Sweet Pea

Big News... I adopted a kitty a little bit ago! Her name is Sweet Pea & she is about three years old. So far, she is a pretty cool little cat... she even has a nickname already!

She is a bit camera shy, but I managed to snap a few of her last week with my Elph. This little kitty loves hanging out on my couch, gazing out the windows (even though there really isn't much going on outside!)




Awwww, cute huh?

Barns & Birdies

The Skagit Valley is one of my most favorite places.... on Earth. Seriously, I love it up there! These pics were taken in mid-March on a day with some pretty cool lighting. Our first destination was a nature reserve on Fir Island. I was armed with my new 70-300mm & found a lot of interesting subjects!

Barns
Usually, I prefer images that have been processed in black & white. I love black & white images... maybe its my stubborn adoration of details, I love being able to focus on the small variations in tone, changes in depth, and intricacies of the image without being distracted by pretty colors. I would even venture to bet money that I prefer black & white images to color versions.... except this one...

... the full color version is so pretty! Plus, it seems like it should almost be against the law to have a a beautiful sky with fluffy white clouds like this devoide of any color saturation.
There is something about barns that evoke nostalgic feelings of rural America, eh? I chose one of my frames of this barn to do some extra photoshop processing to try to capture that nostalgic feeling.

Another Barn...

After a bunch of wandering, we found a true gem... another nature reserve along the Skagit! And.. another barn in the distance.

On the flip side to the barn above, I like this one better in black & white ;)

Birrrr-dies

One of the highlights of spring in the Skagit is the infusion of Snow Geese. While they aren't the best for the fields, they sure are pretty! Mostly, I love the patterns. I was pretty much just shooting whatever I could, with complete disregard to composition, so I ended up cropping in a bit to get the frame below...

and, hahaha, the same thing in black & white! For this image, I think both the color & black/white versions are cool in their own way.

Now... in the pic below, I thought it was pretty blah at first.

I found, though, when I cropped in that the photograph transformed into a softer, dreamier image. Almost like a watercolor.

Well, these were my favorites from the day. Pretty, huh? DMA and I capped off the photoshoot in typical fashion with a stop by a local Thai restaurant. Why does Thai food go so well with photography? And why do I always want to drink coffee afterwards? Mysteries. OH, and if you go to the Rachawadee Cafe in Mt. Vernon, go for mild spiciness. trust me ;)

Thanks for checking out this round of pics! And blessings to you & your loved ones this Easter.

Wenatchee 2.0

I am taking advantage of the crummy, rainy dreary weather & trying to get caught up on my editing & posting. Kinda nice to have a lazy Sunday every now and then :)

Its hard to believe that just about three years have gone by since DMA and I drove over to Wenatchee. Back then, we were seeking sunshine after a particularly rainy week; this time, we were just looking for a change of pace.

Bison Ranch

Our first stop of the day was a side road in the Swuak Prarie area. Along one of the dusty county roads, we found a bison ranch. Who knew? The bison were contained inside an electic fence, but rustic, more primitive old fence was still in place along the road. The lighting that day was muted and lightly cloudy; like a great big soft box. Wonderful conditions for photography! We were surrounded by rolling hills, but I was captivated by the old fence. Here are a couple frames:

Monitor, Washington

We hit the road again, and our next stop was the tiny town of Monitor, Washington. We were in the middle of apple country, and this little town was full of 'em.

There was a small orchard behind the Collins Fruit building... apples, I think, although there were crates of disgarded pears nearby, so they could be pear trees? It looked like they had some type of powder sprayed on them, fertilizer or pesticide, perhaps? It gave the trees an eerie feeling; and reminded me of something out of a wierd fantasy. I thought that the lens baby would be a good choice to accentuate the eerie.

Classic vs. Modern

We finally made it to Wenatchee in the late afternoon and found ourselves retracing our steps from 2007. Our shoot centered around a bridge that extends over the railroad tracks that connects the riverfront park to downtown. I liked the architecture in that part of town; to me, the buildings and railroad areas had a timeless feeling.

As we left the bridge and headed back to my car, we came across a sculpture that wasn't there the last time we visited Wenatchee... hmmm. weird. I just don't really get modern art. I am pretty sure the artist's intent was to capture a tender moment from childhood; two siblings or cousins or something with their cherished pony... but C'mon! I mean really?

And that sums up our trip to Wenatchee! Thanks for checking out this round of pics!

Nisqually

oh shoot... these are some old pics from earlier this month! I *just*finished editing them tonight! dang, right? DMA and I headed down south to Millerslyvania State Park because for some reason I felt called to go there... ha! It ended up being snooze-fest, so we headed to our good 'ol standby in the southend... the Nisqually wildlife reserve.

I didn't take too many pics; I spent most of the time enjoying the early spring sunset and watching an odd little beaver in the creek.

Sunset
I liked the way the sunset was backlighting the trees along the trail.

I have been wanting a picture of the barn for awhile; thankfully, the sunset cast a nice glow on the side of the building on this trip.

Doors
What photoshoot would be complete without some random frames? I took a bunch of close-ups of the barn & these are some of my favorites...

Thanks for checking out these pics & wishing you a happy day!

Weekend with the Little Guy

The last weekend in February I babysat my cutie little nephew & we had so much fun! He got to use his scissors at auntie's house, danced to the car stereo displays in Walmart, went through the car wash, ate pizza (fyi: he likes "the round kind") aaaand still managed two little trips! On Saturday we went to the train museum in Snoqualmie and on Sunday we went to NW Trek, and were joined by his favorite lady... Grammy ;)

He is a ball of energy; always climbing & running around, so these pics were all taken with my little Canon Elph. I couldn't be weighed down by my d80 & gear! I edited most of these; some a little bit more than others.

The Snoqualmie pics:

The Northwest Trek pics:

Thanks, again, for taking a look at Fantastico! Wishing you well....

Another February Pic

This is another random picture from February. DMA and I were wandering around Issaquah & found these old trains. It was kinda fun... we were night shooting! I used my favorite f stop with a 10 second exposure. Not too bad for ISO 800, either! The color version of this looks pretty cool, too, but I had some lens flare that was bugging me. Plus, black & white is just cool.. y'know?

Thanks for checking out this quick little post!

Cama Beach

oooh, this one's a doozy...

Sometime in February, dma and I spent the afternoon at Cama Beach State Park. It was my turn to pick our destination, and I felt like being around a beach. Plus, I love heading up north :)

There are kind of two parts to the park: a bunch of cabins & the beach. For the cabin area, I liberally used my lens baby. It was so much fun. I edited these pics to give them a washed out feel, hoping that they end up looking somewhat nostaligic. For the cabins, black & white seemed to fit them the best.

I also took one from the beach with the lensbaby; I loved the silhouette of the other beachwalkers off in the distance.

I also took a bunch of the local wildlife (seagulls) using my new 70-300mm, but didn't have much luck. The learning curve on new gear is always interesting, eh? I did like this one of some shells, though. I like the natural arrangement, too.

Thank you for checking out this round of pics! If you are ever looking for a nice little beach walk combined with a beautiful drive, you should check out Cama Beach!

St Edwards 2010

I bought a news lens! Yippee! I needed a new lens cap (a creek ate mine) so dma and I ventured over to Kenmore Camera; they always have what you need. They also have a fun selection of used gear, hehe. dma pointed out a 70-300 nikon lens, with VR. oooo.... I have a 70-200 vr f2.8 on my wish list, but the under $500 used 70-300 sounds like a mighty fine compromise ;)



Since we were in the area, we took a little trip to St. Edwards State Park. It was a lovely, sunny afternoon & very productive photographic spot, too!



I l-o-v-e love the new lens. The first two pics below are straight from the camera... no editing. Nice, huh?

Ok, so, I totally need to get a botany book or something. I always come across cool trees and flowers and have no idea what they are called. I am calling this plant "Mystery Flower" because I don't know what it is, but, man, I see it everywhere! What I particularly love about this botanical beauty is the backlighting. It always has some cool backlighting going on.

I gasped with delight when I saw the first Official signs of spring... Daffodils! I think the tulip fields might bloom early this year... I'll have to keep an eye out!

Eventually, we made our way down to the shores of Lake Washington. It was lovely, the sun was setting, reflecting gently in the waves.

And that just about wraps up this round of pics! I used my new 70-300 for all of the frames; it is always fun getting acquainted with new gear! Thanks for checking out these photos; hope that you have a lovely day :)

Natural Beauty

I am always in awe of landscape photographers. My landscape photography skills are not in alignment with my appreciation for the natural world. I love being outside, being surrounded by all the features of earth... hillsides, trees, running water, intricate buds forming on crooked branches. My eyes can see a myriad of colors, shades, textures, pockets of light, and on and on and on, but I don't see the same depth of detail or characterization of the scene in my photographs.

Maybe that is why it has taken me so long to post these? Maybe I haven't been as uber busy as I thought; perhaps it has just been my stinkin knack at procrastination that has been in the way? Stupid virgo perfectionist tendencies? Who knows?

Oh well... hahahaaha

Here are some pics from back in mid-February on a day trip to Portland. DMA had a work event and I had the day off; it was nice to be along for the ride! Following a tip from one of dma's colleagues, we headed east to explore Multnomah Falls.


It was a challenging place to photograph; there were tons of people there, and many, many photographers have been there before. It was beautiful though. But c'mon... what super tall waterfall isn't beautiful?

I took a bunch of landscapes, but I could tell from my little d80 lcd that they were going to be less than fantastic. I found a few of my close-ups (well, closer than the falls anyway!) that I liked.


The only hesitation that I have in being more proud of these images is that there are probably a bunch out there just like them. I mean, there were tons of photographers there... in the middle of a cloudy work day! Oh well, it was still a wonderfully nice day; good times for sure :)

Thanks for checking out the pics!