C + C = ?

And now, my dear friends, I am completely up to date with my blog entries. I wrapped up the last of my editing this weekend at a super steamy Cupcake Royale spot (the AC broke. ugh) Never fear, Del and I endured the heat in order to edit, edit, edit.

I took this picture while waiting for my ICED grande nonfat latte from the not so friendly coffee dude.

Don't they look yummy? coffee + cupcakes = sheer goodness.

msg not-so everyday

this is a rare sight indeed. So rare, that I HAD to take a quick picture.

check this out... an empty in-box. It is usually piled high & overflowing into stacks on my desk, but, by some whim of luck or magic, I had an empty inbox.

btw... it is full again :(

Best of Show

This post is just a bunch of random scenes from the Silvana Fair. Enjoy

a bird cage

why yes, yes I did macro corn. c'mon... you know you want some ;)

a lovely boquet

oh such a pretty flower


such a pretty, pretty flower here, too!

best of show meet John. John meet best of show.

I liked the way the ribbon was swaying in the very gentle breeze.

just a random find along the street

and a random find in a store.

I went in for a cold diet pepsi & came out with a cool macro shot.

random.

Yep & that concludes my pics from the fair! Thanks for lookin' :)

Bitter Battle of 2009

The last Saturday in July. For A-town natives, the phrase "the last saturday in July" means one thing: The Silvana Fair. Its the best, down to earth, homiest little fair EVER. Ever people... ever. Attending this fair is like connecting with my past; it pretty much is just like I remember it as a kid.

For the past few years, I have been entering a few photos into their photo contest and this year I had the added bonus of having my best friend join in too! Del submitted eleven of his beautiful pictures & I submitted six of mine. It was tough deciding what to enter!

The Bo-Tan
I couldn't decide which plant macro to enter, so Del suggested this one. Its a good thing, too, because this one received a blue ribbon & a fancy orange Merit ribbon.

Freemont Window

Haha, this post is named after the picture below... Del and I took similar pictures from this scene. I kept telling him that his was better and he kept telling me that mine was better. We decided to both enter our pics from Bitters, hence the Bitter Battle of 2009. He ended up with a blue ribbon & a lovely purple "special" ribbon, and title "Champion of the Bitter Battle." nice huh?

Staircase
I figured that this was "the one" that would wow the judge. I even had it enlarged to 11x14. Well, I don't know if the judge was just jealous of my nephew, dislikes adorable children, or if she just didn't look at it, but this one only got a red ribbon (and actually, this is the only one I had my hopes up for! dang it!)

Pinky in a box

Pinky in a box. pinky-in-a-box-pinky-in-a-box-pinky-in-a-box

I thought this would be a fun one to enter. How cute is baby pinknas? However, I should have entered the black & white version... this one had a weird photoshop filter, and ended up being just red ribbon quality.

Shall We?

I always get nice comments on this one, and I love how my couch & rug turned into an instantly cool studio. I can't remember what ribbon I got for this one. Maybe blue?

Skagit Sky

I entered this one on my mom's suggestion; she figured it would be a hit since Silvana is in the middle of farm country. I always liked this one, too. I *think* this one received a red ribbon... but the true prize for me was when my sister took it home! It was the first time that she asked for one of my non-Corbin pictures. Awwww :)

And those are the pictures that I entered. I am really glad that my dear friend did so well; he ended up with a best overall, two special ribbons, a trophy and a bunch more blues than reds. His work is amazing, so I am glad that he was able to share his pics (and share the beauty that his eyes see) with even more people.

saved by the speedlight

My sweet, adorable, cutie little nephew turned three last week. Three! Oh my! My sister asked if I would take pictures, "lots of pictures," of the funtivities. No problem. Luckily, I had my new, trusty speedlight with me, cuz man, the lighting was challenging. PLUS, the little stinker moved really fast!

In this first pic, Corbin started a new tradition: Blow out your candles...

... then lick the cake. good idea! :)

I don't know what toy this is, but he LOVED it. It was nice, too, because he stood still!



And of course, we have to get a family shot! Aren't they lovely?

The funtivities even included a festive pinata! This is the, uh, "before" picture...

... and the "after" picture. oh dear.

These past three years have gone by so fast. I know I go on and on about him, but Corbin truly is a blessing to our family. His gentle spirit, his concern for others, and his goofy nature and even his stinkin stubborness combine into a sweet little boy; I couldn't ask for anything more in a nephew.

Square squared

Yep, I am still catching up on old pics!

These were taken just over a week ago (so not so bad, eh?).

The first stop of the day was the Kirkland waterfront. It was a beautiful sunny day and this place is usually a source of inspiration. Not so much this day.... the downtown was full of festivities for the Kirkland Uncorked event. Yikes! I took two, no wait, three pictures while we were downtown. I ended up cropping this one to get people out of the frame (even though, dang it, you can still see them in the reflection of the windshield. oh well.). I was torn between the simple colors in the top frame and the one below in black & white... the lines in the pic are so cool.




It was hot. very hot. So, del & I enjoyed some lavish AC & I can't remember what else (took a nap? got some coffee? said "babababababa" repeatedly?) until a) it wasn't so hot and b) the lighting was less, um, crappy. mid-day lighting is so pretty, but so harsh, no?

oh. I remember now... We "brainstormed" places to go. As all good brainstorming sessions go, we ended up back in familiar territory: Pioneer Square. I am in no way no how complaining; I love it down there & am thoroughly enjoying being able to explore this familiar yet foreign territory.

Del is on a "3d world" kick, so while he worked his magic in a lobby/central area(?) I took some frames through the windows of The Pottery School. It looked like a pretty cool place & I would love to come back when it is open to get some macro shots ;)

We continued walking and found ourselves outside the Elliott Bay bookstore. The evening lighting was great, and cast some interesting shadows. For once, del & I took *really* similar pictures. Well, I guess the main similarity is the vantage point. Usually, we are in the same spot but have different subjects. Guess the lighting was calling to us both this time.

And just for fun, I zoomed in on the Driftwood sign. I love the font; it reminds me of an old Elvis movie. Not so much of a particular movie, but that era... the era of South Pacific, and Lucy & Desi, and tiki torches & people with pointy glasses drinking fruity beverages in pineapples. I added a bunch of noise to this one, just for fun.

Alkrighty, another post checked off the 'ol list! Hope you enjoyed this round & thanks, again, for checking out my pictures!

The Other Zoo

One of my recent adventures was a trip to the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium. While I've visited Woodland Park many, many times, this was my first trek to the zoo in T-town. It was a pleasant little trip, and the set up was perfect... almost perfectly Corbin sized!

I spent a lot of time tag-teaming corbin chasing & stroller duty with my mom, but managed to snap a few portraity shots of them. This one is my favorite.

Then we found the carousel. A free carousel. A free carousel with no lines. Both Corbin and Grandma were in heaven. I think they rode that thing seven or eight times? It gave me a chance to capture some more abstract images. I loved it too.

The carousel

I didn't have my tripod with me, but did a few longer exposures by setting my automatic timer and hold my camera very, very still on top of my backpack.

View from afar

At first, I thought that this pic was a dud, but something about it kept catching my eye, so I thought I would convert it to black & white to see if it helped clarify my inspiration. It did! Without the distracting (but fun) multi-colored animals & lights the motion of the scene seemed to be more evident. I dunno. I like it.

Tiger mask

No trip to the zoo would be complete without a tiger mask. right?

And there you go, a lovely little trip to the zoo. Oh, this post is called "the other zoo" because that is the name the Corbin used when telling people about where we visited that day... we went to other zoo. yep, he's that darn cute.

Thanks for checking out this post and reading all my proud auntie commentary ;)

ooo lights

According to The Seattle Times, it is currently 90 degrees. It is 9:30pm and it is 90 degrees. All I can say is ugh.

I have had a few side projects that have been gobbling up my time lately, so this post is super late. super.

The pics below were taken a few weeks ago when dma & butcher invited me to tag along on shoot to one of their recent discoveries. On this venture, I learned a new skill: light painting. ooo lah lah! It is something that I have watched dma use more than a dozen times, but hadn't tried it out for myself yet.

Aaaah, but first, here is a nice, classic long exposure:

And now.... here are the light painting series.

The first one is the "before" shot. No light painting, just a simple 30 second exposure. Pretty dark, eh?

I had my trusty headlamp with me and used it to light paint the dock. Hmm, not quite bright enough yet & dang, look at that blue tone!

My dear friend loaned me his super sturdy & perfectly bright flashlight for the rest of my frames. The light was better, but I didn't stay in one place long enough.

Ta-da! Now this is more like it. I really tried to keep the light in the center and now you can really see the dock. Cool huh? I need to get a new remote so that I can use the bulb feature, but I still had a good time experimenting with my 30 second window.

Thanks for looking at my pics & hope that you are keepin it cool.

Stay classy.

i don't heart mosquito

In wonderful contrast to Saturday's weather, Sunday was quite lovely (or, more likely, I just acclimated to the weather, eh?). A hike was in order. Our initial plans for the day changed (bummer butcher! we missed ya!) and we were faced with a decision... where to go? Our boundary was Snoqualmie Pass, so we narrowed it down to Annette Lake. I don't think that my blog can capture the magnitude of this particular hike. It has been on Del's mind for about a year, it almost claimed his sweet soul, and Sunday was his third attempt. Luckily, we made it up and down the trail without any wierdness whatsover. phew.

ok, ok, ok, back to the pictures!

Learning
Landscapes are without a doubt, not my favorites. I love being out in nature, love to witness the glorious vistas, but can never seem to translate that beauty into my pictures. I am trying a few new techniques, so the picture below is called "learning" because, well, I am still learning.



mosquito. blah.
We were warned by other hikers that the lake was "buggy." D-ang they weren't kidding. Note to self: time to add bug spray to the back pack! I didn't take many pictures because the little mosquitos were driving me nuts!!! I *almost* like the one below; even though I used my gradient cokin filter, the sky is still whited out. yuck. Otherwise, I really am happy with the details in the picture.


kodak chipmunk
ah yeah. what trip to the lake would be complete without a chipmunk's portrait?
While I was trying to macro some flowers (and use my new speedlight!), I noticed a little chipmunk darting around the edge of the lake. I captured the frame below & made very, very few edits. It isn't one of my favorites artistically, because the darn thing is perfectly centered & the background is so flashy... but I am content with having an in-focus nature shot.



I am *almost* caught up with my editing! I have a few more from a hike that I went on in Leavenworth with some friends from work that I still need to work through, but I think that might be it? ooooo, time for more adventures!

Happy 4th!

Very Belated Happy Fourth to ya!

I spent the holiday with my best friend & photographic partner in crime at a little park in Medina. It didn't have the view of the Bellevue fireworks that we had envisioned, but had a nice, chill, hassle-free view of Gas Works!!! Pretty cool, huh?

freaky freemont friday

Ugh. Friday was hot, wasn't it? Definitly strollin' in the city weather! One of the destinations on my list of photographic locales is the Freemont area of Seattle. I have heard that it is funky, but have only caught a glimpse while passing through. It was interesting & certainly full of wonderful colors! I even ran into an old family friend while exiting a local gallery. Small world, eh?

The photos from this post are all from one location, Bitters Co., which is probably my new favorite store. I loave it. When I edited the pictures tonight, I couldn't decide which versions I liked better, so I have posted two versions of each. Enjoy the random.

Thanks for taking a look! Hope you have a lovely, beautiful, peaceful day.

michelle with two L's

Last Thursday I explored a little gem in my backyard (well, kinda... Woodinville isn't too far away from Bothell, eh?)... the Chateau St. Michelle Winery. And again, I have to say "kinda" because we barely squeaked in the gates before closing time (no time for wine! Bum-mer.)

These are the frames that I managed to capture while we whizzed through the grounds. Of course, I couldn't resist some botanical shots...

I did a little bit of peeping through the windows too... I love the jagged reflections in the glasses. I cropped in on this photo, using my new found skills (really, I just noticed how to lock the aspect ratio. Not rocket science, but still something new to me!)

I am glad to finally know where this place is! I've been wanting to go there for awhile & it always seemed to elude me. I hope you enjoyed these lovely frames & thanks for checking them out!