Push and Pull

I picked up a new mirrorless camera recently, and took it with me to the waterfront one day before work. I don't have a long telephoto lens for it yet (and wouldn't normally carry one of those around with me anyway), so I've been learning to live without the tight framing that I'm accustomed to. Yes, I know that I could simply crop the photo down, but I think there's something to be said for letting things seem small because they're far away.

In any event, these are two grain carriers. The one in the foreground (such as it is) is being maneuvered into position to dock at the terminal by the tugboats. The one in the background (with the blue hull) had just left said terminal, and was starting to head up Puget Sound. Given that it's name was written in Chinese on the rear of the hull, I'm presuming that it's headed off to Asia.

It's interesting to watch the ships come in riding high in the water, their red belts clearly visible, only to leave a few days later with a good 20 or so feet of their hulls now below the waterline. For all the fact that I've lived in the Seattle area for more than two decades, I'm just now really understanding that Seattle is a working port. I suppose that it's just never really been a part of town I spent much time in until now.