As I mentioned a few days ago, I’ve been taking a basic camera operation course at one of the local community colleges. I had taken some rather pathetic photos while working through all the exercises (depth of field, shutter speed, light) but all of it came together last weekend during a photo shoot.

Below are several photos selected from the lot. (Click on the thumbnail to pop open a bigger image.) I’d appreciate comments, especially which one you like and why. (Leap day update: I added names under the photos.)

Firemen The firemen statues are in Seattle’s Pioneer Square. The exhibit is very serious, but I thought there could be an interesting caption associated with this particular angle. For example: F1: "Dude, did you check out Bored But Busy this week?" F2: "Oh yeah. That Debbie chick is funny. Hairy arms? Wuhahahaha. Oops, almost soiled my pants." F1: "Don’t worry, no one will notice in this outfit. Uh, oh, Carson’s trying another Thai recipe again… let’s roll." This was taken with my trusty Tamron (28-105mm f2.8) zoom lens and an external flash. (Apologies if the above seemed disrespectful.)

Stadium This is the Seattle Seahawks’stadium. I’ve never been inside, but think the Mariner’s park (don’t ask me why they can’t share a stadium) Safeco Field is much nicer. (16mm fishy, f8).

Silver The silver head is on display at the street level of Seahawks Stadium. (85mm zoom, f5.6) I love the expression. (caption suggestions welcomed.)

Bronze This is the bronze counterpart to our silver friend above. (85mm, f5.6)

Starbucks Artists often have chemical dependencies. Mine (today) was caffeine. This Starbucks, on Occidental and Jackson, was nearly empty. Thus I enjoyed a wide-angle view :-) (16mm fishy, f5.6)

Store This little store is located adjacent to the Snoqualmie Railroad Museum.

Old Store This reminded me of one of those old postcards with the big general store on the corner. (16mm fisheye, f8)

Yellow Train The folks in my class really liked this photo because of the contrast between the yellow train and the deep blue sky. (28mm, f8)

Train 2 This was taken between trains at the Snoqualmie Railroad Museum. (16mm fisheye, f5.6)

Red Train This is another "between the trains" photo. I like the natural wood texture of the caboose, and the shadows are nice.

Bricks This was a for fun texture photo, taken about a foot away from the front of the Seattle Post Office building in Pioneer Square. (16mm fisheye, f5.6)

Skittles My daughter helped me with these. Most of the Skittles photos didn’t turn out well because I was having problems with focus and the indoor lighting. (105mm macro, f11) Corn These are corn kernels taken from my pantry. (105mm macro, f5.6)

Peanuts These are peanuts in a bowl. This is one of my favorite photos of the lot because of the depth. (105mm macro, f8)

Pinto Beans Pinto beans. Beans beans beans are a wonderful fruit. The more you eat, the more you toot! (105mm macro, f5.6) Pecans These are pecans from my pantry. I was playing with the macro lens (105mm macro, f11), and getting really hungry by this point.