Movie Title

Stewart sent us the theme "photo to portray a movie" a couple of weeks ahead so we could think about it. Not being a big movie goer, I was pretty much stumped. The other headbangers offered me some thoughts based on the sorts of images they know I have in my computer files. Cold Mountain. On the Beach. They were okay. I could have used those.

Once I got a handle on the theme I thought of some marmot pictures I have that would make a good "Groundhog Day" title. Some bird pictures (some of them taken the same day as my seagull from last week) that would be "The Birds". Wharf pictures could be "On the Waterfront."

Then we went to the lake to spend a few days with our son's family on vacation, and when we arrived, guess what the kids were watching...

Stuart Little.

So I present to you my thought process.

 Four years ago we spent a lovely day exploring Lincoln, UK with Stewart and his lovely wife Julie.  We had dueling cameras at the cathedral, we walked a street called "Steep". You can imagine what that meant. We had a meal at a typical pub. We walked along the canal. (More dueling cameras.)

Across from the cathedral I caught Stewart peeking out of this doorway.

 

A bit of editing and -- bye bye Stewart.

 

A little work with Stewart removed...

Then shrunk and pasted back in, and voila...

 

Stewart Little.

 

You can see what films my friends found to illustrate by clicking their links in my sidebar.

Header Challenge--Birds

If I stroll back through my photo archives I am sure I can find a goodly number of bird photos.

There are the Camp Robbers at Mt. Rainier (actually Gray Jays and Clark's Nuthatchers) who will beg and steal any food you leave unattended even for a second (as the strip of bacon when I turned to the stove to cook the eggs)

or even if you don't.

Here are some other birds of some note.

Great Blue Heron

Chaffinch--taken in Scotland

Some more large birds--the Sandhill Cranes

We spent a couple of days with the kids at the lake this week, and the birds we spent time with were the ducks.

But on the way at a rest stop this sign made me laugh.

I laughed because it reminded me of these gulls when we camped at Sun Lakes a couple of years ago.

 They were quite determined.

  A collage suggested itself for the header image.

I am sure that my header colleagues found some great birds for their entries this week. You can find their posts through the links in my sidebar. The theme was suggested by Craver VII.

Color to Black and White

When I worked at the local newspaper, people would sometimes bring in information with snapshots to go with it. Color snapshots. Black and white newspaper. I learned to gently tell people why one shot would work and another would not.

Contrast.

Our challenge this week is to take a color shot and turn it to black and white.

Contrast.

All these shots are from the last week and take with my new Canon Powershot SX50 HS.

We spent a couple of days at Mt. Rainier and a couple of days in Seattle.

There is not much color to start with in this White River crossing.

The cloudy color of the water comes from the glacial flour--bits of rock ground down by the Emmons Glacier which feeds it.

Reflection of the blue sky enhances the river surface.



The yellow monkey flowers are lost in the black and white version, so I cut them off. The texture of the water carries over.

Looking east from the Silver Forest trail, the layers of the mountain ridges provide a contrast...
(I really did take this picture last week, despite the fact that it looks like my template's stock background.)

...that renders nicely in black and white. I am channeling Ansel Adams.

We made a quick exit while the Mariners were putting the final touches on their win over the Chicago White Sox.

We made it to our bus and did not have to wait another hour. But again the original is not much different.

How many planes in this shot at the Museum of Flight?

Another with not much more color in the colored version.

For my header I am going back to the mountain. Wonderful in color or black and white.

 

Visit my header challenge friends--we call ourselves the Headbangers. You will find their links in my sidebar.

Headbangers--the Other Side

I was the one who came up with the theme of "The Other Side" a few weeks ago when we were camping with the kids and my daughter wondered what was on the other side of the restroom window. It turned out to be:

I have thought since of what I could use as the other side.

Here in Washington (and in Oregon), there are two sides of the Cascade mountain range. On our side it is dry and we have weather extremes, on the other side it is wet and mild.

The view of a mountain can be disorienting when we view it from the other side. Let me show you Mt. Rainier from different sides.



from Bonney Lake



from Sunrise



near Paradise (Do you see that ridge on the right? Notice that it is the same ridge that is on the left from Sunrise.)



from Sunrise

another from Sunrise area



from Hwy 12--this and Packwood and Sunrise are MY side of the mountain



from Packwood



from Puyallup

I remember taking my Campfire group to a weekend sponsored by the Council in Portland Oregon. On Sunday morning we had a service at their campfire circle, which had an amazing view of Mt. Hood. As I sat and looked at it I was a bit puzzled, till I realized why I was disjointed. We had several times hiked near Satus Pass in Washington, where there is a view of Mt. Hood.

It is not as obvious from this photo taken near Goldendale, WA, but there is a slight but

 

definite hook to the top of the peak. Seeing it from Portland, the hook hooked the opposite direction. I made the comment at the time that we need to remember that sometimes we need to see things from the other side to understand others.


I am going to go back to that first Rainier image for my header. It is the other side of the mountain almost literally from where we live. It also represents the other side of the family, as it was take from the window of my daughter's in-laws' home in Bonney Lake. They have that incredible picture postcard view--when it isn't raining.

What did the other Header challengers find on the other side? My sidebar bears the answer in their links.