I missed the excellent Euro meet, but I don't mind because I was in Washington (State, non D.C.) for three weeks vacation at the time. I thought I'd share some of the photos I took while I was there:

http://www.pbase.com/andynormancx/washington_2003

Washington sure is a beautiful (and big) place.

P.S. for those who are interested, I added an EF 17-40mm f/4.0 and EF 75-300 IS to my 10D and EF 24-85mm while I was there. I love my new lenses...

Great shots!!! I have to admit, my favorite is the Zen Stones.

Damn, that's not even one of my shots. My wife took that one...

...try again

...Salmonberry??? (What can I say? I like still-life photos...)

...Salmonberry??? (What can I say? I like still-life photos...)

That was my guess at what it was, don't know much about US flora. Looks like I was right though:

http://images.google.com/images?q=Salmon+berry

I'm a sucker for still life too. I can't claim to have taken any photos I really love with this camera yet. But I've only had it a couple of months and it is my first SLR, so I'm still learning.

My wife has used an SLR for years. She only vaguely knows how to use the 10D though, yet manages to take some wonderful shots with it. Which just goes to show that taking good photos has little to do with technical mastery of the equipement.

It can allow you to take shots you might otherwise have missed, though.

Yeah, especially as she still doesn't know how to change the ISO speed on it and doesn't yet understand that you need to wait a second or so before the image stabilization kicks in on the 300mm lens...

Ditto. My next favourite is the Rainforest, though...

Edit: And there were several other really good shots in the page that takes a really really long time to load...

Nice photos! We just had some product shots taken with a 10D and the 17-40mm F4.0 lens and I was amazed at the clarity & detail that were achieved.

I especially like the composition in the yellow caboose shot.

-Zeke

Yup, there's some really cool shots in that bunch. My fav was Deception Pass, but there were loads of runners-up!

Good choices on the lens kit, too! I'll think of you everytime I saddle up with my 5-ton L behemoths! But I did finally get a 24-85mm like yours (sold the 28-135IS) and really take it just about everywhere!

For some reason, your Big Sky photos remind me of this one from Utah:

http://rtr.ca/recent/z0057487.jpg

I just wish the quilted clouds had hung around for another 20 minutes (sunset!).

Cheers

Isn't this the place where they shot the Real World Seattle a few years ago? Looks familiar....

I can't quite work out what "Real World Seattle" is/was, but I did discover it was at pier 70, so no that picture is not it. Pier 70 is on the other side of the Edgewater hotel (which is where the picture was taken from).

My fav was Deception Pass, but there were loads of runners-up!

There are a few other moody pictures of Deception Pass here:

http://www.norman.cx/photos/default.asp_Q_ST_E_1_A_F_E_20030627

Good choices on the lens kit, too! I'll think of you everytime I saddle up with my 5-ton L behemoths! But I did finally get a 24-85mm like yours (sold the 28-135IS) and really take it just about everywhere!

I'm very glad that I got the 24-85 rather than the 28-135. I love my other two lenses as well. Didn't think I would have an "L" (even if it is a "cheap" one) this early on...