One of the "problems" I found on our road trip earlier this year was light.  Since we were, in fact, trying to get somewhere it was rare that I had good light for any of my pictures.  The only two places I was able to get good light was Death Valley & Redwood National Park, both of which we spend the night at.

Getting the lighting right at the ocean was hard.  I had to position Shannon in such a fasion that the light was comming at her perpendicular to the ocean AND get the ocean in the background!  There was only a few bluffs where I could do that.

Grand Canyon, Arizona
Death Valley, California
Redwood National Park, California
Redwood National Park, California

My girlfriend has the worst luck with cars. Every car she has driven has something wrong with it. And who do you think gets to fix it?^*

When I met her four years ago, she was driving an 85 S-10 pickup /w an engine her and her dad rebuilt (same engine as my car has). The clutch went bad on that, and it was leaking oil from the valve covers. So, when she moved up here for school, her folks bought her a peice of junk 1984 something subaru. Of course this thing had problems. First it was the rusty gas tank which managed to pollute a fuel filter within a few weeks. Since replacing the tank, or geting it professionally boiled out would have costed over $100, I got to use acid to etch the rust out.

Then it started to eat oil and stink like burning something. I notice the oil pump looks like it's leaking oil out of it's gaskets. So, being the good boyfriend that I am, I volunteer to pull the oil pump and replace the gaskets. Course, little do I know that the old oil pump managed to get so stuck that I had to completely destroy it trying to get it out. Great - so I install a new $90 oil pump, fire the engine up - no oil pressure... Great - I'm getting pissed, so I pull the sucker out. What do I find?

A Broken Shaft (and in case you dont see it - in color)

Needless to say - she no longer drives that car, and her new car has become mine to maintain.

^*answer

These are my attemts to emulate Leslie Nassar's technique in photoshop. I think I did ok, though his is much more subtle. Hey - I'll learn sometime.

Shannon at the park Shannon again Shannon with dogs The one that does not fit

News? So yea, the update is going great - I'm about 60% done with the magical new feature that will blow your minds (or something). Maybe I'll even get it done this weekend. Who knows.

The San Juan Islands are located 60 miles north of Seattle, and south west of Bellingham. To get to any of the main islands - Lopez, Shaw, Orcas or San Juan Island - you need to take a ferry. It can take up to 2 hours to get where you are going (not including at least an hour wait in line). While in line, you can climb a tree. Once on the boat, you can sit back and enjoy the view or read trashy magazines.

The ferry starts from Anacortes, which itself is an island. You can get a very good view of Mt. Baker.

Well... back from a long weekend worth of "camping" on Lopez Island, WA. I use quotes because where I camped is far from what I consider true camping ;-) However, I did have a great time hanging out with my girlfriend Shannon's extended family and a much needed vacation.

This is the first of a series of photos I will post. Obviously, I took a lot of pictures. I have been playing with my new toys - the "Moose filter", and the subject of today's post - the Infrared Filter.

Playing with Infrared