It starts with a lot of breathless weather reports, of course.  A lot of doubt, and at least one false alarm.  Eventually though, it does happen.  It can snow in Seattle.  At the same time, you usually have to go looking for it, at first.

And then it comes down.  The city goes to sleep.  Everyone looks around and enjoys themselves as their employers try and figure out how to wrest some productivity from the cold disaster.  About this time the local news starts driving around the city in the van they’ve dubbed “Snow King” and crashing into parked cars.

I always forget how quickly a neighborhood of asphalt and dirt and grass and cars can be turned into breathless white.  After it all stops, when everything is calm and before the melting starts, there is one moment before the snow turns brown or yellow or other colors you’d rather not think about, when everything is perfectly clean and white.

Snowpocalypse Seattle, 2012 edition.  A good time to give thanks for the ability to work from home.

Anatomy of a Snowpocalypse is a post from: Ari Takes Pictures

I wanted to highlight the part of the shot I liked best since I couldn’t frame around the bits I didn’t like.  I used the same technique from here to remove the color from the rest of the shot.  Simple, geometric.  Railroad lines – I’m always trying to frame those.

End of the Line is a post from: Ari Takes Pictures

As it turns out, the first tower was built in 1969, but the second wasn’t completed until 1982 – I guess by then they had to follow the same plan.  I like the idea of Seattle having a set of twin towers to call its own – maybe not as graceful or aspirational, but they fit the vibe of summertime in the northwest.

Twin Towers of Seattle is a post from: Ari Takes Pictures

Home Sweet Block is a post from: Ari Takes Pictures

It seems when the president is going to hold a meeting with local business leaders at the place where you usually get snacks and pastries, that is somehow more important.  Funny – I usually go through the door, not a security tent.

These nice gentlemen told me that after the president was gone around 1, they’d be happy to serve me coffee, but right now, I couldn’t be closer than 20 feet from the door.  They didn’t tackle me for taking pictures though, so there’s that.

Glad I didn’t drive today.

Obama at the Bakery 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

Sometimes that isn’t a bad thing though.  Back in the film days it was more of a change, but even now it feels odd to some people: taking good pictures is all about taking a whole lot of picture.  What you get will vary and what you expect to like might not be what you do.  For these shots, I wasn’t trying to really document what I was seeing because I knew it wouldn’t come out, but I like the effect anyway.

The hand-held shots means camera shake.  High ISO means noise.  Funny lighting means… funny light.  It just is what it is and these two, I liked.  Wish I’d have taken more, but it was a tour, not photo time.  Oh… and if you are wondering, these two are both the old glass sidewalk skylights common in Pioneer Square – if you see them on the street, the ground underneath is hollow.

Low Light Abstracts Your Photography is a post from: Ari Takes Pictures

C’mon – there’s a face in that, right?  He’s even got a different color for one eye.  That’s great stuff!  But yeah.  A sink.  I just liked it.  Getting a little photography wonky, it was a dark tour.  I took it with my 50mm, which goes down to 1.8, but when you’re being jostled by the crowd, you don’t have a lot of time to set up or a tripod, so you get what you can and I liked how this came out.  With low light, you can often lose some color, which made me want to try it in black and white.  Hit the jump to see that one!

For this I feel like it lost some of the charm of the color version, but it’s more dramatic with extra contrast.  I’m kinda on the fence.  The other is more playful, but B&W just sort of suits the theme, don’t you think?  Which one do you like?

Someone Has Got Some Cleaning To Do is a post from: Ari Takes Pictures

Right now it’s all happy and bare out there, but never forget people – this is how it started.  You remember what happened after that, right?

This Is How It Starts is a post from: Ari Takes Pictures

I can’t say that scenes like this are rare, but the forest-like nature in the middle of the neighborhood seemed just right to me.  It reminds me why I like carrying around my camera while I’m taking walks on rainy days.  It also bewilders me why people feel the need for specialty lenses like the Lens Baby line. They’re not cheap enough to be toys (well… except when compared to real lens prices) and they create an effect you could otherwise create in Photoshop, if you didn’t want to do it yourself, like above, with a small aperture.  Just sayin…

Wet Makes Moss is a post from: Ari Takes Pictures