Seattle 2024 - Another Interior View of Apartment

Imagine going home to see this view when entering your apartment!  We were incredulous at our nephew's good fortune to have found, and been able to afford, such an incredible place to live.  (narrower view with cat posted here)

Seattle 2024 - Art Installation in Apartment Building Lobby

After entering, this fancy installation is what greets all residents and guests in the building lobby.  Can imagine that those curves and natural wood tone soothes the nerves after a hard day at work...

Seattle 2024 - Exterior of Apartment Building

Before moving on to other things in Seattle, wanted to return to our nephew's apartment building downtown, this being what you see looking up from just outside the entrance.

Seattle 2024 - Amazon Dome Reflection

...and stepping outside, decided to capture the HQ dome's reflection from a nearby building.

Seattle 2024 - Amazon Headquarters Workplaces

Just another couple of shots from the inside, of Amazon workers either working or on break...

 

Seattle 2024 - iPhone RAW Series, Amazon Headquarters Flora #19

At one point, when I was just beginning this photography thing, my boss and I were reviewing potential pictures to use in creating motivational posters for the team.  Something to tack up on the walls of conference rooms.  Another pic of this kind of flower was not allowed as a poster because it was, according to my manager, "too phallic".  Perhaps a bit of an overreaction...

This is perhaps a decent picture, but the gradation of color in the foreground makes it clear that photos taken on your phone, in the end, do not measure up to what a DSLR can produce.

Seattle 2024 - iPhone RAW Series, Amazon Headquarters Flora #18

This beaut isn't really hot pink, thus tolerable to look at.

Seattle 2024 - iPhone RAW Series, Amazon Headquarters Flora #17

Liked the color contrast in this one, a portion of which looks decent with the Glowing Edges effect in Photoshop:

 

Seattle 2024 - iPhone RAW Series, Amazon Headquarters Flora #16

The two recent posts of knobby-leaved plants are something, but to be slightly knobbly and hairy takes it to a new level...

Seattle 2024 - iPhone RAW Series, Amazon Headquarters Flora #15

The background on this guy was way too busy, so I simply replaced it with a solid 50% gray layer.  Did the same thing with the post published a couple of weeks ago, on May 8th.  This process is much easier now with the advent of the Object Selection Tool in Photoshop 2025.  Didn't have the time to dress it with a gradient or other background, which generally takes about an hour to perfect, leaving that for later when I'm in the mood...

Original below for comparison:

 

Seattle 2024 - iPhone RAW Series, Amazon Headquarters Flora #14

Truly amazing how much variety there is in the plant world.  Probably saw a greater number of species on this one day than I have in all my previous 66 years combined.

Thought the Glowing Edges effect might look good on this one, per below: 

Seattle 2024 - iPhone RAW Series, Amazon Headquarters Flora #13

 

Seattle 2024 - iPhone RAW Series, Amazon Headquarters Flora #12 / Wade Pepper and the Big Booger

Nothing better than a jet-black leaf to provide awesome contrast with the orange-ish yellow and pink of the flower.  The water droplets are a bonus...

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As most who know me are aware, I taught high school Spanish and science in the Texas public school system for 15 years.  I feel fortunate to have been able to utilize the college degree and teaching certification earned at SFA in Nacogdoches, but for a variety of reasons felt that 15 years was long enough, and it was time to move on to other things.  Though there may have been some talent, I was not one of those possessing that special calling to productively keep at it until older age and retirement.  Thus, I simply resigned and awaited whatever opportunities lay beyond.

That's not to say that I didn't have some good years, and some good times in the classroom.  In fact, I daresay that some of my antics entered legend that probably would still be remembered today by those involved.

Such as the time I put a tack in a kid's chair.  One day at the beginning of class I noticed a tack before taking my seat, picked it up and wondered aloud how it could've gotten there.  The kids already seated ratted out the perpetrator, a girl named Lisa, who had gone to the restroom.  So before she came back in I placed the tack in her chair.  Just as the tardy bell was about to ring, in she swoops so as not to be late...it was my policy that if the bahonkus wasn't firmly planted in the right place before the bell started to ring a tardy would be counted against her.  And do you know how a kid sits down when they're in a hurry?  You got it...to beat the bell she plunks down hard on her bony butt.  Didn't stay there long, however, as the tack found its target (or was it the other way around?), resulting in a whoop and a jump up out of her seat.  Couldn't count her tardy, could I?  But the class - and even she - got a good laugh out of it, which started the period with a smile and an easy mood that made the day's lessons go down a little easier.

Then there was this girl named Nikki that sat in the back of one of my science classes, and was always getting into trouble for talking.  She and I had a good rapport, but I was getting tired of writing out discipline slips on her and the occasional jaunt to the office.  One day close to Halloween a student brought in one of those creepy battery-powered disembodied hands that made the fingers move seemingly on their own.  Nikki was another one of those that came in at the last minute, so before she got there I told the rest of the class to keep quiet the fact that I had something up my sleeve, and showed them the hand.  Then I placed the hand in an open top drawer of my desk with the fingers reaching up as if they were going to crawl up onto the desktop.  Very nonchalantly I started the class, and could see the students glancing at each other and then at me, wondering when the show would begin.  Soon enough, when the class was quiet doing some assignment, I flipped the switch to turn on the hand, and called Nikki up to my desk to look at a paper she'd turned in.  She dutifully came around and approached my side of the desk.  Didn't stay approached too long, however, because when she saw that bloody hand with the fingers moving she let out a scream and must've jumped up about three feet.  Bingo!  This got me even, and a big laugh that lightened the mood which ended class on a positive note.

Then there was Wade Pepper.  He was in my sixth period Spanish class, but never wanted to be in there learning Spanish.  As a result, he could sometimes be a real "toot", as we used to call them.  I taught a science class right before his, and one day we did an experiment with sulfur.  When you carefully heat sulfur until it melts, then pour the liquid into a beaker of cold water, the atoms don't crystallize into the yellow chalky substance we're familiar with.  They bind together in longer atomic chains that result in a brownish-green rubbery substance that doesn't look like sulfur at all.  This rubbery substance will eventually, however, crystallize starting at the surface where it's exposed to the air.

That day in fifth period we had just completed the day's experiments with the sulfur and I was cleaning up before the dismissal bell.  I had a big glob of this pre-crystallized substance in my hand and observed something.  As the atoms began to harden into its more natural crystalline state, yellow blotches formed on the surface, leaving the gelatinous, springy mass in the interior of the blob.  As these atoms crystallized, an idea began to crystallize in my mind.  Hey, Wade is coming in next period, and this looks like a HUGE BOOGER!  I pocketed the blob, knowing that by the time sixth period started it would look just right.

Yes, and the next period started as per usual, only this time I didn't tell any of the other students what was planned.  After a perusal of class to check roll, I was carrying the attendance slip to the back of the room to place on the windowsill to be picked up later.  With this slip in my left hand and the blob in my right, I made it a point to go between two rows so that I'd pass right next to Wade.  He was about the third seat back, so right after passing the first seat in the row I feigned the beginning of a sneeze.  Passing the second seat I was cocked and ready to go, pretending that the sneeze was building into something big.  Then, right as I was passing Wade's chair, I let it blow, uncuffing the blob from my hand and flinging it right onto his desk.  Oh my, what a reaction!  He wanted to jump out of his chair but couldn't do it quickly enough, but he didn't want this big booger on his desk either, so for some reason used his hand to slap it clear across the room, where the sulfur bounced unceremoniously off the wall.  This was a real touché moment for me, because I'd finally gotten even with the little toot, and class with him was much easier after breaking the ice with that sulfurous blob that looked like a booger.

Seattle 2024 - iPhone RAW Series, Amazon Headquarters Flora #11

Back on the 9th of this month a pic was published that barely made it into blogworthiness, and that was only due to it's unique knobby surface.  This is another knobby-leaved plant in a much better setting.

I really went nuts in this place, with hundreds of plant species from all over the world in one giant greenhouse serving as work- and breakspace for many Amazon employees.  Of course who is going to take care of all these plants, many of which have very special light and nutrition requirements?  We ran into several full-time employees with special name tags out watering and fussing about, tending to just those needs.  They were all friendly and more than happy to answer any questions we had.

Seattle 2024 - iPhone RAW Series, Amazon Headquarters Flora #10

This is one in which, perchance, the focus ended up in the perfect place...

Seattle 2024 - iPhone RAW Series, Amazon Headquarters Flora #9

Another good contrast of color.  What made this an especially productive shoot, even with the iPhone, is the fact that this is all indoors.  The glass dome surrounding all these plants evens out the light, providing an effective filter and diffuser all at once.

Seattle 2024 - iPhone RAW Series, Amazon Headquarters Flora #8

I normally post the Glowing Edges effect of a photo after the original, but did the reverse this time because the original just isn't that good, per below:

 

Seattle 2024 - iPhone RAW Series, Amazon Headquarters Flora #7

After having worked a goodly number of RAW files from the phone camera, I've concluded that the biggest plus when comparing the iPhone to the Bigger Cahoona is the superior handling of dynamic range.  Beautifully done.  One of the worst minuses, however, is the inability to pinpoint focus, either because the camera just focuses where it wants to or I don't know how to make it change to where I want it to be.  Because of this many otherwise blogworthy photos have ended up in the junk bin.

Seattle 2024 - iPhone RAW Series, Amazon Headquarters Flora #6 / Me and Hot Pink

Attempted to capture especially those pics that featured good color contrast.  Anyone that knows me well knows that I don't like hot pink, but couldn't pass this one up...

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So what's the history behind this hot pink thing?  As a TA during my one disastrous year in graduate school at SFA I taught Spanish 101 and 102, both freshman-level courses.  Boy did I learn a lot with that experience!  As part of their coursework I assigned the class an essay regarding their experience with the Latin American culture, something like 200 words.  This is when I discovered that the writing of these supposed high school graduates was atrocious!  Really terrible, which made one wonder how they ended up on a college campus in the first place.  Well, one of these students chose to write the entire essay in hot pink highlighter.  Could not look at it without getting a headache, and I forbade her to do any similar in the future.  So that's when my antipathy toward hot pink began, which has lasted until this day.

Later on, back when I was teaching Spanish in public schools, the students caught on that I don't like hot pink.  No surprise that one day when I called for an answer, everyone in the class raised a hand...which sported a hot pink glove, Michael Jackson style!  All in good fun, but I was careful in future years to avoid revealing this very specific intolerance.

 

Seattle 2024 - iPhone RAW Series, Amazon Headquartres Flora #5

Not bad for an iPhone photo - soft focus with the pastel colors worked beautifully together.

Seattle 2024 - iPhone RAW Series, Amazon Headquarters Flora #4

Probably my favorite of the series, for the first time an untouched portion of a pic was blended in with Glowing Edges for the remainder.  Love the contrast...

Seattle 2024 - iPhone RAW Series, Amazon Headquarters Flora #3

 

Seattle 2024 - iPhone RAW Series, Amazon Headquarters Flora #2

This pic obviously is of the plant variety, as opposed to flowers (even though they're plants too), and caught my eye because of its knobby leaves.  The tip of each knob was bright white due to reflected light from its recently-watered surface so I used a layer in Photoshop to shade them a very light green color.

Seattle 2024 - iPhone RAW Series, Amazon Headquarters Flora #1

As stated earlier, on this trip our nephew Scott taught me how to stretch the capabilities of my iPhone 15 Pro Max camera using RAW instead of JPEG to capture images.  I re-subscribed to Photoshop with Lightroom, and after the first cull exported them all into Photoshop files.  It worked fairly well, and I now can comfortably capture blogworthy pictures with the phone.  With time, however, I remain convinced that, if you know what you're doing, they still don't come close to what can be captured with a full-frame 48 MP image.

The plant and flower pics taken inside the weird Amazon headquarters building was narrowed down to just over 20, which will be posted through the next couple of weeks.

Seattle 2024 - iPhone JPEG Series, Macro View of Sphere Innards

This is the sight that greets visitors and employees once inside.  We explored every level in detail.  It is here that our nephew taught me the wonders of shooting in RAW with the iPhone, so I transitioned from JPEG to RAW for the remainder of the trip, the pics from which will be posted for the remainder of this series...

Working with the iPhone, was able to sneak in a pic of this employee taking a break from work on the first level:

Seattle 2024 - iPhone JPEG Series, Go Bananas!

And to add to the coolness - this is just outside, where you can get ALL OF THE FREE BANANAS YOU WANT!  No restrictions on who or how many.  To the right of this frame is a large recreational area for the children and dogs of employees, complete with playsets and bubble machine:

 

Seattle 2024 - iPhone JPEG Series, Amazon Spheres Buildings

Here we have what arguably is one of the coolest office buildings in the world, the Amazon Spheres Buildings.  Yes, this is really an active workspace, which will be evidenced in future posts.

Two more perspectives below:

Seattle 2024 - iPhone JPEG Series, Colorful Downtown Buildings

Austin, Seattle, Paris, etc. etc.  Love being in towns that are known for their artistic flair, which is manifest in their architecture and proliferation of museums, galleries, etc.  Here we have some awesome building designs that surely serve to lighten the days and steps of pedestrians as they go about their daily business.

Seattle 2024 - iPhone JPEG Series, Fence Dedications

Reminded me of the bridge locks in France - though much, much more sparse and organized.  Not only for lovers...messages are there for families and companies as well.  Probably pay to have it done, like the bricks at some parks here in the Houston area.

Seattle 2024 - iPhone 15 Series, View of Lake Union from Apartment

Back up at our nephew's apartment, the first thing that caught my eye when venturing out on the balcony were these apartment buildings with the awesome color.  Very, very good design work.

Wider, 2-shot panoramic perspective below of the view from this side of the apartment, looking toward Union Lake.  They're in a corner unit; the view from the other side was posted a couple of weeks ago.

Seattle 2024 - iPhone JPEG Series, Flaming Flower with Effects

And with all that color and flaming pattern, can one resist applying the Glowing and Found Edges effects?  Of course not...