August 29th, 2013 Rainy Days

So today was a blast! I have been wanting to get a rain photo for a long time for the "25 Reasons" poster I'm making. When I first got there I didn't think I would get a rain shot. It was raining on and off, so when it was sunny by the time I got to the waterfront I was sad as you can see here:

Obviously love the sun, but I had a feeling that today would be the ideal day to get some rain pictures. The picture on the heading is the final one I'm going to use for the poster. It was so super wet and it was really fun to be out there in it! It's really not often that I take the time out and feel the rain on my face. That was a genuine smile on my face in the picture above. Here are some other pictures from today:

the "after" shot haha

 

So, I haven't wanted to jinx winning the contest by seeing the apartments in person and getting my hopes up, but since we were there I just couldn't resist. We met some nice ladies in the leasing office and spoke about different floor plans that are available right now and pricing. Apparently there are different prices for each floor plan. I'm mostly only interested in floors 6-8 because once the condos are built it will obstruct the view of the water. The building is locked at night so it will only be accessed through a key. However, during the day the building is open for all of the public. The gym is accessed through the lobby and there are two fantastic resident lounges. One can be used reserved events and one has a pool table, ping pong, huge TV and lots of places to hang out. 

Coming up the elevator I didn't know what to expect. The walkway is hard to explain, but it's an indoor/outdoor walkway. So fresh air and rain (today) flows through the middle of the walkway, but you stay totally dry. There's a garbage shoot so you don't have to lug it downstairs to a dumpster. We toured the Clark floorplan. The first thing I noticed, of course, was the magnificent water view. The rest of the apartment was pretty nice. Plenty of room and everything seems classy. 

Tony got his wildlife photos for the contest so that's cool. And I got a few more photos for the 25 reasons poster. I also am working out some kinks in the check-ins with a person on the back-end. He has been very helpful. This contest has been very fun and I'm almost sad it's coming to an end. However, I want the 16th to come so I can see if I am the winner! I only have 2 more things to do and I worked on the 25 reasons poster for around 5 hours today. I'm a bit of a perfectionist, so it takes a while. I made it poster board size on the publisher file, but I'll likely submit a smaller version I suppose. In case they wanted to use it I wanted to make sure it was able to be made larger. Well, I'm done for the day. I'll leave you with a rad photo I got of the Copperline Apartments and the sky:

August 8th, 2013 A walk in the Sunset

So this post is actually about my time last night on the Waterfront. I don't know how most blogs go, but I always like to take some time to reflect on my day and then post about it the next day. My plan was to get my Forza picture. There are a few Forza's that were my favorite locations that either closed or one in particular that has the same owner, but changed the name to another store in honor of the tragedy of the police shooting. However, having just recently graduated from UW Tacoma I definitely have some favorite Forzas. I chose the in UP that's nearest to a family friend's house. I also like it because the walls are awesomely decorated. The location is also really close to Grandview Drive as well. So, I ended up leaving later than I planned and got there about 10 minutes before they closed. The indoor shot was really not working out, so I was planning to do an outside shot with the door in the background, but the sun wasn't working out. Here are some of the "fails"

             

This was basically the view I wanted to do, but with me in it:

We stopped off at Point Defiance so Tony could do his pagoda shot. What he got was sooo cool! He found this little obscure pond and found the perfect angle to get the reflection of the building in it. I'm not gonna lie, I was a little jealous of his shot, but happy he found it. I like the one I turned it because it shows the beautiful architecture, but his is really creative! I saw the entrance sign at the park and the sun was shining just right, so I stopped to get a photo of that. One of my "25 reasons why I like the waterfront" is the proximity to Pt. Defiance Park, so I will likely use this photo in my 25 reasons collage:

Anyhow, so we decided to do the sunset photos down by the Waterwalk. It was a beautiful night. I checked-in at the Giant Pacific Octopus and took a cool pic and did some effects to it:

We took some photos, but mainly it was about enjoying the night. I'm really getting used to being down in that area. I know winning is a bit of a long shot, but I still like to dream. We saw quite a few families and people hanging around. There was a couple doing a photo shoot of one another. Then they stood together in each other's arms admiring the Olympic Mountains. That inspired me to take the photo I submitted for the sunset. I think one of the magical things about the waterfront is really the opportunity to connect back to the world. We are so busy in our jobs, lives, etc that sometimes we forget to step back and enjoy the day and the world we live in. When I see the couple I saw just kissing and taking cute photos of one another I know that it is a night they will remember. As for me, I will be there tomorrow again doing some photos for the contest, but I also plan to pack a picnic and hang out at Marine Park. That's a great place for a picnic and some Frizbee. I'll see if some friends want to join me as well. OK, well until tomorrow...thanks for reading :)