Another one of my night shots that turned out well. I like the perspective on this photo looking up from the ground, the classic lines on this bicycle (headlamp & swept handlebars), the strangeness of a chair back mounted to the bike, & wood slats in the spokes. I dig the utter blackness of the background, as well as the window that looks like its hovering in mid air. I also like the diversity of glowing colored lights in the background.

This is another one of my street portraits. Taking pictures of folks on the street is touch & go sometimes. Especially homeless/street level entrepreneurs. Taking a picture can be like pointing your finger at someone & shouting “Hey…look at them!” & they’re not always comfortable or happy with the attention. My approach is to be subtle & swift. I always try to catch a couple of candid frames before anyone’s aware. Having a discrete camera helps. If they look at me I always smile & often tell them what caught my eye… If they get angry or look upset I just put the camera away.

I like this shot because it has a kind of gritty street-level feeling, the grubbiness of the concrete & the little bits of trash, against the calmness of his expression, & the vividness of his shirt. Finally, I’m intrigued by the question of how he can look so languidly comfortable stretched out on a concrete step.

This is another shot from my trip to the San Juans. I like the detailed texture & the starkness of the driftwood, the soft focus on the stones in the background, & the way the yellow seems to leap out of the shadows.

I took this shot down Pine street a couple of nights ago. I like the image of the city at night, the lights of the cars, but with a bit of mountain & a sunset peeking in at the top.

I’ve talked before about some of the great street performers you’ll find downtown on any given day. Here’s a shot of a musician named Max hammering away on his dulcimer. I like all of the colors in the picture, the diagonal slash of the stairwell in the background, & the intensity of his expression with his hair down across one eye. Of course my favorite part is the blur of his hands while he’s working with the hammers.

This is another one of my night photography efforts. It's a shot of two teens in the tunnel beneath the convention center. I expect it was the shirtlessness that originally caught my eye, but they were having a very animated conversation in any case. It didn’t feel like a fight, but there was a good bit of armwaving & loud voices. I snapped a couple of shots & found this one to be the best of the batch. I like the traffic light, & the way the tunnel lamps, handrails, & the street stripes all seem to move toward the vanishing point in the upper right with the two boys below. It’s one of those shots that makes me wonder who these guys are, what they’re talking about, how they ended up hanging out in the tunnel, the whole curiosity spiral.

It’s also another situation where I’d really like to have more manual control over ISO, aperture, & lens selection. I guess I’ll just have to keep saving my pennies for the Rebel XT I’m lusting after. Nevertheless, this is another one that I’m reservedly please with.

This is a shot I took in the San Juans about a month ago. This one is all about being blue... The blue of the sound, the blue mountains in the distance, & blue skies (something I've been missing of late). I didn't get as many cool shots as I expected out of my trip to the islands, but I'm pretty happy with this one.

I always love the diversity of people & pictures you run into just walking around. I discovered this wonderful model waiting for a bus with her mother downtown. I love the dress (perhaps she's preparing for Halloween) & her expression.

I’ve been trying to take more photos at night. It’s a little challenging because my digital camera doesn’t allow me to control shutter speed or aperture. You can choose night portrait or night scene, but then it’s little electronic brain goes off on it’s own. I like this shot because of the varied lighting wrapped up inside the darkness.