by Jim Bellomo | Sep 14, 2025 | Photography
This was a pretty fun week. Two Keeleys, a few landscapes, some beautiful blue sky, lots of sunflowers, and street photography. I have to say, because I love my dog so much, the Keeleys will have to come first for me. Have a great week. BTW: More travel is on the way. The October Bunch will leave for Portland on October 6 for a few days, then take a river cruise down and back up the Columbia River, ending in Clarkston, Washington. So, if you enjoy the photos of the week but are more interested in travel, your turn is coming soon.
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Yesterday I showed you a lake. Today, you get a lake that is partly a lake and partly a bog. The lake from yesterday isn’t in Trilogy, but this one is. We have so many great trails. I’ve taken this shot before, but today was especially beautiful, and the last time I photographed it was in late spring when it was still fully a lake. I also shot it in January when it was completely frozen. Pretty much every time I’ve seen it, it has been beautiful.
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Last week, I forgot to take a photo of Keeley. I thought that was okay, but people have been asking about her and want me to do two photos this week. I’m not sure if I’ll do two, but I will keep the one with her showing total happiness for last week. I love the shot because I had just given her a treat and a pat on the head to get her to pose. She was very happy.
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Today was another beautiful afternoon. Lately, we have been starting off cloudy and ending up with this kind of sky in the afternoon. Today, I decided to try some new trails on the other side of Redmond Ridge. These trails were obviously less traveled than the ones closer to Trilogy. The vegetation was encroaching on the paths. As I turned a corner, I saw something else that indicated the trails weren’t very used—a black bear. He was about 30 yards from me, standing in the middle of the trail. No, I didn’t get a photo of him. I was too busy trying to yell, hold up my hands and my walking sticks to make myself look big and scary. And sure enough, he turned and ran off into the woods. Whew! But from that point on, it was back to the streets where I got this photo.
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Looking for some easy color today, and this coleus in our front yard just caught my eye. Not sure why our landscaper didn’t include any when they redid our yard because we love them, and they grow like crazy without much effort.
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Today, I went down to Kirkland and drove through town doing street photography. I got a bunch of shots I liked, but Kathleen helped me narrow it down from six favorites to just one. I think we both like it because it tells a story—there’s a mom and son sitting outside a restaurant, with the mom typing on her phone next to a sign that says “Order ahead and skip the line.” So there they are, ordering ahead. ?
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I took my walk in Duvall today because it was a beautiful morning, but the sun was shining brightly, and I knew it would be hot to walk in. In Duvall, there is an awesome trail for walking and biking that is about 90% shaded in the summer. When I was driving out there, I saw a beautiful field of sunflowers, so I decided to go back after my walk and take a few photos. I took about 30 pictures and narrowed them down to 10 or so, then asked Kathleen for her opinion. She and I really liked three of them, so you get all three today. This first one is an overall view we liked because of the wild flowers in the foreground and the blue sky.
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We picked this second one because of the lone orange sunflower.
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And this is my family photo. The big guy in the middle is Dad. On the left is Mom, and on the right is the troubled teenage daughter. The little guy to her right is her 8-year-old brother.
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I warned you that since I didn’t have a Keeley last week, I might take two this week. And it has happened. Not only that, it’s an ussie with her dad (me). I just happened to catch us when I was talking, and she was bored to tears. That yawn could be used for a dental exam. I have owned eight dogs in my lifetime, and she is by far the best. She is the most empathetic dog I have ever seen or heard of. If I raise my voice at all about anything (like a Mariner home run or a website that won’t work), she is right next to me, licking my ear and trying to sit in my lap to calm me down. Her usual resting spot is on one of our laps.
If I could tell the story in words, I wouldn’t need to lug around a camera — Lewis Hine.
by Jim Bellomo | Sep 7, 2025 | Photography
Another week, another seven photos… or maybe a few more. The crazy flower I found in our friend Judy’s garden in Chilliwack, BC, is really cool. Not too happy with the flags from Monday. It was just an exercise to see if I could remember how to do certain things in Photoshop. I just realized I didn’t do a weekly Keeley. Shame on me. I’ll have to do two next week. Until then, enjoy.
PS: Don’t forget you can click the photos and see them enlarged.
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As you can see, I did something quite different today. I did take a photograph with my Nikon. Since it was Labor Day, I was out driving to the grocery store, and many houses had flags displayed in front to celebrate our national holiday. We have one as well, but ours (unlike the rest) is made of metal. I wanted to do something somewhat patriotic today, so I took a photo of our metal flag, duplicated it several times, and used different neural filters in Photoshop, dropped in a background, and there you have it. Not just a photograph, but a photo illustration. It’s been so long since I used Photoshop in that way that it was kind of fun to remember the techniques.
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Woooo! I was just lucky that I took this photo on my iPhone and sent it to my best buddy while I was on my walk yesterday. Otherwise, I would have broken my streak of taking a photo every day. This is the only thing I captured yesterday. It’s not one of my favorites, but it’s a photograph. I did six miles, starting in downtown Redmond and heading out on the beautiful Redmond Connector trail. I’m so thankful that I try to always send my Chilliwack, BC friend, so I had this picture to keep my 2025 journey going.
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We are in Canada visiting two of our good friends, and one of them is a Master Gardener! She makes my sad attempt feel even more feeble. She grows from seeds. This flower is amazing. It’s called celosia, and it’s awesome. It feels fuzzy. Just a fun plant.
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We had our monthly Travel Club meeting tonight, and once again, it gave me a chance to capture some interesting faces. These individuals were completely absorbed in the attention to our speaker, Kevin from Overseas Adventure Travel. He was there to describe our upcoming Travel Club trip to Scotland, England, and the Orkney Islands. The group was entirely captivated by Kevin’s presentation.
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Out for a walk today, and it was HOT in the sun. So I cut through the forest, and along the way, I took this shot. I just love the trails and the beauty of the greenery. Trilogy is such a beautiful place to live. This shot is just a few hundred yards from our home. It’s so great to live in a place this beautiful.
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Visited the Redmond Saturday Market today (because, well, it’s Saturday ?). Since the season started, these mushrooms have caught my eye. They are very interesting, and there are so many types. The problem has always been that they are very popular, and I couldn’t get close enough without someone getting in the way of my shot. But today, the booth was without customers, so I got a chance to photograph the tiny world of mushrooms for the first time this year.
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On my walk today, I took a photo of some horseback riders on the Tolt Pipeline Trail, and a little later, I cheated. If you’ve been following along since the first of the year, you know I have been taking quarterly photos of Welcome Lake on this walk. My next one isn’t due until October 1, but as I crossed the bridge at the end of the lake today, I couldn’t help myself and snapped this shot. That lake is pretty all year, but summer is best.
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On my walk today, I took a photo of some horseback riders on the Tolt Pipeline Trail, and a little later, I cheated. If you’ve been following along since the first of the year, you know I have been taking quarterly photos of Welcome Lake on this walk. My next one isn’t due until October 1, but as I crossed the bridge at the end of the lake today, I couldn’t help myself and snapped this shot. That lake is pretty all year, but summer is best.
Taking pictures is savoring life intensely, every hundredth of a second. – Marc Riboud
by Jim Bellomo | Sep 1, 2025 | 365, Photography
The year is two-thirds over, and I am still here taking photos. My personal take on my photos is that this week was a bit weak. I really like the two shots I took at Marymoor on Friday—the ones of the kids getting ready for their final ride at bike camp and the parents all waiting with cameras and phones in hand. And I can tell you that yesterday’s bread tasted as good as it looked. Oh, and I got a pretty darned good sunrise last Monday morning. But my sentimental favorite has to be my two girls in our car that I took on our 26th wedding anniversary. Happy Labor Day.
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Tonight, our “older” kids are coming over for dinner, and I plan to make an African meal. I’ve been putting this off since we got back because I was waiting a month for one of my ingredients to arrive. It finally did, so tonight’s the night. I don’t have a truly African starch to add, so I decided to make some sourdough bread. I started baking sourdough about two years before the pandemic, when everyone suddenly became obsessed with it. I don’t bake bread as often as I should because it doesn’t always turn out like this. This is one of my best loaves. I can’t wait to try it with some good Irish butter at dinner, along with the bobotie, Steelworks cocktail, and hearts of palm salad.
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I was at the Saturday Market again this morning (it runs until the last Saturday of October), and they had a woodwind quintet performing. Now, I don’t think a French horn is a woodwind instrument, but according to the signs advertising this group, it is. I took photos of all of them, but this young woman with the French horn was my favorite.
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I went to Bellevue today to get my weekly injection and had some time on my way home to stop by Marymoor Park and take some photos. I parked in one of their 10 lots, and luckily, I found the right one. There were all kinds of things to shoot. I took pics of a Microsoft team-building exercise, a mom taking pics of her toddler, or an architectural shot of the climbing structures, but in the end, I chose these two shots from the final day of Bike Camp. In the first photo, the little ones are all grouped together before they go on their final bike parade. For the second, I turned my camera to the parents waiting to cheer them on and take photos. I couldn’t decide which one I liked more, so you get both.
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The weekly Keeley is earlier this week because I wanted to take a picture with my incredible wife. Today is our 26th wedding anniversary, and we are as happy as we could possibly be. Over the past year, Keeley has only added to our happiness.
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Early this evening, we attended what Trilogy calls Canapé Collective. It’s a fun food class that our chef Andrew hosts once a month. Usually, he shows people how to make appetizers, which explains the Canapé in the title. We had never been before, but this month, we decided to give it a try because Andrew was doing a cocktail class. I took my camera along because I hadn’t taken a photo for today yet and got this shot of Andrew’s bar setup.
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I’m not sure if I mentioned this before, but Trilogy (the 55+ community where I live) has a golf course running through it. In fact, the golf course is only within Trilogy, but fortunately, Trilogy neither owns nor operates it. That means we often see lots of carts crossing our streets and plenty of golfers around every corner. Today, I saw two guys, braving the heat, finishing up on a hole I pass at least three times a day. I thought it might make a nice photo.
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It’s another hot day here in the paradise of Trilogy Redmond Ridge, so I decided to go out early and walk my six miles. I’m so glad I did because Mother Nature provided a GORGEOUS sunrise, giving me a chance to share this shot with you. I really love the power lines silhouetted against the sunrise; they give the photo a strong focal point.
Taking pictures is like tiptoeing into the kitchen late at night and stealing Oreo cookies. – Diane Arbus
by Jim Bellomo | Aug 24, 2025 | Photography
Can you believe we are 237 days into 2025? Only 128 days until New Year’s Eve. 68 days to Halloween, 95 to Thanksgiving and 123 to Christmas. Now that I have ruined your day, here are this week’s photos. If I have to pick a sentimental fave, it has to be the kids and I at a Mariner’s game but the best photo may be the Bear Creek shot from Saturday morning.
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Went to take out the trash this morning, and this was the sky at the end of our street. Ran back inside to get my camera. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I almost always do foreground silhouettes when I take sky photos in our neighborhood. That’s because we have short houses and tall trees. If I silhouette them, you never know there are houses there.
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Visited old friends who are our forever neighbors in their new home on Camano Island, about a 90-minute drive north of here. On the way to their place, we pass by a place that sells giant chickens. On the way home today, I had to pull over and shoot some chickens, so to speak.
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Looking for something to shoot this afternoon on what turned out to be a beautiful day, I headed down the hill to the Tolt River Valley where I saw this group of horses. It wasn’t the horses that drew me to the shot but more the entire scene. The pasture, the horses, the sky, the clouds…all combined to give me a photo I really like.
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One blossom. In our backyard. On our trellis. Took this while making dinner.
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A rare ussie. No big cameras allowed at T-Mobile Park, home of the Seattle Mariners, so I only had my phone when the A-Team (my daughter, her husband, and my grandkids whose last name starts with an A) took me out to the ballgame. This was my Father’s Day gift and a fantastic one. We got to see the Mariners win, enjoy a spectacular drone and fireworks show after the game, and just have a great time being together.
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Went out for an early walk this morning to avoid the heat. It’s supposed to reach nearly 90 today. While I was walking, I passed the newly reconstructed area of Bear Creek. It looked so pretty that I had to snap a quick photo. Bear Creek winds through downtown Redmond, where I was walking today before heading to the Saturday Market for blueberries, raspberries, and tomatoes.
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Your weekly Keeley is here. Over the past few weeks, we’ve been practicing with her to get her to stop at the end of the runner leading to our front door, sit there, and stay while I open the door. She does great when no one is around, but when the kids came on Friday, she went nuts… like usual. We will keep practicing.
“There are no bad photos; that’s just how your face looks sometimes.” – Abraham Lincoln
by Jim Bellomo | Aug 17, 2025 | 365
Another week, another set of photos. Some landscapes, some food, a dog and a close-up. My favorite (after what we went through last night) has to be my weekly Keeley. Read the caption to get the complete story.
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Trying some “flat food photography” today. And this particular dish I made for dinner is one of the most colorful things I make. It’s called Taverna Salad and it is delicious. It might be the best dinner salad I have ever had. And because there is no lettuce, it stays great in the refrigerator as leftovers. If you would like the recipe, send me a note.
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Got up early this morning for a walk to beat the heat (we’re supposed to hit 90 today), and that gave me a chance to shoot this while I was out. It’s a drainage pond on the far side of Redmond Ridge. I like this particular walk because it is mostly flat and just straight out and straight back. The photo was taken with my iPhone 16 in Apple’s version of Camera RAW, which I wish would just open in Adobe’s Camera RAW and not as a TIFF in Photoshop. Who still uses TIFFs?
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Out for a walk today and crossing a wooden walkway about two miles from our place. This walkway goes over a bog/swamp. I have taken photos from this walkway many times but this might be the first time I shot the entry way.
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Most of today was kind of gray, so I felt the need for some color. I got out my macro lens and took a shot of my mug filled with Sharpies. I used to use these for business, but now that I am retired, I only use them for birthday cards. I have a label format I use for analog birthday cards that prints the name, address, and a set of four balloons. I print the address and return address labels and then color all eight balloons each a different color.
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Really rainy day today. Not pouring, but constant drizzle. I had an appointment in Bellevue, so I thought I would take a photo of Seattle from Medina City Hall. Medina is a tiny town surrounded by the much larger city of Bellevue. But Medina is kind of special. It has one of the highest per capita income populations in the USA. I was about 10 houses away from Bill Gates’s mansion when I took this photo. I promise to go back and show you what it looks like when it is sunny.
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One of the great things about the Pacific Northwest is that after a day of rain and clouds, you get a day like today. Big white, fluffy clouds and the bluest skies. Everything just feels clean. I went out for my walk today on a new trail that has just opened. I parked at the Redmond Saturday Market and then set out to walk three miles up the trail and three miles back. When I reached the turnaround point, I took this shot. A truly beautiful day.
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This is the weekly Keeley, but it might be the week we’re most happy about. Our usually rambunctious dog stopped doing anything last night and just lay on the floor. When she moved, she would moan or whine as if she were hurt. Then she vomited her bedtime snack, and that was it. We headed to the emergency vet, but we’re happy now because everything seems to be back to normal. The vet checked her out thoroughly and couldn’t find anything wrong. Of course, when we got to the vet hospital, she suddenly came alive with all the other dogs and cats there. I told Kathleen it was kind of like taking your car to a mechanic because it’s making a weird noise, and then once you arrive, it doesn’t make the noise anymore. But she appears to be back to her usual self this afternoon. This picture, by the way, shows what greets me every time I go somewhere, no matter how long I stay. She’s inside the door to the laundry room that leads to the garage, whining until I come in.
If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough. — Robert Capa