Just for Fun

It’s been one hot friggin’ week all around the Tacoma area, and it wasn’t any different in Sunriver, OR, where I took a few days to relax earlier this week. How did you beat the heat? Hit the water slides, the beach, grab a slushie? I decided to explore the lava river cave just outside Bend, OR. You’d think it being a lava cave, it wouldn’t be the best idea to escape the 95 degree temps, however, this mile-long cave stays a constant 42 degrees year-round. The second I hit the mouth of this baby it was already time to breakout the hooded sweatshirt.

Venturing the unknown, cold, dark cave, I wasn’t about to haul thousands of dollars worth of camera equipment with me to document the trip, and that’s where the good ‘ol point ‘n shoot came in. So, the shots aren’t anything to write home about, just something fun to look at. All of these shots are longer shots and handheld, so there have a unsteady look to them, but can give a cool effect at times.

If you were lucky enough to be in the PNW like myself, you know what a cold, wet, and extremely gusty day it was. Needless to say, part two of my industrial night lights shoot will have to wait for another day. Wind is a camera’s worst enemy when attempting long exposures.

Instead, I discovered the greenhouse in Wright Park, in down town Tacoma. I had never been there, and to my surprise, the climate controlled building housed a gigantic assortment of colorful flowers in bloom. I don’t have a macro lens yet to take perfect macro shots, so my 50mm and 28-135mm lenses had to do. They turned out ok.

I just picked up the new Canon 5D Mark II, and have been itching to get out and spend some time doing some long exposures of the industrial area lights. I hit up a spot where I have previously shot, but now armed with a 21 megapixel camera, I knew I’d get better results. I’ll be shooting the Federal Way side of the lights tomorrow night, which will be a new spot for me. I’ll post those pics too if I get anything good.

 Valentine’s weekend, I ventured out to the Tacoma industrial area. I love this area as there are an infinite amount of photo possibilities. There a miles of roads, handfuls of old and/or abandoned buildings, rusty equipment, and textures of all kinds that cater to just about any style of photography, from wide angle shots to macros. It is a graveyard for industrial equipment and the unwanted things that are simply too large to keep around. You never know what you’ll stumble across, I walked by an boat anchor the size of my car.

It was a pretty brisk Saturday, I made my way through the area swiftly as the cold bit at my bare hands. It was one of those days that I wanted to spend hours wandering around and taking a wide variety of shots and changing lenses, but it just got uncomfortable after a few minutes outside the comfort of my car. Days like that make you want the summer weather here just that much faster.