Colleen Easley lives in Olympia, WA with her husband Dale and 2 cats. Photography has been her hobby for 40 years. Currently she is working on a 365 project which requires that she take at least one photo every day and publish it to her blog. You may follow her on Twitter and/or Facebook by clicking the links below. To see all the photos of her 2010 project, click the link below under LINKS.
Today I went with my husband, Dale and grandson, Zach on an outing with the Olympia Camera Club to the Kubota Gardens in Seattle, Wa. Eleven of us carpooled from Lacey and spent the whole morning exploring the 23 acre Japanese garden that is situated right in the city near Martin Luther King Way. It was a little early in the season, so not everything was blooming yet, but there were plenty of plants that had bloomed and of course, lots of evergreens. We had a great time and got some great shots.
The sky was a bit overcast, but there was also plenty of sunshine and it was quite warm. Since our last outing with the club was in pouring rain, we were grateful for the nice weather. After a picnic lunch we headed to the SeaTac Botanical Garden. Again, it was a little early for most plants, but there were enough flowers in bloom to keep us shooting another hour or so.
Here is a sampling of the look and feel of the Kubota Garden. In my next post I will post some of the close-up flower shots I got at both gardens.
We had an unexpected visit from a friend from Eugene, Oregon this morning so we all went out for breakfast. It is another awesome day in the Pacific Northwest and the Olympic Mountains are out in all their glory. I’ve taken photos of this barn before, but today was extra special with the beautiful blue sky and the mountains in the distance. So on the way home from breakfast I had Dale stop for a quick photo. I’m glad I did because I’m not likely to get much more time to shoot anything else today since I’m in panic mode now for preparing for my trip. My flight is at noon tomorrow and I’m debating on whether to try for a shot early in the day or to wait until I arrive at Anchorage. I think it would be safer to get it done early if I can get my act together in time. We’ll see how it goes.
I know – I published a sunset yesterday. So why another one today? Well, most of today was a cloudy, dull day. It started out with thick fog and it wasn’t until about 4:30 p.m. that it started to break off. Currently the sun is setting at about 5:00 so I figured if I wanted to get an outdoor shot today, I better grab the camera and head up to the end of the lake to see if I could get some decent light.
As it turned out, there was a pretty decent sunset. I went to the north end of Black Lake and as usual there was a congregation of cormorants perched on the log pilings. You can see them in the distance of this photo. I actually had some closer up views of them, but I ended up choosing this photo because of the color. The sky is awesome and the brush in the foreground was catching the light just right. The logs in the water are an attempt to keep debris from getting in Percival Creek which flows out from the lake at this location. Another thing I liked about this photo is that you can see the fog developing on the lake horizon and the light reflecting off the houses and docks along the shoreline.
I didn’t get time to write this article last night so I’m posting this a day later. But be assured, I did take this image on the 7th and so far I haven’t missed a day on my 365 project.. I’ll get another photo up for today, but right now we’re shrouded in fog again. Hopefully the sun will break through long before sunset.
Today I’m doing something a little different. Instead of posting one photo for the day, I’m posting a collection of 30 images I took while Dale and I enjoyed a beautiful afternoon in Thurston County Washington. If you read yesterday’s post you saw the photo of the old Delphi School House. I plugged the addresses of a couple more of these old school houses into our GPS unit and when we saw the clouds breaking off about noon, we jumped in the car and headed out to the one that appeared to be the closest. When we got there, we found that it had been converted to a residence and we didn’t feel comfortable taking a photo, so we moved on to the next one, which was the Nisqually school house, near the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge and Nisqually River. I got that photo alright, but what a disappointment. This poor old school house is really in need of rescue. It’s obvious no one has worked on restoring it like the one yesterday.
After getting the school house photo, we drove across the highway to the National Wildlife Refuge and hiked the trail. I took my Nikon D90 with my 80-400mm lens and Dale had his D40 with his 55-200mm lens. I’m kicking myself for not loaning him the 18-200mm zoom. It would have been more versatile.
As we finished up our hike we could tell the sky was going to produce some nice colors as the sun was setting, so we decided to head into town to Capitol Lake. We waited for the sinking sun to paint the clouds with gold and maybe the pink of alpenglow. We got the gold, but it didn’t look like we’d be seeing any pink. As we left I could see Mt Rainier off to the east and it was getting bathed in that beautiful aplenglow, so we headed out West Bay Drive and caught a few shots looking over Budd Inlet to the marina, town and Mt Rainier in the background. It was a beautiful ending to a fabulous day. I hope you’ll enjoy the photos. We’ll definitely be heading back to the wildlife refuge again and again looking for more birds and wildlife.
BTW, picture number 20 ended up being the photo of the day. It’s the one with the sun reflecting off an office building on the lake. To see all of my 365 project, click here.
All photos taken with Nikon D90
The shots at the wildlife refuge are with the Nikon 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6D ED Autofocus VR Zoom handheld on a monopod.
The school house and the in-town pictures are with the 18-200 VR II Zoom.
Day 12 and it’s raining again (or should I say, still) here in the Pacific Northwest. I guess I should have known I’d be constrained to do a lot of indoor shots if I was going to follow through on my commitment to take at least one photo per day. But today I was a bit more determined to get outside. I had a shopping errand in town so I drove down to Capital Lake, parked the car, and then debated with myself. Do I dare take the camera out in the rain or not. In the end I jumped out – snapped 3 photos and jumped back in.
I knew any shots I took outside today would be pretty lifeless due to the rain and clouds, so I thought, why not make a photo that is a metaphor for what the weather means to an ordinarily bustling park. And I decided that monochrome would be the best way to portray that.
On a sunny day the park and the walking path around Capital Lake are normally full of people. There are runners, joggers, walkers, dog walkers and those out for a casual stroll. There are also kids feeding the ducks, moms pushing strollers, bicyclists, and photographers like me. But today – barely a soul. And that’s what my photo says. It says today is the kind of day when all the people are staying inside to keep warm and dry. The park is left to itself to soak in the dreary rains. Only the ducks love a day like today.
Nikon D90, AF-S Nikkor 18-200mm 1:3.5-5.6G II VR at 50mm, Shutter 1/80, f/4.8, ISO 200
CONFERENCE CALL SERVICE
Quality audio and web conference services at exceptionally low rates. Discounts for government, educational, and non-profit organizations.
Colleen Easley lives in Olympia, WA with her husband Dale and 2 cats. Photography has been her hobby for 40 years. Currently she is working on a 365 project which requires that she take at least one photo every day and publish it to her blog. You may follow her on Twitter and/or Facebook by clicking the links below. To see all the photos of her 2010 project, click the link below under LINKS.
03.27.10
