Sunrise from Kerry Park (Seattle)

coscorrosa

The forecast on Friday night said there would be 90% cloud cover for sunrise on Saturday morning. I woke up at 5:30 AM Saturday (don't ask) and noticed that it was pretty clear for 90% cloud cover (on that note, if you need a new job in these troubled economic times, you could be a weather forecaster in western Washington, with the mountains and oceans, it's impossible to predict with any accuracy, so as long as you can guess right 50% of the time you would be more than qualified).

Anyway, I went to Kerry Park to shoot the sunrise and it was clear enough to get a good view of Mt. Rainier.

#1:



#2:



#3, Close up of Rainier with lenticular cloud (there have been a bunch of these the past few days):

shniks

Third shot is just wonderful. I hate you (living next to all these beautiful parks and mountains and of course taking great pictures). :nah



Cheers,

Abiciriderback

Very Nice great colors and light if it had been a work day you probably would have never made it from Kerry Park to Snoqualmie to capture sunrise at both. Never know about weather here even from Seattle and where I live in Marysville in the north end.

Ray Still

annnna8888

Lovely! I wonder what the first photo would look like with a bit more of the buildings.
It's great to have a few clouds - without them the sky is so empty - but yes, the meteorologists got it wrong.

Ana

coscorrosa

annnna8888 wrote:

Lovely! I wonder what the first photo would look like with a bit more of the buildings.
It's great to have a few clouds - without them the sky is so empty - but yes, the meteorologists got it wrong.

Ana

Oh, don't get me wrong, I love clouds too, normally when it's 90% cloud cover that means completely overcast with no clouds (good for macros, waterfalls, some wildlife, etc., not so great for wide angle landscapes).

There's not too many more buildings in the foreground, it's mostly residential, here's a wider shot from Kerry Park a few months ago (with the kind of cloud cover I prefer, it's mostly silhouetted, but it should give you an idea). This was shot without a tripod because I forgot to mount my L-plate on my camera after it came back from the shop! D'oh!.

bryanj87

Again another series of great images. Is that a Christmas tree on top of the space needle?

Elaine

Gorgeous view!

I was wondering whose job it was to put the tree lights on top of the Space Needle?!

coscorrosa

shniks wrote:

Third shot is just wonderful. I hate you (living next to all these beautiful parks and mountains and of course taking great pictures). :nah



Cheers,

Join the club! I hate myself too, but for different reasons

coscorrosa

bryanj87 wrote:

Again another series of great images. Is that a Christmas tree on top of the space needle?

Yep! It's not a real tree, just a few strands of Christmas lights in the shape of a tree, here's a closer shot taken last year:

Nacho

Goodness, I love those shots of city views at dusk (or early morning for that matter). Just gorgeous colors, composition, perspective, and detail. Something about city skylines and the built environment captured to reflect perhaps the beauty originally envisioned, or that was not envisioned but that emerges. Great series of shots Ron. Just wonderful.

Best,

N

Digital Illusions

Great shots Ron. Seattle is such a beautiful place.

squirl033

great stuff, Ron... love the "close-up" of Rainier in silhouette with the lenticular cloud above it...

scottV

awesome shots, #2 is my fave.

coscorrosa

Nacho wrote:

Goodness, I love those shots of city views at dusk (or early morning for that matter). Just gorgeous colors, composition, perspective, and detail. Something about city skylines and the built environment captured to reflect perhaps the beauty originally envisioned, or that was not envisioned but that emerges. Great series of shots Ron. Just wonderful.

Best,

N

If you look at a map of downtown, you'll soon realize that Seattle is definitely an "emerged" city and not an "envisioned" one, it's kind of like the IRS tax code, it started off with good intentions (well...), but is now so convoluted and complex that it's about to become self-aware.

But, once in awhile, something emerges from the chaos that is more beautiful than anything that can be planned. And sometimes you end up with a platypus. I'm looking for the former

(Don't worry, I have no idea what I just said either).

Thanks to everyone else who commented, Kerry Park is a great spot and if you're only in Seattle for a short time, it's probably the best and most convenient location for shots of the skyline.

NorthernFocus

You should peddle that first shot to someone with Seattle's PR department.

Regarding "meteorologists", at this late stage in life I realize how bad I screwed up not studying meteorology. Talk about the ideal job. You only have to show up a couple hours a day and no one has any expectations of you to do anything right. Of course being good looking helps which would have ruled me out anyway

Dooginfif20

gotta love the good ol PNW! I need to get down to Seattle and get some nice shots!

kdog

Great shots, Ron. I like the close crop of #2 the best. Seattle has such a great skyline, and you got a great angle on it with Ranier in the background. And of course the lenticular clouds really put the icing on that shot. Just marvelous.

jstpeter

Fantastic set! Just enough clouds to give you some character! I think waking up at 5:30 paid off for you I hear what you mean about the weatherman. See below in my signature

Awais Yaqub

clap

schmoo

coscorrosa wrote:

If you look at a map of downtown, you'll soon realize that Seattle is definitely an "emerged" city and not an "envisioned" one, it's kind of like the IRS tax code, it started off with good intentions (well...), but is now so convoluted and complex that it's about to become self-aware.

But, once in awhile, something emerges from the chaos that is more beautiful than anything that can be planned. And sometimes you end up with a platypus. I'm looking for the former

(Don't worry, I have no idea what I just said either).

:lol4

What?