I decided to try out some time-lapse photog. This is my first try at it. the resolution is small, I tried to upload the 1080p but it wouldn't allow it because of file size. If this one doesn't come out good I'll repost with higher quality. So, this is a 2.5 hour time lapse of what a slow day at work looks like. enjoy.

Why I love the Pacific Northwest

This photo was taken at Viqueen Lodge on Sinclair island.  Me and my fellow Viking Union BM's and supervisors went on a two day, one night retreat for training.  We were given a spectacular array of colors and clouds for the sunset.  Sinclair island is a small island in the San Juans.  The island has no electricity or running water, only a few cabins and a grass air strip.  Western Washington University owns property on this island and allows students and alumni to "rent" the space for a couple of days.  This place is incredibly popular among western students, so popular a lottery system is used to select who gets rights to use the lodge. 

I cannot articulate the beauty in which this island harbors.  At times I felt as if I was in the English back country and others as if I was watching the sunset from Hawaii.  Fresh, plump, sweet, and sour blackberries line the dirt/gravel roads, madronas spot the island with a colorful auburn/brown mixture on their smooth bark, rock outcroppings spray with the soft crash of puget sound waves....My only suggestion is to go for yourself and experience it in person.  Overall, the trip was excellent, granted with good company trips such as these are always memorable.

This photo is of my good friend David.  I was just over at his place hanging out and snapped a couple photos off.  Thought I would include one with this post as well.  The shot didn't turn out how I envisioned it in my head, but it came relatively close.  I guess it's one of those things...always striving for the perfect picture.

She's a Girl!

Over the weekend I was given the chance to attend my sisters baby shower and snap a couple of photos while playing all the games and socializing.  I was one of three guys at this event (the babies daddy, grandpa, and me the brother) we were vastly outnumbered by estrogen.  I ended up manning the grill for the first hour of the party.  Anyways I cannot express my excitement enough about becoming an uncle for the first time and the adventure my sister is going to have in the coming years.  Here are some of the pics! enjoy.

 

 

Baby Jasmine 8/27/2011

This photo was taken during a game when the guests try to guess how round my sister by guessing a length of string.  Whoever comes the closest wins a prize.  You can see my sister posing sideways while one of her guests (alicia I think) is guessing a length of string.

James opening presents

In this photo is James, Jasmines daddy, opening presents with my sister.  Jasmine was spoiled with presents to say the least.  As a side note, if you click on the picture it'll give you a full view and better quality than this small picture, just found this out.

This is the one of my more favorite "artistic" pictures taken from the event.  Usually the colors would have been pink, but pink wasn't a color the couple liked.  Purple was used instead.  There were purple, cupcakes, tables, pins, banners, ribbons, etc.  Purple this, purple that, purple everywhere!

Picture of the Day 8/13/2011

This is a photo shot today in downtown Seattle at an event hosted by a company called over the edge.  This is the Rainer Tower in Seattle where over 80 participants who raised over 1000$ per participant for the Special Olympics rappelled this 512 foot tower.  Some participants were much more creative in costumes than others, ranging from batwoman, superwoman, to zebra man pictured above.  I chose this photo as my photo of the day because of the over exposure affect.  The photo creates a sense of being lowered from the heavens by a rope.

As a volunteer at this event I helped belay for 12 hours.  A benefit of this position was talking to participants as they reached the bottom.  Pictured above is one of the participants who rappelled the tower just minutes earlier.  We had an awesome belay team at today's event, which made everything run super smooth.  One of the best moments was when an overly ecstatic participant reached the bottom and as I went to release his gear he gave me a huge hug because he was so happy that we were there enabling the experience he just went through.  Very satisfying.
 

Picture of the day project

In efforts to re-establish taking photos on a daily basis I'm starting a new project known as the picture of the day project.  This project does not entail posting everyday, but does require a once weekly post.  This is a personal challenge to myself.  The rules are as follows: shoot in jpeg, no alterations of photos whatsoever (no lightroom, photoshop, etc), and finally be creative/have fun!

The photo above was captured 8/11/2011.  This is a photo of a good friend and coworker doing what he does best....well trying to at least, which is fixing tires.  As he was showing me what had punctured the tire I was able to snap a photo off.

The photo above was me just me messing around this morning with another project of mine.  Eventually I plan on refurbishing this old marine knife used in vietnam.  I had a good talk with a good friend the other day who, probably without knowing it, has really pushed me to start taking photos again and start posting them.  More than anything my friend really wants me to explore more in photography and improve my style.  For this I thank you, you know who you are. 

So this is the beginning of the picture of the day project, which as I say the project name again and again the more I dislike it.  Hopefully by next post I'll have some new creative name for this project I'm doing.  Thanks for viewing!

Hello! So I'm switching over from photoblog to blogspot and I must say I like this place in multiple orders of magnitude larger than photoblog.  The set up and all the options are just fantastic.  I'm still learning how to use everything that is offered.  Anyways lets break away from my tangent of the day and get to why I'm starting to blog.  I plan on using this place as one outlet of all the randomness that occurs in my life on any given day.  I believe we all have our own perspectives on life and we can never see things thru other peoples eyes.  I hope to change that and let you see a little bit of what I see.  With that said my first photo is of a stunning sunset that happened a few days ago in Bellingham, WA.

The metadata for this one is as follows: ISO 200 24mm  f/2.8  1/50.  I'll try to include all the metadata for the pictures I post.  Feel free to give me a shout out and say I could do something better.