Feb 28 - Cherry Blossoms at the University of Washington

I know I have already done some cherry blossoms, but it's spring so you have to take advantage while you can. I went to the quad at the University of Washington and although everything wasn't in full bloom, (they expect it to be late next week) I got a few really nice shots.

Five alternates up on Flickr.

Stats:
Nikon D700
Nikkor 24-85
85mm FL
F/4
Shutter 1/200

Feb 27 - Horse

My wife and I were in downtown Redmond for a late sushi brunch. While shopping we ran into some folks with two horses in the middle of downtown having a snack in a vacant lot. I talked with them a while and the let me take a few shots of the horses. This was my favorite.

A bunch of Flickr alternates today - kind of a grab bag of another horse, some shots from the sushi-go-round, and a picture at my favorite coffee shop.

Stats:
Nikon D700
Nikkor 24-85
66mm FL
F/7.1
Shutter 1/160

Feb 26 - Wine

My wife took me out to a local restaurant to relax after a rough week. While there I took a shot of some of their wine storage in the dining room.

Alternate on Flickr.


Stats:
Nikon D700
Nikkor 24-85mm
30mm FL
F/3
Shutter 1/15

Feb 25 - Antique Refurbishing

A ran across this antique refurbisher in the outskirts of Redmond, WA that looked like it needed a little refurbishing of its own.

Two alternates of a motor I found in the weeds there are on Flickr,

Stats:
Nikon D700
Nikkor 24-85mm
50mm FL
F/6.3
Shutter 1/250

Feb 24 - Conference

Often my days are predominantly spent on conference calls and today especially (6+ hours). Since I couldn't escape my desk, I thought this would be a good represntation of my day.

Stats:
Nikon D700
Nikkor 24-85mm
85mm FL
f/5.6
Shutter 1/13

Feb 23 - Purple

I went for more of a color/texture study today and used an orchid petal. I wanted to capture the intense color, the texture of the surface, and the wonderful cruves of the petal and its veins.

Two alternates on Flickr - one with a slightly different depth of field and another of a more full on shot of the flower.

Stats:
Nikon D700
Nikkor Micro 60mm
60mm FL
F/51
Exposure 1/8 sec

Feb 22 - First Cherry Blossoms

I went out to soak up some of the beautiful blue sky and take a shot of some of our first cherry blossoms of the year. Two alternates on Flickr.

Stats:
Nikon D700
Nikkor 24-85mm
85mm FL
F/11
Shutter 1/1000

Feb 21 - Ebony Skull From Mexico

A few years back my wife and I went to Mexico. I am a sucker for skulls, and we found this carved ebony colored skull (what it's carved from is anyone's guess). Anyway, I liked how they made the design mimic a sugar skull. I thought I'd make a nice high contrast shot of it for today.

Alternate available on Flickr.

Stats:
Nikon D700
Nikkor 24-85mm
85mm FL
F/14
Shutter 1/2 sec

Feb 20 - Desiccated Lemon Slice

While I was at the photo conference this weekend, I stopped by a Chinese place for lunch. The water with lemon they gave me was sort of sad. I thought the water glass distortion made it look sort of interesting so I made it the shot of the day.

Stats:
Nikon D700
Nikkor 24-85mm
85mm FL
F/4
Shutter 1/90

Feb 19 - Bowling

My org at work went out to Lucky Strike for a day of games, food, bowling, pool, and whatnot. I took some shots during the event.

There are three alternates on Flickr.

Stats:
Nikon D700
Nikkor 24-85mm
24mm FL
F/2.8
Shutter 1/25

Feb 18 - Taco Truck!

I love tacos and few places can compare to a good taco truck. Mexican fare in Western Washington isn't great but this taco truck really hits the spot. It's right down the street from my work so it'a great place for a lunch on a sunny day.

Status:
Nikon D700
Nikkor 24-85mm
30mm FL
F/10
Shutter 1/640

Feb 17 - World's Ugliest Teacup

Last month I posted a picture of a nice teacup, today's it's possibly the worlds ugliest teacup. In fact I think it's only a teacup in an academic sense. It is vaguely cup shaped and I suppose you could put some tea in it. A friend of mine purchased this from someone who was learning glass blowing (she pre-paid and this is what she got). Ever the polite one, she didn't ask for her money back. When she moved I inherited it and it now sits proudly in my office. I figured it would make a good product shot test.

Two alternates on Flickr.

Stats:
Nikon D700
Nikkor 24-85mm
56mm FL
F/16
Shutter 1/6

Feb 16 - Phở

Today is more of a snapshot of my day vs an actual planned arty shot. Two co-workers and I went over to one of the buildings next to ours where we have a Vietnamese stall. There are few days that you cannot improve by having a nice hot bowl of Phở.

Stats:
Nikon D700
Nikkor 24-85mm
35mm FL
F/6.3
Shutter 1/13

Feb 15 - XBox 360

Aside from photography, the other thing that takes up a lot of my time is my XBox 360. I decided to try a macro shot of the controller.

An alternate is up on Flickr.

Stats:
Nikon D700
Nikkor Micro 60mm
60mm FL
F/6.3
Shutter 1/125

Feb 14 - Valentines Day = Flowers

For Valentines Day I got my wife some of her favorite flowers (daises). I used them for today's subject.

There is one alternate on Flickr.

Stats:
Nikon D700
Nikkor Micro 60mm
60mm FL
F/11
Shutter 1/125

Feb 13 - Fishing Boat

My wife and I went out to lunch down at the fisherman's terminal and I took some shots of the boats there. I really liked the weathered look of this one.

Two alternates on Flickr.

Stats:
Nikon D700
Nikkor 24-85mm
52mm FL
F/6.3
Shutter 1/125

Feb 12 - Orchid

My wife brought home some orchids for me on Thursday (my favorite flower) . I decided to use it as today's subject for the photo.

Two alternate shots on Flickr

Stats:
Nikon D700
Nikkor 24-85mm
85mm FL
F/4
Shutter 1/125

Feb 11 - Kazu

My friend Kazutomi was in town from Japan on business. We got together for dinner on Thursday and I took a portrait of him in the low light of the restaurant.

Stats:
Nikon D700
Nikkor 24-85mm
42mm FL
F/3.3
Shutter 1/20

Co-worker's photo blog

My coworker Robyn is also doing a photo blog which includes lots of cute shots of her twins. You can find it here: http://robynk2010photos.blogspot.com/

Feb 10 - Piano Mechanics

Last month I shot the keyboard from the piano, today I decided to get inside.

2 Alternate shots on Flickr
Stats:
Nikon D700
Nikkor Micro 60mm
60mm FL
F/3.5
Shutter 1/13

Feb 9 - Slide

I went to a local park near my office in Bellevue and took this shot of a metal twisty slide. The recent rain left a few droplets behind and the supporting pole and structure left interesting reflections in the slightly scratched chrome surface.

Stats:
Nikon D700
Nikkor 24-85mm
24mm FL
F/6.3
Shutter 1/1250

Feb 8 - Vote!

I think voting is important even when it's not a big election.

Stats:
Nikon D700
Nikkor Micro 60mm
60mm FL
F/6.3
Shutter 1/3 sec

Feb 7 - Chess

Needing another shot on short notice I turned again to games. I've had this chess set since I was a kid and thought I'd play around with macro and depth of field again.

An alternate black and white is on Flickr

Stats:
Nikon D700
Nikkor Micro 60mm
60mm FL
F/10
Shutter 2.5 sec

Feb 6 - Snoqualmie Falls

Some work folks and I went to Snoqualmie for the afternoon to take photos. We shot at the falls, around town, and at the railway museum. I had way too many shots to pick from. I really liked how this one of the falls turned out. I will be posting the rest of the series here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nhelgren/sets/72157623261078933/

Stats:
Nikon D700
Nikkor 24-85mm
32mm FL
F/22
Shutter 1.3 sec

Feb 5 - Lenses

I decided to try to make my own seamless background. I used a combo of 2 blank framed canvases I had lying around and used the DoF to erase the seam between them. I thought I'd just use a few of my lenses as a subject.

Stats:
Nikon D700
Nikkor 24-85
35mm FL
F/14
Shutter 10 sec

Feb 4 - Jaz at The Art of Shaving

I go to The Art of Shaving in Bellevue to get my hair cut and straight razor shaves. My barber there (Jaz) was willing to let me shoot a few photos in there and even modeled a little for me.

More of Jaz, the shop, and razors at the Flickr site.

Stats:
Nikon D700
Nikkor 24-85
24mm Fl
F/4.5
Shutter 1/50

Feb 3 - Harvey

I hate to do another dog pic so soon, but I was a bit pressed for time today and wanted to make sure I got a shot up. Plus he's a pretty photogenic dog. He's our 5 year old Shar Pei mix, we picked him up as a puppy from a local rescue we found on petfinder.com.

Stats:
Nikon D700
Nikkor 24-85mm
70mm FL
F/4
Shutter 1/30

Feb 2 - Coolest Cookie Jar in the World

My wife bought me this cookie jar a few years back. It was made by a local artist and as far as I know is one of a kind. I played around with a little natural light and a black background to put the focus on the jar itself.

An alternate closeup is on Flickr.

Stats:
Nikon D700
Nikkor 24-85mm
45mm FL
F/4.5
Shutter .6 sec

Feb 1 - Native American Mask

This huge mask is hanging as an art installation in my building at work. I thought I'd get a closeup of it to show some wood grain and detail but also tried to pick an appealing angle.

Stats:
Nikon D700
Nikkor 24-85mm
24mm FL
F/4
Shutter 1/13