I have a customer here on Whidbey Island that wants a panoramic photo of the view from his property. But he wants it on a clear sunny morning. We had a few days of rain and I had hoped that it would have cleared up the haze but Tuesday morning found me ready but it was too hazy.

I saw him at the Freeland post office Wednesday and we both hoped that the air would clear up before September. Wednesday morning I had a phone message from him almost yelling "The sky is clear. It's perfect!" Unfortunately, for him, I was on the ferry for a day of meetings in Seattle.

My first stop was to meet Don who was house sitting a house boat on Lake Union. He's a photographer. I did a website for him. He has been wanting to have me do some prints for him for a project he is working on. We've been looking for a printer.

It's not obvious but all these houses are floating on Lake Union in the middle of Seattle. They used to be cheap housing during the Depression and after WWII but they are very expensive now.

He's watching a cat a watering the plants of a friend that's on a trip. It's the large brown house on the left. There is 56 feet of water under it. It's an interesting community including people that have been living there since the 1950s and 1960s, when the houses were cheap, to new rich owners.

We were going to meet the owner of a company, John, that sells framed art to furniture chains. His office was in Pioneer Square near the Seattle Seahawks home field. We parked and walked up to his office.

John's office was in an old brick building built in the early 1900s. He was late so we headed on down to the restaurant to meet him for lunch.

Right across from Safeco Field. Both John and Don need large inkjet prints done on demand. I'm not sure what will come of this but it has lots of interesting possibilities. The food was good, too.

We walked back to John's office for more discussion. He is on the fourth floor so we took the freight elevator up.

An elemental elevator. Open at the top. Then the three of us walked up to central Pioneer Square to see a friend of Don's.

His friend works for a very interesting stock photo agency called digitalrailroad.net. It's a new paradigm for stock photos. The photographer keeps 80% of sales. What a concept! A day of making contacts. Then Don and I went up to Glazers to look at an Epson 3800. Then it was back to the houseboat. Nothing decided but lots to think about. I did come away with something.

Don lent me his Nikon F3 HP with a motor drive, a 35/2 lens and a 105/2.5 lens.

I've got it loaded with Kodachrome. The meter doesn't seem to be doing what it's supposed to but everything else is amazing. I might have something set wrong. Incredible camera. Don also has a lot of Norman lighting stuff he is willing to lend me, too. I have friend who has the space to use it. Hopefully, I can get that stuff up to the Island in a few weeks. By the end of the day my head was ready to explode. It was good to get back to the Island.