Every once in a blue moon a night can be very special AND feature an actual blue moon. No, the color of the moon wasn’t blue (although I took this photo when blue light from the stage was bathing the audience). But on August 31, 2012, when Brandi Carlile played at Britt Festivals in Jacksonville, we had our second full moon of the month which is what a blue moon is. The next calendar blue moon won’t be until July of 2015. Hopefully Brandi will be back at Britt on that evening too.

September 5th, 2012 | Tags: brandi carlile, britt festivals, concert photography, jacksonville, night photography, nikon d7000, Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 AT-X 116 Pro DX Autofocus Lens for Nikon | Category: outside of ashland, places | Comments Off on Brandi Carlile @ Britt with a Blue Moon

We went to the coast this past weekend and stopped in Stout Grove in Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, part of California Redwood National Park, along the way. I never tire of this place even though I’ve been there many times now.

September 4th, 2012 | Tags: california, nikon d7000, stout grove, Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 AT-X 116 Pro DX Autofocus Lens for Nikon, trees | Category: nature, outside of ashland, places | Comments Off on Stout Grove

The Barr Brothers opened for Brandi Carlile on some of her recent tour dates. Britt Festivals was the final of their appearances with Brandi. Apparently the brothers (Brad and Andrew, Brad pictured above with Andres Vial) spent some time with their uncle in Ashland while growing up.

I thought this foursome was great, and I like their CD too. I hope this isn’t the last time they come play in Southern Oregon.

September 3rd, 2012 | Tags: britt festivals, concert photography, Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II, nikon d7000, the barr brothers | Category: outside of ashland, people | Comments Off on The Barr Brothers

Britt Festivals in Jacksonville, Oregon added a new stage last year called the Table Rock City Stage. Usually a local act plays on it from the time the gates open until about 15 minutes before the main performers play on the main stage. This past Friday night a Jacksonville, all-girls band of 13-year olds called The Blank Notes played before The Barr Brothers and Brandi Carlile. My friend who I was with was their music teacher in the Jacksonville School District for many years before they went into middle school so she was very proud and for good reason.

September 2nd, 2012 | Tags: britt festivals, concert photography, jacksonville, nikon d7000, sigma 85mm f/1.4 | Category: outside of ashland, people | Comments Off on The Blank Notes @ Britt Festivals

School doesn’t start at SOU for almost a month, but today is the first football game of the 2012 season. Game time is 1 p.m., and the game will be played in Medford (Spiegelberg Stadium) against Montana-Western.

September 1st, 2012 | Tags: football, nikon 18-200mm vr ii, nikon d7000, Southern Oregon University, sports | Category: only in ashland, people | Comments Off on SOU Football 2012 kicks off today

I had the fortunate opportunity to catch Stoneburner again last night at Musichead in Medford. Tonight they play in Oakland at the Oakland Metro Operahouse and Saturday night you catch them in Concord, California at Concord’s Greenhouse.

August 31st, 2012 | Tags: concert photography, musichead, nikon d7000, stoneburner pdx | Category: outside of ashland, people | Comments (1)

Yet another A’s victory last night. They are currently winning today’s game (10-4 as I write this) as well (thanks in part to a Seth Smith hit and run). Should they pull off another win today it will be their 8th consecutive victory against the Indians. If they keep this up the A’s can forget about being tops in the wild card standings and instead focus on winning the division and obtaining home field advantage in the playoffs.

Let’s go A’s!

August 30th, 2012 | Tags: baseball, Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II, nikon d7000, sports | Category: outside of ashland, people | Comments Off on Seth Smith and the Oakland A’s continue to win

I’m not a big Photoshopper. I like my images to look real. Usually the only things I do in Photoshop are crop, photomerge, and do minor work on lighting (to make things look more like they actually did–not less). I’m not a fan of HDR.

However, the original for today’s photo came out sort of strange. The grass near me had a dreamy, out-of-focus quality that I decided to push onto the rest of the image somewhat. I also lightened the shadows on the soccer player. What do you think?

Here is the original .jpg with no alterations:

August 29th, 2012 | Tags: Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II, nikon d7000, photography, Raider Athletics, soccer, Southern Oregon University, sports photography | Category: only in ashland, people | Comments Off on Soccer dreaming

Not the rapper Young Buck, this young fella in my backyard was the real thing.

August 28th, 2012 | Tags: deer, Nikkor 70-300mm VR, nikon d7000, wildlife | Category: nature, only in ashland | Comments Off on Young buck