Today’s posting is a little different as I had two pictures and couldn’t decide which “version” to post.  Let me explain what I mean.  Every day after work I drive home the same way and pass Union Hill Ranch which is around 3 miles from home.  The Ranch is surrounded by trees and has a large pond at it’s front by the road.  There is also a pond overflow that flows towards the road and looks like a mini waterfall.

Anyway I’ve often thought of pulling over and photographing this scene, as I like the trees and pond and the water run-away.

So the other day on the way home I stopped, grabbed the camera and took some shots.  When I got home and looked at the images they looked OK but not in my opinion great.  As a result I tried one of the pictures as a black and white and I felt it looked better.  After that I did what I do every night, I showed Lisa, James and Abi and asked them what they thought, only this time I showed them the color version and the black and white and asked them which one they liked best.

As you can imagine a discussion ensued that covered the pro’s and con’s of each image, the bottom line the family couldn’t decide which one was best and stated they liked them both.  I actually prefer the black and white but thought tonight I’d post both and let you decide.

I should point out (for those that don’t know) digital photographers typically shoot in color all the time and then post process the image if they want black and white, after in software.  While it’s true that most digital cameras have a black & white option or mode, I don’t like the way they process the image – they always look very flat to me, not having enough contrast.  So I always do this after the fact in Photoshop.

Anyway here are the two images, have a look and let me know which one you prefer, feel free to add a comment and vote or email me.

First the Black and White…

And then the color…

Tonight Carter and his mate decided they wanted to play a game of Chess.

It’s kind of funny how I end up picking a picture to post. Yesterday while driving round Redmond I saw these great Cherry Blossom trees. So I parked up and jumped out of the car (I take my camera and tripod everywhere I go these days).

The rain had just stopped so I was ok getting the camera out, and as you can see in the picture blue sky was rolling past above.  At first I set up the camera in front of the trees (there were two) and I took some pictures. I was standing by the side of the road as passers by looked on like I was bonkers! (Actually you would be amazed at the number of people who stop and ask what I’m doing, I mean I’m standing there with a huge tripod and camera taking pictures and people still ask.  These days I’ve started giving stupid responses too – I kind-a look at the camera, then at the person, and then say “I’m flying a kite” or something.)

Anyway, I took both horizontal and vertical shots and they both looked “ok” at best.  Behind the trees were some ugly buildings and there wasn’t enough contrast and the trees were kind of lost.  So I went off and photographed something else (see yesterday’s posting). On the way back to the car as I walked past the trees I thought I’d try one more shot, only this time an up shot with the sky as a backdrop.

I thought nothing of it and went back to work. When I got home I looked at all the images I shot and loved the last ones of the Cherry Trees. The pink blossoms against the blue sky look great. So here is my picture of the day.

Carter and Master Chief wanted some Kiwi tonight, although I’m not sure Master Chief is eating it right!

We don’t have much graffiti in Redmond, in fact I don’t think I have ever seen any before.  But today I went out to lunch with some mates from work and we ended up in Redmond.  We were actually going to the Red Lion which is an English pub in town, but it wasn’t open yet!  So instead we went somewhere else.

As we were driving around we drove past the skate board park.  The park has a couple of 1/4 pipes, some steps the kids can skate down and a couple of rails.  It’s really cool – I might take James down there so he can check it out.  Anyway just by the park is this great big graffiti wall.  I guess the city had the idea that if kids want to paint on a wall they would rather they paint on a dedicated wall than some shop somewhere.

The wall is pretty brightly colored so I thought I’d try a couple of shots.  It took this wide image and and one really close up.  I showed them both to Lisa when I got home and this one was her favorite, so this is tonight’s image.

I think Carter want’s a drink – must be thirsty!

It was raining really hard today so tonight’s posting is from my backlog.  This is another shot of Anderson Park in Redmond (where the tree socks are).

I love this wooden cabin I think it looks really good against a backdrop of bright tree’s.  Obviously I am running out of images to post so the rain had better stop soon or I’m going to be posting some really lame pics.

On a positive note, tonight Lisa and I picked our summer vacation location, we are going to Maui, and I’ll be taking my camera and Halo chums with me, so in July expect lots of nice sunsets and beaches.

Roxie went to the cleaners today, she was supposed to go tomorrow but Lisa got the day’s wrong.  Anyway they fitted her in and gave her a bath and haircut.  When she got home she looked really cute and apparently she was really good at the cleaners so Carter decided to give her a treat.

Coming from England, the term “fast food” usually means places like McDonalds, Burger King or KFC, quick and easy restaurants where you walk in, sit at plastic tables or grab your food to go.  The experience is the same everywhere, pretty clinical and boring.

So how are things different in the US?  Well obviously America is the king of everything fast food and all the famous names come from this side of the pond.  But what’s different, is that you can still find places that mimic the old fast food joints of the 50’s.  Two types of restaurant spring to mind, there are the diners, that offer malts and shakes with your burger (some are even in old trailers – very cool) and then there are the old fashioned drive-ins – places like Sonic and Burgermaster, where you drive in, flash your lights and someone comes out to serve you in your car.

In Bellevue we have a Burgermaster where it works just like that.  You drive in, leave your lights on and a server comes to your car.  You place your order and they return with a little tray that hangs off your window that holds your burger and fries.  There is something really quaint and fun about these places and I’m sure American friends who read this are wondering what all the fuss is about, but you would never find a place like this in Europe, and quite frankly, that’s sad.

The food is, well fast!  It’s ok I guess but the real reason we go is for the experience which is just fun.  Sonics are great to go to as well, as the servers come out on roller skates.  At our Burgermaster they walk to your car, but it’s still worth a visit if you’ve never been.

I drove past the restaurant the other day and wondered what it would look like in a night picture.  So tonight I came home from work and waited until it got dark.  At 8pm I headed over to Bellevue to take the shot below.

Kat wanted a banana colored coat, so Carter helped out with a cool idea.