Strutting their Stuff

I wish I could have been there but I would have probably been too interested in the camera settings to enjoy the show. This pair performed in front of what I have called my "carcass cam" which has had lots of coincidental activity but very little attention directed toward the raccoon carcass that has been cropped out in this image.

Spring Turkeys

Spring is here and turkeys are noisy, busy, and on  the move. There are a couple dozen turkeys at Townsend Woods SNA that I have been trying to record for the last 6 months. The only shots have been distant shots with them walking away. This trail cam was in place for a month and recorded these birds. Some of the birds seem to be aware of the camera attached to a tree. 

Spring Gold

Brown is still the predominate woodland color so marsh marigolds are a beacon of color in the woods. The ground is a little soft and it was a challenge to stand in muck to my ankles while composing the image. You might call it photographer's yoga.

Technical: Vignette applied in Lightroom to darken the top of the frame. F22 with focus on the top of the front flower's petal. 

Rue or False

White with green leaves can be so many things in the spring woods.  The common Rue Anemone and False Rue Anemone can be differentiated by the deeply lobed leaves of the false rue anemone.  My inclination is to get tight with wildflowers but to get an ID the leaves need to be in the image. Even then it can be difficult to get the right species.
Technical: Multiple apertures were shot to get the best background blur and still maintain sharp flowers. Manual focus on the stem of the smaller flower was used to divide the range of focus.

Dutchman's Breeches

I love the common names of flowers. I'm sure there are a variety of regional names but I can see the upside down Dutchman's pants (ala Dutch Boy Paints) on a line that were seen by pioneers when looking at this flower. A related flower has the name squirrel corn, bleeding hearts also have a similar shape.

Technical: This flower is one of those tough to photograph ephemerals because of its constant motion and a relatively deep depth of field needed to show them well.

Spring in Lamar Canyon

Spring run off frequently brings flooding and dread in the prairie states. It brings excitement when I see the normally sedate mountain rivers suddenly full of life and energy. This was filmed last May in the Lamar Canyon. Turning the volume up only approximates the deafen roar that was heard at the river's edge.

Spring green has started

The other ephemerals are now in bloom and hepatic starts about the same time as snow trillium but the trillium has the earliest leaves, not counting the skunk cabbage whose flower is non-descript. With rain predicted for the weekend it will be a great time to get some shots with April showers and ephemerals. The next two weeks promise to be magical, not as raucous as migrating birds but equally impressive.

Technical: The leaf in the lower left corner shows the relative size of the trillium. I rarely shoot in midday light but the flowers are fully open only during that time.

Chinese Garden Evening

For some this might be a restaurant review but this is an area on the way into Mammoth that according to legend was used to grow vegetables and herbs for the Mammoth Hotel in the early days of Yellowstone. I spent an evening last May watching a herd of bison move in on a couple geese who were not happy about their guests. 

Painted Hills Abstract

My favorite lens is the 10-22 wide angle lens but at the Painted Hills there were opportunities to use a telephoto lens. The challenge was getting lines and shapes in balance.

Technical: WB at 7500

Waiting for color

I arrived as the moon was setting through the clouds and the eastern sky was overcast. The meadowlarks were singing but no color. Finally the sun broke through for a minute or so, just long enough to arrange a few compositions. All in all, a memorable morning.

Painted Hills

Oregon has tremendous diversity and is a photographer's dream. One out of the way treasure is a national monument known as John Day Fossil Beds. Mitchell is the nearest town, population 103, and has a great drive through coffee shop for the caffeine starved photographer. I'm starting with this shot to give a sense of place.  My daughter has been our tour guide. You can see her images of Oregon at: Forty-five Degrees North

Calm waters

Another shot from the Ecola overlook with a different technique. The wind and waves have a calming, mesmerizing effect that I have attempted to convey using an eight second exposure to smooth out the waves. The contrast between the smooth water and rough rock seems to be more pronounced with this technique.
Technical: variable density filter used to create slow shutter speed

Spring Break

We are in the Portland area for Easter and travelled to Cannon Beach yesterday. Ecola State Park is a great site to hike and watch the waves. It also allowed me to experiment with long exposures to slow the wave action. The challenge was getting a unique image during a very short visit.
Technical: 1/30 second exposure, WB 5000