The Andy Aupperlee Explosion 5000

Armed with my camera gear and a map, I took off down the expressway and tried to find a spot to setup. After driving around with a City of Seattle map spread out on my steering wheel and dash,* I eventually discovered Dr. Jose Rizal Park. Unlike couples/photo hot-spots like Kerry Park, hardly anyone was at this particular vista. A few couples stopped by, but only one other photog showed up. I talked to him for a few minutes and learned he was visiting from France. Awesome.

*I should point out that I was among the “early adopters” of GPS technology. In late 2001 I acquired a Garmin Vista GPS unit. Not only did I use it when I climbed Mount Rainier, but employed its use on every road trip I took for 2 or 3 years. Eventually I got tired of hassling with it and stopped using it. Ironically the technology in these units is much more advanced and user-friendly these days, but I am sticking with paper maps at the moment.

I setup the D40 on a tripod and took pictures for a few hours. After the sun set behind the Olympics I was able to start slowing down the shutter speed. For this shot I stopped the lens down to f/16 and left the shutter open for 25 seconds. This was enough time to capture traffic streaking through the curves of I-5.