Compline and a pipe organ

Ok, I'm not a religous person, I don't frequent churches for services. Last night though I found myself laying on the floor near the alter of St Mark's Cathedral with hundreds of others for Compline. I went because I heard about the choir and the beautiful sound in this old cathedral. Started in the 1960's this has become a very popular weekly event. The church allows attendees to sit or lay anywhere they would like. Only a few chairs near the alter have signs asking people to not sit on.



Most people use this as an opportunity for meditation and I was no exception. I had also taken a moment to say a prayer for my sister's friend and her two young sons who were killed by their father/her husband. I prayed that their souls are at rest and in heaven in peace. A moment later as the choir sang I heard the words "Rest In Peace". I couldn't help but to take a moment and be touched by the timing of this.

After the Compline there was an organ recital by a guy named Chris Kollar. I believe that he is college aged and was absolutely amazing on this beautiful and large pipe organ. The organ is old and has 3944 pipes.
We were allowed to sit up in the balcony and I took a spot on the floor only feet from this organ. Behind me were some smaller pipes and in front of me was this tower of pipes.



I cannot describe the sound that was created by Chris and this organ!! Talk about surround sound!! I was amazed as I sat on the floor surrounded by pipes ranging from 8 inches to 20 feet tall. I guess I can say it was a religious experience.
Here is a link to part 1 of the recital. I hope that you enjoy it as much as I did.
Also a set of photographs that I took after the compline and recital.

Lightning

Lightning, originally uploaded by bkraai2003.

I took this photo last month when some storms were blowing through the area. No rain fell where I live but I did get a good vantage point of the clouds and such since I'm on the top floor of my building. I spent about 30 minutes of shooting hoping to get a shot of a bolt of lightning.
I was finally able to captuer one solitary lightning strike.

Long day of hiking up Rock, Howard and Mt Mastiff

The plan for the day was simple, hike up Rock Mt. During the drive up though we decided to add in Mt Howard and Mt Mastiff. Of course with so much trail I was sure to take many photographs along the way.
We left the car at 8:15 and started our journey. After about a mile the brush had started covering the trail, but have no fear, we made our way through with ease. Another mile later in a meadow we encountered avalanche debris.



We made our way through that and not much further up the trail it opened up and we were rewarded with great views of the area.



About 30 minutes later we were on the summit of Rock Mt, over 6800' up.

(I'm the one on the right, for those who don't know me)




Down the scree slope and off to Rock Lake we went. We re-joined the main trail and flanked a ridge and soon came to Crescent Lake.



We headed to the back of the lake and ascended a steep slope and found another gully to head up and soon we found ourselves below Mt Howard. With a bit more effort and snacks, we were at the high summit for the day, just over 7000'!!



We took a short break then eyeballed our last summit for the day, Mt Mastiff to our east.



We headed down the ridgeline from Howard and headed up the ridge to Mastiff.



There were a few tricky spots along the ridge but in due time we were sitting high atop Mt Mastiff.





We spent about 20 minutes or so on the summit before starting our trek back to the car. We modified our route back in a few spots to make the return a bit easier. As the sun got lower the perspective on things changed and the grass below Rock Mt turned to a nice golden color, even though my photos don't quite do it justice.





We returned to the car by 8:15pm and we were very tired. I retrieved my celebratory Pepsi from the creek and we hit the road.
Our stats for the trip were surprising: 12 hours, 16 miles and over 7700' elevation gain!!

Bainbridge Island for a cup of coffee

My buddy Rich and I were walking around the waterfront and decided to take a ferry across the Sound to Bainbridge Island to get a cup of coffee. Yes I've done stranger things before, but this was also a trip to get some good photographs.
We paid our $6.70 and boarded the ferry for the 25 minute ride. We were able to get a few shots of Mt Rainier and of the smoke billowing from a forest fire burning on the Olympic Peninsula.





We found a local coffee shop and hung out for about 30 minutes until they started to close down for the evening. So we were off the the waterfront to scope out the scene.



They have these weird rock statues near the docks, they are creative and rather photogenic in the fading light with a longer shutter length.



Back on the ferry I had my tripod but didn't think that with the vibrations in the boat that I'd get any decent shots and didn't want to take the time to set it up. Rich started taking a few shots and how we was shooting them made me to try it too. Basically we ended up holding our cameras in place on a large railing while we took some 20-25 second exposure shots. The result is pretty cool I think.



Got a decent shot of the moon using the same technique.



With a high ISO I took this shot which turned out to be my favorite one of the evening.