176 Oz. of beer. It was worth it though. As mentioned in Marie Antoinette, the flower opens in the pot.

Walls in Summer Palace

The verdant forest in the summer Palace

A wall in the summer Palace

Silhouettes

The famed marble boat that ended the dynasty system in China

Landscape with my camera flaw extremely apparent in the upper left corner

Music:

Smog - A River Ain't Too Much Too Love - Drag City

You won't be supporting a good Seattle label with this record but a good Chicago one instead.

Smog is the moniker of Bill Callhan (who has recently started releasing music under that name). He has released many albums that are predominantly him and a guitar, singing and playing. I think of him as a male Cat Power but he might have been around before her. I think I am losing indie cred as we speak because I don't know that. I am not sure I will be allowed into Linda's anymore having admitted that. He has the same truth in lyrics that draws me to Johnny Cash. His arrangements are also beautiful and sparse which gives his voice a lot of room to impact you. The songs where he decides to incorporate more than just the guitar are usually successful as they have a lot of artists who fit in ways that you would not necessarily expect. Not something you would listen to before something that requires amping up but a beautiful counterpart to the sort of weather we have been having around here recently.