The Machinery of Night

Friday, March 06, 2009

Foto Friday: Mt. RAY-nier

Watch out! Mt. Rainier has a death ray and it's not afraid to use it!

Mt. Rainier, Sep. 2005

(The clouds, see, look kinda like a ray. No? You don't think so? Well what do you know about it, anyway?)

The keen-eyed among will have noticed that this is not Maui! I thought you might like a break from all the tropical beauty. Also, this picture comes up in my screensaver rotation and I keep wondering why I haven't posted it.

Labels: Foto Friday, Washington

Friday, October 12, 2007

Posted 9:35 PM by Angie Schultz

Foto Friday: The Fresh Scent of Pine

The title's kind of stale, though. Oh, well.

Mt. Rainier, Washington, Sep. 2005

This beautiful view is located right off the main road, so you don't have to hike to see it or, if I remember correctly, even get out of your car.

Clouds can be very annoying.

This weekend is scheduled as a scan-o-rama, so maybe there'll be something fresh next week. I might even write a non-photo post, if you can imagine such a thing.

Labels: Foto Friday, Washington

Friday, January 12, 2007

Posted 2:07 PM by Angie Schultz

Foto Friday: Painting with Photons

Mt. Rainier, Washington, Sep. 2005

This photo looks like an oil painting, especially the bare mountainsides, and most especially the smaller peak on the right. It could be an illustration of a remote fortress in a novel about a lost civilization.

When we started out for Mt. Rainier it was beautiful, but clouded up as the day went on. Then it cleared again towards sunset. Clouds can be so cruel.

Labels: Foto Friday, Washington

Friday, November 24, 2006

Posted 1:54 PM by Angie Schultz

Foto Friday: The Bluest Skies You've Ever Seen

Frankly, I've seen bluer skies, but who am I to upset their little fantasy?

Seattle from the Space Needle, Sep. 2005

If you look closely on the right you can see, floating eerily above the city, the ghost of Mt. Rainier. Here's a close-up.

Apparently the city has gotten sick and tired of all the damned tourists mucking up the place, flinging dollars left and right. So they're trying to make a dent in tourist traffic by screwing up the view with a couple of skyscrapers. That'll show 'em!

This photo was taken at a bad time of day for Rainier photos. Should've waiting until later in the afternoon. My dream "killer app" is a program that shows what time of day and year is the best for taking photos of various scenic spots.

You get a stale picture of Washington because, again I didn't get around to scanning. (As if my nonexistent readers care.) In fact, time is going to be scarce for the next two weeks, as I have something big coming up.

And if it works out, my nonexistent readers are going to get really, really sick of a Certain State.

Labels: Foto Friday, Washington

Friday, September 08, 2006

Posted 11:20 AM by Angie Schultz

Foto Friday: Digital Ice

I'm trying to avoid posting photos scanned from prints, because I'm hoping to get a film scanner any day now. Canon is supposed to be releasing a new version of a scanner that's gotten very good reviews, but no one has it yet. You can't even buy it from Canon's site.

(I'd rather have a dedicated film scanner, but they're too much money right now.)

When I get it, if I ever do, I'll be able to post much nicer images than the print scans. So I'm trying to post only those photos for which I have digital copies. Like this one:

Mr. Rainier, WA, Sep. 2005
I like the way the road seems to run right up into the curving ridges of the mountain.

I took that almost a year ago, when we were fleeing Hurricane Rita. The really busy hurricane season we were promised seems to be getting off to a slow start, so there probably won't be any fleeing to be done this year.

I figured I'd still have plenty of time to post this deliciously cool image before fall arrived (which comes here just a little too late for Christmas), but it's not been all that warm lately. Why, it's not been above 95 all week!

Labels: Foto Friday, Washington

Friday, August 04, 2006

Posted 11:50 AM by Angie Schultz

Foto Friday: Kitsch Catch

In honor of kitsch and crazies, today's photo is the magnificent Humping Fish in beautiful downtown Issaquah!

Humping Fish, Issaquah, Washington, Sep. 2005

That's humping as hunched and jumping, pervs, and not at all because it seems to love the building very very much.

Issaquah is where we ended up after fleeing Hurricane Rita. Niles and I loved the Humping Fish. Unfortunately, getting a picture involved either crossing a scary intersection, or trying to shoot it as we drove through. We chose the latter, and it turned out pretty well, but you can see the motion blur in the nearer trees.

If this photo ends up in some future Charles Phoenix's collection, people will look at it and say, "Man, things were weird back then. Did giant inflatable fish really sell cars? And if it's Evergreen Ford, wouldn't an evergreen have been more appropriate?" Know, then, that Niles and I asked ourselves these very questions. Of course, there's not much scope for expression with an evergreen. You're pretty much confined to green with those babies. I guess you could give it eyes or something. That would be even more disturbing.

Also you can be sure that twenty or thirty or fifty years hence, people will be saying two things:

Look at those great old cars! Ha ha! Can you believe that? My dad had one of those! (Unlikely in the case of the white stretch Hummer on the right there, but still...)
Twenty-one thousand for a whole car?? I paid that for tires!

That is, if they don't print and frame it to remind themselves what fish, trees, and cars look like as they stumble through the lifeless radioactive ash. Of course, we're unlikely to have the internet still, in that case.

(I bring you this grim scenario because when I was a teenager we were all forced to join the Grim Scenario-Bringer's Union, Local 2525, which ensures that all descriptions of the future feature at least three of: pain, death, radiation, pollution, loss, despair, starvation, disease, and misery. So it's just a contractual obligation. That's how the whole global warming industry came about. Bet you didn't know that.)

Labels: Foto Friday, Washington

Friday, July 07, 2006

Posted 2:16 PM by Angie Schultz

Foto Friday:Calm

I see that David Fleck is appealing for calm, and reinforcing his plea with a soothing picture. An excellent idea. I've been thinking of posting some of my pictures, and this gives me a good excuse.

And I can do better than any stinky old Iowa pond. Ha ha!

As my first experimental Friday Foto, I offer this serene, calming image: a smoldering volcano.

Mt. St. Helens, Sep. 2005

I started out using Flickr for this, but now I see that you can host photos on BlogSpot. And the template's easier to use.

"Free! Photos in blog posts for free! Go nuts people!" Well, all righty then!

But not too nuts. Remember: caaaaaalm.

UPDATE: By the way, that picture was taken while we were fleeing the cyclone tyranny. Start here, scroll up for more.

Labels: Foto Friday, Washington

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