Today we got our first snow of the year, so Abi and I grabbed the tripod and headed out to see what we could find. We live in a neighborhood called Turnstone and behind all the houses are miles of trails. These trails are used by runners, hikers and even the odd horse back rider.

The nearest trail has this great winding path view through the really tall trees.  With Abi standing just in shot I think it looks great.  We’re being told by the weather men that this is just the beginning , the big snow fall is due in a couple of days.  So expect more whit stuff in postings.

What do you do when the first snow falls?  You make a snow angel right?  Well so did the Halo guys.

Today I was asked to go to Cross Fit in Redmond to photograph Danielle.

I’ve never been before and didn’t know what to expect and it was quite a surprise!

The class was called “Barbell Group” where members attend and (it appears) try to lift the heaviest weights they possibly can. These weights were massive, huge and I sat there feeling completely inadequate. The people there were lovely, very friendly and amazing to watch. But it looked really painful! One guy was was screaming as he lifted the weights and his face was totally red.

While I was watching all I could think of was how heavy my camera and lens was – what a loser I am! I knew I was in another “land” when I heard a women behind me say to someone else “I love chin ups”, I mean, who loves chin ups? What’s wrong with chocolate!!!

On the way there (I promised to get there at 5pm), I drove past what I can only describe as the most amazing sun set I have ever seen. I was crying as I drove to the gym – but then that’s usual.

OK technical bit coming, so stop reading now if you want. Taking the picture was a challenge. Not only was the light horrible (lots of fluorescent tubes throwing out nice “green” light) but there were so many people there that getting close to Danielle was really hard. I had to shoot with very high ISO and get what I could. I’d have liked to have put up a couple of lights and then I would have got some great shots – maybe next time.

This was another fun won.  I’ve decided that the blue Halo dude (Carter) is the cleaver one, and the other is an idiot!

So for today’s Photo of the Day I decided to shoot the dog. (Not literally obviously although it has crossed my mind in the past). Anyway we put her on the sofa (where she spends most of the night anyway) and got the camera out. Would you believe it she wouldn’t sit still! She was all over the place. We have this blanket on the sofa and Roxie got in that and then calmed down for 30 seconds. Finally I got this shot. Of course the moment I put the camera down she lied down into the perfect pose 🙁 Typical!

I’m calling this one “afternoon tea”, thank you American Girl doll for the loan of the china.

So today is my first “use a picture from earlier in the year” posting.  I’m sure this will happen again soon.

I love this little plane, it’s in the corner of the big exhibit area at the Museum of Flight in Seattle. If memory serves me right this is a Chinese version of the MiG-15 and I love the big air intake at the front (I think that’s what it is). I like this shot as it shows the real benefit of HDR photography, you get a great shot of the inside of the room and the plane, but you can also see outside really well. Now our eyes do this all the time but the camera doesn’t have the dynamic range. So I think this is a cool image.

This is my favorite Halo shot to date.  I just looks so natural and real.

This evening I went back to Kirkland as the sun was setting and took the following shot of Lake Washington. Way over in the distance (on the horizon) you can just make out Seattle). It was a little windy so the water was moving about quite a lot and took on a misty sheen in the image. I got some nice red sunset images that I might upload later in the year.

I was using a pretty wide angle lens for this (10mm) and I actually got my foot in the shot at the bottom in the middle.  Thankfully content aware fill in Photoshop saved the day.

I was trying to figure out what I should do with the Halo dudes and asked myself this question: “If I was their size, what would I want to do?” This picture was the result.