jairorodriguez

<p>Hi Jason, <br>

after having lived in Seattle for seven years and photographed around extensively here are my five cents (or a little more). I include some links to write ups I have posted in the past about the locations. Some of them have been mentioned above. And some of the photos are within tutorials on how to do something. Just check the location map at the bottom of the post for the exact location where the photo was taken.</p>

<p>Cityscape:<br>

<strong>Kerry park</strong>, in the Queen Anne neighborhood (http://www.jairophoto.com/blog/good-morning-kerry-park-seattle/)<br>

<strong>Jose Rizal Bridge</strong> (http://www.jairophoto.com/blog/sunset-over-seattle-from-jose-rizal-bridge/ and http://www.jairophoto.com/blog/downtown-seattle/)<br>

<strong>Downtown from alki</strong> (http://www.jairophoto.com/blog/remove-halos-in-photoshop/)<br>

<strong>Waterfront</strong> from the Bell Harbor conference center (http://www.jairophoto.com/blog/seattle-waterfront/)<br>

<strong>Lake union</strong>, specially from gasworks park (http://www.jairophoto.com/blog/sunset-lake-union/)<br>

<strong>Anywhere around pike's place</strong>.</p>

<p>Seascapes:<br>

<strong>Edmonds Ferry Terminal.</strong> A short drive up north on I5. A great spot to catch the sunset from (http://www.jairophoto.com/blog/sunset-at-edmonds-beach/)<br>

<strong>Salt Creek beach</strong>. About 2h 30' from Seattle. Great coast location near Port Angeles (http://www.jairophoto.com/blog/how-to-use-lee-big-stopper/)</p>

<p>Landscapes:<br>

<strong>Mt. Rainier.</strong> an amazing frozen volcano south of Seattle. Lots of snow at this time of the year.<br>

<strong>Mt Saint Helens.</strong> The volcano that blew up. 2h 30' South of Seattle. Lots of snow too (http://www.jairophoto.com/blog/blending-photos-in-photoshop/)<br>

<strong>Olympic National Park</strong>. If you can drive some more you have endless possibilities here... probably too much if you are only there for a weekend, but here it goes...<br>

coast: http://www.jairophoto.com/blog/photos-of-olympic-national-park-coast/<br>

forests: http://www.jairophoto.com/blog/photography-of-olympic-national-park-the-woods/</p>

<p>Happy new year and enjoy Seattle!<br>

JR</p>

<p>Hi Kerry, <br>

In case you want more info from a photographer (myself) that did something similar to what you are planning, take a look at this blog post:<br>

http://www.jairophoto.com/blog/photography-guide-national-parks-in-utah-and-arizona/<br>

Cheers!<br>

Jairo</p>

<p>Hi Edmund, <br>

I actually live in Barcelona and I am a (not pro) photographer. I would most definitely not leave my DSLR at home for fear of having it stolen. BCN is a big city full of tourists and I am sure things happen, but I would not be worried about someone actually threatening you to give him/her your camera. Pickpockets tend to be silent and you only realize something is missing after the fact. <br>

That said, just be cautious, as in any other major busy city with tons of tourists taking the streets. <br>

If you want to go someplace off the beaten path, take a look at this blog post: <br>

http://www.jairophoto.com/blog/barcelona-sky/<br>

This place, Mount Carmel, is not far away from Park Güell. And it has some cool views of the city.<br>

I have another couple of blog entries with photos from BCN in the front page of my blog, in case you are interested!<br>

Let me know if you have specific questions about the city!<br>

Cheers<br>

Jairo</p>

<p>Hi Mario, <br>

In this <a href="http://www.jairophoto.com/blog/photography-guide-national-parks-in-utah-and-arizona/">photography guide to Utah and Arizona</a> I recently posted you may find some useful info on sunsets and sunrises in Canyonlands and Dead Horse State Park. I photographed there four years ago and I was blown away! Have fun!<br>

Jairo</p>

<p>Hi Frank, <br>

Here's a photography and travel guide I wrote about our trip from Las Vegas to some of the National Parks and State Parks in Utah and Arizona. Hope you can find some useful info there!<br>

Cheers, <br>

Jairo<br>

http://www.jairophoto.com/blog/photography-guide-national-parks-in-utah-and-arizona/</p>

<p>Christal, <br>

I am glad you found the post useful. And thanks for your kind comments!! About the polarizer. I just found out about it once I was on the plane. As I started playing with it the windows started turning all sorts of colors! The same thing happens with windows on big planes. I just learned this is caused by a plastic layer on the windows that causes them to be what's called "berefringent". This property is exacerbated by using a polarizer, so leave it out. You can look the term birefringence up online for more technical info! I am no physicist!<br>

I have to say that even though I ended up leaving the polarizer out, shooting through the plane windows still produced some color casts. I guess that's inevitable as you are shooting through many layers here. This did not affect all images to the same extent though and I guess it had to do with the relative angle of the camera with respect to the window. But this is just my guess. I was shooting raw and so this made for a somewhat easier color cast correction in post processing. This is specially problematic as you say when shooting at the snow. Try to overexpose a little bit to compensate for that. <br>

I have been blogging for over a year now and I can definitely say it makes me very happy to share with others what I learn and discover. So I hope you can do the same thing and start blogging soon!<br>

Have a very nice trip in Alaska!</p>

<p>Christal, </p>

<p>we flew Denali at the beginning of September in 2008. We just stoped in Talkeetna and got the flight on the spot (sorry forgot the company's name).<br>

Some thoughts: <br>

It can be, and usually is cloudy up there. So be prepared for the possibility that you may not be able to fly on your desired day.<br>

It's shaky. This means that you will have to do some extra to get sharp photos, specially if weather is overcast. Quite high speeds will help. This also means getting motion sickness is likely.<br>

We could not open the windows, so I had to shoot through them. I learned it's a very bad idea to have a polarizer on. Remove it. I am nt even sure I would like to be able to open the windows... could be unbearably cold.<br>

We did not land on the glacier, mainly because it was a lot more expensive. But I bet I would have enjoyed it!<br>

If you get a sunny day just remember to compensate for all the bright light coming from the snow and glaciers... your photos will tend to look grayish unless you compensate exposure.</p>

<p>I recently put together a blog post on this trip to Alaska that has tips on many other locations besides flying Denali:<br>

http://www.jairophoto.com/blog/alaska-photography-travel-guide/</p>

<p>Have fun! this is still by far one of my favorite trips ever!</p>

<p>Hi James, <br>

I just put together a blog post on a trip I did to Alaska with some of the photo locations I enjoyed the most and route info for RV travelling. For a one week stay I would definitely recommend, as others have, Kenai peninsula and Denali. <br>

Here's the link to the post. I hope you find some useful information.<br>

<a href="http://www.jairophoto.com/blog/photography-guide-to-alaska/">http://www.jairophoto.com/blog/photography-guide-to-alaska/</a><br>

cheers, <br>

Jairo</p>

<p>Joe, <br>

I just posted a couple of post specifically about the Olympic National Park. It contain most of my favorite spots.<br>

First is focused on the beach locations:<br>

http://www.jairophoto.com/blog/photos-of-olympic-national-park-coast/<br>

And the second on the areas inland, forests, waterfalls, etc:<br>

http://www.jairophoto.com/blog/photography-of-olympic-national-park-the-woods/</p>

<p>Hope you find some useful info! ANd have fun, this definitely is a great photography destination!<br>

cheers, </p>

<p>Jairo</p>

<p>Being from Barcelona I should remember the facade names better, but I will tell you that the best views of the city are from the towers in the south facing facade, whichever name it has. You get more city to the south of Sagrada Familia than to the north of it. Other than that I don't think there's a huge difference. So having been on top of both, and then having to choose, I would choose the south facing tower. But really, there's no way you can't go wrong! ;)<br>

cheers!<br>

Jairo</p>

<p>Hi Paul, <br>

I recently put together two posts on my blog that may answer some of your questions about locations. One of them corresponds to beach locations, and the second one to the inland locations. Hope you can find some useful info!<br>

Here are the links to my blog Taming the light:<br>

http://www.jairophoto.com/blog/photography-of-olympic-national-park-the-woods/<br>

http://www.jairophoto.com/blog/photos-of-olympic-national-park-coast/</p>

<p>Cheers!</p>

<p>Jairo Rodriguez</p>

<p>I agree with the responses above saying that you are trying to pack waaay to much in one week. I am from Barcelona, so guess what my advice would be... you guessed rigth! Stay in Barcelona and the surrounding region of Catalunya and you won't be disappointed.<br>

In BCN I would agree to visit almost everything people said before me, except for Pueblo Espanyol (cliched and fake, I mean it's a tourist attraction, not a real village). The street photography is awesome, specialy around La Rambla and the Barri Gotic. Just wander around and get lost! Architecture is unique in BCN, with all the Modernist buildings by Gaudi and the like. For moving within the city forget about the car, use either subway or bus.<br>

Around Barcelona I would definitely visit Girona (1h north. Great connection by train) and the Jewish quarter. It's just a fantastic town. From Girona you have the Costa Brava beaches very close. That is a very rugged and scenic coast. Great for sunrises. I would specially recommend visiting Calella de Palafrugell and Tamariu. There is a great hiking trail that departs from the sant sebastia lighthouse and gets you to Tamariu.<br>

From Girona you can go a little bit further north to Figueres and visit the Dali museum. Quite interesting. Port Lligat, the place were the painter lived can also be visited. It's located near Cadaques and you need a car to get there.<br>

Closer to BCN you can visit Montserrat, the oddest mountain I know. Lots of hikes and very scenic. You can get there by train.<br>

South of BCN you can also visit the little coastal town of Sitges. Great beach location. And further south you have Tarragona (great day trip by train) with its many roman remains.<br>

If you still have more time you can also spend one day in the Pyrenees range. If you don't want to drive you can take the train that will take you to Ripoll and Puigcerda, both beautiful villages in the middle of the mountains.<br>

<br />so you see, many options. In my photo website <a href="http://www.jairophoto.com">www.jairophoto.com</a> you will find some photos from the places I told you about both in the Spanish landscape and cityscape folders.<br>

By the way, if you want to take trains take a look at <a href="http://www.renfe.es">www.renfe.es</a>. Spain has a very decent fast speed train network (called AVE), so even I you still want to go to Madrid it's worth checking out the trains (2.5h one way, city center to city center from BCN).<br>

I have been to Madrid, and although I like it I don't think is as unique as BCN is and feels. Madrid feels more like any other European big city. But still, very worth visiting with a lot of museums, as someone noted above. Not been to Portugal yet!<br>

As for driving in Spain, everything moves just faster and closer to you. Barcelona is specially bad for traffic during rush hour. But out of the big cities everything is much easier. Just keep in mind that most highways and many roads have fixed radars, many of the clearly signed, some of them hidden.<br>

hope this helps and you have a good time over there!</p>