Update...Update

Well the site has just had a face lift from the great panorama of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco to another panorama of the world famous Ballard Locks in Seattle.

The Hiram M. Chittenden Locks are a complex of locks that sit in the middle of Salmon Bay, part of Seattle's Lake Washington Ship Canal.[2] They are known locally as the Ballard Locks[3][4] after the neighborhood to their north. (Magnolia lies to the south.)
The locks and associated facilities serve three purposes:
To maintain the water level of the fresh water Lake Washington and Lake Union at 20–22 feet above sea level[2][3] (Puget Sound's mean low tide).[citation needed]
To prevent the mixing of sea water from Puget Sound with the fresh water of the lakes (saltwater intrusion).[5]
To move boats from the water level of the lakes to the water level of Puget Sound, and vice versa.[6]
The complex includes two locks, a small (30 x 150 ft, 8.5 x 45.7 meter) and a large (80 x 825, 24.4 x 251.5 meter).[7] The complex also includes a (235-foot, 71.6 meter) spillway with six (32 x 12-foot (3.7 m), 9.8 x 3.7 meter) gates to assist in water-level control.[7] A fish ladder is integrated into the locks for migration of anadromous fish, notably salmon.[8][6]
The grounds feature a visitors center,[9] as well as the Carl S. English, Jr., Botanical Gardens.[10]
Operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers,[11] the locks were formally opened on July 4, 1917,[12] although the first ship passed on August 3, 1916.[13] They were named after U.S. Army Major Hiram Martin Chittenden, the Seattle District Engineer for the Corps of Engineers from April 1906 to September 1908.[9] They were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.[1] (Source - Wikipedia)

This is not just another "flat" Panorama, but a 360 degree circular panorama, laid flat so you can see the whole vista in one go..................keep looking for new pictures especially the current panoramic vista as it will soon be uploaded as an immersive panorama in QuickTime 7, so you will be able to enjoy the view from another interactive perspective...............well as soon as I work out how to program it into the web site!!

Hope you enjoy the great view as much as I did on Sunday taking it

Trevor

Facebook Blog Verification

To all my facebook friends who I have asked to verify that I am the owner of this blog...............many thanks

Communications and networking is an important process in todays digital and internet age. We are all busy people and find it difficult to keep track of friends and family, so the social networking sites provide a useful way of keeping in touch and up to date with all the friends we know.

Lets all keep in touch more often through the various network facilities available on the internet but, how about visiting in person more often too!!.................look forward to seeing you in person soon

Trevor

Skills and tips

I've been thinking about updating my knowledge and skills for sometime now.........but as always time is of the essence and spending time learning new skills, techniques or a new piece of software is time intensive and consuming so like a lot of people I'm probably not on the top of my game.

However, today I'm going to spend the whole day, yes the whole day updating my Photoshop skills. It is fine being out and about on location taking great pictures but, the whole purpose is to produce great prints!!, and you can only get a great print if you have the "darkroom" skills to understand the neuances associated with "developing" great pictures.

Today, in the digital age our "darkroom" skills come from image processors such as photoshop, or lightroom or Coral paint etc, but unless you really understand what this image prosessor is all about and the tools it can lend to you, your only going to produce a mediocre picture when what you really want is a vibrant, vivid, lively one.

I added a quote from one of the greatest photographers of all time yesterday, Ansel Adams and although Adams had the eye of a photographer in that he saw the picture in his camera and spent time composing the great shot, his picture didnt come to life till he printed it. Adams would spend many hours "developing" the picture with numerious trial prints and "honing" the final master piece untill he got the picture he saw in his mind and in his camera on the photographic paper in his darkroom. He could not produce this master piece unless he had mastered the skills and techniques that gave him the understanding of how to produce such a great picture.

So like Adams (I wish I had Adams eye for the shot though) I am going to spend the day (if only I could learn a lifetimes skills in one day)"honing" my skills to better understand the process to produce the killer picture................. I live in hope anyway

Trevor

Good Opportunities or Great Pictures

It's been raining and overcast the past few days, so not too many good picture opportunities, but did see this:

“There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs.”
Ansel Adams quotes (American Photographer, 1902-1984)

Still think you need good opportunities to get good pictures unless your a great photgrapher like Adams, who got great pictures. Lets hope for better weather soon.....well this is Seattle!

Trevor

Hey...... it's been a long week...Cathy!!

A special picture today for a special person in my life and many others lives too. Cathy has not been at all well this week, infact she has been rather poorly, culminating in a spell in a Boston hospital..............but all is now well, thanks to the doctors and nurses and she is flying back home to Seattle early tomorrow morning.......WHOO HOO.

Its not until someone special in your life is ill or your helpless to do anything to help them that you realise just how special and important they really are to you.......well you know that they are special but....hey you know what I mean.

Anyway my special lady is back home tomorrow and will be tucked up in bed and spoilt all weekend ....................................love you babe

Another day another picture...................I wish!!

Oh yeah, I so wish it was another day another picture, but I've been ensconsed in the dreaded paperwork again....................well I suppose I do have a day job which does pay the bills after all.

My day job is actually quite demanding in that I lead multidiciplined teams developing mega projects in the Construction Infrastructure space...................wow that was a bit technical or geeky, actually I do lead big multidiciplined teams of people and we do develop and build some of the mega structures you see around the world, but hey taking pictures is so ...................so theraputic and calming.

Well, enough of my ramble today , but as always there is something behind my diatribe and it is perhaps being able to get away from the realities of the harsh real world and that endulging in our passions actually allows us to be, who we really are .....................

Oh yeah there is another picture.......................getting away from the weary grind for a hour or two to clear the mind and think through the challenges that the day job provides, allows one to perhaps see the vision that occassionaly produces a panorama that you really did'nt expect to get on the day

Sometimes a picture suprises you eh!!...................have fun but don't let the day job grind you down

Trevor