John Guilford's Photo Gallery: Washington State

Pictures taken around Washington State

All rights reserved. These images are not to be used or copied without my prior written permission.

Unless otherwise noted, through 2011 all pictures taken by me with a Nikon D70 camera.
Depending on the focal length, the lens is most likely either the Nikkor 18-70mm AF-S or the Sigma 70-300mm DG APO.
Starting in 2012, I switched to the Nikon D7000 with either the Nikon 18-105VR lens or the Nikon 70-300 VR lens.
In early 2013 I added the Nikon Micro 85mm lens.

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Winter Sunlight Through the Misty Trees
Date: 10-Feb-2013 Time: 9:49 AM Exp: 1/125s @ f/7.1 ISO: 500 Lens: 32mm		The low sun of a winter morning shining through the misty trees in my backyard.

Little White Church on the Hill
"The Little White Church on the Hill", in Silvana, WA, was built in 1890 and originally called Zion Lutheran Church. In 1972 it was placed on the Register of the State of Washington for Historic Preservation and renamed. While bicyling in the area, I stopped near the base of the hill for a break. Looking up the lane, I saw the brilliantly white church standing out against the deep blue sky and peeking out from behind the green vegetation, and knew I'd have to return with my camera and tripod after my ride. The white church was considerably brighter than the shaded vegetation next to the road. Thus I needed several exposures ranging from 1/20s (to expose for the vegetation) to 1/400s (to expose for the sunlit church). These five exposures were combined to form the HDR (High Dynamic Range) image shown here.		Date: 4-May-2013 Time: 3:25 PM Exp: 1/20, 1/60, 1/160, 1/250, 1/400s @ f/9 ISO: 200 Lens: 45mm

Lights of Christmas
Date: 23-Dec-2011 Time: 6:09 PM Exp: 1/60s @ f/6.3 ISO: 1600 Lens: 50mm		Each year in December the Warm Beach Camp in Stanwood, WA puts on their "The Lights Of Christmas" display. Among other things, this features more than a million lights. This display is a tiny portion of their whole display. It shows the moon rising over (presumably) the Cascade Mountains above a flowing river. Warm Beach Camp puts on a truly stunning display.

Enchantment Lake Basin By Moonlight
The Enchantment Lakes basin of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness is considered by some to be one of the most spectacular places in the Cascade mountains. There are a limited number of camping permits given out per day, though anyone can day hike the Enchantments. It is a long day, however, as the loop is 18 miles with significant elevation gain and loss. This is a 30 second time exposure of the upper basin lit by the moon. There was a gusty wind blowing, and I didn't have a tripod, so I had to balance the camera on a rock. Fortunately the wind didn't seem to move the camera much, and I got this picture.		Date: 27-Aug-2012 Time: 9:15 PM Exp: 30s @ f/6.3 ISO: 400 Lens: 32mm

Chihuly Bridge of Glass Closeup
Camera: Canon S410 Date: 09-Apr-2011 Time: 4:31:40 PM Exp: 1/125s @ f/2.8 Lens: 7.41mm Flash: None		This is a small part of the roof of the Chihuly Bridge of Glass at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, WA. This is a 500 foot long pedestrian overpass next to the museum. The 20 by 50 foot ceiling, called the "Seaform Pavilion" is made of 2364 glass art objects from Dale Chihuly's "Seaform" and "Persian" series and showcase an underwater motif. This image was made looking straight up from near the floor of the overpass.

Lanham Creek In Winter
While snowshoeing up Lanham Creek near the Nordic Center at Stevens Pass in Washington, this little cascade caught my eye. I didn't have a tripod, and had to brace the camera against a tree for this 1/3 second time exposure. By that time of the day in winter, the sun had already left the valley floor, and it was dark enough to make it easy to take a long enough exposure to blur the running water.		Date: 19-Feb-2011 Time: 1:21:50 PM Exp: 1/3s @ f/14.0 ISO: 200 Lens: 31.00mm Meter: Aperture Priority

Mount Rainier
Date: 31-Jul-2010 Time: 7:58:06 PM Exp: 1/125s @ f/13.0 Lens: 22.22mm Flash: None Camera: Canon Powershot S410		While flying into SeaTac airport near Seattle, Washington, I had great hopes of getting a great picture of Rainier (14,410'). I was on the correct side of the plane, the skies were clear, it was late in the day so the low level sunlight would light the peak well. To my horror, the battery in my DSLR died one photo before getting to Rainier. Thus I had to make do with my Point And Shoot to get this picture. In the background, Mount Adams (12,281') is visible.

Snowy Stillaguamish
On the same trip to the post office mentioned above, I shot this picture looking up and across the Stillaguamish River from the Marine Drive bridge. The sun was behind me and I really liked the lighting on the trees. I was particularly pleased with this picture as it was shot from a moving car (I did roll down the window, though) bouncing along the icy/snowy road. I got lucky and got a relatively sharp picture.		Date: 22-Dec-2008 Time: 4:29:36 PM Exp: 1/60s @ f/8.0 ISO: 200 Lens: 70.00mm Meter: Aperture Priority

Horse and Tree
Date: 22-Dec-2008 Time: 4:31:35 PM Exp: 1/320s @ f/7.1 ISO: 400 Lens: 60.00mm Meter: Aperture Priority		One more picture from the aforementioned trip to the post office. Just north of the Stillaguamish river, we came upon this scene. We enjoy the contrast between the spot of color formed from the horse's blanket and the mostly white landscape around it.

Snowy Field
The unusual snow fall mentioned above allowed the chance for me to photograph things I usually don't see. On a pre-Christmas trip to the post office, we stopped along the side of Marine Drive to photograph this field. By varying the exact camera location, I took this same shot both with the sun shining through the tree on the left and with the sun completely blocked by the tree. I liked this one better. Puget Sound is visible behind the field with Camano Island behind that.		Date: 22-Dec-2008 Time: 4:26:03 PM Exp: 1/320s @ f/8.0 ISO: 200 Lens: 29.00mm Meter: Aperture Priority

Eleven A.M. Moon
Date: 23-Aug-2008 Time: 11:12:02 AM Exp: 1/6s @ f/32.0 ISO: 200 Lens: 300.00mm Meter: Aperture Priority		It can be amazing how bright the moon can be, even when it is nearly noon. The moon was at last quarter with half the moon showing through the branches of a tree. In many ways, the half moon is more photogenic than a full moon as the light near the terminator (the line between the lit and unlit portions of the moon) casts some fantastic shadows really showing off craters and other features.

Okanagan Hay Field
Down in the valley below the bench shown in "A Long View" lies this hay field in the Okanagan area in north central Washington.		Date: 23-Aug-2008 Time: 10:33:23 AM Exp: 1/100s @ f/10.0 ISO: 200 Lens: 44.00mm Meter: Aperture Priority

A Long View
Date: 23-Aug-2008 Time: 10:16:05 AM Exp: 1/160s @ f/10.0 ISO: 200 Lens: 18.00mm Meter: Aperture Priority Flash: Flash fired; Auto mode		The Okanagan area of north central Washington is much drier and open than the more populous western side of the Cascades. Here's a bench on a hillside with a long view across the valley. A great place to sit awhile and watch the world go by at its own slow pace.

Okanagan Sunset
This is another "high dynamic range" picture, this time of a sunset in the Okanagan region of Washington. The range in brightness between the setting sun and the foreground tree and field was much too great to record in the same expsure. I took three separate pictures at different exposures and combined them together to get this image. This view was shot across the same valley as shown in "A Long View" above.		Date: 22-Aug-2008 Time: 7:50 PM Exp: 1/500,1/80s,1/15 @ f/10.0 ISO: 200 Lens: 70.00mm Meter: Manual

Tree At Washington Pass
Date: 22-Aug-2008 Time: 4:24:24 PM Exp: 1/100s @ f/8.0 ISO: 200 Lens: 48.00mm Meter: Aperture Priority		In northern Washington State, highway 20 is known as the North Cascades Highway as it cuts through the center of the National Park. In the winter the highway is closed due to snow, but in the summer, it is a gorgeous drive. The high point of the highway is Washington Pass (5477 ft). From the viewpoint at the pass, one can see many gorgeous views, such as Liberty Bell Mountain. But there are other views easier to overlook amid such grandeur. One such example is this dead tree. The deep blue sky is a result of the clear air that day plus the polarizing filter I used.

Seattle From The Space Needle
The Space Needle is a tower in Seattle built for the 1962 World's Fair. It is 605 feet high. At the top is a restaurant that revolves once every 47 minutes as well as an observation deck. The Space Needle is about 4/5th of a mile from the downtown buildings. This photograph is a time exposure of the Seattle downtown skyline from the observation deck of the Space Needle.		Date: 16-Sep-2007 Time: 6:43:41 PM Exp: 2.5s @ f/7.1 ISO: 200 Lens: 44.00mm Meter: Aperture Priority

Lake Union Building
Date: 09-May-2007 Time: 8:29:51 PM Exp: 1/20s @ f/3.8 ISO: 800 Lens: 24.00mm Meter: Aperture Priority		Lake Union in Seattle, WA is generally an expensive property area. That's why I was surprised when visiting my daughter, who was renting a house just off the water, to find this building next door. It was just about sunset. I liked the way the setting sun lit up the westward facing facade and the weathered texture of the wood. Clearly this building has seen a lot in its time.