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I walked along the Black River and Springbrook trails in Renton yesterday morning. Wonderful lighting, and I love the textures and lines of the trees on the other side of the lake...

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my political two cents a day - Pres Bannon is marching right along...

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I've been going through my old blogs and photos. Old photos 1 and 2:

I don't have any new photos to post today, and I decided to go back and look at my old blogs. This was one of my very few attempts with Video, 1Jan2009. I have no idea why a green area covers the bottom part of the frame, and I also have no idea what the meanings of the Chinese characters are. I just liked the movements and forms of the brush and ink. "Kanji" is the system of Japanese writing using Chinese characters. I lifted the music from the internet I guess. The short story is mine. Click on the following link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIHNMSqWyF0

"What'za a matta fo my head?" - a frequent saying of a co-worker of mine way back when, an immigrant (oh No!) These words popped into my head when I was getting my bike ready to go for a ride earlier, my first bicycle ride in forever! It was gray and drizzly outside, but the Sun god came out later, and it was a nice ride. I had planned on going over the little bridge between Boeing and the USPS buildings along the Duwamish, but Boeing or the city had it blocked off. I ended up going N to South Pk, cutting over the river there, and back S again along Boeing Field. A little under 9 miles in about an hour, "Sunday rider" that I am and being a 'walker' most of the time, it felt like was flying...

trees, lines, color, texture...

I'm an "Auto" settings non-tripod kind of guy, and my hands are getting shakier, so I tried using my "Sport" camera setting Sunday morning. It has a faster shutter speed.
This vantage point is from the Jose Rizal Bridge SE of Chinatown, overlooking the I5 & I90 merge here in Seattle.
On the other side of the street from where I was standing is the Pacific Medical Center.

The lighting Sunday morning was amazing, and I took a ton of photos. These 5 shots are with very little editing, and the angular reflection in the last photo is a crane on a neighboring building.

The lighting yesterday morning was wonderful, and I have a bunch of photos that might be "keepers". The colors, lines and reflections of the downtown buildings were very cool. I'll do some editing later today. The afternoon sun made me go out back by the creek and take some shots as well:

I try to be smart and observant, etc when I go on these early morning walks, especially when I'm walking around downtown. It's not like when I was living in Japan. I thought about this just now because there are a few good articles about Japan in today's paper, which I will share later. I smiled to myself when I was getting ready this morning, and I was automatically putting a dollar bill in this pocket, another one in another pocket, and a 5 in another. For the "homeless" I might encounter, some of whom I actually would like to help a little. Only a gesture I know, but... I had an awesome photo walk, at least until my fingertips started hurting. Going to do some editing now.

yesterday morning in Seatac Pk:

this morning downtown:

This morning was bright and sunny, perfect for walking. And I was able to take some puddle pictures away from the long arm of the law (re - earlier post about the Mall Security guy telling me I can't take photos.)

self portraits:

The post I made about puddles in FB on Wed:
I did two things I haven't done in awhile this morning: I got a mini breakfast in a McDonald's Drive Thru (the coffee wasn't that bad), and I walked around the Mall with the Old People {I was the fastest one :)} I prefer walking outside, but there's still some ice etc to deal with, and they open up the Malls early for "walkers". It's been several years since I did the Mall thing, and I even liked the Muzak, sort of... I didn't take any photos like I did many years ago. I liked shooting photos of the mannequins, and the window reflections... I had a young security guard pull up to me when I was walking in the parking lot once back then and tell me "you can't do that." I was taking a picture of a puddle, with a cool reflection of a street lamp. "I can't?" Being the son of my mother, a Champion Worrier and a you-follow-the-rules kind of person, I stopped taking my camera. Maybe the times have changed, with the proliferation of cell phone cameras?

an early morning "puddle" picture from Georgetown (last December):

a few more shots from early January that I just got around to editing:

I remember in my younger years muttering to myself "it's an old person" when I encountered an old person driving 29 in a 35 MPH zone. I'm 71 now, and I swear, I'm driving 2 MPH over the speed limit, and everyone else is speeding!

I did two things I haven't done in awhile this morning: I got a mini breakfast in a McDonald's Drive Thru (the coffee wasn't that bad), and I walked around the Mall with the Old People {I was the fastest one :)} I prefer walking outside, but there's still some ice etc to deal with, and they open up the Malls early for "walkers". It's been several years since I did the Mall thing, and I even liked the Muzak, sort of... I didn't take any photos like I did many years ago. I liked shooting photos of the mannequins, and the window reflections... I had a young security guard pull up to me when I was walking in the parking lot once back then and tell me "you can't do that." I was taking a picture of a puddle, with a cool reflection of a street lamp. "I can't?" Being the son of my mother, a Champion Worrier and a you-follow-the-rules kind of person, I stopped taking my camera. Maybe the times have changed, with the proliferation of cell phone cameras?
I tried to find some of my Mall photos in my old blogs just now. Looking through these old blogs is sort of like reading a diary. My first post was back in 2008. I was using a small digital Panasonic then.

I have better equipment now, and a better "eye" I think.