Posts Tagged Point and shoot
July 27, 2010 – Saint Mary Lake
Posted by Dave in Mountains, Picture of the Day on July 27, 2010
Saint Mary Lake, Glacier National Park
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=176
Wow, new posts on Monday AND Tuesday?? Wow, you guys must have done something right, for sure. Today’s picture is fairly old, from back in 2003. At that time I was only recently sworn off of my 35mm SLR, and I was rocking my second little pocket-sized point and shoot from Canon. (Film purists would argue with my logic, but I truly felt that I was getting better results (and much more convenient results) from my digicam than I was with my full-size 35mm beast.) I spent a fair bit of time laid off from work, so I had the opportunity to go on a few nice, long roadtrips that summer. I ended up in Montana a couple times, including the time when I got this shot in Glacier National Park.
You’re looking at Saint Mary Lake, which is on the east side of the park, right along the main road. (The “main road” being Going-To-The-Sun road.) I had driven through west-to-east, but unfortunately I was on my way somewhere (Colorado), so I didn’t have any time to hang around or hike or anything. (In fact, I originally wasn’t planning on swinging by Glacier at all – it was a split second decision when I saw a sign for it along I-90, which resulted in a 2 or 3 day detour. That’s the joy of not really having a tight schedule though, you can afford to just toss in a few days here or there of “other stuff”. I hate only having a couple weeks of vacation a year.)
As I hinted earlier, this was taken with a little pocket point and shoot. A 3.2 megapixel in fact. I’ve said it many times before, but it definitely bears repeating: just because you don’t have a big fancy camera, you can still get some nice shots. It’s definitely true that there are things you can do with a fancy camera that you can’t with a point and shoot, but there’s no reason you need to let that hold you back.
Notes: Canon PowerShot S230 (Point and Shoot). 1/800s.
Subscribe to the Picture of the Day via: Popularity: 7%
June 24, 2010 – Snoqualmie Pass
Posted by Dave in Mountains, Picture of the Day, Washington State, Winter/Snow on June 24, 2010
View from Summit Central, Summit at Snoqualmie Ski Resort
Thursday, June 24, 2010
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=884
Apparently this week’s pattern is to post pictures from cameras of lower and lower quality each day. Monday, it was a photo from my most modern SLR body and the “new hotness” lens. Yesterday, it was my old SLR and my crappy lens. Today, it’s from a no-longer-current pocket point and shoot. Tomorrow? It’ll be a pencil sketch on notebook paper.
This was taken from near the bottom of the Summit Central ski area, which is one of four that make up the Summit At Snoqualmie. Summit Central was known as Ski Acres only a couple years before I moved out here, but that’s not relevant.
In other news, I suppose this is a fine opportunity to once again give a tepid encouragement for all of you to vote for me in the Blogger’s Choice Awards. For those of you who aren’t familiar with those awards, it’s a website where you can nominate yourself, and then tell all of your readers to go vote for you. Thus, it’s totally just a dirty trick to get folks like me to do their marketing for them. You have to register an account (with a valid email) to vote, so it seems pretty skeezeball. However, I *can* say that, since I gave them my email a year or so ago, they’ve never send me any kind of spam or anything. That’s not to say they won’t ever, but it’s definitely not QUITE as skeezeball as I expected it to be. The award itself is meaningless, but what ISN’T meaningless is the traffic they send to my page, simply by me being in the running. So, if you feel like helping a guy out, go ahead and vote for me. Here’s how:
1) Go to bloggerschoiceawards.com. I’m not going to link to it, because I don’t want to give them my linkjuice. But type that into your browser’s address bar, and create an account.
2) Go to the Best Photography Blog category. (Also, Best Travel Blog, Best Hobby Blog, and Best Blog About Stuff. I know, I know, shut up.)
3) Vote for me. At the time I’m writing this, I’m in second place, behind some dude who posts pictures that he takes driving around in his car.
Woo, thanks!
Notes: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS (Point and shoot). 1/250s, f/14.0, ISO 80.
Popularity: 14%
May 25, 2010 – Dogwood Blossoms
Posted by Dave in Flowers, Macro, Picture of the Day on May 25, 2010
Dogwood Blossoms
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=277
Well, hey guys. How’s it goin? Yeah? Good to hear. Uhhh.. Have a good weekend? Great, great..
Here’s some dogwoods. I like dogwoods, they’re pretty. But for whatever reason, I haven’t been able to get a good picture of them since several years ago, and it’s really aggravating. I keep seeing nice looking dogwood trees, but then when I get close I realize there aren’t any nice blossoms down where I can reach them. Oh, also, they tend to be, you know, in people’s yards. So that would seem a little bit rude, to just go tromping around on somebody’s yard, and start snapping pictures right outside their living room window. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m totally not above doing that, I’m just afraid of shotguns.
Anyway, here’s a picture. Woo!
Notes: Canon PowerShot S500 (Point and shoot). 1/400s, f/4.9.
Popularity: 19%
May 5, 2010 – 7th Heaven
Posted by Dave in British Columbia, Mountains, Picture of the Day, Winter/Snow on May 5, 2010
7th Heaven, Blackcomb Mountain, Whistler-Blackcomb Ski Resort
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=353
Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone! I realized as I was tying that last sentence that today would have been a perfect day to post a picture from Mexico. I don’t have one handy though, and I’m not even entirely sure I have one at all. I’ve been there a couple times, but I’m not sure I got anything picture-of-the-day worthy while I was there. Sad. Instead, here’s a shot from our other North American pals, Canada.
This was shot in the 7th Heaven area of Blackcomb Mountain, at Whistler-Blackcomb Ski Resort. Those peaks in the distance are all part of Garibaldi Provincial Park, and that’s all I can think of to say about this picture.
In other news, one of my friends asked me yesterday for some camera advice, which isn’t that uncommon of an occurrence these days. After spending a decent amount of time writing up a fairly detailed response, which contained a lot of advice I’ve rehashed several times in the past, I realized that I might as well save that work for a larger audience. Thus, I posted it here on my blog. You can also find it by clicking “Camera advice?” up above. Note that this is in addition to the My Equipment page, which contains exactly what it sounds like it would. Note that this particular camera advice was somewhat tailored for somebody in my friend’s situation, which is that she was confident that she wanted to go the digital SLR route, but was wondering what to do about which one to pick, and what lenses to start off with. If you’re just in the market for a decent point and shoot, or a full-featured camera that’s not quite as much of a commitment as an SLR, obviously that advice won’t be really applicable. But, feel free to take a read, and set me straight if required.
Notes: Canon PowerShot S500 (Point and shoot). 1/800s, f/11.0.
Popularity: 18%
May 4, 2010 – Cherry Blossoms
Posted by Dave in Flowers, Macro, Picture of the Day, Washington State on May 4, 2010
Cherry Blossoms
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
http://davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=238
Oh man, almost ran out of time for a post today. I have an excuse though – I had to go see my eye doctor, which means my eyes are totally dilated. As a result, I can’t see a damn thing on my screen. I mean, I can see big stuff, but I can’t see text. Which means, I can’t really see what I’m typing. I think I’m doing pretty well with the whole typing thing because 1) I sort of do it for a living so I have a pretty good feeling when I screw up, and 2) I can see the little red squiggly lines, so I can say with authority that there are no misspelled words in this post, even though some of the words themselves might be wrong. Whatever.
Every spring, a bunch of trees around Seattle (well, around a lot of places) turn bright fluffy pink. That always weirds me out. I’ve heard the right term for the pinkness is “cherry blossoms”, so I’m going with that, even though I’m almost positive they aren’t cherry trees per se, so I’m not quite sure how the term cherry blossoms applies. Not important. What *is* important is that, to this day, I can’t figure out how to get the picture I want out of them. I just.. can’t do it. I tried for years and years, and I could never really do it. I’ve kind of given up trying the last couple years, but the dream is still alive. Some of them turn out okay, but I KNOW there’s a totally amazing picture to be had of them, and I also know that I haven’t gotten it yet. This particular one was taken way back in 2004, all I had at the time was a 3 megapixel pocket-sized point and shoot. (Well, I had my 35mm SLR too, but that was well past the time that I never used that thing anymore.) It’s been sitting around for quite awhile, but I just realized that back then, I didn’t take the time to touch up any of my pictures, so it was dark and uninteresting. So I went through the pics from that day in Picasa, and brightened up a bit, and.. they’re at least better than they were before. Good enough for posting late in the day on a Tuesday, for sure. Since the blossoms are done for 2010, this’ll have to do until at least next year.
Notes: Canon PowerShot S230 (Point and shoot). 1/125s, f/2.8.
Popularity: 26%
April 26, 2010 – Craters of the Moon
Posted by Dave in Picture of the Day on April 26, 2010
Craters of the Moon National Monument
Monday, April 26, 2010
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1485
HEY! Guess what!!!! Oh, you already knew this was the 200th post? Oh. Well. Umm. This is awkward.
I made it to 200!! I never thought I’d make it past 50, much less up to 200. Also, I thought at this point I’d be totally scraping the bottom of the barrel looking for pictures each day. But, in a rare moment of something other than modesty, I’m going to point out that I’m NOT. I’ve got A WHOLE LOT of mediocre pictures left to post! Don’t be surprised when I’m celebrating my 300th post, is all I’m sayin’. I’ve been doing this for almost a whole year now (sshhhh, don’t tell anyone, but the one year anniversary of my first post is coming up real quick here too.) Feel free to congratulate me if you feel it’s necessary. I mean, it totally is… The ball’s in your court, that’s all I’m sayin’. That, and that you shouldn’t be surprised when I’m celebrating my 300th post. That is all I am saying. That, and all this other stuff that I’m saying.
This picture was taken in Craters of the Moon National Monument, which is in southern Idaho. It’s called that I think because of the expansive lava fields that you can’t see any of in this picture. Something relating to that, anyway. I was driving through shortly before sunset, so I didn’t get much time to explore. But, it was pretty, so it’s on my list of places to go back to when I’ve got more time. This picture is interesting for another reason too. As I was driving through, I obviously stopped several times to take what pictures I could in the failing light. But I also snapped a fair number of pictures with the point and shoot while I was driving past. A “hey, that looks pretty, I should grab a picture so I remember what it looked like” kind of thing. Most of them are good for just that – reminding me what places looked like. But they’re driving pictures. They’re blurry, they’re tilted, they often miss the thing I was trying to take a picture of. But, occasionally (very rarely, but not never) there’s actually something cool in some of them. This is one of those times. Originally I had passed over all of these pics as generally worthless. But way after the fact, I decided on a whim to look a little closer, and lo and behold, I found something worth keeping. Awesome.
Okay, that’s it for today. Don’t forget to become a fan of or “Like” (whatever they’re calling it these days) my Facebook page if you haven’t already. Big numbers there make me feel awesome, and feeling awesome makes me feel good. Hope you all stick around for the next 200!
Notes: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS (Point and shoot). 1/160s, f/2.8, ISO 80.
Popularity: 16%
April 15, 2010 – Silver Queen Mountain
Posted by Dave in Picture of the Day, Washington State, Winter/Snow on April 15, 2010
Silver Queen Mountain, Crystal Mountain Ski Resort
Thursday, April 15, 2010
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=713
Hey everyone, happy tax day! Well, it’s happy for those of us that already finished, which at this point should be all of us, right? I actually only finished a couple days ago. I like to wait until the last minute, just in case, you know, something changes. I still hold out hope that one year, on April 10, they’ll just decide “You know what, guys? This tax thing is all a bit ridiculous, let’s just bag it this year, eh?” One day, one day…
Today’s picture comes from Crystal Mountain Ski Resort, just like the majority of my wintertime pictures. This was taken at the top of Silver Queen Mountain, which is at the top of the High Campbell chair. I believe it’s the highest lift-served point in the ski area, although I haven’t verified that against the Northway lift. You can of course hike up to the top of Silver King and still technically be in-bounds, but this is as high as you can get at Crystal on a lift. Today’s picture is also interesting because it’s the second picture in a row that I’ve posted that was taken with a point and shoot. I’m not really sure WHY that’s interesting, but it feels like it is.
Notes: Canon PowerShot SD700 IS. 1/1600s, f/5.6.
So now I’m done talking about today’s picture. Wait, what’s that? You want more? Well, today, I can hook you up. I’m starting to work on a new page detailing out the equipment that I currently use, as well as the equipment I’ve used in the past. I’m even adding links for each item to a list of Picture of the Day posts USING that item. Pretty sweet, huh? Yeah, totally. Here’s a link to the page, or you can click on “My Equipment” on the tabs up above. Currently it’s just got the stuff I’m using now, but I hope to one day have an exhaustive list on there, including all the lenses that I’ve ever used, and a list of all of the little point and shoot cameras that I ever remember owning. That’ll be pretty neat. Pretty neat indeed.
Popularity: 23%
April 14, 2010 – Wenatchee National Forest
Posted by Dave in Fall Color, Picture of the Day, Washington State on April 14, 2010
Autumn in Wenatchee National Forest
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=309
Hey everyone! It’s Wednesday, which means it’s time to post another picture. I had a tough time picking one today, I’m not sure why. Some days, it’s easy. Like, the day after getting home from Jamaica. I figured I should post something from Jamaica. (Well, then I had to pick WHICH picture from Jamaica to use, but that just came down to the first one I saw that was good enough.) Some days, it’s harder than that, but still not too hard. Like if it’s been awhile since I’ve posted a picture of a flower, I figure I should post a picture of a flower. Today though, I had no clue what I wanted to toss up here. I literally decided on 25 different pictures but then changed my mind before it made it up on the page.
In the end, I decided to go with this one. It’s a pretty old one, from before the time that I had my first digital SLR. (I had a 35mm SLR way back in the day, but I never really liked using it – the advantages of digital were SO blatant in my mind that the 35mm started collecting dust almost immediately after I got my little pocket digital, which was just a little 2mp POS. I’ve never looked back since, even though that meant spending a few years SLR-less.) But, I like the colors. Fall color shots always put me in a good mood, even in the spring when I should be getting excited about the nice weather that I keep hearing rumors is on its way. (But let’s be honest, I’m in Seattle, it won’t be summer here until July 5th.)
This was taken in Wenatchee National Forest, sort of between Blewett Pass and Leavenworth. For those outside of Washington state, that’s like me saying it was taken somewhere between NYC and Boston. In other words, I’m being kind of vague. But that’s fine for today. Most of the forest is evergreen, but there are definitely pockets of deciduous trees and bushes, particularly along the rivers. So you get some nice color if you know where to look. I don’t know the right way to wrap up today’s post.
Notes: Canon PowerShot S500 (Point and Shoot). 1/200s, f/3.2.
Popularity: 16%
March 11, 2010 – Spring Blooms
Posted by Dave in Flowers, Picture of the Day on March 11, 2010
Spring blooms
Thursday, March 11, 2010
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=276
Today’s picture is an old one that I dug out from the archives. It’s getting to be that time of year now, so I figured I’d should start tossing some of these into the mix. (I saw my first rhododendrons the other day. Whaaaat?! Where’d my ski season go?!) I’m not sure what those green ones are in front, but the red ones in back are rhodies. I love rhododendrons, mostly because I actually know what they are, and I can look (and sound!) smart by pointing at them and saying to whoever is nearby “Hey, aren’t those rhododendrons nice??”
Seattle’s an interesting place in the spring. On the one hand, it’s absolutely gorgeous, because there are rhododendron bushes EVERYWHERE, so all along the streets there are these wild splashes of color. And they come in all sorts of shades too, red, yellow, white, blue, purple, anything you want. Pretty nice. But on the other hand, the weather sucks. Winter’s fine, because even though it’s cloudy and raining all the time, you can at least know that it’s snowing in the mountains, so the skiing will be good. But in the spring, the clouds just linger, and linger, and linger. Long past the closing dates of all the ski hills. Long past when you start hearing on the news how nice and warm it is in the rest of the country. Typically it’s not until the beginning of July that we finally kick the cloudy-with-temps-in-the-low-60’s weather. So it’s a bittersweet time. It’s really the only season that I haven’t grown to love in Seattle. Summer? Outstanding. 75 and sunny every day. Winter? Fantastic skiing. Fall? Have you SEEN the fall color shots I’ve posted?? Spring? Hmm. Pass.
Anyway, I wish I got more of the green flowers in focus. Oh well.
Notes: Canon PowerShot S500 (Point and shoot). 1/200s, f/4.0.
Popularity: 19%
March 4, 2010 – Iceberg Ridge
Posted by Dave in Picture of the Day, Washington State, Winter/Snow on March 4, 2010
Iceberg Ridge, Crystal Mountain Ski Resort
Thursday, March 4, 2010
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=359
As many of you know, I tend to really really dislike having people in my pictures. (Well, with the obvious exception of pictures of my family which generally aren’t intended for public consumption, blah blah blah…) I’m not sure why I shy away from it so much. Maybe it’s because the fashions that look good when you take the picture can look horribly dated before much time passes (seeing somebody wearing some ridiculous outfit in an otherwise really beautiful wilderness setting completely changes/ruins the picture, in my opinion anyway), or maybe it’s just because I only know ugly people. But whatever the reason, I really try to keep my pictures people-free. It’s a shame though, because having people in your pictures can definitely add value, it’s really good for adding scale, and it can really draw the viewers in, help them imagine themselves actually being there. Or so I’ve heard, not sure if I’m buying it.
All that being said, I’ve always had a bit of a soft spot for this image. It may only be that nice deep blue in the sky. Blue makes me happy. Not sure. But whatever it is, I think I’ve always liked this one more than other people do. Stupid other people. Not you, of course. Like, *other* other people.
Notes: Canon PowerShot S500 (Point and shoot). 1/1500s, f/7.1.
Popularity: 20%
February 22, 2010 – Black Tusk from Whistler Mountain
Posted by Dave in British Columbia, Mountains, Picture of the Day, Winter/Snow on February 22, 2010
Black Tusk from Whistler Mountain
Monday, February 22, 2010
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=869
Wow, Monday again. Not totally unexpected, but still. I decided that this week, I’m going to post only pictures from around Vancouver and Whistler in honor of the Olympics. This probably would have been more appropriate to do LAST week, but you know how it goes – with the time-delay broadcasting and everything, it took this long for the idea to reach the west coast.
Today, you’re looking at the million dollar view from the top of Whistler Mountain: the view out toward Black Tusk. (Yeah, that little cliff-thing poking up there on the left.) Given the predominant weather patterns we get here in the Pacific Northwest, it’s never a sure thing that you’ll be able to see it, but when you can it’s pretty cool. You can basically see it from anywhere along the top ridge (basically anywhere between the top of the Symphony Express and the Peak Chair), and I think this particular view was most of the way from the Peak Chair to the Saddle. (Blah blah blah, yeah, I realize you probably haven’t been there and thus these names are all meaningless. I’m totally just showing off how well I know the mountain at this point. Because I am awesome, obviously.)
Honestly, I’m fairly surprised that they placed the ski courses where they did. They put them all way down at the bottom of Whistler Mountain. But if you’ve been to Whistler more than once or twice, you know that the lower mountain sucks way more often than it’s good. I mean, you’re dealing with more than 5,000 feet of vertical here. The top of the mountain is nearly always fantastic, and the bottom of the mountain is nearly always crappy. So… why put the courses down where it’s crappy? Not only that, imagine how much more awesome the views would be as the cameras followed the racers down the hill if they had this kind of background instead of just grubby trees everywhere? I mean, sure, the visibility tends to be better down low (because when the fog rolls in, the upper mountain is worthless), but still. Hmm. Whatever, I’m sure they have their reasons. Grumble grumble grumble.
See you all tomorrow, right?
Notes: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS (Point and shoot). 1/400s, f/11.0.
Popularity: 25%
February 8, 2010 – Snoqualmie Pass
Posted by Dave in Picture of the Day, Washington State, Winter/Snow on February 8, 2010
Snoqualmie Pass
Monday, February 8, 2010
http://www.davefry.net/rate/index.php?viewimage=1120
Hey everyone, welcome back from your crazy weekend! Today’s post is my humble appeal to the powers that be that, for god’s sake, it’s winter, can we please act like it?? To say that it’s been a crappy season is… well, okay, it’s not an understatement. It’s probably not even an overstatement. It’s certainly a little bit misleading. But it still feels true.
See, it’s an El Nino year. Which can mean very little for us up here in the Pacific Northwest. But it can also be really really frustrating. It can mean, like it has this year, that most of the weather systems miss us by just a little tiny bit, and what systems we do get rolling through are too warm to be of any use except dropping a couple inches of rain/snow mix that help keep the existing snowpack from disappearing any faster than they otherwise would. There’s been a couple nice big dumps, but they’ve been followed a couple days later by rain usually, which kind of defeats the point. Although the big saving grace is that we got absolutely hammered in the early part of November, so we haven’t really had many issues with coverage. It’s just a crappy surface, is all. Ah well, we’ve had a string of great seasons, so tossing a mediocre one in here and there is something we’ll just have to accept.
This is, of course, Snoqualmie Pass. Specifically, this is the view from somewhere over near the Silver Fir chair at Summit Central (formerly known as Ski Acres.) Most of us Seattle-based skiers are guilty of poo-pooing on the Snoqualmie ski areas besides Alpental, myself definitely included. But it’s not really THAT bad. I mean, sure, they’re tiny. And they’re low. And they have a maddening flat part at the bottom that you have to deal with both on the way down and the way back up, but if the conditions are right, it can be decent. And, the views can be a lot better than a lot of people give them credit for. On a midweek powder day, you’ll have Central all to yourself while all of the other hooky-players hit up Alpental and stand around in the 45-minute line for Chair 2. Ah, crap, I just gave away my secret. That’s okay, none of you will believe me anyway.
Speaking of midweek powder days… Nature? You there? A little help here? Please??
Notes: Canon PowerShot SD850 IS (Point and shoot). 1/250s, f/11.0, ISO 80.
Popularity: 13%