Known for shit weather, the Washington coastline can be a bit of a toss up when it comes to photos, but even when the weather isn't particularly good for beach going, it can still be great for photos. During the summer, weekly events draw in thousands from around the state, so there are opportunities for all types of photographers; from landscapists, astrophotographers, street photography and even instagrammers, it's all there.
Funny how things tend to happen in spurts. I spent the past week in Forks and Mount Vernon to get some camera work in. Craig and I went to Second Beach on the Quilayute reservation to photograph the seastacks just off shore. After a day of recovery, we went to Roozengaarde to get some early shots of the tulips before the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. Despite the weather forecast predicting rain for the week, we were fortunate to get some breaks in the rain that were long enough to get all of the shots we had planned for, and then some.
I went back and took a fresh look at some of the photos taken during my vacation in Long Beach, WA. Decided to process some of them with the Acros emulsion courtesy of Fujifilm and Lightroom. As a peek into my process, I normally shoot in the default Provia simulation but rarely use the OOC jpegs. My preference is to manually post process from a RAW file converted from the original RAF using X-Transformer. The first step in Lightroom is to add a Fujifilm emulsion, either Provia or Astia for portraits, or Provia or Velvia for landscapes. If the photo calls for it, I'll then return later and apply the Acros emulsion once all other adjustments have been completed.
I ended up taking some of my best photos so far, ones that truly display how far along I've come in my hobby since picking it back up again. Obviously I'm quite proud of these. Side by side with photos I've taken a year ago, the progress made is immediately apparent. Of course I still have a long way to go before I achieve anything truly remarkable, but these are noteworthy for demonstrating my progress.
Discovery Park is the result of the former Fort Lawton grounds being returned to the city of Seattle. On the grounds remain a few reminders of its past and one of the sites is a lighthouse on the park's northwest corner, a point at the mouth of the Lake Washington Ship Canal just south of Shilshole Bay and Golden Gardens Park. After a stop in Magnolia, we went to Discovery Park for the walk, hiking the loop and stopping at the beach and lighthouse so I could take a few photos during the sunset.
On Sunday, I decided to give my X-T2 its first test of the ability to continuously autofocus during high speed burst shooting by attending the PAC-12 North Beach Volleyball Invitational Tournament held at Alki Beach in Seattle. As I plan on using this camera for a few airshows and motorsports events this season, specifically Seafair and motorcycle road racing, knowing what the Fujifilm X-T2 can, and can't, do while shooting 11 FPS bursts is sort of important to me. My needs are quite simple and easily achievable with a professional-grade dSLR like the Nikon D5 or D850, but based on all of the blogs reviewing the X-T2, it may not be so simple. So, I went out to find out for myself...
with a storm on the horizon, a lonely schooner heads for safe harbor in shilshole bay.
Jay and I went to check out the Hoh Rainforest and added a stop for Rialto Beach. We left at 8am and spent over 4 hours on the road. As we got to Forks, we realized we hadn't given ourselves enough time to get anything done. So instead of doing everything half-assed, we limited the... Continue Reading →
Now for the snapshots. Just some sunrises, ferries, driftwood and trash art.
JetCity Ninja 
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