The Ashland Springs Hotel before the beginning of the Festival of Light

Part of the “Festival of Light” is the lighting up of downtown Ashland. Before the parade there are some lights, but many do not come on until Santa says so from the balcony of Alex’s. The Ashland Springs Hotel saves most of their lights for that occasion. I guess I need to go back and take a photo now that the lights on the hotel are completely on every night (until early January).

Posted on November 29th, 2011 under only in ashland. Tags: ashland springs hotel, buildings, christmas, festival of light, night photography. Comments Off on Ashland Springs Hotel just prior to the “Festival of Light”

Sheriff costume

Nice colors in Ashland, Oregon on this autumn day for the parade

Halloween costumes at annual Ashland parade

Posted on November 1st, 2011 under only in ashland, people. Tags: ashland springs hotel, halloween, parade. Comments Off on Halloween costumes from the 2011 Ashland Halloween Parade

Ashland Springs Hotel in Autumn

Another ultra-wide angle photo today… This time of the Ashland Springs Hotel from down the street near the Ashland Post Office.

Posted on October 27th, 2011 under only in ashland, places. Tags: ashland springs hotel, autumn, buildings, national register of historic places, Tamron 10-24mm lens. Comments Off on Fall and the Ashland Springs Hotel

A colorful Southern Oregon Pride Parade participant

Much of the SOPride Parade was made up of religious groups. I think every non-right-wing church in town had an entry. Although those congregations helped make the parade last for more than just a few minutes, they really weren’t the interesting portions of the parade. Hence, my photos will almost exclusively be of the other participants.

Ashland's Main Street immediately after the parade ended

Flamboyant parade participant - Ashland, Oregon

Posted on October 2nd, 2011 under only in ashland, people. Tags: ashland springs hotel, parade, SOPride. Comments: 1

Ashland Springs Hotel and Ashland, Oregon from the base of Grizzly Peak

I took today’s photo back in mid-June. Alas, things are browner now. The location I took this picture from was the same as this prior blog entry.

The Ashland Springs Hotel is in the distance on the right. Empty box cars can be seen on the train tracks that cut through town (even though trains coming through are extremely rare these days).

Posted on August 5th, 2011 under nature, only in ashland, places. Tags: ashland springs hotel, trains, valley. Comments Off on From the east side of Ashland

Today’s photo was my random desktop image of the day. I took this picture of Ashland’s most famous hotel back in February on a snowy day in town. I left the shutter on my LX3 open for 8 seconds.

Posted on May 29th, 2011 under only in ashland, places. Tags: ashland springs hotel, lx3, national register of historic places, night photography, snow, winter. Comments Off on Snowy Ashland Springs Hotel

I didn’t know Ashland had a dog bar until a couple days ago. I just purchased a new camera which I went out to test. As I was looking for subject matter to photograph in front of the Ashland Springs Hotel (Lark’s actually) I spotted this dog bar. I have probably walked past this spot a hundred times or more and never noticed the dog bar. That’s one thing I like about photography. It forces you to see more.

Here is a wider shot so you can see why I may not have previously discovered it. I bent down to try it out and, sure enough, it works. I didn’t drink out of it, of course, but the button in the leaf does produce a flow of water.

BTW, these are the first D7000 photos (of many to come) on Ashland Daily Photo. As you can tell from the second photo, I’m still getting used to my new Nikon. I messed the shot up by focusing on the leaves of the plant instead of focusing on the dog bar. I’ll get better.

Posted on March 27th, 2011 under only in ashland. Tags: ashland springs hotel. Comments Off on Ashland’s Dog Bar

East Main Street in Ashland features many of Ashland’s well-known places such as the Ashland Springs Hotel, Travel Essentials, and the Columbia Hotel. The latter two are in the Enders Building (on the National Register of Historic Places), built in 1910. I believe the Columbia Hotel has been running in this location for over a hundred years now. Also notice the Oregon Shakespeare Festival heraldic banner.

Posted on March 12th, 2011 under only in ashland, places. Tags: ashland springs hotel, national register of historic places, night photography, snow, winter. Comments Off on Main Street

After much debate and shopping, I finally bit the bullet (sort of) and purchased a tripod. I say “sort of” because instead of buying what I intended (a “normal” $100 or so tripod that is a pain to carry around, fully set up, and then put away) I bought one that weighs less than my small camera, is less than a foot long, extends to almost four feet, and can be fully set up and put away in about four seconds. Even though most reviewers on amazon give it poor reviews, I’m digging my Targus TG-42TT 42-Inch Travel Tripod.

Someday I may get the real thing, just like someday I may actually purchase a DSLR, but for now portability and usability weigh heavier on my priority list. Will they ever make a DSLR smaller than my TZ10 or LX3? I doubt it. Maybe I won’t be “upgrading” after all. Going bigger and heavier is a downgrade, in my opinion, as it means I won’t bring it with me much and when I do I’ll be wishing I had something smaller and lighter.

Anyway, I picked up the Targus for under $20 and couldn’t be happier. I took the tripod and my LX3 out for some test shots a couple nights back. It had been snowing most of the day, but you can’t really see the snow in this photo of the Ashland Springs Hotel. I’ll have to try this photo again in December when the hotel has its Christmas lights up.

Posted on February 27th, 2011 under only in ashland. Tags: ashland springs hotel, lx3, night photography. Comments Off on Guess what I purchased?