188

187

Holy cow! I've been busy today! Finally home, and it's not over yet. I should be packing for my next six days but I know me, and it's not going to happen yet. Here's a photo instead!

Today's was taken before 8:15am. This is probably the earliest I have ever taken my daily photo. Not bad.

186

185

Happy Independence Day!

^{[click all photos to see them fullsize!]}

Spent the evening at Birch Bay for fireworks. There were so many people there!
We were situated in about the middle of the U-shape of the bay, so this picture is just the view on the right:

This whole stretch of land was crowned with fireworks! ^{[click to enlarge!]}
Here you can see people sitting right next to us. The beach was packed.

One of my first shots just after sunset - you can just make out the shape of the bay as the fireworks began.

Morgan's family has gone here nearly every year for a long time but couldn't make it this year. We kept the tradition going by meeting up with some friends and bringing some beer. :)

I've been looking forward to firework photos for my PROJECT 365. How could I choose just one for my daily photo? Here are a many more!

^{[click to enlarge!]}

And of course, some sky shots of the explosions :)

All in all, a glorious evening!

184

My first attempt at photographing steam.

Should have taken a picture of the setup, which was rather silly.
I had:
-a 24bottle box (empty) of Fat Tire beer propped up with a leather boot on top as support for a black 12x12 inch piece of cardstock for the background.
- between 10 and twelve DVD cases stacked up in front of the beer box, with a round metal tin on top of those. The tin is about a foot long, and above that stood the green smiley-faced coffee mug I got from Starbucks a few years ago.
-off to the side, a rolled up sleeping back propped up to rest my hand on as I held my flashlight behind the mug for "appropriate" backlighting.
-a kettle of just-boiled water (which took me a few trips)

All in all, I think this took me about half an hour to complete.
This shot wasn't what I had in mind, but I was getting tired. I'll try again some time!

183

We're half-way through 2009.
Some time last week it hit me how quick this year has flown by!

When I was younger, every three years my parents and I would spend the Summer in Austin, TX with my dad's side of the family. The last weekend of our stay we would all pack into two cars and drive to one of the Six Flags amusement parks in the state. I would count down the Summer days until this part of our stay, as my parents ruthlessly conditioned me into being an adrenaline junkie as soon as I was tall enough for roller coasters (note: I was not happy about this in the beginning). Later, my aunt attributed the time passing so quickly to my counting down of the days.
That memory came back to me last week. With this photo project, the last six months have sped by.

In conclusion, I am now closer than ever to discovering time travel!

182