Dorking around and shooting photos!
One relaxing evening this past summer, we hung out after dinner at Olympia’s Percival Landing and Port Plaza. While my wife hung out on the dock, I went up the observation tower and tried some night photography. This scene was over near the fence separating Port Plaza from the Weyerhaeuser yard. I love how the container pops out from all of it’s surroundings.
Weyerhaeuser Olympia Log Yard, Olympia, Washington – Canon 5D, Canon EF 75-300mm, ISO 100, 20s at f11
As summer started to come to an end here in Washington, we spent a few hours at our closest state park, Tolmie. These photos are from a few weeks ago during a mid-tide weekend afternoon.
Many things that were vibrant and thriving a month or two ago are now starting to wither away, the natural way of things. While my wife walked along the shore, and in it, I stayed near the bushes.
With the Lumix set to macro mode, I saw some really great textures I would normally never see. The burnt edges of this leaf, surrounded by the still-living green veins looked really cool.
Things stuck out to me while I walked through the bushes and trees. Little hits of color here and there. I have no idea what the growth is in the crook of this branch, a mystery to me.
A spider busy doing spider things. The intricate web that just shows up in the photo is so neat. Sometimes I see a web spanning a great distance and think how did that even get made? Yeah spiders can be creepy, but they are also pretty powerful, smart little things.
This eaten away leaf caught my eye for a minute. I like all the lines going on. The outer edge near the bottom, where it’s starting to curl up is kinda interesting.
I really love all the sharp lines on this dried up little plant. The tiny hairs all over it, I hadn’t even noticed while looking at it in person. I feel lame not knowing what any of these plants are called, but I’m trying to learn slowly.
The wings on this fly are super interesting to me. Of course it looks as if he’s barfing up his lunch, or eating it, haha. It’s eyes are also neat to look at in this macro view.
The growth on this branch reminds me of the inside of a lung. The texture is so crazy. I think I was standing there looking at it for a few minutes at least. I’m glad the photo worked out.
This tiny little guy was barely noticeable! I just happened to see a bit of movement in it’s direction, then saw it’s antenna move around just a bit. I wish it was a bit more in focus, but it was just so small, moving and transparent. I’m surprised the lens even came close.
This leaf already had full-on fall coloring going on. It was the only thing around that looked this way. There was some colorful leaves around, but nothing like this one. This thing was so bright, I really love the pattern of color on it.
The final two photos below, a lively little bug and a withered bit of plant life, sum up this time of the year. The plant life is petering out a bit and the animal life is staying busy getting ready for the winter months.
A bug’s life, crawling around and looking tough with it’s armored shell. I like the detail of it’s antenna. This little guy was more than happy to pose for me, very regal.
And we end with the same type of little nuggets we began with. I really do love the details the Lumix’s macro setting captures. I can’t wait to see what I can get with it throughout the fall and winter months here in Washington.
All photos made with a Panasonic Lumix LX5
Migrating my adventure blog here to this website. Originally posted on September 6, 2019
This past weekend was the long Labor Day weekend, and we had a semi-busy few days planned. Saturday was Olympia Harbor Days at Olympia’s Percival Landing, Sunday we had tickets to PAX West gaming convention in Seattle and Monday was going to be a morning of skateboarding and time spent on the shore of Puget Sound in the evening.
Since we just moved to the area a handful of months ago, we had never been to Olympia Harbor Days before. We read on the official website that there were tugboat races, craft vendors, live music and food trucks. All of this along with the usual weekend Farmer’s Market in the same general area.
We tossed around the idea of riding the bus into downtown Olympia, so we wouldn’t have to deal with downtown parking. We also wondered if we should even go because we would be also walking a long distance the next day at a convention. In the end, we decided to ride the bus into town and have a look around. Great decision!
The trip into downtown Olympia on our city’s public transportation was smooth as usual. Clean busses and a wide mix of people riding the bus makes for a nice trip. Even though the trip takes almost an hour by bus, it’s nice knowing there won’t be any parking issues when getting to the destination!
We decided to check out the festival at the southern end of the marina near 4th Street. A handful of tugboats were tied off on a dock there. As we walked down the steep (low tide) walkway to the boats, we instantly fell in love with these powerful little boats. Talk about character, wow! From their squatty and stout little bodies, to their paint jobs and funny names, these boats were really cool.
Tugboats seem to come in every size imaginable. One thing that’s common between all of them though, their big powerful engines. And along with those engines, the smell of oil, gas and grease. It smelled good, you could smell the years of stories they could tell. One tugboat captain gave us a little bit of information about his boat’s engine, which was cool to hear about.
Another thing we noticed while out on this dock was just how much the tide varies. There has to be about 8 feet difference in height between high and low tide. This photo below shows a lot of detail of just a small but large amount of life living just in one small area of this salt water marina, wow.
We continued down the dock and went aboard the tugboat Sandman. This tug is always tied off there at the marina and offers tours. We signed the guest book and walked around the boat, trying to take in every little detail. The volunteers that maintain this boat do a great job, if you’re in the Olympia area, please check out this little gem of local history.
From nothing but a wheelhouse and engine, to full-on kitchens and living areas, these boats seem to be able to accommodate their crews for any amount of time needed. As we moved quickly through a few rows of craft vendors, we came to another dock entrance which had the remaining tugboats tied off to it. This is where the US Coast Guard rescue tug Comanche was tied off. This was a great example of a tugboat being able to accommodate it’s crew for any amount of time.
This boat is a monster of a tugboat, it’s huge. There were multiple levels to explore, most of which were open to the public to do just that. So after signing the guestbook, we were off to explore and read! The boat was also a bit of a museum to itself and a sister ship. Lot’s of great information on display. The bridge, kitchen, sleeping area, engine room, all of it so interesting.
Continuing down the dock, we were invited on to a few more tugboats and just kept enjoying what each one had to offer. Some were gritty and weathered while others were in some stage of restoration. No matter what, they all had so much character and stories to tell.
There were even some micro tugboats, very small in scale. Kind of a go-kart size scale. We’d never seen such a thing before, they were kinda cute.
By now, our stomachs were grumbling for some food. We tried out the food truck area, but it was all kind of state-fair type stuff, so we made our way to the Farmer’s Market and had a couple gyros for lunch, yummy. My wife did find a nice handmade ceramic coffee mug, great color and shape. It was created by a local artist couple HoJo Clay Arts, they have cool designs and are very talented.
Towards the northern end of the festival, there was a tall ship and a steamer type ship giving tours of the sound. So all-in-all a festival with a bunch of interesting things to see and do. I’m sure I’m forgetting a lot of stuff right now, so I may edit this post a few times in the future when I remember something, haha. Having never been up close to a tugboat before, there really is just so much to take in and absorb. They really are special little (but powerful) boats that play an important role in every port around the world.
The bus ride home was just as the ride there, casual. The rest of the weekend was still ahead of us. Thanks Olympia Harbor Days, your awesome parade of tugboats was something we won’t ever forget.
All photos made with a iPhone 5s
Migrating my adventure blog here to this website. Originally posted on August 26, 2019
On a beautiful Sunday afternoon not too long ago, we took a drive out to Frye Cove County Park. While the park itself was pretty and had a nice picnic area, the shore was a bit muddy and not very interesting on this day. We did end up relaxing in the afternoon sun on a nice grassy hill, while our pant legs dried off a bit from the muddy walk along the shore.
Afterwards, we decided to continue on up the road (Hwy 3) past the town of Shelton, out onto the Kitsap Peninsula to Harstine Island State Park. The somewhat downhill trail to the shore was very pretty, and empty of people. Once we arrived at the shore, there was only about 3-4 other folks exploring the beach. After about 15 minutes, those few people had left the beach, and we had it all to ourselves, nice.
The first thing we noticed was the massive amount of sand dollars all over the beach. I tried out a few macro shots with my Lumix. I think they turned out pretty good, the sand dollars have such interesting designs on them! Also, while walking along the beach, we noticed some action out on the water. Some pretty big splashing going on, most likely a whale or two, pretty exciting to see!
Unlike Frye Cove, this beach didn’t have any muddy areas. The entire shore was more along the lines of Tolmie State Park, all rocks and driftwood. The wood formations are always interesting and have a lot of life attached and growing on them. I grabbed a few photos of some of the wood pieces, the scattered clouds here and there made for a nice background.
Before heading back up the trail to the parking lot, I took one more shot of some wavy textures in a piece of driftwood (below) that also had a tiny amount of moss growing on it. The trail back to the car park, although uphill, was well maintained, pretty and easy to navigate. We saw a couple of little critters, and saw only one other person, a local resident out for a walk obviously, who passed us quickly and left us to our slow wander back to the car.
We both agreed that this was a park we will be returning to once the season changes and the rainy weather comes in the fall.
All photos made with a Panasonic Lumix LX5
