by Jim Bellomo | Feb 16, 2025 | Photography
Well, we have reached the end of week six. It’s been a month and a half. This week was significant and busy. The snow has stayed with us until today, and I spent much of the week preparing for our Travel Club Annual banquet, which took place last Thursday. Today, we went to Olympia for our grandson’s 14th birthday. And yet, here’s this week’s album. Enjoy. Don’t forget: if you click the first shot, you can scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping. Alternatively, you can return every day to see them on the page labels 365 above in the menu bar.
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We drove to Olympia today to celebrate our grandson’s 14th birthday. The family has a pond behind their house, and today, a striking blue heron graced the pond. I took some posed photos, but I wish I had captured the heron in flight. I did get some shots of it in flight, but they weren’t as good as I would have liked, so you get this one instead.
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I used to play chess all the time when I was in high school and college, but I haven’t played much since then. I tried teaching my grandson, but chess can’t compete with Fortnite. It’s just not exciting or fast-paced enough. However, I still have the board, and I thought it might make a nice capture for my macro 60mm.
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In downtown Redmond, I found these chairs. They looked so sad yet so colorful. Colorful because they are, but sad because no one is sitting in them with all those colors. The reason? It’s freakin’ cold. The snow is finally melting, but it’s a different kind of cold. It’s a damp and foggy cold that I hate.
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Tonight was our annual Trilogy Travel Club banquet. We had a fantastic time, and at the end of the night, we played an exciting game of Trilogy Travel Trivia. There were 25 fairly challenging questions, plus a couple of tie-breakers. I took some photos while the answers were being read, and this was a good friend (and my predecessor as club president) who looked perplexed by one of the answers.
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We rarely see decent sunsets where we live. There are too many trees, and we aren’t up high. But tonight’s sunset was beautiful, especially the clouds. My best buddy in Canada always teases me because I love taking pictures of clouds, while he prefers a perfectly clear sky. I believe clouds add character to the sky. I wish this one had more pink, but I still like it, especially with the silhouette of the trees at the bottom.
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When I looked back at last week’s photos, I realized I hadn’t posted one of Keeley. So here, tonight, is our favorite dog, who we’ve had for more than a month. She is settling in so well. We actually had guests on Sunday, and she handled it very well. Now, if we can get her to be friends with other dogs in a confined space, we’ll be all set.
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One type of photo that I take a lot of is panoramas. I love capturing something that I can see, but my camera needs assistance to do so. I never take them with my iPhone, and this one is no exception. This photo was created using 12 individual images, which were then stitched together in Photoshop. I’ve been doing this kind of photography for years and one of my other panos I consider to be the second-best photo I’ve ever taken. This specific one was taken about a mile from our house on a golf course blanketed in snow. The sun was out, it was thirty degrees Fahrenheit, and it was just a glorious, albeit very cold, day.
When a moment in front of me appears to be particularly special, whether it be by beauty or experience, I capture it. I usually find a reason to justify taking that photo – symmetry, or color, or contrast – and it’s my hope that my photography sheds light onto what I see and do on a daily basis. —Connor Franta
by Jim Bellomo | Feb 9, 2025 | 365, Photography
Once again, my week in review. It was a pretty good week except for the snow. Don’t forget; if you click the first shot, you can scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping. Or you can come back every day and see them on the page labels 365 above in the menu bar.
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Those who know me well know how much I HATE snow. It limits me and throws me out of my routine. It may look pretty on the trees, but it means I can’t go walking, and it means I can’t even get out on the streets to get to the club to work out. I could walk outside, but three years ago, on a snowy driveway with ice under the snow, I fell on my back, and it has taken me until about six months ago not to hurt anymore. I just can’t take that chance again. So when it snows, I stay inside.
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Okay, I still dislike snow. But when we woke up this morning, we discovered that the snow fairy had visited again during the night, though she was now gone. She left behind one of those incredible days with clear blue skies. Of course, I had to shovel the driveway, but the sky was so blue and the snow so beautiful that I couldn’t resist taking this shot from in front of our house. This is the view you would see if you were staying in our guest room. Enjoy!
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We’ve received more snow—lots more snow… for us. For those of you in areas with regular snowfall, ours is nothing. However, being in the hills means that driving and even walking can be a challenge. When I got up at 4:30 am, the snow was coming down in buckets. I took this photo from our bedroom window, and I’ll let you figure out exactly what you’re seeing in my second monotone photo for this 365 project. PS: I love this shot because of the pattern the snow has accentuated.
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Snow is dominating our lives right now. Yesterday, much of it melted, but last night, we received about eight more inches. Looking out from our guest room window at the snow, I spotted a bobcat walking through our yard—that was unexpected. I wish I had my camera, but we were on our way to bed, and I never anticipated seeing that. So, you get the next morning’s shot. This photo appealed to me because it captures the light on the snow more than the snow itself.
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I was in downtown Redmond today looking for something to photograph and remembered this intriguing sculpture in front of Redmond’s City Hall. The reflection provided a nice bonus on a chilly afternoon when I just wanted to get back into my warm car.
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I was out charging our EV today (our in-garage charger died last weekend), and I brought my camera along. I spotted these guys nearby and thought that since they were blackbirds, they might make a nice black-and-white photo. And they did.
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Tonight’s photo features part of our family. We were celebrating the birthdays of the two on the left: my wife Kathleen’s daughter Michelle and her husband Brian. Besides being her daughter and son-in-law, they are also two of our best friends. On the other side of the table are my son Josh (who is one of my best friends) and another close friend of Michelle’s, Carrie, who has been joining us for special occasions. At the opposite end of the table sits the love of my wife, Kathleen. I rarely take family shots, but tonight was special. I spent the entire weekend cooking pizza from scratch, along with salad and a chocolate stout brownie sundae. We had a great time, and I like the photo, mainly for who is in it.
Photography takes an instant out of time, altering life by holding it still. —Dorothea Lange
by Jim Bellomo | Feb 2, 2025 | 365, Photography
Here’s the week in review. Still going strong. Don’t forget; if you click the first shot, you can scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping. Or you can come back every day and see them on the page labels 365 above in the menu bar.
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You should be prepared that at least once a week, in this 365 project of mine, you will see at least one photo of Keeley. She has become the center of our lives as we adapt to her routines and she adapts to ours. There are moments when we can’t believe how quickly she has adjusted to us and we to her. She is truly a gift, and we already love her as if we’ve had her for her entire life. Based on the number of kisses we receive, we think she feels the same way.
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Another attempt at a food photo. I decided to gather all the ingredients for tonight’s one-pan dish: sweet potato, black bean, and corn hash. It’s a vegan recipe; even though we aren’t vegan, we try to eat a lot less meat than we used to. It’s kind of a symptom of getting older. I shot my cutting board several times, but I didn’t capture the shot I wanted until I climbed up on a step stool to take it. That finally got me what I wanted.
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I am always looking for something to shoot, especially this year while doing the 365 project. While driving home from my workout at our club, I passed by a golfer on the course that runs through Trilogy. He was searching through the rough for his ball, which made for a decent photo.
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While searching for something to photograph, I came across this old, termite-ridden stump and immediately appreciated its appearance. The textures and shadows provide it with a rugged look.
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Sorry to send another Keeley pic so soon, but she was sitting in my lap (yes, all 36.5 pounds of her), and I couldn’t resist because I could reach my camera.
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There is nothing quite like a middle school musical. Today, we drove down to Olympia to see our granddaughter in the ensemble of her school’s winter musical, “Children of Eden.” Since my grandson was with me and he is on the yearbook staff at the same school, we took a TON of photos. I captured 345 photos, and this one is my favorite because of the lighting and the fact that I got everyone in the cast in the same photo, with my granddaughter right in the center.
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As the title suggests, I just visited Costco. We have several shelves in the garage, and I do my best to keep them stocked. Sometimes I go and start organizing items on these shelves, and I discover something that I purchased this time. For example, we have enough toilet bowl cleaner to last us until 2035.
What makes photography a strange invention is that its primary raw materials are light and time. —John Berger
by Jim Bellomo | Jan 26, 2025 | Photography
If you aren’t following my daily pics, here’s the week in review. All of them have captions. I feel like I had a pretty good week. Don’t forget; if you click the first shot, you can scroll through with your arrow keys or by swiping.
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This scene is located just behind our development’s clubhouse and offices. A lovely pond sits between the building and the golf course (which is not part of Trilogy). I thought that as the sun began to set, it would make for a nice picture.
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I have mentioned that we live in a 55+ community on Redmond Ridge, just outside of Redmond, WA. It’s a large area; I should know how many square miles it spans but I don’t. Suffice it to say we have over 1,500 single-family homes here, all of which are nestled among some of the most beautiful forests you have ever seen. We have miles and miles of trails, which means hidden within those forests are small lakes, ponds, and bogs. This one is located right in the middle of two sets of homes, but we had lived here for more than a year when I was out walking and stumbled upon it. You have to take one of two specific trails to find it. With all the cold weather we have been experiencing, I was hoping to find this lake completely frozen over. Even though nighttime temperatures have dropped below 30°F, the daytime temperatures have been reaching the mid-40s. It’s a completely different situation when it’s frozen, maybe in February. We shall see.
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Today, I made a trip into town, which allowed me to take a photo of the Sammamish River flowing out of Lake Sammamish all the way to Puget Sound. I think my favorite part of the shot is the reflection.
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In honor of the amazing Aardman Studios receiving an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Film for Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, I present you with the closest I can get to Gromit flying in a plane…in my office. With a little Photoshop magic, he can soar all around our house.
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Puzzling, isn’t it? Just going along with our life today, we old people finished a jigsaw puzzle. Appropriately for us, the world travelers, this was one featuring all kinds of maps and travel posters. This mid-century modern seaside hotel was my favorite of the more than 20 spots on the page. I always find these kind of puzzles to be easiest. Large pieces, lots of typography (allowing you to put together words) and individual sections that we can work on alone or together. This one came together quickly.
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I had an appointment in Bellevue today, a nearby city, so after I finished, I stopped by the 520 Bridge overlook in Medina. It’s a beautiful day, and I’ve always loved taking photos of this bridge. It is the world’s longest floating bridge; yes, it actually floats on Lake Washington. Kathleen drove this bridge every weekday for more than 10 years to get to work. It connects the Eastside suburbs to downtown Seattle. In the close distance, you can see the University of Washington and the University District. In the far distance are the Olympic Mountains, which are way over on the Olympic Peninsula.
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Today was busy, and I nearly forgot to take a photo, so here’s a Nifty-Fifty (50mm f1.4) shot of some bunnies and their shadows. I promise to improve tomorrow.
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Sunshine! Sunshine! Sunshine! It’s damned cold but sunny. Keeley and I went for a walk of over 5 miles, and the Cascades looked so stunning in the distance that I had to go back and photograph them after we returned.
Photography can be a way into worlds and memories that words sometimes fail to convey. —Stacy Martin
by Jim Bellomo | Jan 18, 2025 | Photography
I’ve been doing the 365 Project for 18 days now, and it’s going pretty well. However, with our new dog, it’s sometimes hard to remember to shoot during the day, which leaves me to wind up with something at night or in the house. The other difficult situation has been the weather. Where we live on Redmond Ridge above Redmond, Washington, has its own microclimate. We have been in a very cold fog since Christmas until it started to clear up yesterday. Today was beautiful sunshine but incredibly cold (which much of the country is about to experience).
But here are my next nine photos from this week. Captions are on the individual photos in the gallery that will tell you how I shot them. I have set up the photos as enlargeable photos, so if you click on them, you can see them full size, make a comment, read my caption and see the settings I used to take the photo. Just click the small i at the bottom of the photo.
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This is our new family member. Her name (for now) is Kopi. We might change it to Keeley, as in “Avenge me, Keeley, Avenge me.” (You’ll only recognize that if you’re a Ted Lasso fan). Naturally, since we just adopted a newly rehomed dog, she had to be the subject of today’s photo of the day. She turned six last week and is an absolute cutie. She’s already making herself at home and loves the backyard, which has plenty of space to run.
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Sometimes you just come across a photo. I had just returned from taking Keeley on her first long walk and was searching for a picture. I looked out of our living room window and saw the party lights on our patio. They are LED and covered in rain. Hence, this shot.
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This is another instance when I waited too long to take a photo today and had to come up with something to do after I made dinner. This is the interior of a large glass art bowl we have on display between our living and dining rooms. It is a beautiful piece, but for the life of me, I can’t remember where we got it.
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In my quest to use all four of my current lenses in the first 15 days of my 365 project, here’s the last one: my 60mm micro lens. Everyone but Nikon calls them macro lenses, but Nikon has to be different. It takes a very cool photo. This one is titled “My Brother’s Car” because when he passed away, he had about 15 of these old metal cars in his apartment. When I was cleaning it out, I took only two things with me: his carry-on suitcase (which I recently had to trash after a wheel broke) and the set of metal cars. Now, they are the only things I have left that belonged to him. I believe they belonged either to my grandfather or my uncle, but I’m not sure.
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Our weather still stinks. Nothing but cold, damp fog. I tried to take a photo of it during the day, but it just doesn’t show up. It looks like bad smoke. So tonight, our new pup and I took a quick drive to the clubhouse at our 55+ complex. People were driving in and out to pick up their mail. I would say I like the picture (which I kind of do), but I hate the fog. It’s been relentless. And there is no end in sight.
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Last week, I shared my first real estate shot of our dining room, taken with my fish-eye zoom lens. Today, I present another shot from that lens (which I’ve been using quite a bit), this time featuring my office. It’s a fantastic room. I especially appreciate it in the winter because if I keep the doors closed, the room retains the heat. It’s almost like a dry sauna in there. I love it. Last week, when I captured my dining room, I mentioned in the caption that all the art on the wall was from places we’ve traveled. This room showcases photos of our entire family, from our grandparents to our parents, to our kids, and now our grandchildren. The large K you see is a photo collage of the grandkids for my bride, whom the kids affectionately call Grandma K.
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Anyone following my 2025 365 photo project should expect to see Keeley at least once a week. Today was her first visit to the off-leash dog park closest to our home, and she loved it. More than the dog park experience, though, she loves her ball. It’s nearly impossible to get it away from her unless she thinks you’re going to throw it again. But she is a good dog and is gradually fitting into our routines, or more likely, we are fitting into hers. She does give me a chance to practice taking action shots.
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Searching for a subject tonight while it was below freezing pushed me to quickly decide to photograph this nearly abstract image of my neighbor’s heater vent. I edited it a bit in Photoshop and Camera RAW, but I truly appreciate the starkness of how it turned out.
Photography, to me, is catching a moment that is passing and which is true. —Jacques-Henri Lartigue
by Jim Bellomo | Jan 10, 2025 | Photography
Good day, all! I have BIG news coming tomorrow or Sunday, but today, I wanted to share my first nine photos for those of you who are not following my 365 Project. I plan to periodically include a quick slideshow of these in my blog posts. Comments are appreciated. If you aren’t sure what I am talking about when I say 365 Project, please read my last post (scroll down). Two quick notes. If you want to read the captions, you need to open the photos by clicking on one of them. Then, in the lower right, you will see two buttons. One is an info button. Click that to see the caption and camera info.
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Today, I’m sharing my other hobby besides photography: cooking. In fact, this is just basil that I’m growing in a hydroponic garden. I took this shot today to make use of my 50mm f1.4 lens, which I haven’t used in over a year. Additionally, it’s an older F-series lens, so I need to use an adapter to attach it to my Z7. I still appreciate what the “nifty fifty” does at a low f-stop.
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This is a different kind of photo, and I admit that. I got the idea for it while walking home from the gym today. It was sunny outside. I wish I had taken it as soon as I got home while the shadows were still visible, but I waited, and they disappeared. With this photo, I wanted to show what I do almost every day of my life—I walk. So far this year, I have walked slightly less than 43 miles. Last month, I walked a total of 137 miles. So I see this scene (my foot) quite often. But it would have been better with a shadow.
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Hallelujah! For the first time since before Christmas, we have sunshine. So I had to take a sunshine photo. About a mile from our house is Duck Lake. You don’t have to hike too far into the brush to see this lake. This is the way it looks in the winter. In the summer, it is hard to tell that it’s a lake because it is covered in lily pads from shore to shore. One thing that has already hit home with me just since I started this on the first. We truly live in a very beautiful place.
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This is a throwaway. I’m posting it because I have OCD about completing tasks and sticking to them. You’ll notice this as the year progresses. Some days, like today, I settle. I dislike settling, but the alternative is to go out right now at 6:00 pm and find something interesting to photograph. Dinner is over, and I’ve had a long day, so you get this ornamental cabbage, which I took this morning while running errands.
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I am going to call this my real estate shot. Earlier today, I decided to get out all my lenses, put them on my camera, and shoot a few photos with each. Part of my 365 journey will be to make sure I have at least 20 photos with each lens by the end of the year. As a travel photographer, I never travel with any lens other than my 28-400mm zoom. It covers everything I want to cover and hasn’t failed me yet.
One of my lenses is a 10-24mm fisheye lens. It’s the one real estate photographers use to get photos like this—they make a room that isn’t that big, look like you could play full-court basketball. In this case, this is our dining room. The wall on the left has artwork from every country we have visited and many cities as well. #365 #diningroom
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This morning, the weather forecast was still for lots of rain, but the web radar said we would have a break from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. So, I hustled out to take a few shots, knowing that if I waited, I might only wind up with rain again. Walking around our neighborhood, I found this guy in one of those faux stream beds. We have one, too, and I liked this guy so much I almost stole him to put in ours, but I think our neighbor would have noticed. It’s his eyes that pulled me in.
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I wanted to show what today was all about here in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. It was about rain. Lots of rain. Took this with my seat reclined in my Ioniq 5 with the moonroof open and trees in the background. It’s dark, it’s moody, and it’s exactly what I was after. A really cold and dismal day.
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For Christmas, my daughter and her wonderful family bought us a visit to the brand-new Illusions Museum in Seattle. It was a veritable wonderland for photographers. I would say that this was my favorite shot, but I can’t. There were others I liked better, but this one was the easiest to silhouette. I have a policy that I won’t shoot photos of my grandkids that are identifiable and post them online. But that’s OK. The rest are more family photos than this one, and I will keep those
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Today I begin a 365 project where I will be taking one photo a day and posting it. Learn more about the project on my blog at www.jimbellomo.com. Today’s photo is of Welcome Lake on Redmond Ridge in Washington State. I plan on taking this same photo on one day in every season.
Photography is an immediate reaction, drawing is a meditation. —Henri Cartier-Bresson