Boat Junkyard - Always Cool!

The thing I love best next to old deserted cabins are……old deserted boats!!  And, on the Homer Spit, there is a boat junkyard.  There were so many cool images I was lucky enough to capture, it was hard to decide what to share.  Here are my favorites –

 

Meet the Donna Rae!  I loved the worn blue color of her hull.  Add a little rust, some portholes, the pilot cabin and you have a great boat image!

 

This little boat has definitely seen her better days, and her colors were worn.  I really liked the vibrant colors of the buoys behind her.  I’m not sure how such colorful things ended up in the yard, as they looked fairly new……at least when compared to the boats!!

 

I thought this image was cool from a couple of different viewpoints.  I love the boat against the mountains, of course, but then there’s this old bus off to the side.  I actually didn’t notice it when I took the shot, and was pleasantly surprised when I saw it when I processed the image!

 

What would old boats in a fishing town be without old fishing floats nearby?  I loved the worn, peeling and yet colorful look to these!  And, in case you are wondering, fishing floats are used to mark areas in deeper water where a fisherman could have crab pots, fishing nets, or even hooks just hanging down.  Even tho I don’t fish, I enjoy them for their character and color!

Enjoy!!

On the Shore - Photo Paintings Series!

As I sat by our campsite and watched the shore, I was struck by the idea that various little scenes I saw would make great paintings.  However, I’m not a painter……but…..my photo processing software and filter software can make me look like I am!!  I’ve decided to call these photo paintings.  Hope you like them….

 

 

These 2 little children actually put the idea for this series in my head.  I watched them playing along the shore and knew if I could make it a cool painting, I could make the kids unrecognizable, which was my intent, since I didn’t want to invade anyone’s privacy.  I love the simplicity of childhood that this evokes.

 

And, as if they knew what I was thinking of doing, 2 kayakers in very colorful kayaks decided to go out for a “paddle”, which allowed me to capture yet another “painting”!  I love the casual, free flow to this image/painting – the essence of summer.

 

Here’s a painting of my sweetie, Jeff, and our puppy, Miki, enjoying the shore!  She did love her beach walks or runs in her case.  Jeff enjoyed being by the water, and I got to enjoy taking this image and making it into a painting!  A win all the way around!

 

When I walked along the shore one morning, I saw this little sandpiper darting in and out of the waves.  I got a good image of him, and, of course, it, too, became a painting.

Enjoy!

Rock and Shell Natural Collections

I know folks always tell people to keep their heads up to see everything there is to see, but, there are treasures to be seen by looking down, too!

 

As I walked along the pebble beach, especially when the tide is out, I saw a number of natural collections of rocks.  The colors of these rocks were very interesting on their own – I just enhanced them!

 

For this image, I chose a very summery, sunshiny type effect, to just mirror the playfulness of being on the beach, searching for both rocks and shells.  It’s not realistic, but it’s a fun image!

 

There were lots of cool mussel shells on the beach.  I thought the color of the shells was so pretty; I wanted to highlight a single shell in an intimate nature portrait, as it appeared on the beach.

 

Quite a few of the rocks had barnacles on them, which I thought added a cool point of interest to the otherwise water smoothed texture of the rocks.

Enjoy!

Shoreline Views

There were quite a few wonderful views of the shore and shops along the Spit.  In all, this is an incredibly relaxing place to spend a few days.  And, we were so lucky – the weather was perfect the entire time we were there!

 

We were camping on what I think was the nicer side of the Spit.  It wasn’t as windy and the waves gently washed the shore, instead of crashing against it.  The effect of the tide wasn’t that dramatic on this side, too.  Or, that’s the way it seemed to me!

 

Here’s another view of the pebble beach and some beach grass of sorts.  Add the boat heading out into the bay, and you have perfection!

 

Just down from our campsite was a collection of seashells.  I imagine some little kid walking the beach, picking up these treasures, stacking them outside their camping area…..and then, as kids tend to be, forget about them. 

 

Homer Spit has several boardwalks of shops, restaurants and pubs.  Here’s one image of one of the quaint boardwalks near our campground.  I created a painting of it because that effect just seems to add to the charm of it.

Enjoy!

Meet the Turnagain Arm

As we drove from Anchorage to Whittier and Homer, we drove thru what’s called the Turnagain Arm.  The Turnagain Arm is the body of water that you’ll be seeing, not the road.  Altho I believe it was named after an explorer, I’m not certain about that, so that that with a grain of salt in terms of whether or not it’s true!

 

Here’s the introduction to the Turnagain Arm.  Altho I liked this shot, I wish there had been a train on those railroad tracks…..

 

As I was taking photos of the scenery on the Arm, a woman came up to me and asked me if I noticed the Dall sheep on the rock face directly across the road.  The rock just seems to go directly up at an almost 90 degree angle, but that’s where these sheep are the most comfortable.  I felt really lucky that I was able to capture them in their natural environment.  And, they seemed as curious about me as I was about them!

 

When I took this image, I really began to fall in love with the beauty of this area and actually devoted a posting to several images of a very similar scene, just to illustrate the different ways I viewed it.

 

When we were coming back thru the Turnagain Arm after our visit to Homer, we were lucky enough to pass a train that was passing thru the area.  After we passed it, Jeff pulled off on a turn off area, and I ran across the road to sit on one of the little guard rail posts until the train caught up with us so I could get this shot!  It was pretty chilly and mighty breezy when the bigger RVs and trucks would pass by (the guard rails are pretty much right next to the road with no shoulder), but it was worth it!

Enjoy!

The Many Faces of an Image

As I mentioned in a previous blog post, I was really taken with the beauty of the Turnagain Arm.  There was one area in particular that I photographed and then just felt that one image really didn’t and couldn’t capture the many thoughts and feelings I had while standing there, taking the photo and just enjoying the views.

 

Here’s the image pretty much as the camera captured it.  One of the things I loved about this specific view is the series of layers in the image.  The clouds appear to be in layers and the mountains just seemed to echo each other in creating layers to look through and down.

 

Altho the previous image didn’t reflect it, the view felt somewhat monochromatic due to the cloud cover and how overcast the day was.  This image reflects the feeling that the day had – grey, foreboding and a bit stark.

 

This image represents how I felt standing there looking at the view.  Altho subtle, there was color to be seen and wonderful reflections in the water of the clouds.  Plus, it had a sense of mystery that I also loved.

Enjoy!

The Whittier Tunnel

Blog:  The Whittier Tunnel

There’s something about this tunnel that captures the imagination.  Maybe it’s the length of it – 2 ½ miles.  Maybe it’s that it’s under this huge mountain.  Maybe it’s that it’s a single lane for cars, trucks, RVs and……trains!

 

This isn’t the best image, but at least you can see the entrance to the tunnel, and the huge mountain it’s at the bottom of!  Every ½ hour, traffic is allowed – going one direction on the hour, and the opposite direction on the ½ hour.  And, when a train comes up, it takes priority.

 

We’re at the entrance to the tunnel.  The green light deep in the tunnel is NOT the end of the tunnel – it’s sort of a midway light, altho I’m not certain it’s exactly at the midway point.  And, yes, we’re driving over and sort of straddling railroad tracks!

 

I couldn’t resist this shot!  We were sort of bouncing along, altho the image makes it seem bouncier than it was.  I loved the pattern of the lights at the top of the tunnel, and the lights of the midway point and the tail lights of the vehicle in front of us!

 

Ah, literally – the light at the end of the tunnel!  The entire trip took about 5 minutes, since the speed limit in the tunnel is only about 25 mph.  At the end of the tunnel going in this direction is the little port town of Whittier.

Enjoy!