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.