LeeAnn's Garden

For a number of years I have admired the flowers at a neighbors house down the street. It's not a route I take very often so it was always a treat to drive past.



This year I've started walking alot more and one of my new, longer, routes takes me by the house and garden so I had much more time to enjoy the view. With each passing I thought how fun it would be to photograph the flowers.



Now I'm not much of a flower photographer. It's a subject I'm interested in but the attempts I've made have been, well, disappointing. Seeing these flowers a couple times a week kindled my interest.



On one of my walks I saw the owners sitting on their deck enjoying the evening. So I decided to approach them and see if I could photograph the flowers. LeeAnn was quick to respone, 'Yes, any time'. We chatted a bit before I moved on thanking her for her generosity.



A week or so later I loaded my backback on my back and made the trek to LeeAnn's garden. I had a ball but the results were not what I was hoping for. I like returning to the same place to photograph because I always think of thinks I want to do different the next visit. So my planning for the next visit started.



My next visit was just a few days ago. I was really charged up, had sufficient mosquito repelent on this time (I didn't the first time and got eaten up), and had a plan. The evening was just perfect with absolutely no wind so he flowers stood nice and still. I worked pretty quickly and felt like I had some very nice images in the camera.

I was not disappointed when I got back to my digital darkroom. These images were the result of that evening and I am quite excited as to how they turned out. I have more thoughts for my next visit that I'm looking forward to try and I'll share those with you, if they're worth sharing.

I have a special gallery on my website called "LeeAnn's Garden". As I make more images from LeeAnn's Garden I'll add them there.

I hope you enjoy these images, I know I do.

Roger

2009 Fine Arts - Accepted Works

Today I got the email I've been waiting for since 2005.

The Minnesota State Fair holds the largest Art show competition in the state. Artists of all medias enter works in their respective classes for the honor of having their work displayed to the tens of thousands of people that visit the Minnesota State Fair each year. Every year I enter an image and a few days later get an email in my in-box with the subject of '200x Fine Arts - Non-Accepted Works'. That is followed by what some people kiddingly call the 'drive of shame' to pick up our Non-Accepted Work.

This year I discovered an email in my in-box with the subject '2009 Fine Arts - Accepted Works'. Holy cow I made it in. I was shocked, jazzed, excited and all sorts of other really cool feelings. Over 1,000 photographs were submitted in the photograph class making it the most competitive ever. And believe me it is very competitive, the quality of the submitted art work is exceptional. I'm not sure how many photographs were accepted, we'll find that out in a few weeks, I'm just very excited to be one of them.

If your going to the fair this year keep an eye out for this image. I'm quite proud of it.

Roger

Mono Lake - South Tufas

The last day of the Eastern Sierra Workshop started off with sunrise at Mono Lake - South Tufas. This was another one of those spots that I had been by numerous times but never stopped. It's a place I have wanted to photograph and I was not disappointed. This like other locations needs more than just one morning to fully appreciate.



As you can see the morning was cloudless but that didn't mean we had a boring sunrise. The sky lite up brightly behind the silhouetted tufas. Looking westward the air was clear and just before first light a warm glow was cast upon the landscape providing a nice contrast with the blue sky.



Finally the sun peaked above the distant mountain bathing the landscape with first light beauty. Many gulls dotted the water and provided blurred streaks during this and other long exposures made that morning.



I had alot of fun watching and photographing these two gulls. They were obviously a pair likely feeding on the brine shrimp in this very salty lake. Whenever another gull would 'trespass' on their territory they would quickly chase it away then immediately get back to their meal.

Roger

Soft Morning Glow

This past weekend was cloudy all weekend long. It was a good weekend for shooting the floor of the forest anything, well almost anything, that omitted the sky. My chief interest this weekend was the Pow Wow so shooting the forest floor would have to wait. A sunny sunrise was really not in the cards although if I hadn't stayed up till after midnight the night before I just might have rolled the dice and see what the morning would bring. One thing for sure you can't get those great images if you're snug in your bed.



Well on this particular morning I stayed snug in my bed, at least till around 6:30 or so then I had to see what the weather had delivered this morning. I stay in the campground at Grand Marais and when I looked outside I just saw fog. Now that was an exciting sight, fog. I find it challenging shooting in fog but I relish that challenge.



So out I went and made these images of the harbor. It was a harbor like I've never seen before in my 5 years of travel to this area. The fog makes everything soft, a little out of focus looking.

I love the soft glowing feeling these give me. I hope they give something to you as well.

Roger

Note: You can click on the images to get a larger version.

Bristlecone Pines

An afternoon and evening are just not enough time to spend at the Ancient Bristlecone Pine forest high above Bishop, California in the White Mountains. Next time I go back I'm staying in the campground. We first stopped at the former location of the visitor center. Former cause some crazy guy torched it last year. Good news it will be rebuilt.

This first image captivated me because it reminded me of the Roadrunner.



Before coming to see the Bristlecone Pines I knew I wanted to make some silhouettes. So I did.



These previous two images are a couple of the betters ones I made. In particular I like the one with the star burst coming thru a hold in the branch. I need to go back and try more (hear the theme here?...I will return).

Roger