Today’s photo is from fall of 2010, and the location for this picture was the swimming reservoir in Lithia Park.

Posted on January 15th, 2012 under lithia park, nature, only in ashland. Tags: autumn, leaves, water. Comments Off on Autumn leaf floating

Mt. Shasta

This is what Mt. Shasta should look like from Mt. Ashland in early November. In early December of 2010 Mt. Shasta looked like this. However, I took today’s photo less than a week ago. There is very little snow on Mt. Shasta (or Mt. Ashland), and there hasn’t been any new snow since either.

Posted on January 14th, 2012 under nature, outside of ashland, places. Tags: mt. shasta. Comments Off on Mt. Shasta in January?

I took today’s photo back in November on my then brand-new deck. With the fallen Japanese maple leaves I couldn’t really see the deck though.

Posted on January 11th, 2012 under nature, only in ashland. Tags: autumn, leaves. Comments Off on Colorful path

Christmas 2011 sunrise from Ashland, Oregon

What a better way to start the new year than with a stellar sunrise? This is actually the sunrise we had on Christmas morning.

Posted on January 1st, 2012 under nature, only in ashland. Tags: landscape, sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 lens, sunrise. Comments Off on Happy New Year!

Posted on December 31st, 2011 under nature, only in ashland. Tags: deer, Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II. Comments Off on More backyard deer

I have always had problems photographing the moon. Even the fullest of moons are difficult to have, with details, in any photo of something else. Night photography frequently involves leaving the shutter open for a few seconds and then things get even worse. The moon ends up looking more like lens flare than the highlight of your photo.

A couple weeks back we had an eclipse. I didn’t stay up for it, even though the sky was clear, because it wasn’t scheduled to happen until 4 a.m. and by then I thought the moon may be behind a mountain if I tried to view it from home. Even if it wasn’t, it would have been on the non-window side of my house which meant I would have had to go outside in below freezing temperatures in order to get a peak. So, instead, I took this photo much earlier in the evening from inside my house.

Contrary to intuition, leaving your shutter open longer to photograph the moon is a bad idea. A fast shutter speed and low ISO are key to achieving any kind of detail. I shot this photo (which has been significantly cropped) at 200mm at f/2.8 with an exposure of just 1/2500 of a second.

Posted on December 28th, 2011 under nature. Tags: moon, Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II, nikon d7000, photography. Comments: 1

Posted on December 27th, 2011 under nature, only in ashland. Tags: fog. Comments Off on Sun rays cutting through the morning fog

Time to saddle up the sleigh. If Santa is missing any deer to guide his sleigh tomorrow night, he can find this one in my backyard all ready and rested to go.

Posted on December 22nd, 2011 under nature, only in ashland. Tags: deer, Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II, nikon d7000, wildlife. Comments Off on Let the reindeer games begin…

Multnomah Falls

We didn’t end our bike ride at Mutnomah Falls, but our week of photos is over so I better get the most famous part of this ride in. Above is the “classic view” of the double-tiered falls, complete with the bridge you can walk on between them.

Upper Multnomah Falls from the Benson Footbridge

Looking down Multnomah Falls from the bridge at the lower falls and pool below

Posted on December 19th, 2011 under nature, outside of ashland, people. Tags: columbia river gorge tour, portland, ryan, water, waterfall. Comments Off on Multnomah Falls