Those nights before Christmas

Well, it looks as if Christmas has once again, come and gone. I have always been of the understanding that time goes by faster as we age. That does make sense because I remember as a kid that it always took forever for Christmas to arrive. I have such fond memories of Christmas growing up. I was lucky to grow up in a house where all of the expected traditions of the season were astutely followed. The candles in the windows seemed to always warm the house with their soft glow. Of course, the Christmas classics were always on the old record player and the cookies in the oven were never complete without their coating of icing colored in red and green and don't forget the sprinkles. There seemed to always be time for everything. Maybe that was just my perception as a child but it seemed there was always enough time for family and friends. I remember sleeping under the window as a child and of course the night before was always spent peering out the window just sure I would see Santa as he arrived in his sleigh. I never went to bed on Christmas eve before the annual reading of "The Night Before Christmas." What would Christmas be without that wonderful story.

Christmas morning would finally come and my sister and I would be forced to wait atop the stairs not able to come down until everything was just perfect. I remember sitting at the top of those stairs just wanting to burst with all of the excitement that the day would bring. My parents seemed to always purposely take their time relishing in the knowledge that we were so hardly able to contain our excitement. And then the words would come..."alright, you can come down!" Those were the best five words a boy could ever hear. Springing from our perch my sister and I would quickly race down the stairs and dive into our presents. My mother was always so organized having the presents all in their order and of course we all had to take turns opening. It was so hard to wait for my turn but that's what made Christmas so great.

We all knew that as soon as the presents were all opened and breakfast was eaten, it was in the car and off to Grandmas. We always had Christmas on both sides of the family and I remember always having so many people in the house. The women would cook and visit while the men would all congregate in the living room around a football game or whatever might be on the TV. Dinner was always full of great food and family. It was just the best and ironically I never appreciated the whole thing as a young boy. Of course, all I was interested in was whatever new toys I had received. Looking back now though, it was great to have so much family around.

There were a lot of great things that surrounded Christmas as I grew up. I love my parents for working so hard to create all of the magic that was Christmas in my house. I have grown now and things seem different. The family is spread from one side of the country to the other and I've gone too many Christmas's now without being home with the family I love so much. I have my family here and that is good but I miss home and all of the traditions that used to be. There seems to be no time these days and I hope that as a parent, I am at least partially providing that magic that is Christmas. I wonder if that is the case. It is one of life's tragedies that we cannot all retain the feelings of Christmas we once had. With all of the hustle and bustle and fuss, it seems we all just do what needs to be done and are glad when it's finally over for yet another year. That's just part of growing up I guess. But I miss those nights before Christmas, lying warm in my bed, sleepless from all the excitement and looking out of that window above my bed, convinced that Santa would once again come to town.

Happy Holidays!


We actually had a white Christmas this year. We ended up with about 10 inches of the white stuff which is extremely unusual for these parts. I got a chance to get out with the camera and captured a few shots downtown as the snow fell.

A fresh coating of snow blankets the town

The rare snowfall creates havoc for the unprepared drivers

A wonderful Winter scene at the Wagon Shop in downtown Steilacoom

A closer view of the Wagon Shop

Field grass encased in ice struggles to remain upright

A train barrels past the old train station in downtown Steilacoom

Happy Holidays

We finally got the Christmas tree up last night. We have snow on the ground here which is such an unusual treat, especially here at Christmas. Looks like we might have a white Christmas with more snow on the way. Couldn't resist putting together a little Christmas card.

Here's hoping everyone has a great holiday! Merry Christmas from all of us!

Light Station Mukilteo

I recently got a chance to get up north of Seattle to the small town of Mukilteo to shoot a lighthouse I've been wanting to shoot. I've always seen pictures of this lighthouse and have always loved the fact that the ferry to Clinton leaves from that same location, so you always get the play between the lighthouse and the ferries coming and going. It's a beautiful location. Here's a few of the better shots I got that morning.

My best flower this past year i think. (but i'm still lookin'.)

The last of the Dahlias this year at Point Defiance

Washington Soldiers Cemetary

Yesterday morning I decided to take advantage of the currently low price at the pump to expand my boundaries a bit. I pulled up Google maps on the computer first thing and pointed my finger to a spot on the map that I would aim for. I copied down a couple of intersections for the gps and headed out the door. It was five in the morning but already I could see that the cloud cover overhead was not going to make for a very interesting morning. This time of year I tend like clear, but foggy mornings.

I ended up over close to a town called Orting, a rural town out in the middle of farm country. I kept driving as the light was coming up, not really seeing too much promise for anything good. Some mornings just start gray and well, pretty much end up gray and around here, that's most days in the winter.

The more I drove the more frustrated I became. Everything was just flat. No interesting color and no great light. I had contemplated just going home. And then I rounded the corner and , wow, I couldn't believe my eyes. It was absolutely amazing! I had stumbled across an old soldiers cemetery. Good light or no good light, to a photographer, this is quite the find.

I quickly cut a right into the cemetery and drove the road around to the back. As I pulled up and saw all of the grave markers rising up the hill to my left, I could barely contain my excitement. I became giddy, literally screaming and clapping my hands in joy over my discovery. Then it occurred to me where I was. Needless to say the yelling and clapping met an abrupt end. I stopped and looked at all of the grave markers and in the interest of maintaining good Ju Ju, I found myself apologizing to the occupants for arriving so rudely to their place of rest.

Humbled by the experience, I quietly retrieved my camera and tripod and headed out to shoot the cometery. I got some great pictures despite the lack of quality light. It's funny I love to shoot graveyards and cemeteries. I'm not sure of the fascination, I just love to be in a graveyard shooting pictures. It means so much more though, to shoot in this kind of cemetery. The men and women who lie here have such great and awful stories to tell. I found myself almost kneeling down in front of these graves in respect. I certainly thanked them for allowing me the freedom to be out, taking pictures in this cemetery, with it's less than stellar light. I know it sounds weird, but I talked to them while I shot and thanked them all again as I drove out to go home.

Snoqualmie Overflowing

It's true...Seattle does get a lot of rain. We enjoy mild, dry summers, but come the fall the rain settles in and doesn't let up until Spring. Why do we get so much rain? Its pretty simple. The Cascade Mountain chain lies just East of Seattle. It's great because you only need go a few miles out of town before you are in the mountains, however the proximity of those mountains is the reason for the rain. Moisture that comes off the ocean moves in and gets literally stopped by the Cascade Mountains. The Mountains create what's called a rain shadow. That explains the radically different, much drier terrain just directly East of the Cascades over in eastern Washington. Most of the weather systems coming from the Pacific, hit the high mountains and get stuck, dumping all their moisture over the area around Seattle.

Every now and then we experience a phenomenon called the Pineapple Express. A long sting of storms aim directly at us coming from the warm air down near Hawaii. It's like a fire hose just forcing all of the moisture our way. Usually there is flooding associated with this phenomenon. We had just such an event happen this past week and boy was there flooding.

When the heavy rains come, especially in the mountains, the streams and rivers become swollen until they overflow their banks. That's when we get the low land flooding that forces people from their homes. Last week we had some of that but not as much as in years past. There was however enough water in the rivers to make for quite the spectacle over at Snoqualmie Falls. I finally got a chance to go over and check out the falls this past week.It was quite an experience.

Another View of the Falls, the Salish Lodge is up on the bluff (upper left)

Snoqualmie Falls,

Snoqualmie WA

The beautiful Salish Lodge and Spa overlooks the raging Snoqualmie Falls


Take away the identifying elements
and this could be anywhere in the world.

Taking advantage of a fogged up lens to catch an artful shot.

A close up of the falls reveals the true power of Mother Nature.

Shot's Fired, Cornfield and Barnyard...officers respond!

There are dangers inherent in shooting photography. I've been in more than a few situations that I thought might have a chance of ending badly for me. Nothing really life threatening, (don't freak out Mom) but I have been in parts of town where I have encountered bad elements standing between me and the safety of my car and that's never really fun. Mind you, I never go into these parts of town with my full rig either. I have an old, worn out camera bag just for those times. I mean, there's no use in screaming out...lot's of expensive camera gear hear, please come rob me. Now, one would think that out in the country, taking pictures of a barn, one wouldn't need to worry too much about getting mugged or shot. That's what I thought at least.

Just the other day, I was over in Puyallup taking pictures of my favorite barn. The morning was just beautiful, the sun was on the rise, the birds were singing and I was positioned in my usual spot and had just started to get good light . All the sudden, I heard the sound of ducks coming up from behind. I turned to look and sure enough, there was a whole flock of ducks flying in a perfect V formation coming up over my head. I quickly got myself into position to catch them as they came over the barn. I remember thinking to myself, what a great shot this will be. Then all of the sudden, BOOM! a shot rang out from the cornfield ahead of me, to my right. Caught totally off gaurd, I took my eye away from the viewfinder just in time to see two of the ducks falling lifelessly to the ground. It was surreal, I couldn't believe it. Right there in the middle of this cornfield, no more than 50 yards from my position, sat two hunters just waiting to spring into action.

I immediately thought to myself, maybe I should go. But the sun was just right and the colors were just perfect and BOOM!...another shot and another duck falls out of the sky. The delima was killing me. Stay and get the shot or stay and get shot. Just about that time, I heard bird shot falling on the the metal roof of the barn. Wow, that's curious. BOOM, another shot. What finally made my decision to go was the bird shot falling just within feet of where I was standing. It sorta sounded like rain. I didn't even walk, I ran like Forrest Gump all the way back to the car.

Note to self...while duck hunting season is in...stay in the city, it's safer.

This was one of the shots I got before the gunfire started. The hunters were in the cornfield just to the right at the base of the Mountain.

"The Mountain"

The locals here simply call it "The Mountain." At 14,411 feet, Mt Rainier is the tallest mountain in the cascade range. You would think a mountain that high would be hard to miss, but in reality, clear days in Western Washington are sometimes few and far between and if you didn't know better, you wouldn't think there was a mountain there at all. I remember when I first came to Seattle six years ago, I was here almost a week and a half before I even saw the mountain and I remember I just about wrecked my car the first time I saw it. I couldn't believe how big and beautiful this mountain was.

The beauty of Mt Rainier is deceptive however. It is, after all, an active volcano with the potential to literally destroy a good portion, if not all of this region if it ever decided to let its hair out. Even with a moderate eruption, several towns located in the valleys here would cease to exist. They would literally be washed away by the gigantic mudflows called Lahars that would come crashing down through the valleys with little warning. In fact, most of these towns are built atop old mud flows deposited from previous eruptions. Its all pretty scary stuff, but I guess most of us here just don't think that much about it as we go about our daily business.

Living in this area year round we tend to take the mountain for granted. It's always been a constant beacon, never changing. You always know what direction you're heading simply by looking at the mountain. As a photographer, the mountain is like shooting the Eiffel Tower or some other big landmark, it's great once or twice but once you've shot it over and over you tend to shoot other things in other directions. Every now and then though, you'll catch it in the right light and it hits you again how truly magnificent this mountain really is.

Usually this time of year I try to get over close to it and get shots simply because in a couple of weeks the rains come in heavy and you'll be lucky to see it at all. This past few weeks I've been taking a closer look at "The Mountain." Here's a few of my favorites both from this past week and from past shoots.

Shrouded in Fog, this is one of my all time favorite shots of the mountain.

Taken from the parking lot of a church along the Mountain Highway near the little town of Kapowsin, WA. This is a great example of being in the right place at the right time.

After getting lost one day, I stumbled upon this great view of the mountain, across the Carbon River Valley, just outside of Wilkeson, WA. Most of the forest in the foothills here has been logged out and the trees replanted. The taller outcroppings of trees indicate how tall the original forest would be.

A very cold, early morning in the Ohop Valley near Eatonville, WA

The Bee and Me

It happened one morning last spring. I got up early and headed down to Point Defiance to catch the good light at the boat house. I remember it being overcast that morning. The sky was plain and boring and no good for landscapes. After taking a few uninspiring shots of the boat house, I remembered there being some beautiful Foxglove over behind one of the old trains at the Logging Museum just across the park. Now one thing I've learned since picking up photography is the simple fact that in nature, what happens once is likely to happen again, in the same way and pretty much at the same time tomorrow, next week or next year. Whether it is a flock of geese arriving by the hundreds to a reserve or just the changing of the seasons, it is that predictable pattern of nature that allows photographers to anticipate great shots. I had shot those same Foxgloves the year before and knew they would be there again so I decided to scrap the boat house shoot and head over to the museum.

When I arrived at the logging museum, I headed directly over to the patch of Foxglove, hidden away behind an old worn out rusty train car once used to haul the huge logs produced by the old logging equipment. It's all extremely interesting historical stuff that is great to photograph but I was there for the Foxglove. And so were the bumble bees apparently. There must have been at least twenty really big bumble bees just a hanging out at the local Foxglove. Normally I would be too afraid of these bees to get in close but not with a camera in my hand. As with so many other things in nature, if you don't provoke or show fear, these insects are more than content to just go about their pollen collecting business without paying too much attention.

I've mentioned in a previous post(Taking a Closer Look) that I absolutely love chasing bees around the flowers. In fact the picture used in that post comes from this very shoot (left). Instead of shooting just flowers, the bees quickly became an unexpected but welcome secondary subject. The light was really right as I started to shoot. The bees were very busy though, never staying in one place for more than a second. It was quickly becoming a challenge to frame the bee on the flower, get a good focus and fire the shutter, before the bee would fly away to the next flower. This is often where the "chasing" part comes into play. Sometimes it's better to concentrate on composing the picture perfectly and then wait for the bee to show up. And this day, with the bees being so fickle I figured that might be the way to go.

One of the dangers of framing the shot and playing the waiting game though, is you run the risk of paying too much attention to just that one shot, missing out on all of the other great stuff happening around you. Realizing this I shifted my focus quickly to the surrounding flowers. To my surprise I noticed a bee had landed on a nearby flower and was actually sitting still. Determined not to miss the opportunity, I quickly removed my camera from the tripod, fired up the image stabilization and started shooting this one bee hand held.

At fist I was careful, keeping my distance so as not to scare the little guy away and miss the moment. I was ecstatic! I was actually getting a bee to stand still, just sitting there posing for my every photographic whim. As my excitement grew, I started to push the envelope, getting closer and closer firing the shutter quickly. Like a shark feeding on flesh, I began to shoot in frenzy, moving side to side, changing angles, moving up, moving down. I couldn’t believe my luck! The closer I got, the better my shots, it was just amazing!

And then I stopped. Wait a minute… something’s not right.

In all of the excitement I failed to make the realization that this beautiful creature was not just sitting on the flower posing ever so graciously but was in reality struggling desperately to hang on. In all of the excitement I failed to see that this bee was possibly dieing.

At that moment everything changed. I froze. Al l the excitement that only seconds ago was filling my soul to the brim quickly disappeared. I stood there silently, just watching. How clearly it had become. It was like the old lady’s picture where you don’t see her until you realize she’s there and then you can see nothing else. I started to feel almost guilty. I was selfishly deriving such pleasure from this bee as he was perhaps in the last moments of his life. I tried for a moment to pretend that it didn’t matter but it did. It’s such a strange thing. It’s a bee; there are millions of them, why would I care if this one bee was dieing? But I did care. And I did feel guilty…guilty enough to leave that patch of flowers behind and go home without taking another single photograph.

Ever since that day last spring, I've been a little haunted by what I experienced. I think I would feel the same if given the task of photographing a funeral. There is just something that feels fundamentally wrong about photographing death. Of course, these days, with all of the death we constantly see on television, capturing all of the gory details in high definition has become quite en vogue. However, to me and probably most other regular folk, death is still something we try to keep hidden away. I hope that bee flew away, just after I left, living out the rest of his days in pollen collecting bliss. Something tells me he didn't, but hey...I can hope.

Our New Eight Legged Friend

Ok, so maybe I am a little crazy. Would you let a spider the size of a nickle take up residence under your kitchen cabinet? A few days ago I would've probably said no too, but that was before our little eight legged friend decided to set up housekeeping. I discovered him (or her whatever the case may be) the other night as I started preparing dinner. There he was in all his..."spiderness." Now I'm not too crazy about spiders, I never have been. My youngest son Brandon came in the kitchen and immediately asked what I was looking at. I told him we had a new friend. Of course in typical ten year old fashion, he said, "Cool, can we keep him?" I told him "no we can't keep him but maybe we could watch him this evening as he went about building his web." So we did and I continued to cook dinner with our newly acquired spider friend just a few feet away toiling away at his web. It was all a bit weird but hey.
Now of course Brandon, being a typical ten year old leaves the kitchen only to return from outside with a dead fly. Now only a ten year old would know where to acquire a dead fly so quickly, I mean come on, would you know where to put your hands on a dead fly if someone asked? I wouldn't. Well, no sooner had I asked him what he had, he tossed the fly towards the web. Just like glue the web trapped the fly and the spider quickly sprung into action capturing the fly. It was like looking at the coolest stuff mother nature has to offer right here under our kitchen cabinet. After watching this awesome spectacle of nature unfold before our eyes, Brandon's first words were wooh Cooool! His next words were, dad where's your camera? I immediately replied, son I'm two steps ahead of you!

Here's what we came up with:

I love this shot, and I'm sure the spider loved the free meal.

We got this shot by turning the kitchen light out and shining a flash light not on the spider but on a piece of colored card board behind the spider.

This was taken with the lights out shining a flash light from the side on the spider. I gave Brandon the remote for the camera and told him to fire the shutter every time I thought I had the light just right.

It amazing, this spider has sat in the same position in the center of his web moving very little for the last two days. He's waiting to pounce on his next victim. I wish I had that kind of patience and determination. I'm not sure how long he'll stay but I'll give him another day or two to hang out. Why not?

Yet Another View

My family and I live in the very small town of Steilacoom (pronounced "stillacum"). Located just south of Seattle Washington, Steilacoom sits quietly along the beautiful shores of the Puget Sound. It's a quaint little single stop light town that time seems to have forgotten. There are only a couple of ways to get in and out of town and most take you either through dense old growth forest or down a beautiful drive that hugs the coastline of the Sound. And though it takes a bit longer, I usually take one of these more "scenic" routes in and out of town simply because these routes are more interesting and picturesque.

Until now, I thought I had found all of the great places along these picturesque routes to shoot photography and over the past couple years I've shot photography in all of these places ten times over. Well, the other day as I drove out of town, I saw a path that I had never noticed before. This path appeared to lead up a large hill that runs along the road, rising from the sound, as you leave town. As a photog I immediately said to myself...new vantage point!

So the other night I threw the camera in the car and drove over. I had to park at the parking lot at Sunnyside Beach and walk along the Chambers Creek Road about a quarter mile to reach the trail head. As I started to climb, aside from realizing how out of shape I've become in my old age, I started to realize that this was really going to provide a great view. Reaching the top of the hill I turned around and my suspicions had been confirmed...yet another beautiful view of town.

After all the years I've been here, the one thing that simply amazes me about this part of the county is as soon as you think you've seen it all, you turn another corner and there's yet again, another spectacularly beautiful place to shoot. It's then that you realize that you've only scratched the surface of all the Pacific North West has to offer.

The first shot you see in this post(above) is the best shot I got from the top of the hill overlooking Steilacoom. I thought I would also include some of my shots from past shoots around town...enjoy.

A view of town from Sunnyside Beach

The wagon shop and the Ore Home in the background are some of the original structures still standing after more that 150 years.

A couple takes in a beautiful sunset over the Sound from one of the many waterfront parks in Steilacoom

Low tide reveals the pillars of an old dock located at Sunnyside Beach

On rare ocasion we actually get a good thunderstorm that produces good lightning. Great fun for a shooter.

One of the Puget Sounds oldest ferries waiting to take cars and passengers to Anderson Island just accross the Sound.

Chambers Bay Golf Course
Located in Steilacoom, this beautiful course will host the US Open, I believe, in 2012

This bridge takes you over the train tracks down to Salter's Point Beach. To stand on this bridge as a fully loaded freight train passes under at full speed is an exhilarating experience that one never forgets. It is a favorite pass time for residents here in Steilacoom.

Just recently these new luxery homes have popped up just up the street from Sunnyside Beach. Just recently the residents here in Steilacoom have fought hard against new developement that would ruin the rustic charm of this old community.

Early Morning In Fort Steilacoom Park