Beauty In Focus

The Photo Blog's Back!

2011-11-11T15:25:00.001-08:00

It's been far too long, but I have now completed school and am embracing this photography hobby with more fervor than ever. Thanks to Google, the site has a new look, and I'll also try some new directions with this blog's format. Any input with regards to what you would like to see would be greatly appreciated.

I am hoping this blog will be a place where friends and family come to enjoy my recent photography, and may also be inspired to grow in your own photography. Please feel to ask any photography related questions you may have in the post comments.

I'll shamefully toot my horn in this first post back by showing the two photos that placed in wildlife refuge contests this year. The first photo of a wood duck landing in autumn reflections won first place in the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge's contest.

Landing In Autumn

The second photo of the winding road won honorable mention in the Friends of Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge's annual photo contest.

Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

Thanks for checking this once dead site out again, and please visit again soon!

Not Much Time For Blogging

2010-11-13T15:23:00.000-08:00

Lately I have busy enough with both work and school that I have not had the time to blog. However, I do enjoy trying post four or so photos per week on my Flickr stream, and writing a few lines with each post (micro blogging to a degree). I may not be posting here for a while, but if you are interested in keeping up with me photos, check out the link below to my Flickr page, and also the RSS link to my Flickr photostream. Thanks for stopping by!

My Flickr Photostream

My Flickr RSS Feed

Fernhill Wetlands

2010-10-23T23:29:00.000-07:00

long-billed dowitcher

Two weeks ago Bruce and I went out to Fernhill Wetlands in Forest Grove, Oregon on a weekday after work. We slowly crept up to the muddy, receding edge of the water to get close to several long-billed dowitchers. We hunkered down, and the dumb birds just forget about you if you don’t move much or move quickly (hence the term, “bird brain”). One thing I have learned in the past year is to make sure to include reflections in wildlife shots and nature landscape photos near water. It is too easy in the heat of the moment to leave the reflection out.

long-billed dowitchers in flight

long-billed dowitcher foraging in late afternoon light

We were also fortunate to get a flyby from one of the few American white pelicans left from the summer at the wetlands. After this rainy weekend, they should be heading south for the weekend. It is so impressive to see these huge birds fly completely silently overhead. As I have previously mentioned, they have a 9 ft wing span!

American white pelican in flight

Just before we left, one of the great egrets at the wetlands flew near. This is my first egret shot from the wild, and one I am quite pleased with. The migrating water fowl will be arriving en mass very soon, and I am eagerly anticipating their arrival!

great egret in flight

Newport, Oregon Coast

2010-10-09T09:19:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago my mom and dad came down to visit my wife and I. They rented a cabin up on a bluff overlooking the ocean just south of Newport, and the four of us made a weekend of it on the coast. It was so wonderful! We had so much fun being there together. The central Oregon coast is so pretty, I could have spent two weeks in that cabin and gone out to photograph something different and equally beautiful and interesting each day.

Waves crashing on the rocky shore of Depoe Bay

Depoe Bay sunset

Depoe Bay is such a pretty town. It has a rocky coast that the waves can splash high up on, and when the seas are rough, spray right on to the main street. We had a wonderful dinner overlooking the bay, watching gray whales surface, and then went down on the rocks to photograph some waves and watch the sun set. Spectacular!

Dad and I rose early on Saturday morning to shoot the Yaquina Head Lighthouse at sunrise. Yaquina Head is such a treat. Not only is the light house there so fun to photograph, but there is so much wildlife down below in the cove. There were harbor seals, and many birds, including brown pelicans, pelagic cormorants, gulls (of course), American oyster catchers, and a great blue heron, which dad got about 30 feet or so from!

Yaquina Head Lighthouse

American oyster catcher

Brown pelican in flight

Great blue heron patiently waiting for breakfast

Dad and I also pulled off the road on our way back to the rental house on Saturday evening to shoot the Yaquina Bay Bridge as the night’s fog was rolling in. We had fun here as I showed dad how to shoot some long exposures, and he had a world class view to learn on. Such a good weekend, Traci and I enjoyed it so much. I’m thankful my family had the patience to wait for me to take photos, as I rarely get the time to spend three days out in such a pretty place with my camera. That said, it was not long enough, and there was so much we did not see. I return trip is a must.

Yaquina Bay bridge at the entrance of the harbor in Newport, Oregon

Ramona Falls

2010-10-03T08:55:00.000-07:00

Last month, Traci and I spent a weekend morning driving to Mount Hood to hike the Ramona Falls loop. It’s 7.5 miles with some moderate climbing. This is one of the prettiest falls within reach of the Portland metro area. I paused in awe when we first crested a hill and walked down in the area up against the rock wall where the falls flowed down. I found it very difficult to make a nice composition here. These falls are very flat and it’s difficult to create much depth in a frame. As always, it was so much better being there, but I was glad to come away with these two photos, just as I am looking forward to returning some day.

Oneonta Falls

2010-09-27T23:00:00.000-07:00

My friend Bruce and I took the short trek up the Oneonta Gorge a few weeks ago (the blogging has been too irregular again). This is such a unique location, one that should be visited if you are around the Portland area and enjoy the outdoors. After climbing over a 40 year old log jam, it was roughly a half of a mile hike through this narrow gorge, and in one spot late in the summer, still waste high in ice cold water. I may have shrieked, I don’t recall.

I was amazed to first see this water fall. It is so tight at the front of this gorge, and is so simple and so beautiful. Since it is in a tight spot in the Gorge, there are not many original photos that can be taken here. But I poked around and tried to get some good compositions, before my fingers turned blue and I couldn’t press the shutter anymore! I had a great time out in this gorgeous spot with Bruce, and I’m sure I will get back some day for even more.

Down Town Portland, Dawn and Dusk

2010-09-15T20:08:00.000-07:00

I got out twice in the past at the end of August to shoot the beautiful down town Portland from the East Bank Esplanade, once at sunrise, and the other at sunset. The East Side Esplanade is a popular location and an easy spot to take photos from. I would like to continue to familiarize myself with the down town area by the Willamette River waterfront, as this is such a pretty location to take sunrise and sunset photos from of this beautiful city.

This first photo of the Hawthorne Bridge is taken about twenty minutes before sunrise on a clear day, yielding the dark blue sky that is just getting the day’s first light. I really like these blues, and in this window very nice and evenly lit photos can be taken.

The second photo, this time of the Morrison Bridge, was taken about half of an hour or so after sunset, getting a balance of setting sunlight and city lights illuminating the underside of this cloud that was moving over the bridge. This photo may just be my favorite photo that I have taken to date. The thirty second exposure gave the silky look of the water and the traffic head and tail lights appearing as ribbons of light. I took many photos on this evening, but the window of perfect light was only as it is shown here, even between the dusk light and the city lights, for about two minutes. The secret is being in position for a nice composition and ready to shoot, prepared to get lucky and get great light as the sun sets or rises. More often though, the best light is just before the sun rises or after it sets, so don’t pack up and leave too early!

Western Sandpipers

2010-09-09T19:07:00.000-07:00

The more serious I get about photography, the more I realize that each time I go out shooting I need to commit to and hope to get one good shot. Anything good photos in addition to that one is icing on the cake. Sometimes I come away with nothing though, which can be discouraging, and make playing video games more productive.

There are some mudflats at the Jackson Bottom Wetland park in Hillsboro, Oregon, where in the summer sandpipers forage for what I don’t know what in the shallows and the mud. I had an image in my mind of these birds with the early morning sun at my back and the bird’s reflection in the shallow water. I sat in one spot, barely moving for an hour and a half while the bird became more accustom to me being there. After this time and many frames taken, I got an image that I was thrilled with and has been my most viewed photo on Flickr.

Study Break at Cannon Beach

2010-09-07T19:38:00.000-07:00

During the busy summer school term, Traci made me take one Saturday evening off and we headed out to Cannon Beach. We are so fortunate to live so close to such a gorgeous location that I love to visit, though not enough. It was much needed, and so wonderful. Traci built a fire (she loves camp fires) while I chased a good composition of the sunset.

It was so fun and so relaxing. I’m so fortunate to have such a great wife to drag me out when she sees that I need it!

Roses

2010-09-06T09:13:00.000-07:00

When Traci returned home from being gone for a week, I welcomed her with two dozen pink roses. It goes without saying that this needed to be documented. I focused on macro photos. I have said before, that I find flower photography probably most difficult. I do enjoy shooting flowers, their beauty does catch me.

So with all three extension stacked on 70-200mm lens, all mounted on the tripod, I mulled around the bouquet of roses for about hour. I took each composition at four different apertures to later see which depth of field suit the image best.

In the future, I would like to play more with light from the flash, though new equipment needs to be purchased to get the flash off of the body. That’s not high on the priority list right now though.

Garden Spider

2010-08-31T17:01:00.000-07:00

The rhododendron bush just outside our dining room window was home to a few garden spiders this summer. On two occasions, I could not stay in and do homework all day, so I took a quick break to do a portrait session with one of these guests. This image was actually taken from inside our dining room through the window, since this spider’s web was actually anchored on the pane of the window. I did not notice until I zoomed in using the camera’s Live View function that this spider was eating another insect. Gross! But yet so amazing to watch at the same time.

Crown Point

2010-08-28T08:15:00.000-07:00

My friend Bruce (check out Bruce's photos from this evening) and I decided to forego a good night’s sleep and try to capture the northern lights that were reported to maybe be visible as far south as Portland earlier this summer. It was great taking the drive out and having good discussion with Bruce. The air was thick and hazy. We agreed that our chances of seeing the northern lights were gone.

We stopped at Crown Point, a landmark of the Portland area. We enjoyed trying to take some creative images of the Vista House at Crown Point, including light painting. Light painting is “painting” the subject with a flash light during a long exposure. When done right, it can add a pleasant flair to a night photo.

We also each took turns walking around the Vista House and illuminating it through its stained glass while the other took a long exposure. I really like the effect that this gave and would love to try this again some time.

The last photo is unique due to the thick and moist haze from this evening. It was taken from the east side with the city lights from Portland glowing in the haze. There is not much done to this photo in post processing to get this effect. It was achieved only by the long exposure itself.

St. John's Bridge

2010-08-26T20:38:00.000-07:00

Last month, Traci and I spent a Friday late evening out at the St. John’s Bridge in North Portland. This is my favorite bridge in Portland. I have heard that its designer is the same man who designed San Francisco's famed Golden Gate Bridge. With my tripod and cable release, to achieve as sharp of an image as possible by reducing even the slightest vibration as possible while the slow shutter is open.

I have learned to watch the histogram and get each photo as bright as possible without loosing the highlights for dusk and night exposures. Detail in city lights will need to be forfeited, regardless of any exposure compensation. There is just no way to catch them, but there is not really any need to either.

If you enjoy photography, and are not yet familiar with the histogram, it is a tool that will significantly help you understand the proper exposure of each image. The histogram is invaluable to get a amount of light and detail correctly exposed. Check out Michael Reichmann’s guide to Understanding Histograms to learn more.

My Parent’s Flower Garden

2010-08-25T17:43:00.000-07:00

Way back in June, just before the summer school term began, Traci and I visited my home town for a week. My parent’s have a beautiful flower gardner that I just love spending time in. My mother meticulously keeps it in perfect shape. I found it very difficult trying to find a composition of flowers that I liked. In my opinion, after just a little experience with flowers, composition is what makes or breaks a flower photograph. This is true for most photographs, but especially so for flower photographs. In the picture above is of Lady's Mantle from mom's flower garden. It is my favorite flower composition, but certainly not the prettiest flower in her garden.

This bird pictured above is of a mourning dove on the bird bath in mom’s garden. These birds are not as afraid of humans compared to most other birds, so I was able to get quite close to this dove. I used the external flash mounted on top of the camera to fill the light and give a definitive catchlight in the dove’s eye.

This macro photo of a bee was a lucky catch. Using my extension tubes (forcing me to manually focus), I chased this bee all over the garden, blasting away as I tried to keep the bee in focus. With such a close focus distance, the depth of field was very short. Holding the shutter open with the camera peeling off images in burst mode increased my chances to get a sharp shot. This photo above was the sharp one, and you don't get to see the one hundred or so frames that were not sharp!

American White Pelican

2010-08-24T17:59:00.000-07:00

I have seen photos from other local bird photographers of six American White Pelicans at the Fernhill Wetlands out in Forest Grove, Oregon, about a half hour from our place. It was the still cool on the morning of a day that even the bird’s knew was going to be a hot one. They had already began trying to sleep the long and hot day away. One pelican flew over to the reservoir near the path where the light was good, and circled in front of me for an hour and a half. I took about seven hundred frames of this bird, as it circled and looked for fish. It stabbed at the water many times attempting to get some fish, but I never saw it catch a fish of a decent size. White pelicans usually work together to catch fish more effectively. It was tough to try and narrow my favorite images of this big and beautiful bird (they have a wing span of 9 ft!), but here are my favorite three.

Sunset Lesson Learned

2010-08-23T18:50:00.000-07:00

On Friday evening the clouds looked as though they may yield a spectacular sunset. Traci and I grabbed the gear and went a couple of miles down the freeway to the nearby Commonwealth Lake Park, where I have captured some of my favorite bird photographs. All was setting up well after we arrived. The photo here was one of the first frames I exposed. After the sun set, the light just kept to get more and more dull and flat. We agreed that the light was done for the day, packed up and left. We drove a couple of miles to get frozen yogurt, just glad to be together again after Traci had been gone for a week. We pulled into the mall parking lot, and saw the sky glowing with stunning pinks and purples. It was a frustrating moment, but a lesson of light I have heard before, but after Friday night will never forget. Stay at the scene of sunsets a good half hour after the sun disappears, as the best light often happens well after the sun has gone down.

Back Blogging

2010-08-21T17:11:00.000-07:00

Though my summer school term was so busy, I did get out and shoot a couple of times. Each outing was much so relaxing and much needed, as I spent almost each waking hour of those eight weeks either working or doing homework.

An early morning was spent at the Jackson Bottom Wetlands. A bald eagle flew past as I was watching some great blue herons. Some of the images of the eagle showed that gave me a sinister look as I disrupted his morning flight with the burst of my shutter. These are huge and impressive birds to watch. I enjoy each opportunity to watch eagles.

The cedar waxwing is one of my favorite local birds. It is very colorful and has some nice sharp and detailed lines. It is so difficult to catch a image of these birds, as they dart about so quickly, and rarely seem to perch even long enough to raise the camera and take a single exposure.

The last image here is of a common song sparrow, that was doing what it was named for, singing! I enjoy the look captured here while the sparrow was “belting it out”. So often good photographs are great moments well captured.

Unbelievably Busy

2010-06-29T21:08:00.000-07:00

This current summer school term looks like it will be incredibly busy, from start to finish at the end of August. Fortunately I will have a one month break then. During this term I don't anticipate many chances to get out shooting, let alone time to process photos, so I will leave a slideshow of my favorite photos from other photographers on Flickr. Most of these are spectacular photos, and I appreciate the skill and dedication that many of these photos required to get. I hope you enjoy them as I did!

Flickr slideshow of my favorite photos from other photographers

If you enjoy photography and don't yet share your photos on Flickr, it is a great way to post your photos, and see other people's work there and learn from it as well. And best of all, it's free!

Father's Day

2010-06-22T22:17:00.001-07:00

I was fortunate to have the chance to spend Father’s Day with my family for the first time in eight years. It was a great day. I have an amazing father who has lovingly modeled great character ever since I can remember, and I appreciate him so much.

Dad and I set our alarms early on Sunday morning, and headed up to the Myra Canyon of the old Kettle Valley Railway just outside of my home town of Kelowna, British Columbia. We were there on a bike ride a couple of days previously, and saw some interesting spring water run off beside the bike path that we were both eager to return to to try and make some compositions of. The photos were tougher to make look good than I thought they would be. Making great compositions is not a strength or gift of mine. I prefer to catch moments, as I am more of a technician than an artist.

On the walk back to the truck we spotted a little chipmunk on the side of the old railway bed. I quickly pulled my 400mm lens out of my bag and changed the camera settings to suit the long lens, flopped down on my belly to get to the cute little rodent’s eye level with the camera, and snapped away until he got tired of getting his photos taken and left.

There is a beautiful yet distant view of Kelowna from one of the turns on June Springs Road. Dad could not keep himself from stopping on the trip back, despite us being late for breakfast, and we pulled out the gear again for this landscape. Here is a stitched panoramic photo I snapped from that location. It was a hazy morning, and the light was nothing special, but we still could not pass up the opportunity. It was so nice to enjoy such a gorgeous morning morning with my dad!

Hummingbird

2010-06-17T00:14:00.000-07:00

Photos of hummingbirds seem more amazing than so many other nature photos. Since I began taking photography more seriously last year, I've being wanting to catch a photo of a hummingbird. However, it is not as easy as just grabbing one’s camera and chasing down a hummingbird on a pleasant day.

My parents have a hummingbird feeder on their deck. A pair of Calliope Hummingbirds visit this feeder several times a day. On Monday morning I set up my new tripod, which is sturdy enough to hold my 400mm lens with a flash mounted on it, and positioned the camera toward the portion of the feeder where the hummingbirds most often drink from. With the flash mounted, the camera prefocussed on the bird's anticipated location and the exposure set and tested, I sat on a chair with my cable release in hand and waited for a hummingbird. It took about two hours of waiting, a couple of visits and corrections to the exposure, but I now have a decent hummingbird photo. I was pretty excited to catch this photo, despite completely wasting a good morning to get it.

Back to the Zoo Again

2010-06-12T07:56:00.000-07:00

When Jeff and Tanya's family visited us last month, we took in the zoo on the Monday morning. I've certainly been enough lately, but I could not resist bringing my 400mm lens and my monopod. The monopod allowed me to get some shots at what would normally be far to slow to avoid camera shake, while still not being as clunky and difficult to haul around and set up than a tripod.

My oldest niece, Megan, had a rough go of it. When we were near the monkey house, the roars coming from the nearby Prehistoric Predators exhibit terrified her. Not Gabby though, she couldn’t care less.

Someone Else Has the Photography Bug

2010-06-06T20:24:00.000-07:00

Three weeks ago my brother’s family was down from Canada to visit, as documented in the previous post. The gross disparity in sales taxes between British Columbia and Oregon compelled Jeff to order and have a new Olympus PEN micro four thirds camera shipped to our house and waiting for his arrival. Jeff was eager to use his new camera. Of course, his kids are adorable, and are fantastic photography subjects, but Jeff wanted to get out and see this beautiful city he came to visit and spend some time taking photos with me. While the sunset we hoped for never became brilliant, here are a couple of photos I caught on our walk in down town Portland.

When dusk had settle in and the quite capable image stabilization could no longer give Jeff sharp photos, I insisted he use my tripod. He was instantly amazed and excited by the quality of photos that he was able to get at in front of this beautiful scene. These last two are a couple of Jeff’s photos form that evening.

Invasion From The North

2010-06-03T20:38:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago my brother and his family visited us from Canada. We had a great time together over a five day weekend. The weather kept us inside most of the time, but which seemed fine by my sister-in-law, Tanya, since she enjoyed shopping, being treated to no sales tax here in Oregon (compared to British Columbia's 13% combined sales tax).

My nieces, Megan and Gabby, and my little nephew, Martin, were their normal energetic selves. Traci and I tried to get a few photos of the kids, but it is very difficult trying to catch photos of them that are sharp while they are bouncing around and moving at what seems like 100 miles per hour. It was so great how seriously Megan took her dancing routines, how energetic Gabby is, and see Martin tote around his little ducky all weekend.

Traci took a video of the kids and herself dressed all up dancing. It received a lot of comments on Facebook. We had so such a great time with Jeff and Tanya and really appreciated them making the long trip with their kids to see us. Traci took many photos as well, but here are just a few of my favorites that I took.

And here is what you have all been waiting for, the video of the weekend's dance party. There are so many things to enjoy in this clip!

Spotted Towhee

2010-05-22T19:14:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I decided to clear my head from homework by spending a couple of hours at the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge. I saw a bald eagle, but didn’t get a chance to take any photos of it. I did get quite close to a spotted towhee, which I have never got a single photo of before. I was already excited enough, but this pretty pretty much posed and smiled for me in a bush full of little white blossoms. The below photo made my evening, and is now hanging up in our house. This towhee has a bright red eye, which I think makes the photo.

There were also some tiny little ducklings. I’m please, not thrilled, with this one photo. It does not show how funny it was to see these tiny ducklings bobbing up and down in the water with each little wave. Once again, I was fortunate to catch a couple of nice photos at the refuge. I find that this is happening more often as I become more familiar with this refuge.

Rowena Crest Flickr Meetup

2010-05-14T22:07:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago I was invited to a Portland area Flickr group meetup at Rowena Crest in the Columbia Gorge to catch a sunrise together with fellow photographers at a great spot for wild flowers overlooking the Gorge. Rowena Crest is an hour and a half east of Beaverton, so I set my alarm for 3am on a Saturday morning. I was surprised to see about two dozen other crazed photographers out despite the ridiculously early time. A committed bunch, that is for certain. Photography is a popular and growing hobby here in the Portland area. And, good photos happen when most people are sleeping.

However, the clouds did not get the memo about this meetup. They pretty much ruined what we all hoped to be a spectacular sunrise. Due to the lack of spectacular light, there was more visiting than taking of photos. Most people just gave up altogether, but I tried to salvage some shots. Five or so people came back the next day when the weather was to be more clear, and did manage to capture some good shots.

I've been weighed down with a lot of homework and work in the month past, so the shutter has not been pressed much. It will be fairly slim for the next year or so as I finish my degree. I sure enjoy getting out in nature when I can, it usually makes my day, if not my week.

Little Goslings

2010-05-05T21:20:00.000-07:00

Here are just a couple photos of some little two week old gosling from a rather fruitless visit Dawson Creek Park. I went searching for a great horned owl nest that I have heard was at the park, but I could not find it. The goslings are pretty cute, and I couldn't resist posting these. Notice the backlight from the sun highlighting the fuzzy hair on these little goslings. It's not uncommon for portrait or product photographers to put some light behind their subject to give definition to the edges.

Tulip Field Sunrise

2010-05-03T23:04:00.000-07:00

Great landscape photos are taken at and around sunrise and sunset. The hourly weather report for Sunday morning, April 11 showed there was to be patches of rain and cloud. This type of patchy spring weather can make for amazing sunrises if you get lucky. Sunday morning’s sunrise was not perfect, but it was still pretty good. Worth getting up early for.

My day began at 4:30am to make the fifty minute drive south to the Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm in Woodburn. There I ran into two other local photographers, Greg and Gary, whose work I respect and enjoy seeing on Flickr. Together we watched the dim light turn into a glow as we paced the front of the tulip fields searching for the perfect place to set up our tripods.

The above photo is actually an HDR photo (high dynamic range). I purchased Photomatix software which has the capability of merging several photos taken at different exposures to even out the shadows and the highlights. and give a picture closer to what my eye actually saw that morning.

Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival - Easter Weekend

2010-04-24T07:45:00.000-07:00

My parents were down to visit us over the Easter weekend. For the most part, the weather was a cold mess, but at least it didn't snow. The four of us were each armed with a camera and spent three hours each trying to capture what our eye saw, and our artistic interpretation of the gorgeous and colorful tulip fields given the lens we each had.

click here for Flickr slideshow (9 photos)  

I had the 70-200mm lens and concentrated more on isolating interesting tulips, while dad and Traci both had wide angle zoom lenses (17mm-50 or 70mm) and mom had a point and shoot camera.   We all enjoyed the time in the tulip fields. If you have never seen them, it is worth the trip. These fields are just so pretty to see.

Below are dad's two favorite photos after we touched them up in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. He was amazed how quickly this software could make a photo look great!

Mom is not into photography to the degree that the rest of us are, but she sure enjoys flowers. So, she didn't mind us taking so long taking photos.

Here is a photo of Traci that mom took. This is the technique Traci used to get the shot that was everyone's favorite from the previous post.

Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival - March Visit

2010-04-17T19:37:00.000-07:00

At the end of March, my lovely wife and I headed out to the Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm for the first open Saturday of their spring Tulip Festival. We arrived at opening, 9am, to find that many other area photographers had also been waiting all winter for this morning as well. The light was not ideal, but was good enough. It was kind of a hazy but sunny morning. We were there early enough, and it was cool enough to still catch some dew on the tulips.

click here for my Flickr slideshow (13 photos)

Traci and I had both of our camera bodies along, one with the 17-50mm wide angle zoom lens for landscape and interesting wide angle perspective photos of the flowers and the fields, and the other with the 70-200mm lens, sometimes used with extension tubes to get macro shots including the morning's dew. We exchanged cameras a few times through the morning as we each grew restless with the less that we were using.

click here for Traci’s Flickr slideshow (16 photos)

It was great to see Traci have so much fun with the hobby that I've come to enjoy so much. Some of these photos in each of our slideshow are now displayed in a little photo gallery on top of our kitchen cabinets in our home. Traci’s slideshow also includes pictures from our Easter Sunday visit with my parents. That outing just may be the next post.

A Spring Visit to Dawson Creek Park

2010-04-15T22:25:00.000-07:00

click here for Flickr slideshow (9 photos)

The Saturday past I stopped in at Dawson Creek Park after calculus class. I was hoping to find a nest of horned owls that is there right now, but is was not to be. Almost each time I go to this park, I catch an interesting moment and photo. This time, just after I noticed that most of my favorite little wood ducks had left for the summer, having already fled the warm weather for colder weather, I came across a red-breasted sapsucker bellied up to a tree trunk getting all the sap he could for lunch. I was fortunate to get closer to him than my 400mm lens could focus at before he got uncomfortable.

Then on my way back to the car, I came across five one week old goslings eating at the grass buffet. Again, I was able to get very close to these little baby geese. To my surprise. the parents were more concerned about other geese getting too close to their young than they were about me! At least I appear likable and trustworthy to something! I know, it’s because we come from the same country.

Lastly, I saw a canvasback duck for the first time. The canvasback male's distinct red eye sure jumped out, though he was not as used to being around people and was quite skittish. I had a difficult time getting close to him for a portrait, though I did manage one decent shot. Once again, Dawson Creek did not let me down and gave me two interesting moments and good photographic opportunities.

Rescued Exotic Birds

2010-04-05T13:15:00.000-07:00

click here for Flickr slideshow (5 photos)

Traci and I were at the Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm Saturday last weekend and again yesterday with my parents while they were in town (photos to come of course). One of the tents at the Tulip festival caught my attention more than the rest. It was of K.C.'s Exotic Bird Rescue Foundation, from Salem. This was a couple who committed themselves to rescuing macaws. Most people know of macaws as parrots. There are many different varieties of these birds. Each bird that was rescued and was on display here had a distinct personality and was very well behaved. Of course, I couldn’t keep my camera down, and my 70-200mm lens was perfect for such a close encounter.

The scarlet macaw was a very social bird. She insisted on always being out and on people’s arms. If she was put in the back of the tent with the rest of the birds, she would squawk and complain. Traci is pictured above holding this gorgeous bird, while trying to keep her distance.

A funny moment occurred when a loud motorcycle passed behind the tent. The umbrella cockatoo’s (the white bird in the photos) feathers all stood out on end and it screeched horribly. Apparently it really didn’t mind, but had spent a lot of time with another bird that was quite disturbed by loud motorcycles, and this cockatoo just learned that’s how a bird is supposed to react to a passing motorcycle.

The little yellow collared mini macaw only wanted love and affection from his owner and rescuer. He snuggled up to his owner's chest while the owner stroked him with his thumbs. This little macaw often had his eyes half closed and seemed to be enjoying it like we enjoy a back rub.

Spring Blossoms

2010-03-23T19:07:00.000-07:00

I love seeing the blossoms begin to open up each spring. It’s a sign of hope breaking through from the dark and gloomy winter. Here in western Oregon, the spring season is gorgeous to see each year. However, enough has been written of that though many writers much better than I.

Due to El Nino and the early spring that it brought, Traci gave me my birthday gift early this year; a set of extension tubes. Extension tubes decrease the minimum focusing distance a lens would normally be capable of. Shooting close to the subject in macro photography is more difficult than I first thought, as it is very difficult to achieve sharp focus on the subject because the depth of field (depth of what is in focus) is extremely shallow by nature. In getting these eight photos below, I shot many, many more exposures that were out of focus and not what my mind's eye had envisioned when I pressed the shutter.

click here for Flickr slideshow (8 photos)

But, when captured well, blossoms are such beautiful photographic subjects. I hope my photos do them justice!

Oregon Zoo

2010-03-15T18:59:00.000-07:00

The Saturday past was my birthday. To treat me, my lovely wife took me on a local photo safari to the Oregon Zoo. I went last year on my own, but I have learned a lot about photography since and also had acquired more gear. The zoo has also added a "Predators of the Serengeti" exhibit, featuring lions and cheetahs from Africa.

click here for my Flickr slideshow (20 photos)

These are not wildlife photos by any stretch. As far as photographing animals, this is the equivalent of shooting fish in a barrel. It’s hard not to get a good photo, but a truly special shot is still difficult (for me) to get, even at the zoo.

I love going to the zoo with my camera. Each visit usually provides a magic moment in an exhibit. This time, we caught the gazelles first thing in the morning butting heads. It was fascinating to witness! Traci really enjoyed photographing the animals, but I am suspicious about her patience to go do that in the wild. Below is a link to Traci’s photo slideshow from that morning (she made some great shots!). Thanks Darling, it was a wonderful treat!

click here for Traci's Flickr slideshow (19 photos)

A Gray Morning At Cannon Beach

2010-03-13T10:01:00.000-08:00

Here are my first shots of this year. We were at Cannon Beach with some good friends and I got up before dawn on Sunday morning to get down to Haystack Rock with the idea of taking some long exposure photos, trying to capture the ocean water in motion.

click here for Flickr slideshow (5 photos)

Unfortunately, the sky was very gray, so I knew at the outset of this shoot that I would need to show these shots in black and white in order for them to be somewhat interesting. These shots are not ideal, but it was good practice shooting landscapes in this style. I want to try to do more of this type of photography this year, as I have been inspired by some gorgeous work like this by some other photographers around the Portland area.

Wood Ducks!

2010-03-04T19:29:00.000-08:00

As already shown here on my blog, Western Oregon has many beautiful birds through all seasons of the year and especially water fowl in the winter months. After searching for some time, I got a tip on the location of four pairs of the somewhat scarce, but gorgeous wood ducks. So, on a recent Saturday morning when I wasn't buried with homework, I headed out to Dawson Creek Park where these ducks lay low through the winter in one of the back ponds. Here are a few photos of what I saw:

click here for Flickr slideshow (5 photos)

In the hour and a half I spent there, none of these wood ducks left the pond, so I never got a change to try to capture any photos of these pretty ducks in flight. However, with some good light, I was quite pleased to capture their elegant beauty, even though are still just ducks.

My Top 10 Photos of 2009

2010-02-27T08:13:00.000-08:00

My photography hobby has grown considerably during 2009. At the beginning of the past year, I was just casually taking photos as I went about with my year old SLR camera. Over this past year I acquired some new gear to overcome some shortcomings. More importantly, I learned to better use my camera gear to make better pictures. I now enjoy getting out as often as I can to make photos during beautiful sunrises, sunsets, or when wildlife opportunities are best.

Inspired by Martin Bailey's annual choosing of his top 10 photos of the previous year (from Martin's episode #224 podcast), here are my top favorite, or top 10 nature, landscape and wildlife photos of 2009. Note that the photo of the lorikeet is from the Oregon Zoo though.

click here for Top 10 Flickr slideshow

Hopefully this year's ten best photos are mostly better than these, as I continue to improve my photography.

I hope you enjoy these, as these shots are some of my favorite work!

A Great Blue Heron and Other Birds at Dawson Creek Park (on a Cold December Day)

2010-02-13T11:17:00.000-08:00

I had such a good time at Dawson Creek Park back in December, and ended up with a lot of photos that I was pleased with. Here are seven more photos from that day to wrap up this series. Each of these photos is of a bird (and the one nutria) that I saw, but where I didn’t get many shots of that bird type of. I do like the two photos of the green-winged teal ducks. I think they each tell a little story.

click here for Flickr slideshow (7 photos)

If you’re sick of these bird photos, change is in the air. I’m going to make an effort to do more landscape photography in 2010, but at the same time, I need to get my money’s worth out of the 400mm lens my lovely wife let me get last November! I won’t be able to keep myself from taking more of these bird photos, at least while the ducks are in their breeding plumage until late spring.

Cackling and Canadian Geese at Dawson Creek Park (on a Cold December Day)

2010-02-11T19:04:00.000-08:00

My day at Dawson Creek last December was full of action. When I arrived, the main pond was literally packed full of cackling geese. Since are big, adn since there were so many, I was able to practice my technique of shooting birds in flight. Here are my best photos of geese from that day.

click here for Flickr slideshow (9 photos)

Mallard Ducks at Dawson Creek Park (on a Cold December Day)

2010-02-10T20:57:00.000-08:00

We all know that mallards are common ducks. They are frequently taken for granted, and rightfully so. However, they are quite pretty in sunlight. I still like taking pictures of them, both male and female.

click here for Flickr slideshow (9 photos)

Ring-Necked Ducks at Dawson Creek Park (on a Cold December Day)

2010-02-08T17:27:00.000-08:00

More from my fun yet cold day at Dawson Creek Park last December. This time it is the ring-necked duck that is featured. The male is easily identified by its bright orange eye, which is quite striking. I was lucky to catch a few of these guys doing high speed fly byes, which, given their small size and the speed at which they fly can be rather difficult. I’m sure glad I’m not trying to get these with film!

click here for Flickr slideshow (4 photos)

Buffleheads and Hooded Mergansers at Dawson Creek (on a Cold December Day)

2010-02-04T22:06:00.000-08:00

Most of you who know me have seen me grow in my enjoyment of photography a lot over the past year, and with that, grow in my enjoyment of birds. Western Oregon seems to have many water fowl in its abundant wetlands, but my favorite is the bufflehead.

click here for Flickr slideshow (7 photos)

Buffleheads are smaller than mallards and the male bufflehead has distinct coloring. They are mostly white, but have dark iridescent portions which often appear black, but in the right light are shown to be green and purple. It's gorgeous in the sun light. There is typically a one or two of them on any pond or in any wetland in Oregon in the winter. Buffleheads are a little more skittish than many other ducks, so catching a great shot of them is more difficult that other birds are.

Male hooded mergansers are stunning and sharp birds in their breeding plumage. With much detail in their winter plumage, tall "hoods" and brilliant orange eyes, it is only natural to want to take their photo. However, it seems they know when I am trying to take their photo, and each time I get ready to push the shutter, they quickly dive under the surface of the water. Here are a few of my hooded merganser shots back from that cold December day. These pictures aren't as spectacular as some of the other birds because of the merganser’s relative scarcity and their skittish behavior.

Some Photos Of My Family

2010-02-02T19:16:00.001-08:00

We were back home for my grandfather's funeral last month. I made a point of taking some photos of my family, I usually do, but in light of Opa's passing, I took pictures of everyone. I took the most pictures of my little nephew, Martin. He is coming up on his first birthday, and is as cute as can be. He smiles so much, and the camera just can't get enough of him.

Even though I try to concentrate this blog on photography, I couldn't help but put a few family pictures up here. But, these family pictures are on Flickr for their photographic reasons, not just because it's a smiling family member!

click here for Flickr slideshow (7 photos)

Birds at Dawson Creek Park (On a Cold December Day)

2010-01-31T19:09:00.000-08:00

Every once in a while when I get out to take photos, everything is perfect. The light, the subject and the moment. Last December I had one of those days. My best photography day of 2009. It was very cold for Portland. Many ponds were frozen over. I went to Dawson Creek Park, right behind the Hillsboro Library having no idea how good it was going to be. Since this pond has a pump stirring the water, it wasn't frozen over completely, so it seemed as though all of the water fowl in Western Oregon gathered there that Friday morning. With the low winter sun at my back, so many birds constantly coming and going, and a walk way around the pond letting me get close to the birds, I was able to get many action shots from approaches, to landings, to close portraits.

click here for Flickr slideshow (10 photos)

I took over 900 photos, hence this post took so long to get posted. I have so many good shots that I like that I will do a series posts, each of different species of ducks and geese from this day (I saw many different kinds). It didn't hurt that I had only had my 400mm lens for a few weeks, in addition to never being in such favorable conditions!

Here are some of my best photos from this day, my best day yet shooting photos of birds and wildlife. It was very difficult and time consuming getting from 900+ down to these top ten. I hope you enjoy them!

Mission Creek, Long Exposures

2010-01-28T19:54:00.000-08:00

While back home in Kelowna over the holidays in December, dad and I got up early one morning to shoot some long exposure photos in Mission Creek. We put on our rubber (gum) boots and walked out into the creek, set up our cameras on the tripods and took some long exposure photos. The winter sky was overcast, as is typical for Kelowna then, making the light very flat in a colorless scene. Because of this, I knew I had to make the final photos black and white. It wasn't a fantastic day for photography, and I would like to do more shooting in creeks like this in the future.

click here for Flickr slideshow (3 photos)

Close Encounter With A Great Blue Heron

2010-01-24T20:37:00.000-08:00

This past week, the sun poked out from behind the rain clouds one afternoon. I was swamped with homework, but decided I needed to clear my mind by taking some more photos of birds. I headed to Commonwealth Lake Park straight from work to catch the last light of the day. When I arrived, I strolled around the lake on the path, and came across the resident great blue heron carefully scouring the water's edge looking for little fish to snack on.I watched him for over an hour and took over 400 exposures of him. He wasn't too concerned about me, just the fish. I was able to get very close to the heron, to the point that my 400mm lens was too much! I wish I would have brought my 70-200mm. I had to back up to get all of the heron in the frame for some shots. None the less, it was a real treat, one of my more memorable outings photographing wildlife.

click here for Flickr slideshow (11 photos)

The slideshow includes three images of other birds I came across other before I met the heron. In order, they are an American wigeon, an American coot and lastly, everyone's favorite, the beloved sea gull (more specifically, I think it's a western gull, but I'm not sure anyone really cares).

Downtown Portland at Dawn

2010-01-19T20:33:00.000-08:00

Early last December I took what I believe to be my best photo yet (the first photo in this post), which was taken of downtown Portland at dawn in early December from the east side of town (near OMSI) with the Hawthorne bridge running into the frame. I was trying to catch a big moon just setting as dawn came to illuminate the sky. I missed the moon, but I caught a deep blue sky at the beginning of dawn.

click here for Flickr slideshow (6 photos)

Two weeks later, the weather was still clear. I decided to try to catch dawn again over Portland, but this time from the west side, high up over the city from Pittock Mansion. I waited to post this image because I had entered it in Martin Bailey's monthly assignment (voting wasn't completed until the middle of the January). The theme of this assignment was "Quiet Light". I tried to capture this with the band of colors that dawn brought that morning over the city while the city light were still glowing. I didn't do too in the contest voting though. There were many great photos to compete with.

Backyard Birds

2010-01-12T17:47:00.000-08:00

While home in Kelowna for the Christmas holidays, I spent a few hours bundled up outside watching and photographing the migrating songbirds. Mom and dad had a bird feeder out all fall and may different kinds of birds have come for the free buffet of seeds.

Though I only got good shots of chickadees and finches for the most part, the California quail and northern flickers are also in abundance. It was amusing to see the finches taking turns on watch for hawks at the top of the spruce tree, as is seen in the last photo of the slide show.

click here for Flickr slideshow (7 photos)

An odd find though is the black squirrel that has been resident for the past two years in the yard. I've never seen one in this color before. Nothing overly exciting here, but there is still beauty in a back yard. Here's just a closer look at what you may see each day in your back yard.

Mission Creek Wildlife

2010-01-09T10:07:00.000-08:00

I'm getting a little out of order trying to catch up from the holidays and before, while I am already so busy getting into the winter term at college. I need to slow down my picture taking, concentrate on school and post the many photos I've taken in the past month.

During the holidays, just after Christmas Day while we were back in Kelowna with family, dad and I put our long lenses on to try to catch some reported owls along Mission Creek. Heading out of the neighborhood, we saw a pair of female mule deer in a field just beside the road. We had to pull over for a few shots.

Once at the creek, we came across several common goldeneye ducks. I've never seen these before. They are quite pretty and I was able to get pretty close to them while lying on an ice shelf on the edge of the creek.

At once, they all took off in a hurry up the creek. I looked back the other way to see a beautiful bald eagle flying toward me with a fresh duck in his grasp. What a sight! I tried to get some shots, but he was too close for my 400mm lens! Being too close is typically not a problem when shooting wildlife.

Here are my photos form that afternoon. The eagle shots are more great moments captured than they are great photos. I hope you enjoy them, but I was thrilled having been there to see it! I will warn you that there is some blood in a couple of photos.

click here for Flickr slideshow (8 photos)

Bald Eagles at Fernhill Wetlands

2009-12-28T12:23:00.000-08:00

Three weeks ago now I spent a morning at the Fernhill Wetlands in Forest Grove, Oregon. The ponds were all frozen over, so there weren't many ducks. However, I did get pretty excited to see a pair over bald eagles in a tree. They seemed content where they were, so I set up my tripod and put the 1.4x extender in front of my new 400mm lens. My tripod can not adequately support the weight of this set up, so I ran into camera shake issues at that effective 560mm focal length.

When the eagles took flight, I was set up (as I had been for an hour and a half) and ready to capture some images. Here are the best of the shots I got that cold morning.

click here for Flickr slideshow (10 photos)

I also was able to get close to a Downy Woodpecker. It was the first time I had seen one of these guys. He just kept hammering away, even with me near so I was able to get a few shots of him as well.

Commonwealth Lake Park (Again)

2009-12-18T17:21:00.001-08:00

I got to spend some of my first weekend with my new birding lens, between writing final exams, at the nearby Commonwealth Lake Park again. I arrived at the park near sunset, and tried to place myself such that I could catch the low and late autumn sunlight in the bird's eyes. I caught some mergansers, wigeons, a mallard a bufflehead, and a great blue heron. Here are some of the shots I got:

click here for Flickr slideshow (8 photos)

Mount Hood at Sunset

2009-12-15T19:43:00.001-08:00

Last week, I headed out east after work on a clear day to take some photos from Rocky Butte Park in East Portland of the sun setting and lighting Mt. Hood. The light was not as good as I had hoped it may be, but of sixty some exposures I made, I am pleased with a couple of them. The mountain looks so pretty when it is clear in Portland, which is seldom in the winter, but more rewarding as it is so pretty covered in snow.

I would love to get a more interesting and slightly clouded sky photographed behind the mountain some day, maybe with a big moon rising behind it or something more interesting in front of it. For now, these shots will have to do.

click here for Flickr slideshow (3 photos)

I would be curious to know which of the three similar shots is your favorite.

Commonwealth Lake

2009-12-13T20:27:00.000-08:00

The weekend in November I rented the Canon 100-400mm zoom lens, I tried to make the most of it. I spent Sunday afternoon out at Commonwealth Lake, where I went for the first time with a camera two days before right after I picked up the lens rental.

There were people feeding the ducks and geese (though there are signs saying they should not do such), so I was able to get quite close to the birds with the food distracting them. There was one double breasted cormorant posing not too far from me. I'm not sure whether he was just air out or trying to show the female cormorants his peeks. Either way, it made for a nice photo.

This lake is full of carp, so the common mergansers have a steady source of food here, as well as herons and eagles.

click here for Flickr slideshow (7 photos)

Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge Photo Blind

2009-12-12T10:46:00.001-08:00

Almost a month ago I rented the Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L lens for a Saturday morning that Bruce and I had reserved at the photo blind in the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge. Bruce and I headed out before dawn (which isn't too early this early at this time of year). However, the fields were not flooded as much as we had hoped, so the water was further from the photo blind. There were reeds that the ducks were hiding behind and so only one shot in the slideshow is actually from the photo blind. We did see a juvenile bald eagle stir up a ruckus, and a kite make a few passes which caused concern among the ducks.

From the photo blind we spent some time on the refuge's patio overlooking the ponds which were full of Northern Pintail ducks and Canadian Geese, which were constantly coming and going.

click here for Flickr slideshow (8 photos)

click here to see Bruce's photos from the refuge

I've done a lot of shooting since I finished my exams, and hope to be adding them here frequently.

First Trip to Fernhill Wetlands and a New Lens

2009-12-09T18:37:00.000-08:00

Two weeks ago Traci let me get a new lens. I was thrilled (thanks Traci)! This one is a long prime lens (Canon 400mm f/5.6 L), which I will mostly use for bird and wildlife photography.

I have really come to enjoy taking photos of birds. There are so many around, and the each (even sea gulls) have such amazing and beautiful detail that can't be easily appreciated.

Last Saturday afternoon, I caught the last 30 minutes of daylight at the Fernhill Wetlands, 20 minutes west of our place in Forest Grove, Oregon. This wetland lets you get close to the water where there is much action in these winter months. Here are just four photos I snapped during my first short visit there. I hope to get back for a longer stay if I can keep warm this coming Friday, which I have off from work and which has a clear weather report at this time.

click here Flickr slide show (4 photos)

I've also taken more bird shots with this new lens which I hope to have posted this weekend.

Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge with Bruce

2009-11-24T17:35:00.001-08:00

Last month Traci and I met Bruce and his wife at Pittock Mansion, when we were each there to make some photos of a full moon rising over Portland during sunset. We have kept in tough since, and last weekend spent half of a day in the photo blind and on the patio overlooking the flooding fields at the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge.

I've been very busy with the fall term coming to an end soon at school, and have yet to get a chance to go through and process my photos. In the mean time, here is a link to Bruce's blog on which he shares his side of the story and his favorite photos from the day.

Bruce McCammon Photography

Columbia River Scenic Highway (in the Rain)

2009-11-19T17:57:00.000-08:00

Last month, I was determined to spend one of my Fridays off from work out in the Columbia River Gorge because it is so gorgeous in the fall. Unfortunately, the Friday that suited me best poured rain all day. I still went. The clouds provided great diffusion of the daylight, so the fall colors were brilliant as long as I could keep the sky out of the frame. I used Martin Bailey's tip for shooting in the rain of bring towels along and keeping the UV filter on the front of my lens wiped frequently. I probably discarded two of every three shots because of rain drops on the lens.

I was most excited to take photos of the winding Columbia River Scenic Highway, but the shots I took at Multnomah Falls and of Wahkeena Falls (just at the parking lot) turned outmatch better. I wanted to lie down on the old highway to compose the shots I had envisioned, but thought otherwise with some traffic on the road. Everyone takes shots of of Multnomah Falls, which is a popular tourist destination and is the subject of many Oregon calendars, but the rain allowed me to get photos without anyone in the them.

I had a lot of fun in three hours in the rain, but got soaked down to my britches. Here are a few of my favorite shots from a typical beautiful but wet autumn day in the Pacific Northwest:

click here for my Flickr slideshow (9 photos)

This post took a while getting up as I had to wait for the voting to close for the October assignment on Martin Bailey's website (October's assignment was to be shot at a 50mm focal length). I was quite please to tie for 5th place in this assignment. My entered photo is the thumbnail for this slideshow, though I did not include it on Flickr, because I preferred the similar, but wider photo more of Multnomah Falls.

Migrating Birds Are Here

2009-11-15T17:43:00.000-08:00

A week ago Friday, I spent some of the morning at the Jackson Bottom Wetlands, in Hillsboro, Oregon. At this time of year there are many geese and so may different kinds of ducks in their brilliant plumage arriving in Western Oregon. I saw many birds but wished for greater focal length for my lens. There is so much beauty and detail to try to capture in so many different birds.

Enough of me condemning myself to you all knowing that my hobbies are progressing much faster than I am aging, as I am enjoying birds so much these days through photography. Here are a few shots from the wetlands last week:

click here for my Flickr slideshow (7 photos)

Oregon State Football Game

2009-11-07T10:37:00.000-08:00

Since it's game day, here's a football post. Back in September (I know, this post is a little late), Traci's sister and brother-in-law took us to an Oregon State Beaver's football game. The Beaver's lost a close game, but we still had a lot of fun.

Traci couldn't keep her 50mm lens from being pointed at her little niece, Jessi, while I couldn't keep from trying to capture an exciting moment on the field. I didn't bring my longer 70-200mm lens, as I thought it may draw some attention.

click here for Traci's Flickr slideshow of OSU's littlest cheerleader (5 photos)

click here for my Flickr slideshow (6 photos)

We'll be going to a Duck's game next weekend, but weather may prevent my camera from attending the game.

Morning Fog in the Nature Park

2009-11-02T19:57:00.000-08:00

Traci and I are moving next month and the one thing I will miss about our apartment is the nearby Tualatin Hills Nature Park. Over the past few years of living here, I've enjoyed going for many runs and some walks through this beautiful and nearby park.

I woke up early on Sunday morning, looked outside, and was excited to see thick fog. I grabbed my camera bag adn headed for the woods. I haven't shot scenes such as this before, so I learning as I went. Each shot I've posted here was taken at a 17mm focal length, my widest of all our lenses. I like the drama and depth this wide angle portrays, together with the mood from the fog.

click here for Flickr slideshow

This posting of photos is out of order though, as I still have some older ones to get to blog about soon.

Victoria Sunrise

2009-10-31T23:00:00.001-07:00

One morning while we were in Victoria earlier this month, I got up early and headed down to the Glencoe Cove Park at Gordon Head Point in Saanich, near Victoria (only one mile from the house we stayed at) to check out the sunrise. This is a beautiful spot, but on this morning, the clouds weren't perfect, but they were good enough.

A couple of interesting things though, was a sea gull that tried to eat a star fish for breakfast. He got one leg of the star fish down, but then the next two hung up on the corner of his beak. There was no way the star fish was going down, but for half of an hour the sea gull tried. It was pretty funny to see. I can't say this has never been me at the dinner table.

Second, were three river otters that were in the cove that I got closer to, and then they came closer to check me out. They were very curious, but after a while they decided that I was too boring and they left, but not before I got a few shots.

click here for a short Flickr slideshow

This is the last post from Victoria. I've got photos for a couple of more posts before I need to be taking more photos yet. Thanks again for visiting.

There's Another Photographer in the Vogt House

2009-10-29T21:15:00.000-07:00

I suppose I had it coming. My wife has has a long interest in photography, but has just dabbled with it a little, and loved taking photos of friends and family with her digital point and shoot camera. When my interest in photography took off this past winter, Traci took notice. She wanted to shoot with me, but I had a hard time letting go of our camera. So I bought Traci a 50mm f/1.4 lens for her birthday, which is great for taking portraits on our crop sensor camera body. I have taught her a lot quite quickly, and she has soaked it up. From the beginning I forced her to learn in manual shooting modes.

This past Saturday she shot some photos of friend's of ours new little baby boy, Nolan, and his big two year old brother, Levi. Pulling out your camera and snapping a photos at an opportune time is very different than doing a shoot, even it is a favor for friends. Traci was frustrated after getting back from our friend's place, but she showed me the photos and they looked great! Traci then touched them up a little in Adobe's new Lightroom 3 beta software. Now they looked fantastic! I'm so proud, but at the same time jealous of my wife. Way to go Darling!

click here for Traci's Flickr slideshow

Traci has a gift and special way with people, and especially with kids. This really shows through in the photos she takes. She is gifted. I really like the photos here of Levi, whose relaxed and somewhat timid personality is captured so well.

Victoria - Beacon Hill Park

2009-10-26T21:58:00.000-07:00

On the Canadian Thanksgiving Monday two weeks ago, our family went to Beacon Hill Park. It is just south of down town Victoria, and was brilliant in full fall colors.The park has a petting zoo that my nieces got quite excited about, and some ponds full of some very tame ducks that I got pretty excited about. Anyways, here are a few of the photos of the animals, flowers and fall colors at Beacon Hill Park earlier this month:

click here for Flickr slideshow

Victoria - Time With Family

2009-10-25T20:19:00.000-07:00

In Victoria, our whole family rented a house together, rather than each getting a hotel room. We all loved it! It was a great to see more of each other and spend more time together while we could during a busy week. My little nephew, Martin, only seems to smile. Naturally, Traci's and my cameras were drawn to this. Here are a few photos of the Vogt family during our week together:

click here for my Flickr slideshow

click here for Traci's Flickr slideshow

I will be following this post this week with photos from beacon Hill Park in Victoria, as well as the beautiful Victoria Harbour. There's no shortage of photos to throw up here, just in which to do it.

Anne and Curtis' Wedding

2009-10-22T20:39:00.001-07:00

A couple of weekends ago we were in Victoria for my brother Curtis' and Anne's wedding. It was a great week, staying in a rented house with my family. It was a great wedding day, the Saturday of the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend. Curtis and Anne were married in a beautiful 150 year old Anglican church (the Church of Our Lord) in downtown Victoria, B.C.

I was the best man, so I wasn't going to take any photos, but I still couldn't resist bringing my new camera. I knew Traci was back at the house taking photos with her birthday present lens of our nieces getting dressed in their flower girl girl dresses.

However, the photographer was rightfully taking photos of Anne, so I took a couple of photos of Curt finishing getting into his suit and of the old church. Here are a few photos then that Traci and I each took on this great day:

my Flickr slideshow of Curt & Anne's wedding day

Traci's Flickr slideshow of Curt & Anne's wedding day

It's been a while since I've posted. I've been out of town and bogged down by the fall school term. I hope to have more posts up in the coming weeks. There are are no shortage of photos, as autumn is my favorite time of year, especially in the north west!

Swifts Roosting in Chimney

2009-10-01T23:55:00.000-07:00

The weekend past, Traci took me (it was a surprise date) to Chapman Elementary School in Northwest Portland, where we saw thousands of migrating Vaux Swifts roost (since they can not perch) for night in a chimney. They swarmed around in a large circle and would spiral into the chimney, appearing as if they were forming a funnel cloud. In this chimney they are safe to rest for night from their predators.

click here for Flickr slide show (only 4 photos)

One of these predators, a Cooper's Hawk, was hanging around the chimney. I'm sure he was wondering why he was the only one at the buffet for dinner! The swifts all ran him off, though minutes later he came swooping back and took one little swift for his night time lunch.

The light was beautiful at sunset. I tried playing around getting some shots with a little blurring of the birds just to show the motion and direction of the birds flying together.

On the photo including the Cooper's Hawk, I edited it to try and give a spooky or eerie feel with the single hawk and the many swifts. I really like the way this photo turned out.

Mt Hood Sunrise from Rocky Butte

2009-09-23T22:09:00.000-07:00

A couple of Sunday mornings back I woke up early to travel to Rocky Butte on the east side of Portland to take some sunrise photos. I was astounded by how gorgeous the colors were and how perfect the coming light glowed on the bottom of some clouds above the mountain, but only for about two minutes. Rocky Butte is a perfect spot to watch a sunrise from east Portland. It has clear views of both Mt Hood and Mt St Helens, and also the Columbia River and incoming air panes to the Portland International Airport.

click here for Flickr slide show

Every five minutes the light was changing so much that I had completely different photographs to make. I also changed lenses a couple of times to switch between the expansive and deep look from the wide angle lens to the in close and compressed look from the telephoto lens. There was a little too much cloud cover than I would have preferred as well as some haze from the early autumn heat we've had in Portland the week previous. So, I'll have to go back next year, preferably on a more clear morning (with some cloud) and even a little earlier when the early dawn glow across the horizon can be captured.

Feeding Frenzy and the Canon 300mm f/4 L Lens

2009-09-19T08:34:00.000-07:00

Sorry this post took so long. I had entered one photo in Martin Bailey's monthly assignment contest, so it would not have been proper for me to post these before the contest's voting was completed. However, I think this post is worth the wait, it was from my best day yet spent amongst wildlife. It was truly stunning. These photos barely translate what it was like being there, hearing the depth in each whale's breath, hearing a massive crowd of birds all worried they were just going to miss out on the last herring (like dinner at the Vogt house!).

click here Flickr slide show

The weather report looked said "clear & sunny" for the whole weekend, but it was not. This was the same weekend I had the rented Canon 300mm f/4 telephoto lens last month. Finally, the clouds cleared out at the coast. I quickly grabbed all my photo gear, put on my new photo pants and headed for Seaside, Oregon.

When I got to the beach, it looked as though a plague of Sooty Shearwaters were all flying around in one big circle, roughly a mile in diameter or so. They follow the herring that the rest of the birds were eating as well.

There were also some grey whales in the bay, coming very close to the shore. The 300mm lens with the 1.4x extender (effective 420mm focal length) was too long of a lens for these whales this close! I was very lucky to catch a few good shots of the whales with the limitation being fixed at an effective focal length of 420mm.

It was stunning being in the middle of thousands of birds swarming around me, all looking in the water for herring they were diving and fighting for. I even saw birds on two separate occasions have mid air collisions, clipping wings. No one was hurts though and it was a miracle that I managed to avoid being pooped on all day.

I had a difficult time trimming this album down to roughly 30 photos, as I took 1583 exposures from this day at the beach! If you want to see each picture, I'm sorry.

Curtis and Anne - First Engagement Shoot

2009-09-14T21:51:00.000-07:00

click here for Flickr slideshow

While Traci and I were back in Kelowna a couple of weeks ago, we did our first engagement photo shoot. My youngest brother, Curtis,, and his fiancee, Anne, did not get any engagement photos with their professional photographer who will be shooting their wedding. So, we offered them free photos if they would be our guinea pigs, I mean models. I hope they did not feel ripped off!

Traci and I learned a lot during the shoot (we only spent 20 minutes shooting, not enough). Getting clean shots in the right light was not difficult at the Father Pandosy Mission in Kelowna. In post processing, we learned that we could got away using a wider aperture on many photos, and that we should have pulled them away from the old houses on many shots to let Traci's new and fast 50mm lens work its magic with nice, creamy backgrounds.

None the less, the four of us had a lot of fun. If nothing else, Curt and Anne got some practice smiling for their wedding day next month. Congratulations Curt and Anne, we love you both!

Just to note, Traci and I split the photo taking duty. I know Traci (and me too!) would love to do more of this type of photography.

Wahkeena Falls

2009-09-13T21:36:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, Traci and I went on a hike up Multnomah Falls and back down Wahkeena Falls. As always, Multnomah Falls was full of people, and Wahkeena Falls was not. Wahkeena Falls is gorgeous, but not nearly as grand and spectacular as Multnomah Falls. I had a hard time isolated simple and clean compositions of Wahkeena Falls without including fallen dead wood or scattered afternoon sunlight. Here are a few of my favorite photos of the falls.

Click here for Flickr slide show

Visit Back to Kelowna

2009-09-10T18:18:00.000-07:00

Traci and I spent this past weekend back home in Kelowna, where the whole expanding Vogt family enjoyed the weekend together a month before my youngest brother Curtis and his fiancee Anne will be married. To this point, Traci and I have not had enough time to get to know Anne, but for a great weekend her and Curtis came to Portland to visit Traci and I this past spring.

We loved seeing our two little nieces, Megan and Gabby, and the newest addition to the Vogt family, Martin. Martin only smiles, so naturally the camera is drawn to him. Traci and I also had the opportunity to do an engagement shoot with Curtis and Anne, as they did not have that included with their wedding photography package. More to come on that later.

Here are a few photos I took in Kelowna this weekend. Some are there because I think I took a decent photo, and some because Rock Band makes for funny pictures of people.

click here for Flickr slide show

Every photo Traci and I each took were with Traci's new 50mm lens. Since this site is turning into somewhat of a photo site, I'll give more details and a simple little review on this lens in the next post.

Also to note, Traci has her own Flickr account now! A link to her photos is in the sidebar on the right.

Tualtatin River National Wildlife Refuge with 300mm f4 Rented Lens

2009-08-30T08:40:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago, when Traci was away for a week on a "business trip", I treated myself to renting a lens for the weekend. I chose the Canon 300mm f/4 L lens. This is a prime (does not zoom) telephoto lens I hoped would allow me to get some wildlife photos closer than I had to date with my 70-200mm lens (and 1.4x extender). I'm quite pleased with the results, though the weakest link appears to be my old Canon Rebel XT body.

Click here to view Flickr slide show

I'm growing to love being in nature and enjoying the wildlife and birds all around me. It's amazing to see creation's beauty in the smallest of details, to see a heron catch a frog or a fish, see a pelican plunge to gulp several herring, or see a whale surface while blowing a huge spout.

My best photo post is yet to come, which happened the day after this post with this same rented lens. I'm still sorting through the many photos, but I must wait until a photo contest I entered in closed and voted on before I post. Sorry for the delay! I promise it will be worth the wait.

Cannon Beach Sunset

2009-08-28T07:38:00.000-07:00

After I spent the afternoon in Seaside, Oregon on a Sunday 2 weeks ago, I drove a quick 5 miles south to Cannon Beach to watch the sun set. Unfortunately, there was the ever present oregon marine layer of clouds out at sea, so I missed seeing the sun drop into the sea. All was not lost though, as after sunset the light in the sky was gorgeous, and made for some nice shots of Haystack Rock and Cannon Beach.

click here to view Flickr slide show

I added some saturation to these photos to emphasize the color in the sky. This is easily done by most photo editing programs and photo organizing software.

Portland Pearl District

2009-08-27T19:43:00.000-07:00

My parents were in town this past weekend, so Saturday was spent touring the Portland Street of Dreams. This year's theme was penthouses in the Pearl District, a recently cleaned up and interesting neighborhood in down town. I was excited to go when I thought I could take some photos from the decks of these beautiful suites. This is a vantage point I would rarely get to see the city from.

click here to view Flickr slide show

We also walked to the old Union Station train station on the way back to the car park. This building was built in the 1930's and is fascinating to see to for old history enthusiast like me. Of course, dad and I enjoyed taking many photos.

I tried a couple of the shots in black and white. I thought the shots were well suited for it, though I'm eager to try Nik Software's Silver Effex Pro to make great black and white shots.

Mount Hood Hike

2009-08-25T21:59:00.000-07:00

My parents were in town this past weekend, and yesterday we took a short hike up to and around Mirror Lake. It is an easy hike, but still offers a fantastic view of Mount Hood from the south side. Dad and I enjoyed taking some photos of the lake with Mount Hood prominently featured behind the lake, and reflecting in the lake as well. It was awesome just taking in such a site. The photos really don't do the splendor we saw justice. However, dad and I spent too long taking photos and drove mom nuts. Sorry mom. I hope the photos below are worth it!

click here to view slideshow

After the hike, we drove up to the Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood, which offers a stunning view of the surrounding mountain ranges. We took the Magic mile chair lift up to the 7000' foot level. The lodge is 80 years old, and was great to see. However, I had a very difficult time framing any photos that I was pleased with. The lodge is huge, and I had a difficult time finding a nice angle of it from which to compose a nice photograph.

I'd like to improve my Photoshop skills so I can do tricks such as getting rid of the jet vapor trails in these photos. I find these vapor trails very distracting.

There will be more posts coming this week. It appears that taking photos is more fun than doing homework! I'm sure enjoying the summer break from school.

Pelicans and the Martin Bailey Photography Podcast!

2009-08-17T20:37:00.000-07:00

Two weeks when our community group was at the Oregon Coast together (at Seaside, Oregon) I spent considerable time straying off to take photos of the many pelicans that had gathered at the shore near us. I took many photos from about knee deep in the water, as the birds were flying around me. The best part of taking these photos of these big and graceful birds is being so close to them and seeing so much detail and beauty in each time they pass by. Below is a link to the best photos (none of these are ideal, I just got close to the birds) I made of these shore birds two weeks, mind you it was in less than ideal conditions (a dreary and overcast sky).

click here to view slideshow

However, the most exciting part that came out of this what follow from a question I emailed to my favorite podcaster, Martin Bailey, of how I may have best shot the birds into this overcast sky. Martin and I had a rather lengthy and technical email conversation regarding exposure and manual controls while shooting birds (he is an amazing nature and wildlife photographer, check out his beautiful gallery!) Martin used this email conversation as the transcript for his podcast, episode #203. I was thrilled when I heard this podcast, and see my photo placed prominently on his blog site. Unfortunately, it was there as an example of what not to do. In spite of that, it was still a lot of fun. I learned so much from this podcast, as well as so many other of Martin's podcasts. He sure didn't have to take so much time in conversation with me!

I am not sure I still have anyone's attention, as I would only expect to have my mother's at this point (thanks mom!). If any of you enjoy the photos I have posted here, Martin's photography advice is the main reason why. If any of you reading this are interested in photography, I highly recommend martin podcast, and also getting involved with the community at his website. So, thanks so much again Martin!

I've got two more posts queued up, as I have been shooting a lot of late, and have been neglecting processing those photos. One from the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge again, and the other from yesterday's excitement at the beach. The beach photos will take a lot of time to get through, but I am very excited to do so!

Oregon Coast - Birds, Whales and a Sunset

2009-08-16T23:51:00.000-07:00

Traci is gone this week on what we'll call a business trip. I miss her. But, lucky for her, she didn't have to endure any of the 1583 exposures I took at Seaside, Oregon, and then later at Cannon Beach as the sun set. It was an awesome day! I saw gray whales, terns, brown pelicans (again, I love photographing those birds), of course gulls, and a couple of other types I'm not familiar with. After the action at Seaside, I headed south 5 miles to Cannon Beach, where I was a little disappointed with the lack of a sunset due to the marine layer of cloud out at sea that we in Oregon are so familiar with (as seen on teh right side of the below photograph). However, there was some good color in the sky, so I made a few pictures of Haystack Rock.

I will need a lot of time to go through all of the photos I have recently taken. I rented the Canon 300mm f4 IS lens this weekend while Traci was gone, and took some shots at the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge. Posts will follow with some slideshows, but I need to get to bed now so I can make some money tomorrow (this hobby does not do that!)

Oregon Coast with Our Community Group

2009-08-06T17:14:00.000-07:00

On Sunday afternoon Traci and I spent the afternoon at the Oregon coast with our community group. We had a lot of fun watching the kids, playing frisbee, playing whiffle ball, staying warm by the fire, making hot dogs and s'mores, and in my case, taking photos of the group, but more photos of the shore birds. The slideshow posted here is just of the photos Traci and I took of the rest of our group (which we love a lot!), and I'll post the bird photos next time.

click to view slideshow

World Wide Photo Walk

2009-07-24T21:49:00.001-07:00

Last Saturday Traci and I participated in Scott Kelby's World Wide Photo Walk, in Portland, at Washington Park. We chose to go the Rose Garden, where the roses were in bloom, the skies were blue, and it was perfect. It was difficult to talk good photos though, as the 9am start time was a little late for the best time in the morning already (as for as photography goes).

Scott Bourne led this local walk, and gave us an impromptu lesson on using reflectors (click here for photo, not ours!) after I asked a couple of questions. After ten minutes a crowd of the other photo walk participants was gathering soaking up the information and tips. He's a great teacher and gives so much back to the photography community! Thanks Scott!

Once again, the good photos of people are all taken by Traci. This is not a coincidence!

click here to view Traci's and my slideshow

Osprey Photos and Site Changes

2009-07-20T19:56:00.000-07:00

On another of my days off on Friday, I went to the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge north of Vancouver, Washington, where a student of Traci's is a ranger for the summer, and showed me around. It was not a particularly exciting day as far as wildlife goes (for a seeing several egrets and herons from a distance), until Jill showed me an osprey nest. I got too close to the nest for the osprey's comfort, and she took to the air to try to scare me off. Each time she flew by me (she kept a fair distance still) she was giving me more of a photographic opportunity rather than a scare. Actually, she was giving me the best wildlife photos I've ever taken!

click here to view brief osprey slideshow

There are changes coming to this little blog. As my faithful reader (mom) has seen, I have taken over the site with my photos as my enjoyment of this hobby has grown a lot this year. Please comment with any any suggestions for a name of my new photo site.

Traci has started a new blog of her own (traesnotes.blogspot.com) where she'll journal and likely share interesting tidbits and photos as well. Thanks so much to all who comment and enjoy our online ramblings!

Critters

2009-07-12T07:46:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday I spent a couple of hours at one of my favorite places, the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge. I was pretty lucky to see three different dragon flies up close, a great blue heron catch a frog (poor Kermit) quite close to me, and that same blue heron fly right by me as I was leaving. They must liked my new hat! Of course, I couldn't help but take some photos that I tagged on to the existing slideshow for the wildlife refuge.

click to view slideshow

I stumbled upon the heron eating the frog, and my lens was set at the closer of two focusing distances, so this picture is not as sharp as I would have liked it to be. I kick myself every time I look at this shot, but it captured a neat moment.

I'm sure loving taking photos of flowers and wildlife close up with my 70-200mm lens most of the time with the 1.4x teleconverter to give me a total of 280mm at the longest focal length. Most of the photos I took last weekend were all reaching out this far.

The Most Amazing Day of Wildlife Viewing

2009-07-05T20:44:00.000-07:00

On Friday (holiday off for the 4th of July on Saturday), Traci and our friend Jon, and Traci's good friend Danielle and her family. Jon and I were at the beach, at a cove on the south side of town. We saw a relatively thick cloud of birds swarming at a point south of us, so we decided to check out the action.

When we got close enough to see, we were amazed at the most incredible sight these city eyes have ever seen in the wild. There were huge schools of sardines or herring hanging around this point, as hundreds if not more gulls were swarming around, along with about a dozen or so brown pelicans, as well as some terns and other birds. They were all feeding on the little fish (sucks for them!), and we also saw what we were told were gray whales surfacing a few times a minute as they too were eating whatever they eat at this busy dining spot. Jon and I each once saw a wave crest over that was totally shimmering because it was full of small fish!

click to see slideshow of whales and pelicans

I enjoyed watching the pelicans, which would circle above, spot some fish, and then plunge down head first and scoop up a snack. Many gulls would then sweep in hoping to catch some of the stunned little fish. It was a real treat hanging out watching that for an hour at least.

After we went out for dinner and came back to the cove for a beach camp fire and s'mores , we could still see the cloud of birds out at the point. Hungry fellas!

A Few Updates in One

2009-06-28T20:56:00.000-07:00

I've been a little busy lately, so I'll catch up with a few posts jammed into one here (for all of our faithful followers of course ;-).

Traci and I were back in Kelowna for Grandma Vogt's funeral earlier this month. It was a good time seeing the whole family again, some of whom Traci met for the first time. However, we're sad to see Grandma go, we loved her so much and will her greatly.

I finally got to show Traci the Mission Hills Estate Vineyard, which is an amazing vineyard, with an information hour long tour, and gorgeous view of the lake to top it off.

Below are a few photos we shot while back in Kelowna.

Click to view Kelowna slideshow

Last weekend we were in Seattle for one of Traci's girls (Kim) from SPU's wedding. It was a beautiful wedding, and we enjoyed being there.

Kim and Traci

The next day we were back in Portland for another wedding of one of Traci's girls form WPC's (Kelsey) wedding.

Scott, Kelsey, Traci and Eric

Before all the weddings in Seattle, we went to the Woodland Park Zoo, and the Rose garden next door. Of course, I loved taking too many photos of all the animals, but the rose garden next door was stunning! Too bad we were pooped after the long day at the zoo before we started at the garden. None the less, Traci let me take a photos there too.

click to view Woodland Park Zoo slideshow

Not as exciting as all of that above, Traci and I went to the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge again, and we got a few new photos. We saw a couple of nutria (RUS's from the Princess Bride movie, rodents of unusual size) up close. These critters disgust me. They are far too big, and are basically rats.

click to view Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge slideshow

Lastly, our family is looking forward to getting our last sister-in-law, Anne who will be marrying my little brother, Curtis. She is such a sweet heart, and will be so fun to welcome into the family. The Vogt family will then be full, but for a shipload of kids to come. Well, maybe not. Anyway, congratulations Curtis and Anne!

my brother Curtis and his fiance, Anne

Missing Grandma

2009-06-01T19:03:00.001-07:00

Grandma Vogt passed away this morning after a hard battle with cancer. We will miss her dearly. She was so pleasant to be around, even in her last days. She knew fighting cancer was part of the road that God laid before her, and she was determined to walk it in dignity and grace.

She had very odd and funny way with words. Those that knew her will cherish this. But most of all, she loved each of her grand kids so much, and lately her great grand kids as well, and considered it her duty to pray for each of us daily. She was an example to us all, and we will miss her greatly. We love you so much grandma.

Here is a photo that is special to me of when grandma and grandpa visited me in Portland in 2004.

Anniversary Weekend

2009-05-23T21:49:00.001-07:00

Last weekend Traci and I took off for Seattle to celebrate our first anniversary. We had a fantastic time. I left my homework behind, and we had a brief 3 day vacation just to enjoy each other again.

We decided to go to Seattle because I got the opportunity to go on a photo walk in the Pike Place Market (on the weekend of the Cheese Festival) with Scott Bourne, a very successful pro photographer who also hosts a couple of podcast I frequently listen to and have learned a lot from. Scott was very generous in spending time with each of us during the walk in conversation and giving us tips. Traci and I both had a lot of fun on the photo walk. See each of our photo walk slideshows below:

view Traci's photowalk slideshow

view Eric's photowalk slideshow

Friday afternoon was spent walking around the Seattle Locks, across the highway 99 bridge, adn through the old Queen Anne neighborhood which has a stunning view of downtown Seattle.

After the photo walk on Saturday morning, we lunch at the Seattle Cheese Festival. It was amazing, though that's not how my stomach felt afterwards. Traci enjoyed the cheese so much she insisted we do the cheese tour again Sunday morning. How could I resist.

view Seattle weekend photos

We had so fun and enoyed just spending time together again, which seems hard to come by these days. I'ma fortunate man to have such a wonderful wife.

One Year Already?

2009-05-17T20:02:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that a year has passed since Traci and I were married. I've since learned that she is the most amazing and caring woman I've ever met, and that I should have married her sooner! Well, maybe not the last bit, but it's been the sweetest year of my life. I love you so much Traci!

Oregon Zoo

2009-05-09T11:20:00.000-07:00

I enjoyed a day at the Oregon Zoo sticking my big white lens in the poor animal's direction on one of my many Friday's off. I was there from open, at 9am, until 4pm, when I was about to melt down like I saw so many kids do in spectacular fashion. Unfortunately the zoo is currently under construction, so some of the displays were limited, namely a lack of good access to the tiger.

The bald eagle, rainbow lorikeets (I took a lot of photos of these guys!), and actually the duck displays stood out to me. Not necessarily for how spectacular the animals are themselves, but how nice the displays were and how close it got people to the animals. The tiger and leopard were of course, amazing to see. The bobcat and cougar are gorgeous as well, but like in the wild, good luck getting a good at them! If you haven't already, check out the link below to the slide show of some of the photos I took from the Oregon Zoo.

Wooden Shoe Bulb Co.

2009-04-25T08:33:00.001-07:00

Last weekend Traci and I were joined by our friends Dallas and Kelly (at the rest of metro Portland) to wander through the tulip fields of the Wood Shoe Bulb Co. It was a perfect evening, and the fields were open later than usual because it was so busy, giving some great photos in the warm, low light.

View the slide show of the photos here

Yikes, It's Been a While!

2009-04-11T22:09:00.000-07:00

Sorry to all of our faithful followers for the lack of posts this year. Anyway, I've Traci and I have recently been very busy and had a lot on our plates, but I've managed to get quite a bit of photography in to help clear my mind. Here are some our the best shots of the year to date (how about a comment and mention your favorite one!):

Grenz Christmas

2008-12-29T23:49:00.000-08:00

Christmas seems like forever ago already, but I thought I would share a little about our adventures. We braved the Arctic Blast 2008 to make it to Albany for my extended family Christmas celebration. Eric was supposed to head back to Portland on Sunday to work Monday and Tuesday, but because of the weather his work was closed and we both ended up staying through Christmas. Here are a few pictures of the week, not necessarily in chronological order.

This was taken on Christmas day. Dominick fell asleep in his food. Emma opening presents
Jessie got a nee nee (a horse)
Precious little Lil

Dominick would not look at the camera when he opened a present.

Eli opening a triceratops rock playset

Emma again
Eric and his doodle dice
Here's a picture of me being santa. Check out my cookbooks.
A winning moment for Dominick
Jamie, Justin and Kodi. SOOOO excited!
Santa Traci- handing out all the presents.
Here's Eric holding JJ. She is such a fantastic little girl.
Here are the infamous stockings.

And here is Aidan wearing my boots. I think he likes them almost as much as I do.

It was really good to spend some time with my family. Eric and I did break the family tradition of all sleeping in the same room at about 3:30am when we retired to the couch in the living room. I hope we didn't dissappoint anyone too much, but we HAD to sleep! For Christmas this year, my parents gave each of us a registration to the Weekend to Remember marriage conference. Kalli and Alex attended that conference last year and they came back raving about it so I think that it will be a very meaningful experience and we are so thankful for that wonderful gift. That afternoon, we made it back to our place to pack and left for Kelowna the next morning at 6am for the second leg of our Christmas adventure. Eric...take it away.

Tom and Harmony's Wedding

2008-12-27T09:13:00.001-08:00

Almost two weeks ago I had the honor of being a groomsman for a good friend of mine, Tom, in his and his wife's, Harmony's wedding. It was such a treat being part of and seeing so close the marriage of two dear people in a beautiful ceremony. Traci and I knew the night we met Harmony that she seemed to be a great match for Tom (they started dating a month after Traci and I met).

Traci and everyone else in attendance were very amused when I led two bridesmaids out at the end of the ceremony, as Renji, another groomsman was leading the wedding band. It doesn't look like I was complaining, but Traci is more than enough and more than I could have ever dreamed of.

The happy couple and us

Dallas, one of my groomsmen, and his adorable little daughter, Reese

Kelly (Dallas' wife) and their two kids (Gabe's horsing around)

Traci and our good friend Amy

Our friends Major and Karen who are heading to Indonesia with MCC in February

Jojo and Karen (Jojo and her husband, Scott, are heading to Bangladesh with MCC in the coming months

My beatiful wife and I

Portland Winter 2008

2008-12-24T00:22:00.000-08:00

It's not often that we get a winter wonderland here in Oregon, we often have to go find it on our own. This year... it came to us! A couple of weeks ago there were some rumors of "Blizzard 2008." We went to sleep on Saturday night, not a snowflake in sight and we woke up to this. We spent the day inside and got a lot done and then in the afternoon we went for a really cold walk in the nature park just down the road from our place. Here are some pictures that Eric took.

This tree is just outside the back side of our apartment. It was such a beautiful sight.

For the next week, all of Portland shut down except for our two work places. Thankfully, we had gotten winter tires put on the car on Saturday so we braved the roads. My work had a couple of late openings and one snow day that week, however... I left too early to find out about it until I got there.

We made it to Albany for my extended family Christmas celebration on Saturday. Eric was supposed to return to Beaverton on Sunday but he made it to Salem and then turned around because it was too nasty. His work closed down for Monday and Tuesday so he was able to stay in Albany where there was no snow... only rain. We're thankful that we were able to travel when many other portlanders weren't able to get out.

Thanksgiving (American)

2008-12-24T00:05:00.001-08:00

So this post is a little late, but we spent American Thanksgiving last month at the Grenz' place, as I imagine we will each Thanksgiving now. It was fun, even though we took back some yam leftovers and a gut wrenching three day flu. This year the Cowboys and the Seahawks played each other on Thanksgiving Day, and as the photos show, Emma and I are fans of the awful Seahaws this year.

Happy November!

2008-11-02T20:48:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it's November! As you've seen in Eric's previous post, Portland is so beautiful in the fall. It's sad though, how quickly the leaves change and then fall to the ground. We're just savoring it while it lasts. This tree has been in in my life for the past 11 years (since I started college at Warner) and every fall I am amazed by it's beauty.

The only big news around here is that my sister Katti had her 5th child on Monday. Her name is Jaci Silina Laurene and they call her JJ. We went to Albany today to meet her. The whole family gathers at my parents house on Sundays, so there is always a lot of action there. Aiden and Brennen are just developing the most adorable personalities. They were so much fun and whenever the camera was on them, they just ate it up.

Here's Brennen

And Aiden

Eric and I both got to hold JJ for a while. The other kids are just enamored by her. They had a difficult time leaving her side. She is SO precious. She barely made a sound the entire time we were there and she is so beautiful! Here's a picture of Eric holding her.

I love that Jakey is in this picture and even smiling for the camera BUT he can't take his eyes off of the video game he's playing. And the funniest thing that happened today: Dominick was running around talking and playing and then all of the sudden he climed up onto the couch and fell asleep. It was so funny.

I guess that's about it for now. We hope you all are doing well.

Portland Photos

2008-10-26T20:18:00.000-07:00

So, I've got a little free time this weekend since Traci is in L.A. (when I'm not doing calculus homework). Last weekend Traci and I went downtown on Saturday evening and took some photos,a and this morning I went downtown early in morning and took some photos from the East Side Esplanade. The last photos are of hte St John's bridge in north Portland. I had a blast doing this, but I'm sure looking forwards to Traci getting home!

Canadian Thanksgiving

2008-10-14T17:06:00.000-07:00

Traci proved to me on Sunday afternoon that she in fact perfect. It was my first Canadian Thanksgiving weekend away from my family, and with the help of some fantastic friends of ours, Traci surprised me more than I'd ever been surprised before (it was to have been a pizza party). Traci prepared a fresh turkey and made stuffing without me knowing it (I think she used magic), and friends each brought a dish (mom has some serious competition!) I didn't even get a clue as to what was going down when we arrived at the Hay's house and I saw wine and wine glasses set out. I'm so blessed to have amazing friends, and the most perfect wife who will do anything to please me. I couldn't ask for more. Thanks you all so much!

Seattle

2008-10-06T13:14:00.000-07:00

Welcome to Traci's and my new blog site where we will try to keep posting on what's new in our lives, and post photos.

This weekend we were up in Seattle where we met up with Eric's brother Jeff''s family and Tanya's brother and sister-in-law. It was fantastic to see our little nieces, Megan and Gabby again, and Alicia's hospitality and cooking is exceptional! And, it's always great to see Loren as well. On Sunday we went to the Public Market, since Jeff and Tanya had never been before. Megan wasn't too fond of the fish. Even though they were on ice, they still looked sinister.

Here are a few photos of the weekend: