Hog Heaven: Oyster Run 2007

Homeward Bound: Oyster Run 2007
Originally uploaded by Honu Photo

Every year I look forward to the arrival of Fall.

While I love the warm days and crisp nights and mornings, the annual Oyster Run motorcycle rally has become one of my annual highlights.

This year, I brought my cameras, but as in years past, I frequently was so enthralled by the bikes -- old and new -- and the incredible diversity of people -- that I often forgot to take the shot.

And this year, I was able to make it over in time to see the AMAZING Seattle Cossacks -- a motorcycle stunt team that's been amazing crowds for some 70 years. Incredible.


Check out some more pictures on my Flickr site.

Cheers -- and ride safe.

Flickr Handle Changed

Featured on Explore!
Originally uploaded by Honu Photo

Had to finally do it and change my Flickr name -- which I've had for a long time -- to Honu Photo. Have to be consistent or I confuse folks.

The Glass is Always Greener ...

The Glass is Always Greener ... 01
Originally uploaded by Malama na Honu

Saw this on my way to meet friends for breakfast and couldn't resist a few shots.

This is inside the Bellevue Way entrance to an office building called Lincoln Square in Bellevue, Washington, USA.

The fountain includes a large glass pane with water streaming down -- that's what's behind sculptures.

Not sure of the artist or the title, but I think it's an interesting shot.

I also like the bit of red from a refracted automobile taillight --waiting for a traffic signal to change.

Windows Live Photo Gallery

Microsoft lately released a beta version of its new Live Photo Gallery. This is definitely getting Microsoft closer to competing with Google's Picasa2 product; the final product will have to get a lot better performance-wise, but it definitely shows promise.

It's going to look very familiar to anyone running Windows Vista, from which the UI was borrowed. But it includes some great features -- such as panorama/stitching, better color/saturation and exposure tools (including histogram) -- and more I haven't yet tinkered with.

A lot of people seem to really like the automated connection to Live Spaces as well. I have a Spaces site, but I do my publishing today on Flickr.

Subject[ive] Matter: A Flickr Visual Dictionary

Sharp in Seattle
Originally uploaded by Malama na Honu

One of the folks in the Seattle Flickr Meetup group had this great idea to hit the streets in Seattle's booming SoDo neighborhood and capture images to describe 12 words.

We had one hour (!!) to visually define:

Gritty
Rude
Brilliant
Timeless
Perfect
Sharp
Powerful
Strange
Surprising
Juicy
Fresh
Compelling

This was a tough challenge to do in an hour, especially since most of us are accustomed to as much time as we need for our captures. Really helped me realize how tough it must be for photojournalists.

We're going to do it again -- same 12 words, but at the vast Marymoor Park in suburban Redmond, Washington.

Will be interesting to compare "Gritty" in Seattle's SoDo with "Gritty" in the park.

Next: Challenging other groups in other parts of the world to shoot the same terms. Stay tuned for the results!

Art is all around

Skyviewing Sculpture 02
Originally uploaded by Paul Swortz

The campus of Western Washington University is an amazing place ... for the architecture, the natural beauty surrounding it, and the sculpture there.

This is my favorite piece there; an amazing piece that doesn't feel as dated as some of the others, many of which were acquired in the 1960s-1970s.

Making a choice

Twisp River Barn HDR 02
Originally uploaded by Malama na Honu

One of the greatest challenges I've been facing since taking up this hobby is paring down the selection to the "best" image.

I realize this is one of those "eye of the beholder things," but I presume some set of criteria can be used on just about any image to assess quality.

I'm pretty good at the obvious ones (WAY under/over exposed, out of focus, etc.), but what qualities make sense?

In the example set below, I probably shot 75-90 images, and was able to whittle down to the top 12 or so, which I uploaded to Flickr. From there, it's a lot harder, so I've been e-mailing friends and others I know who have good photographic eyes and design sense, and getting their thoughts as well.

What do you think? Have a look, and let me know ...

I got "published?"

"Jurassic Park" trees
Originally uploaded by Malama na Honu

So, this company that produces a series of online travel guides approached me a couple of weeks ago about including this image in their guide to Kauai -- in the Botanical Gardens section.

I learned yesterday it's included in their third edition. Since I'm not being paid, and they're not paying, this is strictly a promotional thing for me, so we'll see how it turns out.

www.schmap.com/kauai/tours_tour4/p=263983/i=263983_7.jpg