Driving back from the Skagit Tulip Festival yesterday (more coming on that soon, you can be sure) there was a briefly unobstructed view of our glorious and wacky Space Needle, so I held up the camera to its vague direction and snapped. Yes, I clicked the shutter several times and later tossed most of them, but I always marvel at how digital has changed photography. In film days, you can bet that the shot would never have been good enough, shot from a moving car and through the windshield, and more important, I never would have “wasted” ten or 12 frames on such an unlikely capture. Digital rocks!

Visit Skywatch Friday for more sky scenes from around the world. Outdoor Wednesday, Watery Wednesday and Scenic Sunday all have worthwhile images to browse. Yours, too, perhaps? If there is only one photo below, click on Sara’s Fave Photos for others.

Driving north on Seattle’s viaduct, soon to be replaced with a tunnel, we think, the waterfront with its incomparable views is to your left and the city to your right. I love the big loading cranes, sometimes looking like actual big bird-cranes, and this reflection of them in the afternoon on a typical Seattle gray skies day caught my eye. Note the piece of Seattle’s iconic Smith Tower on the left.

Visit Thursday Challenge (Reflections), Skywatch Friday, Weekend Reflections, Window Views, SOOC and Scenic Sunday for more fascinating photos. As always, if there’s just one photo here, click on Sara’s Fave Photos for the whole blog.

In a sunbreak a couple of days ago, I took advantage of the great spring weather to head out to one of my favorite haunts, the Volunteer Park Conservatory, one of Seattle’s true hidden gems. They have redone the entry and it is so fabulous! Now a curved space greets you and you feel surrounded by the tropical foliage and flowers. And the shadows of the Peacock Window are a bonus.

Visit Shadow Shot Sunday for more intriguing shadows seen everywhere and SOOC for more straight-out-of-the-camera shots. If you see only one photo below, click on Sara’s Fave Photos for the complete blog. Thanks!

From a couple of weeks ago, driving north on the Viaduct, the skyline of Seattle in blessed sunshine. See the little Space Needle over on the left?

Visit Skywatch Friday for more interesting skies seen round the world, SOOC Sunday for more straight-out-of-the-camera shots, Blue Monday and Scenic Sunday. Post an image and join the fun yourself, why don’t you?

If only one image below, click Sara’s Fave Photos.

I’ve posted about this unusual flat fountain before, but I thought you might like another look at it in the mysterious dark colors of the night. I was lucky enough to have tickets to the Cinderella ballet by the Pacific Northwest Ballet at McCaw Hall, and to me, the great building and surrounding area is almost as much fun as the performance.

Visit Watery Wednesday, Outdoor Wednesday, SOOC, Scenic Sunday, Thursday Challenge (textures) and Weekend Reflections for more neat photos. Try a new tag, or maybe search for “shiny”? Click on Sara’s Fave Photos above to view the complete blog.

I took a photo of this same scene many years ago, taken against a dramatic sky in March, as I remember, but here it is again, taken last week in January. It was great to find the exact spot and I was happy that the sun peeked out for a bit of shadow on the barn wall for me. This huge old live oak tree, certainly over 100 years old, is in Sebastopol, California, out on Sanford Avenue. This photo is one of my very top faves, so I’m putting it in my Best Posts of the Week category.

Visit Scenic Sunday and Shadow Sunday for more intriguing photos, and SOOC for more with no tweaking, or straight out of the camera. And browse around here and at Free Photos for some pretty pictures if you have a moment.

While recently in San Rafael in Northern California, I had a chance to visit the big hispanic supermarket Mi Pueblo, one of a chain of ten stores around California. It was so great! Very entertaining. Everywhere I looked were perfect displays of all kinds of delicious-looking foods, a perfect photo op for a photo junkie like me. Here’s a peek at the ceiling decor over the fruits and vegetables.

Visit Pink Saturday and Color Carnival for more fun photos based on color. And do check next door at Free Photos to see what’s new. You can subscribe both here in the blog and at Free Photos (so you never miss a post) in the upper right hand corner of each.

It was clear overhead but all misty and mysterious out on the water. Can’t you just hear the foghorns?

Visit Watery Wednesday for more interesting kinds of water photos, Outdoor Wednesday, Scenic Sunday, Weekend Reflections, Skywatch Friday and Sunday Shadow Shots. This one is straight out of the camera, too.

Do browse the little images, or thumbnails, next door at Free Photos, linked to searchable larger photos you can copy and use for your enjoyment. And if this photo is the only one below, click on Sara’s Fave Photos for the rest of them.

Las Vegas is so great on so many levels, and especially to those of us who love travel but can’t quite fit a European jaunt into the budget lately. Since I had to go there for a conference in November, I certainly appreciated the art and architecture, even if it’s all faux. Lovely anyway. The Venetian Hotel has lots to like for people who miss Italy like me.

Visit Mellow Yellow Monday for more splashes of yellow, and Shadow Shot Sunday for more neat shadows. And don’t forget to check out the new photos at Free Photos, next door.

On last week’s trip to Las Vegas for that conference held at the Flamingo Hotel, mid strip, like most conferences we were stuck inside for long hours, but there was a short break that included a walk through the Habitat section of the hotel’s grounds, with real flamingoes, by the way. I’ll post them later, but today wanted to share how the hotel looked reflected in one of the pools for the abundant birdlife. Do you see the fish?

Visit Weekend Reflections, Shadow Shot Sunday, Scenic Sunday, SOOC (straight out of the camera), Window Views and Blue Monday if you’ve a yen for more variations on a theme, or the home blog of some great photo memes. And if there’s only one measly photo showing here, click on Sara’s Fave Photos for lots more.