The Andy Aupperlee Explosion 5000

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I was not sure where I was heading, I just knew I needed to cross the Puget Sound and head west. After catching a boat to Bremerton, I headed north on 3, caught the 104 to the 101 and eventually cruised along the Strait of Juan de Fuca on the 112. Five hours later the Explorer pulled into a campsite in Ozette, WA. For the next few days this secluded plot would serve as our base camp as Caitlin, Sharat, Emily and I explored the very western edge of the United States. Above is Emily jump standing on the coast of the Pacific at the Dungeness Spit.
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“Buddies!” Twenty seconds ago Alex was taking a nap in the rear seat of my Explorer. Now he’s perched between the two front seats with his arms around Josh and my shoulders. He cackles a little, looks around and once again exclaims, “BUDDIES!” The three of us had been driving northbound towards Seattle for several hours. It was the third day of a mini road trip that took us down the Oregon Coast and over to Portland. We dined on yak burgers in “Come as You Are” Aberdeen and ordered breakfast from a cracked-out, coffee spilling waitress at the Pig ‘n Pancake in Astoria. Having last seen each other at the World Series of Beer Pong in Las Vegas, there was plenty to catch up on. More importantly, the six months that had passed gave Alex plenty of time to develop a fresh lexicon of nonsense. The latest burst of comradery repeating from the back seat is as sincere at is sarcastic—in other words, it’s vintage Alex.

The photo above is from the Astoria Column in Astoria, OR. I used a Nikon 18-200mm VR lens with a polarizer and cranked the saturation up in the NIkon D300’s vivid mode. I further adjusted contrast using curves in Photoshop.

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Milkweed at Quixtar.
November 29, 2008.
Nikon D300. Nikon 80-400mm VR lens. EXIF.

Dad and I shot turkey and deer for Thanksgiving. Actually, it was the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Despite what you are already thinking–we’re not that Michigan. Well, Dad is pretty Michigan. This shooting involved cameras. We grabbed our Nikon D300s and Dad supplied the glass: a Nikon 80-400mm VR and a manual Nikon Reflex 500mm. Being a novice to this sort of photography, Dad let me shoot the 80-400 since it has AF. Armed with the long lenses, we climbed into the Mountaineer to begin our safari. (continue reading…)