Laura and Lydia Rogers

I had completely forgotten about the opening act for Brandi Carlile and Ray LaMontagne until one of these images appeared as my random desktop background today.

The Secret Sisters @ Britt

I went to The Secret Sisters website to see what they are up to, and it looks like the site hasn’t been updated in six months. However, from their wiki page it seems they got one of their songs onto The Hunger Games soundtrack so you’d think that would be newsworthy.

Laura Rogers

Posted on May 31st, 2012 under outside of ashland, people. Tags: britt festivals, music, nikon 18-200mm vr ii, nikon d7000. Comments Off on The Secret Sisters

SOU's Hannon Library at dusk

Back to school today after a long, holiday weekend. Many colleges and universities are already done for the school year, but SOU is on the quarter system which means another couple weeks of school.

Posted on May 29th, 2012 under only in ashland, places. Tags: campus, nikon d7000, Southern Oregon University, Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 AT-X 116 Pro DX Autofocus Lens for Nikon, trees. Comments Off on Hannon Library at Southern Oregon University

Hyatt Lake - Southern Oregon

Today’s photo is from the side of Hyatt Lake opposite the resort side. Hence, you can frequently find yourself alone, as I did, in this location. Very tranquil and lovely… Something swam by me in the water soon after I took this pic. I followed to see what it was, but after a few dozen yards things got swampy and I could go no farther. I think it was an otter.

Posted on May 28th, 2012 under nature, outside of ashland, places. Tags: nikon d7000, Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 AT-X 116 Pro DX Autofocus Lens for Nikon, water. Comments Off on Hyatt Lake

Southern Oregon pears

Today’s photo of pear blossoms was taken much earlier in the month. Now the pear trees are all green and the blossoms are long gone. In a few months they will be loaded with pears. I’ll have to take another visit to this same spot then for a photo of the pears on the trees.

Posted on May 27th, 2012 under nature. Tags: bokeh, flowers, Nikkor 70-300mm VR, nikon d7000. Comments Off on Macro pear blossoms

Ashland, Oregon panorama

Before last Sunday’s eclipse, I scouted out various locations for photo taking. I like this particular place for landscapes, but the view wouldn’t have looked much different during a solar eclipse so I took this photo* and moved on to ScienceWorks for the eclipse party instead.

You will see a lot more detail if you have a widescreen computer monitor, maximize your window, and then click on the image. To capture as much detail as possible (and not miss out on the amazing clouds) *I shot about 8 or 10 images vertically at 24mm (36mm equivalent as I have a crop sensor) and then photomerged them together for this very horizontal panorama.

From left to right, you can see Pilot Rock, Mt. Ashland, and Wagner Butte. This panorama covers nearly 180 degrees and pretty much all of the Siskiyou Mountain Range viewable from Ashland.

Posted on May 26th, 2012 under nature, only in ashland. Tags: clouds, mt. ashland, Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G ED AF-S Nikkor Lens, nikon d7000, panorama, pilot rock, siskiyous, wagner butte. Comments: 1

I just missed a photo of this baby standing at the bottom of this telescope looking up at the eclipse (with no one else in the frame). That photo was not to be as my camera was set to 1/8000, ISO 100, f/40, 340mm at the time (which worked great for the eclipse but would have yielded nothing but blackness for this view). By the time I got my D7000 to 1/100, f/2.8, 105mm a few seconds later for this photo op the scene had changed to this. Not bad, but not quite as cool.

It was a last second decision to go to ScienceWorks for the eclipse. There were many places in town I could have taken photos, and they would have all come out fairly similar of the eclipse itself. However, I decided seeing some of the people at the ScienceWorks eclipse viewing party, in addition to the eclipse, might make this a more lively evening. I also wanted to pick up some solar viewing glasses that ScienceWorks was handing out, but they were long gone (along with all of the nearby parking spaces) by the time I arrived at 6 p.m.

This woman did not move for at least 10 minutes. She appeared to be meditating. Visions of Heaven’s Gate passed through my mind.

Posted on May 22nd, 2012 under only in ashland, people, places. Tags: eclipse, Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II, nikon d7000, scienceworks. Comments Off on More photos from Sunday’s solar eclipse

May 20, 2012 solar eclipse as viewed from ScienceWorks in Ashland, Oregon

I had planned to head down to Weed, California to photograph yesterday’s eclipse (as that is where the eclipse was supposed to be closest to 100% in the area), but a number of factors caused me to stay in Ashland instead. Even though the sun was behind clouds, that didn’t seem to change the view of the eclipse. It looked great through proper instruments including my Nikon D7000. I didn’t look through the viewfinder. Instead I used sunglasses and live view.

For best results in photographing an eclipse, reduce your ISO to 100, increase your shutter speed to maximum (1/8000 for the above photo), and use your smallest aperture possible (f/40 for the above photo).

The above photo is as total as the eclipse got in Southern Oregon, better than expected with sun coming around all parts of the moon (annulus) even if the moon wasn’t perfectly centered.

Eclipse viewers at Ashland's ScienceWorks

A surprise appeared on the wall behind me as the tree’s shadow showed signs of the eclipse as the eclipse progressed. The crescent moon shadow pieces in the tree’s shadow were only there as the eclipse approached its annulus stage.

Posted on May 21st, 2012 under nature, only in ashland. Tags: AF-S Teleconverter TC-17E 1.7X II for Nikon, eclipse, Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II, nikon d7000, scienceworks. Comments Off on May 20 Annular Solar Eclipse 2012

Today’s annular eclipse as it approached its peak…

Posted on May 20th, 2012 under nature, only in ashland. Tags: AF-S Teleconverter TC-17E 1.7X II for Nikon, eclipse, Nikon 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II, nikon d7000, scienceworks. Comments: 2

Six months ago today David Grubbs was brutally murdered on Ashland’s bike path, just before the sun set, while walking home from work at Shop’n Kart. The police haven’t been able to solve the crime. The reward is now over $20,000, but it doesn’t seem anyone has any information available to claim it.

Posted on May 19th, 2012 under only in ashland, people, places. Tags: nikon 18-200mm vr ii, nikon d7000, snow, winter. Comments Off on Getting away with murder