rainy, windy, cold... repeat

I had the joy and pleasure of visiting our state's capital city, Olympia, this week for a work function. When I usually travel for work it is to places that require an airplane trip and extensive exporation on foot (I love my Keens!). It was kinda nice to have one that I could drive to... Hmmm, where should I go? I know nothing about Olympia, and I received a warning that the south sound could be a scary place ;)

I consulted a guidebook that has "hidden" locales in the northwest, and found Percival Landing. I am always lured by water, and a bit of history in the mix makes for a tempting shoot.

The pics below are the best I could muster from this place. The park itself is great; and would be a nice place in the summer. It was just so stinkin windy! My tripod was useless... I had to actually hold it down so that it wouldn't blow away! I had trouble using the auto focus in the dark, but then I remembered the lessons I learned this summer on the Phantom Lake shoot... I focused on a well-lit area off to the side then held the focus while setting up the shot I wanted. This is all well and good... except for the raindrop factor.

So, long story short, I am sure that any bystanders that were watching me must have thought that I was nuts: it was dark & windy, I was taking random shots of things, and I was balancing my camera on the edges of logs. Oh, and then I took some long exposures, so I stood around for a good minute, shooting into the dark.

Parts of this post might come across negative, but overall, it was a great place :) I had fun on my little adventure & even found a place that served the perfect end to any photo shoot: 2-star chicken phad woon sen.

The Statue
I loved the lighting on this statue!

Blue Dock

This was a cool place. At first, the boat in the lower corner caught my eye. Then, I LOVED the blue lights reflecting on the water.

What can I say? Ugh.

I had such high hopes for the next two pictures :) The first one is a 2.5 second exposure and the bottom one is a "hey why not this is going to be my last frame" 20 second exposure. Maybe they'll be better next time... when it is warm, not windy & I have my new awesome lens!

holy cow these things are noisy! I swear... I did not take them with a camera phone! Thanks for taking a peek at Oly with me.