Think Pink

Yet another view of the famous "Pink Hotel" in Waikiki.

Tortured tree

I took a second look then took a picture of this tortured Banyon tree growing on Kuhio Ave. in Waikiki.

It got dark, where did the light go?

This was taken in the waters off Maui while scuba diving. A whale can really block out the light!

Going to the dogs!

My friends just call me Spot.

Ugh! Cold, wet wave got me! Can't run fast enough!

Who needs a pickup truck! I'm a trunk monkey... er... trunk dog!

Honest I'm a weiner dog... no really!

Another glorious sunset in Quatsino Sound

The problem with sailing into the sunset is you can't see a darn thing it's so bright! But who's complaining...

Post # 400

Yes we are up to 400 posts on this blog so far! So in celebration I am posting this nice Hibiscus picture.

Another Quatse Lake sunset

Looking back through this blog I see that this isn't the first Quatse Lake Sunset I have posted and probably won't be the last either. Always something interesting to take pictures of when up to this lake.

The desert sun

I took this in the mountains just outside of Mesa, AZ when I was finding the "strange" rock formations. It was a tough climb to the top of the mountain to get this angle.

Still looking for the pot of gold!

Probably have better luck buying a lottery ticket than chasing rainbows anyway... Took this picture the other day while out on the boat. Rainbows are common enough around here but what struck me was the reflection of the rainbow in the water.

The things you see............

When you go wondering around in the mountains you occasionally come across some odd things. Actually, it happens more often than you would think.

I came across this strange rock formation in the mountains just outside of Mesa, Arizona. It looked like a serpant's head to me standing up all on it's own. The photo doesn't do it justice because the rock formation is about eight feet tall standing on the edge of a small outcropping of rock.

It's always possible this was man made, a century or two earlier, but either way I found it to be interesting so I took a photo.

The old net shed

You may recall a picture of an old derelect boat taken at this same location... Well I went back as this is a favorite place to snap a few pictures. I was trying a composition formula that has produced some nice pictures for me in the past... Specifically to show foreground, midground and background if possible. This seems to draw the eye into the picture to explore around some.

Anyway this was the best picture of the bunch and I admit to tweaking it a bit in Photoshop before posting it...

The last of summer

I guess it's just about that time. The leaves on the trees are starting to change and drop off and the soy beans are starting to turn and will be ready for harvest in about a month. Pretty soon I will be posting photos of snow instead of flowers!

Man, I need a tropical vacation!

Slow waterfall...

Ordinarily getting this effect is no big deal... Go out find a dimly lit scene with water, put your camera on a tripod, set the apature to a really big number and push the shutter button. Easy!

Just for kicks while in Waikiki I thought I would try a slow water scene hand held in full bright daylight. (I must have been bored or something). So I set the ISO as low as it would go, set the apature as high as it would go, held my breath and gingerly pushed the shutter button. A few moments later the shutter closed shut and I had a blury mess!

Not one to back down from an interesting personal challenge I tried again, and finally on the 4th or 5th shot I got this! Not much of a picture really but makes for a good story.

Headed home

Headed back to Coal Harbour, the end of a long day. Sometimes I forget why I ever wanted to be out on the ocean then along comes a day like this to remind me. Sure was a nice sunset and calm glassy seas.

On Safari

No, really, I was! OK so I wasn't really on safari but it kind of felt like it. It was hot and humid and I really felt like shooting something! LOL

This is another photo I took at the St. Louis zoo a few weeks back.

Sailing into the sunset...

Took this picture a couple of days ago on my way through Quatsino Narrows. For those who live in Quatsino running back and forth in small boats is a normal part of daily life! No road will get you there, only way in and out of Quatsino is by boat or airplane, and the locals want to keep it that way!

Cats

What does it mean when the cats just lay around and ignore you? LOL

"Fortune Kittys" & "Buda"

Found this bunch in Chiantown, Honolulu. Interesting story goes with the Kittys. It seems that many centurys ago the Emperor of Japan was riding along on his horse and came across a small cat with one paw raised in the air which in Japan means please come here. So the Emperor got off his horse and walked over to the small cat. At that very moment his horse was struck by lightning and died! Very fortunant indeed for the Emperor.

I guess the moral of the story is quickly get off your horse if you see a cat wave at you... LOL

Here's looking at you.

Found this fine looking fellow hanging around in a palm tree, free as (you guessed it) a bird. Probably no big deal for a bird to escape the cage and live the wild life on the Islands, try that around here and come winter that would be the end of that!

Waving Hello

Maybe he was just scratching his head but I think he was waving hello. LOL You can't be in the tropical isalnds without a tropical bird or two.

Waikiki Sunsets

Nothing quite like a Waikiki sunset!

Down around the docks

It was a great day for pictures so I went down to the docks, always a great place to find that perfect shot.

Looking down at my feet I spoted some ice... Hang on, it's the middle of summer, it's stinking hot! How could this be Ice? Closer inspection revealed that this was fish scales rather than ice! Sure fooled me.

Always something interesting down around the docks.

Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!

These are some photos I took at the St. Louis, MO zoo a couple of weeks ago. I had a clean shot at this lion but I thought looking through the trees gave it a more natural look.

OK, so this isn't a tiger. I didn't get any good shots of a tiger at the zoo, they weren't cooperating so I substituted a leopard for a tiger.

Mmmmmm, naps. My favorite time of the day. I guess the older you get the more you look forward to the days you can take a little nap in the afternoon.

Classic Dodge

Found this old timer on the boardwalk at Telegraph Cove. Con't make em solid like this anymore!

About that airport..........

It's not exactly an airport and you're not looking down a runway but................

The red roof you see in the bottom right corner of the photo is the end of my front porch. This is a crop duster that was working a field next to my property and doing his turn arounds over my house. When I first heard him go over it scared the crap out of me!

Doing a little fancy turn around, or showing off, I'm not sure which. I'm sure he could see me standing in the yard with my camera. I could clearly see him in the cockpit of the plane even without the zoom lens.

I didn't even see the bird when I was taking the photo. He kind of snuck into the photo by accident. I'm sure he was probably trying to get out of the way of the "big noisy bird"!

Cloud of a another sort

Took this picture of a "Killer Whale" or "Orca" in Quatsino Narrows. Once or twice a year a "Pod" or family group of Orcas comes into the inlets where I live and hunts for Salmon or Seals.

Just a cloud

I saw this cloud the other day and something about it just made me want to take a photo. I think it was the contrast between the cloud and the super blue sky that caught my eye. Or maybe I just had my finger on the shutter button when I got out of the car! LOL

Oops!

The driver claimed the car might have had a gallon too much of the premium! One consolation, no harm done to the fire hydrant!

A road to nowwhere.......

Am I being repetitive? I actually took this photo on the same day as the train track photo but this was earlier in the day. I wasn't even trying to shoot the road, I was more interested in the slice of sunlight at the end of the road and the road gave it a little context. For some reason it looked better in person!

I guess this was my day to tempt fate, first in the middle of the road and then in the middle of a train track. Maybe I should stand in the middle of an airport runway next?

Bear Xing

Smart Bears!

Actually I had included this picture in an email to my parents. A couple of days later I got the picture back in an email. My father had photoshoped in the Bear Xing sign over the speed sign that was in the original picture! Nicely Done I say!

A train to nowhere

I wouldn't really recommend standing in the middle of a train track to take a photo but I didn't see any harm in it on this day. I didn't see a train for miles and I thought it would be hard for one to sneak up on me.

There was something about seeing this long stretch of track disappearing into the distance and trees that made me want to take a photo. It also made me think about jumping on a train just to see where it would take me but then I remembered I was old and slow and would probably never make it on the train!

Something a little smaller

With all of the rain and cool weather we have been having the flowers have stayed abundant and so have the bugs, the good ones and the bad ones!

Big Brother

Found these two at a rock pit on the far side of Hardy Bay. Someone has a sense of humor!

Reflections

They call this a pink flamingo but to me it seems more orange than pink. I shot this picture mainly for the reflection in the water. It would have been better if the flamingo would have been looking at me but he just didn't want to cooperate.

In camera editing... pixey dust... bling bling...

Playing around with the D90 in camera editing options and came up with this...

The D90 has all the usual editing bits you would expect though why anyone would ever take the time to fiddle with a picture on the puney little screen is beyond me! I will admit however that I don't recall seeing this particular effect in any photo editing programs I have ever used.

Damp and Dark

Some of that British Columbia weather must have slipped down here this summer because we haven't gone more than eleven days in a row without rain all summer long. This has brought out a bumper crop of inedible mushrooms. Too bad these can't be truffles, I would be lying on a beach in Hawaii right now!

Waimea Bay

Waiamea Bay North Shore Oahu. Keana Point in the background. Picture taken from the Pu'u O Mahuka Heiau (State Monument).

Halona Cove

Made famous in 1953 by the movie "From here to eternity" for it's most memorable and shockingly torrid (for its day) love-making scene on a sandy Oahu beach by Bert Lancaster and Deborah Kerr.

Upcountry on Maui

When you leave the beach and head "up" Haleakala, the volcano that makes up a good portion of the island of Maui, they say you are going to "upcountry". I guess that makes as much sense as anything else you could come up with.

This is a photo of part of the grounds on the Tedeschi Winery. Yes, there is a winery on Maui. They specialize in a pineapple wine that I am told tastes very good. To me, wine all tastes like vinegar so I'm not much of a connoisseur. I'll take a cold beer at the beach any day!

Sheraton Moana Surfrider

One of the Grand Old Ladies of Waikiki since 1901.

This is actually 3 pictures stiched together using a program that came on a previous computer. Haven't found a suitable program like it for my present computer so no panorama pictures until I do.

Did someone say sunsets?

I love sunsets! They are better than sunrises because you don't have to get up early!!

These were both taken from the top of a small mountain in southwest Oklahoma just a few minutes apart. The colors are as they were taken and haven't been adjusted in photoshop. I really need to get a super wide-angle lens!