Gloomy June

ugh. Thursday's weather was glorious. Saturday, on the other hand, was a typical gloomy June day. Del & I had some trouble figuring out where to go.... the sky was cloudy, but not the good kind of cloudy. We would definitely be encountering whited-out skies wherever we went. And no interesting shadows. bleh. luckily, we remembered just the right destination and agreed upon a trip to the Center for Wooden Boats along the shores of Lake Union.

I had a blast there... so many interesting lines and textures; plus salty stories of times before, too.

I like the composition of these frames; I am not too keen on the color, but that is par for the day. gloomy.

I wasn't going to expand on my pics for this post, but as I scroll through them I think they might look like just a bunch of random boats. So, I will explain a bit now (otherwise, a year from now, I will look at them and think "huh. wonder why I took those random things.") yay.

This one is the Virginia V; I liked the reflection of the Space Needle in the window. Because I am relatively height challenged, this shot involved a bit of balancing skill. I should wear taller shoes when I go on photoshoots.

For this shot, I just liked the water. Plus, I am always happy to maximize my wide angle focal length. Sigh. someday I will have a 10mm.

I liked the repetition of the boats lined up against the dock & the line of ropes. The bright colors of the boat awnings were distracting, so I converted to black and white to simplify the frame.

Anyone who has visited my apartment knows why I took this frame. It will soon be joining a similar shot that I took in DC a few years ago that is now hanging up at home. I added a filter, though, to this shot to give it a different feel than the old pic.

Both del and I were drawn to the Oar House. It was such a unique little building, filled to the brim with tons of cool, random boating stuff. Luckily, the CWB volunteers were super cool and didn't seem to mind us taking our kooky, yet artsy, pictures. My proudest achievement for this frame was the combination of my gradient cokin filter and proper exposure in this spot. The light coming through the window was fiercely bright for the tight space, but I metered for the lighting on the straw hat & all was good. I did a few edits, too, to soften the look to match the whimsical nature of the space.

For this one, I liked the pattern of the boats, and I am pretty darn happy with the clarity, too. I am not a big fan of the clutter in the background. I tried cropping in, but didn't want to lose any shadows. I also considered converting it to my favorite default for cluttered frames - black & white- but it didn't seem to suit the picture. Oh well, guess this is a lesson in just letting things be, eh?

And now we enter the Family Series. I found boats named after my sister & my dad. Now, if only they had one for my mom & I... the whole fam would be complete!

For the Katy pic, I intentionally decreased the saturation; I considered black & white for this one, too, but liked the little bits of color. BTW, isn't that white sky awful? June. ugh. (p.s. yeah, Katie, I know your name isn't spelled with a "Y"... my middle name doesn't have two L's either. lol ;) love ya! & sorry about the Y. My photoshop skills are not able to process font on boats... sad.)

It is odd how photographs can evoke emotions. The combination of the boat with my dad's name, plus del's frames of the CWB shop hit a spot in my heart that dearly, dearly misses my dad. I can't believe how fast time goes by, and yet, at the same time it feels like a lifetime ago since I walked through his garage; the garage of my childhood and high school years; the garage that functioned as both work space and party spot... full of sawdust, smelling like car parts and paint, with shelves and shelves of nails and screws in rusty coffee cans and the sounds of a scratchy classic rock radio station, lacking any audible levels of bass, filling the air.

miss ya.