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A clear, sunny Tuesday (2/17/15) produced some nice views of the Olympic Mts., Puget Sound, and the Edmonds-Kingston ferry. For mid winter, there is not much snow on the Olympics.
Later in the day I went down to the fishing pier for sunset shots and snapped this one of the sunset reflecting off the ferry's windows.
I was at the #1 viewing platform of the marsh late Sunday (3/1/15) afternoon when an Air Force AWACS plane flew south along the horizon.
I found a small black dot above the jet after I returned home and viewed my photos on the computer. I believe I captured one of the Pt.Edwards eagles in the photo along with the AWACS plane.
Here is a photo of one of the eagles which flew over the marsh a little later. Compare its profile with that of the black dot in the photo above, especially the raised wings.
The Chicago bound Empire Builder (Amtrak #8) is back on schedule with an arrival in Edmonds of about 5:08pm. Edmonds is the train's first scheduled stop after leaving Seattle. Tuesday's (3/3/15) #8 arrived as the sun was very low on the horizon, which back lit the train and some plants at the marsh. Such artsy/surreal/ethereal shots won't be possible after Saturday when we return to Daylight Savings time.
Saturday (3/14/15) I set up the super telephoto combo of my 5DIII + 500L telephoto lens + 1.4x teleconverter mounted on a tripod on Sunset Ave. above Mile Post 18 to photograph birds out in Puget Sound. There were very few birds, but two northbound freights presented opportunities for some high compression shots.
Later that afternoon i set up the same photo equipment at the #1 viewing platform of the Edmonds marsh to photograph snipes. I also caught the Seattle-Chicago Empire Builder (Amtrak train #8) as it passed Mile Post 18 and Marina Beach park.
Thursday (3/19/15) a southbound train of John Deere Harvesters, model #660 passed through Edmonds. I have read that past shipments of farm equipment like this were headed to the Port of Tacoma to be trans-loaded to an ocean freighter for shipment to the PRC.
I was photographing birds from the #1 viewing platform of the marsh using telephoto lenses. I wish I had been up on Sunset Ave. with a wide angle lens for shots of the entire train, which was probably a mile long, stretched out through town and along Puget Sound.
Saturday afternoon (3/28/15) my son Daren was pursuing his newly found interest in photography out on the fishing pier along with Terry and me. I preset the camera in Canon's Tv (shutter priority) mode for him with a shutter speed of 1/500 and auto ISO.
Monday's (4/6/15) Seattle bound Empire Builder (Amtrak #7) was running very late past the Edmonds marsh. The summer chartered private car touring season has arrived as the train had two private cars on the rear.
A long time ago I read in Trains magazine that when photographing unusual trains, it is best to include something in the photo to identify the location. To that end, I can get the trains + the Edmonds Marina Beach park sign in the same photo with the help of a a telephoto lens.
For those who prefer not to mingle with the masses while they travel:
I'll confess that if I were Bill Gate$ rich, I would have my own private train, ala James West in the 1960's classic TV western, The Wild, Wild West. The train would consist of four or five 1940-50's era streamlined passenger cars pulled by vintage streamlined diesel locomotives from the same era.
Thursday afternoon (4/16/15) my son Daren and I ventured north to Edmonds newest park, Haines Warf Park. The park has a great view of Puget Sound, the BNSF Seattle-Everett mainline, and the Olympic Mountains. I carefully mounted the 5DIII + 24-105L zoom + circular polarizing filter (CPF) on a tripod and set it up for panoramic shots of the Sound and a passing train. I wanted to try the hyperfocus technique, so I set the camera at 1/250 + f/16 and focused at about 1/3 of the distance out.
After waiting in vain for over an hour, I saw that Daren was getting bored. I took the equipment down and was putting it in the car when we heard the horn of a southbound freight. I quickly reassembled everything to take photos. I did not have time to put the CPF back on before the diesels passed below us.
I added the CPF for subsequent shots, but I don't know if it improved matters appreciably.
The diesels were just disappearing around the bend as the end of the train passed below us.
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