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I just received the Nikon 24mm f/2.8 that day, I was very excited so I went to Lake Washington to test it out.  When I was almost there, I realized there’s no battery in the camera, I have took it out for charging.  Since this lake is so close to where I live,　I didn’t  bring my camera bag, I have only brought my camera, the lens and the tripod.   I am without spare battery.    Without any other options, I have no choice but to return to my apartment to pickup the battery.

It is starting to get dark at this time, so I was worried I won’t have enough time to do this.  I can’t test the lens when there’s no light outside.  I almost didn’t go.  But my urge for testing that lens is so strong that I rushed home, pickup the lens, and rushed over to the lake.

I am  so glad I did go to the lake that day.  It was perfect timing, the whole sky is in red and orange above the lake, we have a sunset!  Sunset is very rare in Seattle, I would say out of the 365 days in a year, we might be able to see an actual sunset in only 5 of those days, so I was very very lucky to be in this situation.  So I set the tripod quickly, put the camera on and fire away.

Lake Washington is a very big lake, there are multiple access points to it throughout Seattle.  I was at the Meydenbauer Beach Park in Bellevue when I was taking these pictures.  The Meydenbauer Beach Park is not a big park,  but it is very popular amongst the locals.  People love to take their kids and their dogs here.  It is also a very good place for just walking around, rest, relax and watch the calming scenery.  People also swim and fish here during summer months.  The water temperature now is of course a bit too low for swimming.

This old Nikon 24mm has no auto-focus function so I have to focus manually for every shots.  This is hard for someone who are so use to auto-focus like myself.  Especially after dark, I can’t even tell where are the focus points.  The one good thing about this lens is that it is not complicated.  For most situation, all I need to do is turn the focus ring to infinity and most shots will be in the clear.  It turn out to be a non-issue.  At the end, I actually think this old lens works a lot better compare to my other auto-focus lens.

This is where people jump of for a swim during the summer months.  The end of this dock is a popular spot for fisherman to cast their line.  The rules say you can’t run on the dock, you can’t ride your bicycle on the dock and you can’t jump to the lake from the dock.  Of course, most young people will simply ignore these.  You can still see a lot of people running around the dock and jumping into water from the dock during summer time.  Hey, you build a dock by the lake and you expect people to not jump in from the dock?  Give them a break :)

From far, the sun is setting quickly, disappearing below the treeline, only leave behind a strip of red and orange, for the memory of those who have enjoyed the scenery.

/Lumaca Moderno

Next:  Seattle Travel Diary | Sunset On Lake Washington – Part 2