Summer Recap

In Pursuit of the Perfect Picture re-examining a summer

I hope everybody has had a good week so far, I know I have. This week for my blog entry I will be going over my pictures from earlier in the summer that were all taken in the pre Ty Jahn Photography blog time. I would also like to start getting a little more technical with my posts by listing apeture, iso, focal length, f-stop, etc. Don't get scared by all this jargen if you just picked up your first camera or have always just turned the dial to the flower to take a picture of a flower, I know shooting in manual can seem scary! Enough with the introduction and let us move on to the photographs.


One bright and sunny morning enjoying the last weekend of May all the while keeping my eyes peeled for a subject to capture. I found my usual favorite, bumble bees, in a bundance but since I had been shooting them constantly lately I decided to look for something new. I was on the way back home when I came across these two lone poppies growing by the side of a fence. I had three options when taking a picture of these flowers: straight on, from below, or from above. Right away I decided on shooting them from low to make there presence more powerful while adding color to the fence in the background.


Power of Two - 49mm, f/22, 1/125 sec., iso-100

Here is one of my favorite pictures of the summer, I call it "A Turn of the Heart". This treasure was found at the Volunteer Park Conservatory. The conservatory is found at where else, but Volunteer Park in Seattle, Washington and houses over 100 different species of flowers ranging from orchids to cacti. Admitance is free, but they do ask for a donation upon entering.

I particullary like this picture for three reasons: the turned bleeding heart is balanced with the out of focus bleeding hearts in the bottom left side of the picture, having the turned heart breaks the pattern and really calls for your eye, and the dark background brings help bring out the sloping branch of bleeding hearts.


A Turn of the Heart - 300mm, f/5.6, 1/250 sec., iso 800

In the next photograph I took at the Pacific Science Center as I had just finished up visiting the butterfly attrium, if your in Seattle I recommend it! In the back courtyard of the center their is a large man made pond with all sorts of fun gadgets, such as this watergun complete with multiple targets to hone your skills in with. I turned this photograph black and white to help bring out the detail of the water being shot across the photograph.


Bullseye - 55mm, f/5.6, 1/800 sec., iso 100

This series of shots I took at the 2011 North West Coffe Festival. As you can imagine, it was a fun event but watch out for the post caffine crash because it knocked me on my butt. As we were waiting for our macchiatos to be made, the represenative from Caffe Ladro, located in Seattle, invited me behind the counter to take some behind the scenes photographs. I was able to capture these four images and put them together on one photoshot page for simplicity of showing you what it takes for Caffe Ladro to make the perfect macchiato, not the fake Starbucks ones.



Next up I have the typical picture from Kerry Park, but it is a beautiful shot and view with the Space Needle protruding above all the surrounding building while Mount Rainer looms in the background at sunset.


Kerry Park - 55mm, f/6.3, 1/25 sec., iso 100

One really fun place to photograph is in Catholic churches, I doesn't have to be Catholic but I have found they have the jaw dropping vaulted ceilings and stained glass. The picture below me was taken looking at the reflection of the banners in the holy water. The pews help to pull your eye forward toward the alter and cross.


Heavenly Reflections - 18mm, f/7.1, 1/20 sec., iso 400

Kayla's siloette sitting on a bench with her nose deep in a book while twlight fights against the night sky is always a call for a good picture. This photograph was taken near Alki Beach at a little park called Me-Kwa-Mooks Park.


Peaceful Reading - 18mm, f/8, 1/80 sec., iso 200

On a recent weekend we made the trip to Sequim, pronounced squim, Washington. You must have guessed it correctly by now, we were on the hunt for lavendar farms! Our trip happened a couple weeks before the fields go into full bloom in mid July. This particular photograph was taken at Purple Haze Lavendar Farm, located right outside Sequim. Out of all the lavendar farms we visited this one is the one farm you have to stop at and see. It even came complete with peacocks, which we will get to in the next picture. I took this photograph showing the lavendar fields next to a gravel road the curves toward the house. The red poppies on the opposite side of the road help to add personality to the picture.


Lavendar Farm - 29mm, f/8, 1/100 sec., iso 100

After sitting by the chicken and peacock cage for a good 15minutes this male finally put up his field of eyes feathers. I know your thinking it was me who got impatient and made him put up his feathers, but it was the chickens who kept trying to steal the grass I was throwing into the cage... So maybe I had something to do with it after all but that is besides the point. I shot through the cage and got this beauty.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/trjahn/5892307200/in/photostream
Field of Eyes - 55mm, f/5.6, 1/50 sec., iso 100

While combing the beach one morning during low tide I stumbled on this seagull who kept staring down the two starfish below his rock. I chose a smaller apature to blur the background back toward the ferry in the background. An orange starfish can be seen in the middle right of the picture underneath another rock. Everybody always says it's better to be lucky than good, I like the motto it's better to be lucky and good than just lucky.


Hey You! - 55mm, f/8, 1/60 sec., iso 100

As I was crawling around the hillside just below Kerry Park in Seattle, I spotted this sole poppy surrounded by dead and dying grass. After finally nestling into the hillside I was able to capture this glowing photograph of the poppy in front of the sun. Soon after I took this picture I actually read the signs that were posted everywhere saying the field was recently sprayed with pesticide, lucky for me I was wearing a long sleeve shirt and pants. Now off to the next location.


What Do You See? - 33mm, f/8, 1/200 sec., iso 100

My final two pictures were taken at Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle. I arrived at the zoo promply at 10am for their opening, since this is the best time to see the big cats roaming around their cage. I captured this tiger right after his morning feeding as he was bathing in the morning sun.


Lazy Tiger - 300mm, f/5.6, 1/500 sec., iso 400

This orangatang had already gotten his morning food by the time I made it around to his. I found him lounging in hammock enjoying the rare Seattle sun as well. After taking a series of pictures of him from the side I still couldn't get a good shot of his face. I finally was walking to the next exhibit hoping to come back later to get a shot and saw him through a small hole in the wall where I was able to capture this picture through. He spookishly is humanly looking, distantly humanly looking but humanly looking none the less...


Your Relative? - 300mm, f/5.6, 1/200 sec., iso 400

Now cast your vote on which picture you believe is "The Perfect Picture" from the summer recap.

Rialto Beach

In pursuit of the Perfect Picture of Rialto Beach.

Kayla's and my trek to Rialto Beach, located in Olympic National Park, began with a glorious two and a half hour wait for the fairy from Seattle to Bainbridge. After leaving Seattle we ended up staying in Port Angeles for the night and awoke to fog, as thick as grandma's soup. We headed down to the docks first thing in the morning while waiting to get a camping permit and I spotted this ghostly sailboat in the distant fog which made for my perfect picture of Port Angeles. I exceptionally like this picture over my other pictures I took of the pier in the fog due to the simplicy of the picture coupled with a pinch of mysterious, it reminds me of an image you would see in a Pirates of the Carribbean movie.



Camping at Rialto Beach requires a camping permit, which can be picked up at the Olympic National Park Visitor Center in Port Angeles or as we saw driving to Rialto at a Ranger Station right before the beach, just a little FYI.

As we arrived at the parking lot, I knew this was going to be one of those weekends you remember forever. We soon found drift wood as wide around as I was tall lining the beach along with several standing rock croppings a couple hundred yards from shore. I soon had the picture I wanted drawn deep in my mind, sunsetting directly behind one of these impressive rock pillars. Not to be hinting at anything coming up but don't you skip ahead!

After putting on our packs, we departed for our three and a half mile hike. I mistakenly thought that we would just be prancing down the beach, skipping if you want to say, to a campsite nestled between massive prehistoric driftwood pieces without even breaking a sweat. Along my merry way I captured this picture of a small tree growing on top of one of the rock pillars, I was captivated by its determination to live.



Reality soon hit after the first mile was out of the way when the hike on the beach turned into hopping from rock to rock for the next, only accessible during low tide, mile. We came upon a majestic beach with rock pillars right off shore and nobody else around, I thought this would hopefully give me the perfect picture of Rialto Beach and an ultra relaxing place to sit in the sand, watching the waves come and go. We set up tent next to a massive piece of drift wood with the high water mark being only 20 feet from our tent, we were in for a great lifetime experience.


Beach Camp

As the sun grew lower, I explored different photograph compositions I would use for the upcoming sunset and settled on a tripod resting place near the water. Right as the sun started to set, a sea otter surfaced right in front of the tent cracking oysters on its chest for the next hour. Talk about something you only see in movies. But before we knew it, sunset was upon us. The following picture was captured right at sunset. Having the clouds arching toward the rock structures over a perfectly calm ocean help bring your eyes to the rocks, while still keeping you interested in the rest of the picture. Although the picture lacks an abundance of color, it still is captivating.


Sunset Rocks

As we sat on the beach, I captured this picture after sunset while looking up the beach. It depicts the evening spent at Rialto Beach with the sunset behind the jaunts of rock, coast line, and the outlines of trees with the mirrored reflection of the sky on the ocean. The clouds had also flattened out adding what I look at as layers of clouds all pointing toward the distant rocks. It was truly breath taking.


Beach Twlight

Waking up to low tide in the morning, the beach looked totally different. Last nights reflections had been replaced by the once invisible rocks covered in seaweed. Looking below at the picture, the seaweed encrusted rocks help guide the eye back and forth toward the rock pillar background.


Low Tide

As it turned out, we weren't the first travelers our beach had seen that morning. Footprints were left in the sand by a lone camper that had passed through.


Lonely Steps

On the hike back to the car in the morning, this trifecta of sea enemenies was spotted which turned out to actually be a very pleasing picture to the eye. The pink in the picture is an algea that was covering the bottom of certain tide pools right inside Hole in the Rock.


Sea Trifecta

My last pictures at Rialto Beach were right before we left as there was an area of small pebbles that had been left on shore from when tide receded. They turned out to be a pretty interesting subject to photograph and personally the third picture is my favorite but since it apears that it continues on forever and you can see the indentations left in the sand from when the sea receded away stranding them. When I envision displaying these pictures the set of three would be hanging side by side printed onto canvas wrapping around the edges.






Tranquil Rocks

After leaving Rialto Beach, we traveled into the Hoh Rain Forest which surprisingly gets 14 feet of rain per year average, I thought it rained a lot in Seattle... Around the visitor center of the Hoh, clovers cover the ground in a solid mat which proved to be quite the picture especially after converting it to black and white. Focus is in the bottom left third intersection of the picture with eye moving to the right and then farther back into the picture while fading off to envoke a sense of endless clovers, which there were!


Cloverville

Now cast your vote on which picture you believe is "The Perfect Picture" of Rialto Beach.

The Perfect Picture
	Ghostly Ship
	Tree on Rock
	Beach Camp
	Sunset Rocks
	Beach Twlight
	Low Tide
	Lonely Steps
	Tranquil Rocks
	Cloverville
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Seattle's Sea Fair

In Pursuit of the Perfect Picture at Seattle's Sea Fair

The Blue Angels were in town this last weekend for Seattle's annual Sea Fair and fortunately for me, I was done with work for the summer which allowed me to watch their practice session over Lake Washington.

After reading about where to watch the Blue Angels practice from, I finally decided on going to Leschi Park where I found a public dock to watch the show. I took this picture looking down on the dock. By turning the picture black and white I was able to highlight the details of the rustic wood.

Wood Dock

Before the show began I moved on from the dock after I wasn't able to find a photograph composition and settled on a hillside with families who were huddled on beachtowels in preporation for the show. I was able to take a picture of a family of three gazing at the Blue Angels signature diamond flying pattern. The sailboats in the middle ground help to tell a little more of the story of where we were watching the show from and Mount Rainer can be seen in the distance.


Blue Diamond

Half way into the show I was able to capture this picture of the planes all flying together while laying down a smoke trail after doing a barrel roll over the sails of the sailboats. In the middle ground of the picture boats lined up on Lake Washington to watch the show directly over their heads.


Over the Sails

Sea Fair is all about hydroplane races, good times, celebrations across the city, airplane shows, and to some people the best part PIRATES! As the show was winding down I was able to capture a picture of this pirate on his sailboat preparing for the festivities.


Modern Pirate

During actual Sea Fair weekend everyday from 1:00-2:30 p.m. there was an airshow performed first by a sole biplane that would dive down dangerously close to the water only to pull straight up until his plane would stall out all the while with a tail of smoke behind him. It was quite a show! I captured this picture during one of his spiraling falls toward Earth.


Mayday

My last picture of the weekend came when we returned home to find our favorite Daisy plant had an amazing bloom that I captured in the sunlight. It is a really fun and springy picture.


Me Daisy

Now cast your vote on which picture you believe is "The Perfect Picture" of Seattle's Sea Fair.

The Perfect Picture
	Wood Dock
	Blue Diamond
	Over the Sails
	Modern Pirate
	Mayday
	Me Daisy
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Leavenworth, Washington

In Pursuit of the Perfect Picture in Leavenworth, Washington.

My travels brought me to Leavenworth, mostly because my beer brewing Uncle lives in the bogus Bavarian town and I had yet to see them this summer.

Leavenworth was converted to a Bavarian themed town to help boost the economy when the loggging business around the town plummeted. If you haven't been to Leavenworth yet, I recommend making a weekend out of it if you can't afford the plane ticket to the real Bavaria. It is a very touresty town, with knick nack shops linning the streets and of course... EVERYTHING is themed Bavarian. Before a building can be built downtown, it has to be approved for its Bavarianess. I was told that McDonalds submitted plans from one of their resteraunts in Bavaria to the city for approval and were turned down because it wasn't Bavarian enough... Anyways, enough with the Leavenworth history and folk lores, lets get down to the photography.

I wasn't granted a ton of time to take pictures and neglected to take any pictures downtown, shame on me I know. But I did capture this photo down by the river front park, this is a view behind where the old coffer dam used to be built when the logging industury was still thriving in the town. This sandbar turned out to be a perfect subject for my photograph of the river and then after I captured this one, my cousin decided to run along it followed by his girlfriend and dog with my uncle, a.k.a. the homebrew Godfather, on shore.


Leaps and Bounds

After leaving Leavenworth Kayla and I took a detour down a small dirt road on Stevens Pass hoping to find a waterfall but what we found was even better! We drove along a small windy stream for several miles before coming to a dead end, then deciding to get out and see what photographs we could take. I ended up capturing an amazing shot of the river from the bank of the stream. The fallen log in the water is what takes this picture from oh I would say about a 7/10 range and boosts it up into the 9/10 range.


Peaceful Stream

We soon began our decent back on the small dirt road with my camera slightly heavier due to the amount of pictures I had taken when Kayla spotted this amazing moss covered waterfall right off the road, good thing she has such keen eye sight or it is probably her awareness the caught this waterfall since I was busy playing with the new camera strap cover I had. Back to about this picture though, all of the moss covering the rocks really makes this picture look tropical and it continued to flow like this for half a football field, to bad the vegitation grew thick at the top semi blocking the top of the falls.


Moss Waterfalls

Now cast your vote on which picture you believe is "The Perfect Picture" of Leavenworth, Washington.

The Perfect Picture
	Leaps and Bounds
	Peaceful River
	Moss Waterfalls
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Monroe, Washington

In Pursuit of the Perfect Picture in Monroe, Washington.

Monroe, Washington is located on the Wenachee River in western Washington right before Steven's Pass. I was only there briefly after traffic over Steven's Pass was at a standstill due to a wreck and I was limited for time since I had a golf lesson in a few hours. Seeing a sign for a Park I decided to turn in and had a nice walk around the place for a couple hours taking pictures of some butterflies and a couple paths but when I came upon this view from the bushs I knew I had my shot. Especially since the Wenachee River has been a pivital part of Monroe's history and the main reason the town is there today, I knew I had to have a river picture to describe the city.


Mountain Delight

With the folage in the foreground slightly out of focus it really draws your eye into the picture, up the stream, and to the clouded Cascade Mountains in the background making this the Perfect Picture of Monroe. I know I promised that each of you could cast your vote on which picture you believe is "The Perfect Picture" but this was the only picture I ended up liking and is therefor the sole contestant, automatic winner.

The Perfect Picture
	Mountain Delight
	None
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Seattle Japanese Garden

In Pursuit of the Perfect Picture of the Seattle Japanese Garden.

I awoke on a cold Sunday morning at the gate of Seattle's Japanese Garden with 10 minutes to spare before opening. This was my first trip to a Japanese Garden and wasn't quite sure what to expect, but I'm sure everybodies sterotypical images consist of Koi fish, raked sand, Japanese maples over a lake, statues, etc.

As you enter that garden, you walk down a relaxing short trail through a sparce forest and soon come upon a split in the trail with each side wrapping around the pond. Personally I took the left hand path, I'm not a left handed person or on the left side compared to the right whatever that even means. Soon glass surface of a small pond poked through the folage revealing a very relaxing Pond with the orange glow of shoe box size Koi goldfish swimming below it's surface. As I walked out on the bridge that cut the pond in half I soon spotted a school of Koi goldfish swimming straight for me! I regretted not buying any of the Koi food that was available as I first walked in because everytime somebody walked out on a bridge or dock, all of the fish would swim straight for them. I snapped this picture below while I first walked out on the bridge and really enjoyed how alive and strange the image is with the fish coming straight at the viewer.


Koi Attack

Soon the bridge was filled with people throwing Koi food below the bridge, feeding the school below. I continued my walk down the gardens peaceful paths walking past a tea house, several small statues, small streams, and finally toward the entrance again. As I was just about to leave the garden after my day of exploring, I took this picture of a smaller bridge supporting the dirt path that winds off behind the trees. It is a very peaceful photograph displaying the landscaping of the garden and the purely moss covered forest floor inside the garden.


Peaceful Path
Both of these photographs displayed the garden in two very different ways, cast your vote on which picture you believe is "The Perfect Picture" of Rialto Beach.

The Perfect Picture
	Peaceful Path
	Attack of the Fish
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Denver, Colorado

In Pursuit of the Perfect Picture in Denver, Colorado

To celebrate the 4th of July this year, Kayla and I traveled to Colorado to stay with now mutual friends. I switched to a window seat before take off on the way to Denver in anticapation for view of volcanoes dotting the landscape. It is truly amazing to fly in and out of Seattle and see these monsters arising from the mountains. I captured these three images while I was in the plane, I was amazed at how well these pictures turned out considering the condition of the window I was shooting through. The first picture is of Mount St. Helens and the last two are views of Mount Rainer.


Mt St. Helens

This vertical of Mount Rainers looks up a river valley toward Mount Rainer, what I believe to be Mount Hood is seen in the distant background.


Mt Rainer Vertical

In the following horizontal picture of Mount Rainer, I zoomed in on the Mountain top trying to capture the size of the volcanic dome looming over the surrounding mountains. I really enjoy this picture because it isn't a view you get to see all the time of the Seattle friendly Mount Rainer.


Mt Rainer Horizontal

When we arrived in Denver we met with our friends and soon were home asleep, getting our rest for our morning hike the next day. We were hiking a trail to the top of the highest point immediantly surround the city of Boulder and were promised stunning view of the city and surrounding Rocky Mountains that we found didn't dissapoint, don't worry those pictures are coming but first... The hike! As we made our way up the trail we walked past this abandunt house that when converted into black and white really help set an olden time mood to the picture.


Old Mountain

We finally summited two hours later with a storm fast approaching from the west. Before eatting lunch at the top of the mountain we all took pictures of accomplishment atop the mountain and sat back to take in the view. The city of Boulder was but a small blob on the visable land.


What a View

The next pictures were taken at sunset that night with a cut out looking Rocky Mountains. The salmon like color of the sunset fading to the the dark blue of the future night sky. The moon is bearly visable over the mountains. This is one of my favorite pictures of the trip, it does a good job of depicting the Rocky Mountains with their might and glory.


Denver Panorma

That night we headed off to the University of Colorado for an in the stadium fireworks experience. Being packed we were surprised to find a good spot that was big enough to also set up a tripod. The pre fireworks show began with the school bison running around the field and of course, patriotic music before the big show. This picture turned out to be my favorite of the night because it is a simple three subject photograph.


Denver Fireworks

The last day in Denver for our vacation was spent walking around the city of Denver being the typical tourist going to the art museum, downtown, and seeing the capitol building. My last photo is of a single pumpkin orange rose plant I found while trooping around downtown. The close up view of the flower gives you a personal relationship to the rose that really depicts it's beauty.


Inner Beauty

Now cast your vote on which picture you believe is "The Perfect Picture" of Colorado.

The Perfect Picture
	Mt St. Helens
	Mt Rainer Horizontal
	Mt Rainer Vertical
	Old Mountain
	What a View
	Denver Panorma
	Denver Fireworks
	Inner Beauty
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On my flickr account www.flickr.com/photos/trjahn I have many more pictures available. Feel free to browse them and think how more much attractive your walls would look like a new picture hanging on the wall.