Makah Fishing Boats

Makah Indian fishing boats are completely motionless during this blue hour, 30 second time exposure as a light rain falls on Neah Bay, Washington. I'm using an umbrella to keep me and my camera dry. The rain on the water creates a silky texture in the time exposure. No filters in making the shot and minimal edits afterwards. That's how I like it.

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Fishing Pier at Night

The public fishing pier at Elliott Bay Park stands out from the darkness and encroaching fog with its solitary street lamp looking like a starburst. In the distance the fog is made visible by the lights, but to the left the darkness quickly takes over.

Milky Way Over Mount Rainier

Long exposures with digital cameras and post-processing software make pictures like this possible. With the naked eye it is obvious that one is looking at the Milky Way. There is a denser line of stars and a faint cloudiness along that line. The camera sensor sees the same thing as my eyes (in a manner of speaking) but as the shutter stays open longer, the strength of the light signal on the sensor accumulates and small points of light that our eyes cannot see are now recorded by the sensor electronics. Finally, with software like Adobe's Lightroom, I can increase the whites, decrease contrast, which shows even more points of light, and also remove the traces of yellow light pollution from cities far in the distance. Then, last of all, because I have increased the gain of the electronic sensor to capture this light, I have to use the software to reduce the noise that is added to the image by the gain.

Westlake Park with Christmas Lights

The outdoor balcony of the Westlake Center provides a nice vantage point for a wide angle shot of Westlake Park with its Christmas lights. The Macy's star is on the right, a popular, hot chocolate and mini-donuts stand on the far left, the merri-go-round to the right of the donut stand, the Christmas tree in the foreground. The dark of the night seems to be held back by the festive lights below. The time exposure with ND filter helped to ghost out most of the people in the street below.

The Red Tree on a Starry Night

This is shot from the ridge above the Sunrise visitor center on Mount Rainier. The stars were beautiful. This red tree seems rather strange, but this is not an edit in Photoshop! I used a small headlamp that has a tiny red lamp on it and "painted" the tree with red light while taking the time exposure. I love how it turned out!

Airplane Over Seattle

The light of a single airplane flying over Seattle becomes a long, meteor-like streak in this 25 second time exposure. The Space Needle stands out on the left and the lights of the industrial buildings along Elliott Avenue fill in the foreground. Far in the back right the globe of the Seattle PI and a hint of the Big Wheel provide some catchy color to this image.

Train Light Trails Through Seattle

Perhaps looking a bit like a Back to the Future episode, in reality it is just a rather slow moving train passing by underneath the Amgen pedestrian bridge. In this time exposure it seems just a bit more dramatic.

Ghostly Snake Train

In this time exposure a slow moving train on the left turns into a ghostly, slithery shape that dimly reflects the foggy mood of the lights ahead.

The Ri Guan Feng Fills Up

A Chinese boat fills up with grain at the Amgen port in the Puget Sound. Only the fore and aft bins are being filled at this time. Perhaps the middle containers are already full, but with the red line showing so high I think it has lots of space to fill still. The name of the boat is the Ri Guan Feng. If you want to track this boat, follow this link: Ri Guan Feng

Milky Way with Rocket

This is what happens when a bunch of friends go out and spend the whole night shooting stars... as the hours pass they start make up creative things to do to pass the time. Here my friend Rush drives his Jeep slowly by while the rest of us set up to catch the light trails against the starry sky. That thicker band of stars is the Milky Way. Rush's lights look like a rocket passing through--on its way to the stars! :) This picutre was shot on the side of Tipsoo Lake.

Pike Place Market After Closing

The Pike Place Market hallway is usually very crowded and filled with tourists and shoppers alike enjoying the colorful, fresh, and local fare. For me it is just as much fun to come after closing, step over the wires that say "no trespassing" and follow after the cleaning crews to take pictures of empty, dimly lit hallways colored with always-on neon signs.

Old warehouse building at night in Georgetown, Seattle