Bigfoot sighting.

The sign read "Please wait to be seated". Peering ahead into the interior gloom, I thought to myself, "this has got to be the ugliest maitre d' I have ever seen!" Taking a second look revealed that this wasn't an employee. It was apparently the resident mascot. I was especially grateful that it wasn't the cook. The shedding factor would be enormous! Ugh.

This photo was remarkably hard to pull off with the G11. The interior of the restaurant was very dimly lit. Natural wood making up just about everything inside soaked up the light even more. I have a dedicated flash unit for the Canon. It took several attempts, each time adjusting the flash output just a bit more, to get a decent exposure. Fortunately, it was a quiet night. The place is pretty small and I had to stand near the main entry and walkway the wait staff uses. A tired looking but cheerful blond woman was doing hostess duties. For some reason she thought my boldness in trying to take photos was endearing. What is it with me and older women?

Katie and I were at Bigfoot's Steakhouse. I'd eaten there in July of 2008 when Elivra got her first trip to Astoria. I'd ended up staying at a Motel 6 in Seaside. Summer on the coast means really expensive hotel rooms. Motel 6 left the light on for me at a reasonable price so I stayed there. Bigfoot's Restaurant is right next door to Motel 6. I chose it for supper because of the proximity.

Katie's dad professes to believe in the existence of Bigfoot in the Pacific Northwest. The whole clan is borderline hillbilly. I don't mean that in the negative Deliverance sort of way. Like me, they enjoy hunting, fishing, camping, working on trucks, and that sort of thing. For that reason I knew Katie would get a kick out of eating here. As you can see from the photo above, the place is done up like an old log cabin. I took some outside shots with the Nikon earlier in the day.

Floors are natural hardwood. All the tables, booths, and chairs are made of wood. Imitation oil lamps kinda sorta illuminate the place. Burlap bags serve as window curtains. Interestingly, the effect is authentic. Nothing looks fake. I don't know how long the restaurant has been operating but the furnishings look like they have been around for a lot of years and show the wear. My kind of place, actually. I'm a lot more comfortable in these surroundings than in a white linen fancy establishment. I can never figure out which fork to use first. Here you only get one. Simple choice. Fork or fingers? In this case, I used both. Like I say, my kind of place.

The G11 has a low light setting that works extremely well. This photo was taken with no flash. The glossy surface would have blinded us with the flash reflection. Our table was not well lit. This isn't the actual menu, it's more of a bar and appetizer list. The menu is a foldout newspaper thing. Menu items reside alongside local history and news stories about Bigfoot that are, shall we say, somewhat embellished. The food is very good if you like things rustic. I opted for a Bigfoot Cheeseburger. Sorry there's no photo. I need to reverse my plan. I write the story later and use whatever photos I have. A better plan might be to have an idea of a story first then take photos to support it. Oh well. The burger was good either way. Bigfoot tastes a lot like ground beef.

This photo's admittedly a little busy. On the other hand, it sets the stage of the surroundings a bit. So I left it alone.

I made concessions on this one. If you look at the photo above you can see the blue light pole between Katie and the wood carving. There was no way to take the photo of this particular carving without having the blue pole sticking out the top of its head. This was my first venture into cloning in Photoshop. It's cool to change reality by removing the light pole and adding more sky.

It's neat to see local legends getting their due. Makes me feel like there's hope for me!

One more post. I'm hoping to show a more artistic side with the next group of photos.

Miles and smiles,

Dan

Scenes from Seaside.

I'm succumbing to the siren call of photography once again. There's this deep urge to post a few more photos. So I'm giving in.

We recently went to Seaside on business. "We" is Katie and I. She wanted to go. I wanted her to go. So it happened. Hey, when you're on the road it's less complicated to bring a date than to find a date, if you know what I mean. I did make Katie ride pillion, though. Or maybe she made me ride so she could get out on the bike. Whatever the case, we lucked out weatherwise. It was fairly warm and calm. Here are some photos from the day and a half we were there.

If a guy is going to take his best girl to the ocean he should take her for a walk on the beach. Even if that's not really his thing. A successful marriage is a lot like a series of Chinese dinners. Each day is a different meal. The meal isn't over until both of you get your cookies. Katie loves walking on the beach. I love Katie. So we went walking.

There's a roundabout at the end of Broadway St. From there people can take the short stairs down to the sandy beach. Our hotel was only a few blocks away from the ocean. Access was quite convenient by means of our feet. I know, what a novel idea. Walking somewhere. Most people seem to have this idea that any sort of a walk will kill them off or something.

We hadn't been walking long when we spied this pipe sticking up out of the sand. How strange to see it out in the middle of nowhere, so to speak. Here's a closer look. Actually, this is only one of about 50 pictures of the pipe. The photography experts preach taking shots from every conceivable angle. I'm down with that. And up with that. And sideways with that. And....well, you get the drift.

As you can see, it has a sort of metal screen over the end. It would also appear that the pipe spends some time under water. Using my fantastic built in GPS array, I finally came to a theory as to why the pipe was there. Lining the pipe up with the corresponding beachside building, I cleverly deduced that the pipe was a part of the water exchange system for the Seaside Aquarium. This place isn't as large or sophisticated as the Newport Aquarium farther south but it still needs some sort of saltwater exchange system. That's my theory, anyway.

For some reason Katie got this urge to show me how fleeting life can be if I had actually brought her to the ocean and neglected to walk on the beach with her. Love's a great motivator, but so is avoiding physical pain. Here she is using a poor crab and her motorcycle boots to provide a visual aid.

Yeah, yeah, I got it. I also got the credit card and the motorcycle keys, girl. The demonstration ended before the crab shell actually got crushed. However, to make sure she took full advantage of the situation, she made me walk farther. Much farther. Not that I minded the walk, and I actually like holding her hand, but every step to the north took me that much farther away from a cold beer that was to the south. Oh well. Life ain't all bad. I got another decent photo of the pipe on the way back. The beach photos were taken with the G11.

I got some of my own back a bit later. I convinced the kind folks at Dooger's Seafood Grill to part with a cold pint. They have some sort of arrangement with the hotel we were staying at. Works well, as the two buildings are right next to each other. It was still a bit early for supper. That's the way to plan it. You don't want to rush the beer. If you play it right, there might even be enough time for two beers. Of course, no riding is allowed. So, here we were, in the room, trying to think of a way to pass time until supper. Hmmm, what is there for a man and a woman alone in a hotel room to do?

Katie sat on the bed. She slipped off her light jacket, then her shoes. Giving me a becoming look, Katie told me she had this great idea. We could do something that we'd both find pleasurable. Then she pulled out her small plastic bag and started working on her crochet project. Katie's working on a pair of tiny crocheted cowboy boots for Ryan. She said she'd work on the booties while I could go out and have fun taking pictures. Whew, that was close. I thought for a bit that I would have to let my beer get warm!

Instead, I took the Nikon, the Gorilla Pod, and a zoom lense out on the deck. Since we were there for only one night, I could bring more camera stuff. I mean how much room does a pair of clean socks and underwear take up? Soon I was happily playing voyeur. Three young girls were standing by the side of the street bridge. I find it quite interesting to see how candid the shots are when the subjects don't know they are being photographed. The redhead, in particular, had a particularly expressive face.

I always enjoyed watching my daughter and her teenage friends. Young girls can be so image conscious one minute and silly as heck the next. These girls were enjoying the late afternoon and being silly together. Throwing their legs over the bridge railing seemed to play a big part in the interchange between them.

For the most part, photographs of people seem to be the best when the photographer is more up close and personal with the subjects. At least in my opinion. Even in my limited experience, I'm finding that I can get a subject laughing, thinking, or showing some other emotion. Once they sort of forget about the camera and concentrate more on interacting with me, I can get closeup expressive shots of their face. Although, I have to say you can't beat the carefree foolishness the girl on the left is showing!

There were many other things to photograph. I tried to get some photos of a diving duck in the river below me, but the zoom lense I had with me just wouldn't pull it in close enough to make good photos. Some other things came out pretty well, though. Pretty soon both the beer and the light were gone. Next stop in the adventure was supper. We had alternate transportation worked out.

Stay tuned. Irondad eats a Bigfoot Burger. Interstingly, Bigfoot tastes a lot like ground beef.

Miles and smiles,

Dan