Tag Archives: washington

The Mountain Colors Are So Good They Look Fake

Driving up the North Cascades highway towards Washington Pass, the scenery looked great. I realized that there was a good spot to pull over as we headed up and figured I would stop on the way back. When we returned, I pulled off to take some shots and there were lots of other people doing likewise. The sun was out and shining on the peaks around us but there was plenty of color in the mountains. As I looked at it, I felt like it was somehow a creation of some movie maker rather than something I was looking at. The colors looked amazing. The shots conveyed the color pretty well but I fear that I was going to be assumed to have gone to town on the saturation slider. This is exactly how it looked!

LongRanger That Is Shy

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This Bell LongRanger came in to Boeing Field and I got a few shots of it as it made its approach. It was painted gray which made it look a little out of the ordinary. Once I got home, I decided to check out who owned it. However, trying to find the registration proved to be a little tricky. Registration markings are supposed to be clearly visible with rules governing how they are applied. I think the idea is to mean your registration can quickly be read if needed. The choice of color and the placement made this one very hard to detect. I assume someone doesn’t want you to know.

Sunbathing Heron (I Think)

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This heron was standing around on Juanita Bay when mum and I were there. It wasn’t showing any sign of hunting so I assume it had already eaten well. The sun was out and it was pretty hot so, after a little preening, the heron adopted a pose I had not seen before. It opened out its wings and faced the sun. I couldn’t work out whether this was a position designed to absorb the sun’s rays or whether it provided a mechanism for cooling by maximizing the surface area exposed. Whichever it is, it was curious. I also shot some video of the bird which is below.

Lunch At Newcastle Golf Club

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A work event at Newcastle Golf Club that I posted about previously introduced me to this location. Since it has such great views over the area, it seemed like a good spot to have lunch when mum was visiting. I also took along the camera so, after we had eaten, I could use the longer lens to get some shots of the area. I also shot a few panos to see how they would work out and how bad the heat haze might prove to be. Things came out better than I had expected. I did also shoot a bunch of identical shots to use the statistic function in Photoshop to try and remove heat distortion but, to be honest, the original distortion was not that bad and the edited shots weren’t any better.

An MU-2 Again But With Sun This Time

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I have posted some Mitsubishi MU-2 encounters on this blog before and they have usually involved me complaining about the conditions never being very good for shooting them. Would you believe it but I have finally managed to come across one on a day when the sun was out. Sadly no puffy clouds in the background to make it look even better but, given how long I have waited to catch one in the sun, this counts as a result! Hurrah!

Ferries Bunching Up At Lopez

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We took the ferry to Friday Harbor when mum was staying and there is no way that I am going to be on a ferry for a while without the camera coming out to shoot the other ferries we passed. We were on the direct service from Anacortes to Friday Harbor but there are the other services that stop at the other islands. Our route took us passed the terminal on Lopez Island and, both outbound and return, we saw ferries docked there.

It seems that the schedule results in one ferry arriving at Lopez shortly after the preceding one departs. I assume that this doesn’t make it too tricky to stack up the awaiting vehicles but there doesn’t look to be a huge amount of space at the terminal. Then again, Lopez is a quieter destination than Friday Harbor. It was fun trying to get shots that combined both ferries in one frame and they passed on their respective routes.

As Close As I Have Got To Cormorants

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There are no prizes if you know that one of my favorite birds is the cormorant. They are just so cool in my eyes. I am constantly struggling to get good shots of them as they are pretty reticent about being close to humans. Who would have thought any wildlife would view us suspiciously? One place that they do like to hang out is the structure around ferry terminals. They are isolated from the land so have a measure of protection. They can also go straight in to the water whenever they need to fish.

I got the camera ready when we boarded the ferry in case they were close to where we were. Sometimes the light angle is bad, sometimes they happen to be on another structure. Fortunately, on this trip, I got lucky. I was really close to them. The light angles were not ideal but it was still pretty good compared to anything I have ever got before. The sides of the ferry are open so there is the risk that you can spook them. However, there is something about the boat that seems to be less concerned about your presence. It is a bit like seeing deer when you are in a car and looking out of the window.

Beaver Beats Us To Friday Harbor

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We took the ferry to Friday Harbor for a day out on San Juan Island while mum was visiting. As the ferry approached the harbor, we were standing up at the front of the car deck watching what was going on. Of course, I had the camera with me – fortunately with the longer lens fitted. A buzz came from our right as a DHC-2 Beaver came into sight on final approach for the harbor. I didn’t have everything set up exactly as would have been ideal but sometimes you just have to get the shot.

The plane touched down and taxied to the jetty to drop off and pick up its passengers. I didn’t recognize the colors but a look at the shots back at home shows the name Friday Harbor Seaplanes. I have seen a few of their planes show up on tracking since so I guess they have a good operation running. They operate to Kenmore so I should really check back to see whether I have shot them in the past and didn’t realize it.

A Singaporean DHL 777F

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The only 777s coming out of Everett at the moment are freighters. This can mean unusual airlines but not usually and I don’t head up there terribly often at the moment. However, one of the jets on test recently was destined for DHL’s operations in Singapore. Consequently, it is a hybrid of the DHL and Singapore markings. It seemed worth a look and it helped that they had taken off mid afternoon and were due back after work.

A few photographers had showed up for this arrival as was expected. At this time of year, even early evening is not the best of the light, but it was pretty good. They could be seen out as they set up for approach with Mount Rainier in the background. They touched down with the sound of the RAT buzzing in the background. I was ready to go and headed for the car, but I heard a shout from Royal and Nick that it was coming back. Sure enough, they had taxied back to do one further acceleration and abort on the runway, so we got a second chance at some shots.

How Green Is Diablo Lake?

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The water running out of the mountains along the North Cascade Highway brings a lot of sediment with it. The result of this is that the rivers and lakes that form along the route of the pass have a distinct green color to them. The Skagit River in Newhalem has a clear green color to it. However, the more dramatic demonstration of this coloration is visible at Diablo Lake. This lake that is formed behind Diablo Dam has a very green appearance. It looks like it must have been created artificially but it is just the result of carrying the minerals down from the mountains above. Of course, a polarizer does a good job of highlighting the color when the reflections are removed.