Silent Sentinals of Long Beach is a post from: Ari Takes Pictures

Most recently, this place was actually called the Fremont Inn, but I’ll defer to the huge neon thunderbird.  This was actually one of the first of the motels to be forcibly shut down under the nuisance laws.  I can’t say I’m sad that it isn’t up and running but I hope they turn it into something worthwhile instead of just another vacant lot or hole in the ground.

I think it’s safe to say, this place has seen better days.

Welcome to the Thunderbird Motel is a post from: Ari Takes Pictures

I’ll admit that this picture wasn’t from the solstice proper – I took it a week or two back, but it was on one of our other perfect days.  Downtown doesn’t have as much of a focal point as I’d like – the space needle is way too far north and most of the bigger and more distinct buildings are buried down the hill.  The twin circular towers of the Westin are about the more distinctive things we have.  It does remind me of the World’s Fair 1960′s style stuff that still lingers (space needle, monorail, etc) so I guess that’s ok.

Happy Solstice Sunset is a post from: Ari Takes Pictures

Hit the jump for more pictures and words and such.

Walking out on the bridge gave me some time to think.  I’ve driven across it twice a day for upwards of a year now, but walking it is a whole different thing.  It shakes.  It’s high and narrow.  But honestly, the original fence barrier to jumping was what struck me first.  Possibly appropriate for a set of stairs or a bridge over a creek, but jesus!  That thing is low!  Luckily this new one fixes that right up.

Hopefully in the future, they won’t need these signs.  Before the fence, it didn’t seem like it would take more than a strong breeze to send people over the railing.  Now there is certainly a physical deterrent that I hope will slow people down.

I’ve also wondered why so many people choose to come down in the Adobe parking lot instead of the water of the ship canal.  I suppose some romantic notion of plunging into the cold lake made me assume that’s what everyone would want to do.  A coworker wagered that maybe the assurance that you wouldn’t live through it if you hit that asphalt below was the deciding factor, but honestly it could just be the walk – it takes a pretty long time to get all the way out over the water.  If you were really ready to go, I can see someone thinking that they’d just hiked far enough.

With traffic whizzing by, I’d had enough.  The view is great, the sunset was nice, Mt. Rainier was out, but I wanted to go home.  So long, suicide bridge.

The Death of the Suicide Bridge is a post from: Ari Takes Pictures

Dating from 1896, this is one of two lighthouses that have steered ships into the Columbia river for over one hundred years.  On the wind-blasted cliffs, these sentinels shine the way.  I don’t know if it was visits to the Point Loma Lighthouse in my formative years, but I’m always drawn to these things.  I shot this in HDR to bring out a little texture in the shadows, but on an overcast day it was hardly necessary.

North Head Lighthouse – Cape Disappointment is a post from: Ari Takes Pictures

That wasn’t really how things started.  If you want to see the original and hear a little more, hit the jump.

I saw this sign down in SoDo/Georgetown and I knew I had to come back.  When I got there I found road construction, muddy puddles, and power lines.  Basically, I got this:

I came mid-morning and although the light was bright enough, the sun was up pretty high, making it hard for my little S90 to accurately capture the part of the scene I cared about.  Especially when you’re trying to draw out colors in harsh light, HDR is a great choice, so I immediately switch to auto-bracket and tried to hold my hands still while I got three shots.  Once I got home, I pulled everything together with Photomatix Pro (my HDR software of choice) but didn’t sharpen or otherwise correct, yet.  I decided that I really needed to get rid of the power lines.  I’m no Photoshop wiz, so I actually try not to do this kind of editing except when I have to and only when the things I want to get rid of don’t involve anything elaborate or man-made.  I used the Photoshop healing brush to get rid of the powerlines and it only took about 20 minutes.  If this had been over the building, it would have been much harder and I probably would have needed to stamp and clone.  I also thought about taking the rusty metal plates off the side of the building.  The upside is it would clean up that corner and leave more attention for the sign, but I liked the grit, I liked less editing, and I liked how it balanced out the lower edge of the frame.

All in all, I’m pretty happy with it.  I knew I was coming back as soon as I saw the sign, but the actual situation – the cars, the poles and lines – make it harder to produce the picture I had in my mind.  I’m glad I tried!

Diesel – A Reason To Advertise is a post from: Ari Takes Pictures

My main problem is that they almost always sit behind big fences and if you can’t get close, you can’t get a very good shot.  These were behind a fence, but they were close enough to it that I could get close and shoot up.  If they’d let me into the middle of the stacks I’m sure I could get some cool shots, but for some reason they don’t seem to love random dudes with cameras in the middle of their business, so I guess I’ll settle for not being chased off for taking pictures from the outside.  Once again, shot this hand-held with my S90, set to auto-bracket and attempted to keep things still to get 3 shots for the HDR.  The containers came out pretty clean but it was windy – you can see the clouds moving between frames – probably 1 second total exposure time!

Stacks and Stacks of Cans is a post from: Ari Takes Pictures

If the view looks familiar, it’s because Kerry Park is one of the very few places you can shoot this view from, so the idea is hardly unique, but I was still excited to go up there for myself and see what it was all about.  I did a bunch of panoramas too, so you might see some of those coming up.   I like this a lot in HDR, but there is some ghosting – it’s a really busy picture and there are a lot of lines that will show any mis-alignment.  I shot this on a tripod with a cable release, but it’s still not as sharp as I’d like.  I guess there is a reason that my tripod was $80 instead of $500.

Standing up in the park on a cold morning made me think a little more about what it means to make a picture like this.  Sometimes all it takes is a lot of luck and showing up to get exactly what you want, but the real pros put far more work in than you might think.  I wanted sunrise, so I got up early.  I wanted an interesting sky so I waited for some clouds but not too many.  I wanted the sun between the Needle and Mt. Rainier, but when I got there I realized it was coming up much too far to the north – if you want that shot, you need to come back in a whole different season.  Like I said, sometimes you might get lucky, but most of the time it doesn’t just happen!

Stereotypical Seattle is a post from: Ari Takes Pictures

The rust, the rivets!  I never get tired of it.  Shooting this one up against an overcast but bright sky, it was a bit hard to get the tower to stand out without washing out the sky, so I went back to my pseudo-HDR style to pull things apart.  I’m sure there are other ways to get the same effect, but once you’ve got this one sorted out, it’s really fast and easy.

Back To Gas Works is a post from: Ari Takes Pictures

No Better Place To Stop, Rest is a post from: Ari Takes Pictures