Our trip to Seattle...

I've just very recently returned from a magical 2 week trip to Seattle and an island by the name of Orcas Island in the San Juan Islands that lie between Seattle and Vancouver Island. If anyone has pondered visiting the area, i'd say "GO FOR IT!". It's a very photogenic place!

Here's a few shots from our trip. I'll maybe post up a few more over the coming weeks if i get a chance to process the 12GB of raw files!

This was a very moody sunset taken from Kerry Park which was just up the hill one block away from where we were lucky enough to be staying. I have many shots from here, mostly in glorious sun, but i like the mood here and i have rarely seen anything so lit up by the sun!





We spent a while exploring the cavernous Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle. There were many many stalls selling anything that you can probably think of! This was a lively vegetable and fruit stall, next door to a very colourful fish stall - i'll post that later!





We spent a fair bit of time down at the fountain at Seattle Center next to the Space Needle. For around 5 minutes, we were lucky enough to witness this very colourful rainbow which appeared.





One lovely clear evening i managed to get to the top of the Space Needle. Countless shots were taken of the spectacular view to downtown, but i think my favourite is this that i noticed on the way home on a very lonely route. The lower half is the side of the building known as Seattle Arena. It's lit up by street lights. Love the way it sits abstractly next to the space needle.





Another view of downtown Seattle from Kerry Park. This was a nice stormy day and not many folk ventured up to the view point that day. On sunny days, it was crowded at times.





This was a Peacock at Woodland Park Zoo north of Seattle centre. He was very nice and behaved well as i shot from around 1m away!





We spent around 1 week on Orcas Island. It's a wonderful place and if you need to chill out for a bit... go there! This was a small village called Olga and where we met David, a wonderful old chap who took us out sailing for the afternoon.





This is west beach on Orcas Island. Most of the beaches were stoney. There's a holiday resort here so a bit of friendly tresspassing was undertaken to access the beach.






Although the island is only around a 30 minute drive from one end to the other, it is quite mountainous, with one peak comfortable higher than our own Ben Nevis. This is Cascade Falls which tumbles down the side of Mt Constitution. It was hard work getting into position for this shot, but i think it's been worth it.





This is the moment immediately after our 23 month old daughter realised there was a monster lurking behind her, at Seattle Aquarium, hoping to take either a munch from her, or her apple! Priceless expression.

---

Pentax K20D, Pentax 18-55mm II, Pentax M 50mm 1: 1.7, Super Paragon 1: 2.8 24mm Macro, Pentax smc DA 50-200 mm F4-5.6 ED
my flickr
buy images

Great photos! I love the first one.

Interestingly when we had 4 weeks in the Pac-NW last year we gave Seattle a miss. It was a choice of Seattle or Orca watching, having spent more time than expected in Oregon. I want to go back though and Seattle will be on the list then.

It is a beautiful part of the world.

A good series, Peter.

The mood in no. 1 is great. And I like the shots of the Space Needle. particularly no. 4, with the abstract foreground. The peacock is also very nice.

---

Best regards
Terry

K20D, Optio I10, DA 18-55 1:3.5-5.6 AL II, A 1:1.7/50, D FA 1:2.8/100 Macro, Sigma 70-300 1:4-5.6 APO DG Macro, Pentax AF 360FGZ

A wonderful series, Peter. I enjoyed all of them, particularly the first one and the waterfall. Lovely strong colours and excellent sharpness.

---

Best wishes,

Andrew

"These places mean something and it's the job of a photographer to figure-out what the hell it is."
Robert Adams
"The camera doesn't make a bit of difference.  All of them can record what you are seeing.  But, you have to SEE."
Ernst Hass
My website: http://www.ephotozine.com/user/bwlchmawr-199050 http://s927.photobucket.com/home/ADC3440/index
https://www.flickr.com/photos/78898196@N05

Great photographs, Peter! Did you take the "Underground" tour?

Ray

---

Z1, K10D, D-BG2 Grip, DA 1:3.5-5.6 18-55mm AL, DA 1:3.5-6.3 18-250mm ED AL(IF), AF540FGZ Flash, FA 1:1.7 50mm, DA 1:2.4 70mm Limited, Wireless Remote (Did I offend you? Click here).

Didn't do the underground tour. Is that on the metro bus system thing?

Thanks for the positive comments. Seattle really was such a photogenic place... more to follow

---

Pentax K20D, Pentax 18-55mm II, Pentax M 50mm 1: 1.7, Super Paragon 1: 2.8 24mm Macro, Pentax smc DA 50-200 mm F4-5.6 ED
my flickr
buy images

Fantastic set, I really like the space needle and arena shot, plus the peacock and octopus ones. Perhaps crop out the guy's shoulder on the octopus one though. The peacock is brilliant, that should be an easy PPG acceptance. Oh, the fountain one is pretty damn good too Great stuff, keep 'em coming!

---

Tim
AF - Pentax K5, Sigma 10-20/4-5.6, Tamron 17-50/2.8, Sigma 30/1.4, Sigma 70-200/2.8, Tamron 70-300/4-5.6
MF - Vivitar CF 28/2.8, Tamron AD2 90/2.5, MTO 1000/11
Stuff - Metz 58 AF1, Cactus v4, Nikon SB24, Raynox 150, Sigma 1.4x TC, Sigma 2x TC, Kenko 2x macro TC, Redsnapper 283 tripod, iMac 27”, Macbook Pro 17”, iPad, iPhone 3G
Flickr • Fluidr • PPG • Street • Portfolio site
Feel free to edit any of my posted photos! If I post a photo for critique, I want brutal honesty. If you don't like it, please say so and tell me why!

They are all worthy of inclusion in a guide book, well done.

---

Ken
“We must avoid however, snapping away, shooting quickly and without thought, overloading ourselves with unnecessary images that clutter our memory and diminish the clarity of the whole.” - Henri Cartier-Bresson -

Beautiful shots.

---

[link=https://500px.com/will_brealey/[/link]

Thanks all for the fantastic comments.... i'm flattered

A few more from our trip...

This is Snoqualmie Falls. It's a bit skewed, but i was hanging over the side of a barrier a couple of hundred feet up trying to get a better, unrestricted view. It's the fall that made it's fame in the television series "Twin Peaks" which was filmed in the small town named North Bend which is a couple of miles from the falls. I shot this handheld using my ND filter and it turned out ok i think





This shot is from the same park as the previous Seattle shots above. This is on a day when "the mountain is out" as the locals say. Mt Rainier is just under 100 miles from where i took this photo! It's HUGE!






I've made this one a bit bigger (hope you don't mind) so as some of the finer detail is more apparent. Like the mono rail lines running along 6th Avenue from the space needle where the shot was taken to downtown retail district. It was amazing standing up there watching the city change from day to night on a lovely clear night. The tallest building is the Bank of America building which is 937 ft high and the biggest in the Pacific North West of America. This shot was handheld and i think the K20d worked pretty well. A little blurring, but not too bad.






This is another shot from Pikes Place Market. I think my K20d performed very well here in the low light.

---

Pentax K20D, Pentax 18-55mm II, Pentax M 50mm 1: 1.7, Super Paragon 1: 2.8 24mm Macro, Pentax smc DA 50-200 mm F4-5.6 ED
my flickr
buy images

I used two lenses on my trip. My 18-55Mk2 kit lens and the SMC DA 50-200 which i bought from someone on here for £70! Just goes to show that you don't need to spend a lot of money. Would be nice to spend lots of money on glass though

---

Pentax K20D, Pentax 18-55mm II, Pentax M 50mm 1: 1.7, Super Paragon 1: 2.8 24mm Macro, Pentax smc DA 50-200 mm F4-5.6 ED
my flickr
buy images

Another shot from the top of the Space Needle. I've increased the contrast in the sky in this one and the levels have been tweaked a bit, but it's pretty close to how i imagined it when i took the shot. This was around 20 minutes or so earlier than the night shot of the city in the thread above.

---

Pentax K20D, Pentax 18-55mm II, Pentax M 50mm 1: 1.7, Super Paragon 1: 2.8 24mm Macro, Pentax smc DA 50-200 mm F4-5.6 ED
my flickr
buy images

They're all great pictures! I was interested in your choice of lenses as well and you've shown once again that the kit lenses produce wonderful pictures. Shame there's no EXIF though, I'd be interested in some settings as well.

---

Dodging and burning are steps to take care of mistakes God made in establishing tonal relationships. - Ansel Adams -

WOW, I LOVE all of these. A fantastic set of shots, you must be so pleased with all of them. Really, really nicely done.

All the best,
Kev

---

My Flickr page

No, it's a walking tour - see here for more - very interesting and entertaining too.

Ray

---

Z1, K10D, D-BG2 Grip, DA 1:3.5-5.6 18-55mm AL, DA 1:3.5-6.3 18-250mm ED AL(IF), AF540FGZ Flash, FA 1:1.7 50mm, DA 1:2.4 70mm Limited, Wireless Remote (Did I offend you? Click here).