Picture of the Day - Bridalveil Falls

Yosemite's second most well-know waterfall is Bridalveil Falls. It is the first waterfall you see when you come into the park from the west. This image was taken towards sunset from a famous roadside pull-out called Tunnel View. It is one of the prime photographic locations in the valley as it is elevated above the valley floor and gives you and unobstructed view of most of the valley. I used a 400 mm telephoto lens to get this shot.

As you can see, the falls are full to capacity as this was taken in May of 2006, when waterfalls were running 25% higher than normal for May. There is a huge amount of mist clearly visible that is generated by the extraordinary amount of falling water. On this day, if you walked to the falls, which is quite easy, you would be soaked before you ever got close.

Picture of the Day - Mirror Lake

Mirror Lake is a well known landmark in Yosemite Valley. It is located at the end of the valley, just below the famous Half Dome. It is fed by Tenaya Creek which comes down Tenaya Canyon, hits a wide spot that forms Mirror Lake, then continues on for another mile until it merges with the Merced River.

Much of the time, Mirror Lake reflects its name...it is calm and peacefully reflects the surrounding mountains, sky and clouds. On this day, there was just enough wind to disturb the lake's surface so I did not get a perfect reflection. None-the-less, it is still a good image, especially in the late afternoon light. The mountain you see reflected is Mt. Watkins. Half Dome is located to the right of this image.

Many years ago, it was discovered that the silt coming down Tenaya Creek was slowly filling in Mirror Lake. Many efforts were made over the years to keep that from happening. But, in recent years, with the new-thinking method of conservation, all those efforts have come to a halt and Mirror Lake is slowly fading away. It eventually will become a bog and later another meadow in this beautiful national park.

For many years you could drive directly to the lake as their was a parking lot along its banks. Now, you take the shuttle bus to the Mirror Lake stop and hike roughly 1/2 mile to the lake.

Picture of the Day - Newport Bridge in the Fog

This is another in a series of photos done on the Oregon Coast. This bridge is in Newport, OR. When I arrived there, the fog was just beginning to lift. There is usually some good photo opportunities when you are in transition from fog to normal daylight. So it was here. Within just a very few minutes of snapping the shutter, the fog was mostly gone and I was bathed in bright sunlight.

There was not much color in the original digital image worth keeping, so I made it a black and white image in post-processing. Without color, the drama of the picture comes through. That is one of the things that I learned about black and white images...many times emotions and drama come through clearer in black and white as there is no color that can be a distraction. There is no doubt that black and white will be a viable photography medium for a long time to come.

Picture of the Day - Fireworks

Eugene, Oregon puts on a terrific fireworks display on the 4th of July. It is held in the same park as an art show that I occasionally do. When I was there last time, the 4th of July holiday coincided with the art show weekend.

The city does a great job getting people in and out of the park setting aside several buses to bring people into the park from all over the city. There were lots of food vendors there so the fireworks show turns into a major event for many families. As you might guess, the park was packed by the time the fireworks started.

Having been there before, I new where I could set up my camera without having to work near a crowd. Digital cameras make photographing fireworks quite simple. You basically set your camera on a tripod and keep the shutter open for 15-20 seconds at a time. Hopefully you will capture some good images. I admit it is a hit and miss way of doing things, but it works (This is a great way to photograph lightning storms, by the way).

I got several good images during the show, this being one of them. I also got some not-so-spectacular images, which you will never see. You might consider giving this a try with your digital camera on the 4th this year.

(There will be no blogs for the next 4 days as I am doing an art show in Leavenworth this weekend).

Picture of the Day - Kings Wall

We were traveling around Italy and our Italian host family and dear friends took us to the hunting lodge of the former Kings of Italy just outside Torino (Turin). It was a do-it-yourself-guided tour, which was just fine by us.

The hunting lodge was quite luxurious in its day with room after room all around a main ball room. The furniture and other decorations were all authentic from the 18th and 19th century. There were several paintings and fresco's throughout the lodge. I was particularly taken with this fresco of a lion. As it turns out, it was my favorite photograph from our tour.

For most of its history after the fall of the Roman Empire, Italy was not one country, but rather several small countries of duchies mostly ruled by other countries and the Popes. They constantly changed hands and borders. Italy as we know it today did not come into existence until 1871, mainly thanks the efforts of Garibaldi and Mazinni.

In fact, the history of Italy is very complicated, but there is an interesting article on the Wikepedia Web Site if you want to read about it. It is actually quite fascinating...if you like politics and classic imperialism.

Picture of the Day - The Coffee House

We were finishing up a vacation on the Olympic Peninsula about a year ago and stopped into Port Townsend for a few hours. I have always liked this little town, although it is obviously geared toward tourism. Never-the-less, I think it's charming. It also yielded a few interesting photographs.

While Susan did some window and power shopping, I headed with my laptop to this cute coffee house at the end of a side street. It was nice both inside and out and served some very good coffee. To me, it seemed like the prototype typical Northwest coffee house. I kind of wish we had one as cute as this one in our town. Actually we almost did at one time, then they squeezed it down to a shoebox and started serving bad coffee. Sigh!

Picture of the Day - Hillside in a Rain Forest

I took this image near Multnomah Falls in Oregon. I am not sure that this area can truly be classified as a rain forest, but it does rain a fair amount there and it faces north which means that it gets very little sun.

Whatever the case, this is one of my favorite images and a large print of it hangs on a wall only a few feet from where I am writing these words. I've always loved the forest floors that exist under a canopy of large trees. The green here is almost overpowering which is what makes this image special.

Picture of the Day - Double Rainbow

I had almost forgotten about this picture until I came across it while looking for something else. This photo was taken a few miles north of Soap Lake here in my home county. We were out and about a couple of years ago on the first day of fishing season, gawking at all the fisherman around Blue Lake...their campers, RV's and tents camped along the highway. That first weekend is always a zoo.

They camp all around the lake with many of them on the shoulder of the road. It always amazed me that they would camp on the side of a busy highway, stacked one on top of the other...hundreds of them hoping to catch some fish. Not my idea of getting away from it all, but I am not a fisherman.

Anyway, we were heading home when we ran into a rain storm in the canyon, along with a few bolts of lightning and the accompanying thunder. I parked the car on a side road and waited for the rain to stop. There is nothing prettier or more photogenic than a storm clearing.

But after the rain stopped, we got a bonus with a single full size rainbow, which shortly turned into a double rainbow. I had my new Nikon with me that day and captured this image.

I've only been fortunate to see a few double rainbows in my life. One I remember quite well. About 40 years ago, I was traveling to L.A. from the Bay Area. As I neared the town of Coalinga, I came across a huge oil storage tank fire. Off in the distance, there was a rain storm which yielded a great double rainbow right behind the oil fire. I photographed it, of course, but those pictures, I am afraid, are long gone.

But, I don't mind seeing a double rainbow without a fire.

Picture of the Day - An Oregon Duck

Back in July of 2006, I was doing an art show in Eugene, OR, right near the campus of the University of Oregon. As is often my habit, I wandered around town with my camera looking for interesting things before the show opened.

On this sojourn, I found this statue of a duck in front of a children's museum, right across from Autzen Stadium, home of the Oregon Ducks football team. It may not be an artsy photograph, but how could you not like a picture of a large painted duck statue in front of a striped wall?

It's cool, but don't look for it in my "Greatest Hits" album.

Picture of the Day - Iris in the Rain

Since its spring and the Iris are in full bloom in our town, I thought I should publish one of my many Iris photos. I photographed this in our yard last year right after a rain storm. While the rain did weigh down the leaves a bit, the light and the rain drops more than make up for it.

Picture of the Day - Arizona Rest Stop

I was traveling one Monday morning east from Yuma to Tucson, Arizona. As I can't quite travel 225 miles without stopping, I pulled into this rest stop in the desert. As I was walking to the boys room, I came across this sign that I just had to photograph.

To my Washington State mentality, it was funny. You just don't see signs like this where I come from, but they are apparently common is the desert southwest. No great art here...just ironic humor. It definitely keeps you on your toes when you are walking to and from your car. I think I even looked carefully inside the bathroom before I entered.

If you can't read it because it is too small, the sign says, "Poisonous snakes and insects inhabit the area." Not real comforting.

Postcard from Gettysburg - On Hallowed Ground

It was a Memorial Day weekend a few years ago, and I found myself in Gettysburg, PA, the location of the most famous battle of the American Civil War. I spent two days here after spending the previous day at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, VA, a few hours south of here.

This is significant because in a 6 month period of time in 1863, three very significant battles with different outcomes took place at these three locations.

In the two Virginia battles, Robert E Lee's forces, vastly outnumbered, inflicted two serious losses on the Army of the Potomac that gave the Confederacy a strong air of invincibility. Partially because of this, Lee convinced the Confederate President to let him invade the north to take the war out of Virginia.

In July of 1863, over a three day period, a terrible and massive battle took place here in Gettysburg. It may have been the arrogance of the Confederate troops and their leadership that helped bring about their eventual defeat here in what was the first really major victory for the Union Army in the Eastern war. It was definitely the turning point. In the first two days of battle, the South nearly overcame the North, but just couldn't quite pull it off. On the third and final day of the battle, Lee gambled everything on a charge across open fields in the center of the Union lines and lost over 15,000 men. He was forced to retreat back to Virginia.

The battle at Gettysburg had over 55,000 casualties on both sides. Today, it is hallowed ground and when you walk the hills and fields of Gettysburg, you can feel the emotions of this place. I was up early one morning and walked the ground where Lee's troops waited to make their final charge on that third day. There was a morning ground fog, giving the place a very eerie feeling. I could almost feel the ghosts of rebel troops all around me.

Later, standing at the stone wall on the other side of that field, I could envision what the Union troops saw when they looked across the field to see thousands of Confederate troops marching toward them. I was reminded that some years after the war, surviving Union and Confederate troops staged a reenactment of Picket's Charge, without weapons, of course. As the Confederate troops approached this wall, the Union troops, overcome with emotion, jumped over the wall to embrace their Southern brothers. It had suddenly hit them what what a slaughter they had brought about that terrible day.

Today, the legacy of the Civil War is carried on by re-enactors. They wear authentic uniforms and carry weapons of the period. When they put on their clothes, they become troops or officers of that era and stay in character the entire time. This photograph shows a group of Union re-enactors who camped for three days near Union Army headquarter. They would put on demonstrations during the day including inspections, marching and firing of weapons. I used a sepia tone to give a greater air of authenticity.

Picture of the Day - Icicle River Reflections

I took this image in Sept. 2005 with what was then my brand new, first ever, digital camera. It was sunset, as is obvious. Within seconds of taking this image, the sun went behind a cloud and the tree on the left side went into shade.

This is the Icicle River, out in Icicle Valley near Leavenworth. It is actually along East Leavenworth Road near the Salmon hatchery...but you can't see this part of the river from the road.

I love this little corner of Washington. About a mile from here is where I park my travel trailer for 6 months, so I know this area well. But, I don't know it well enough that I don't continually find new places to photograph in all four seasons. If I ever leave Washington, I will miss this area very much.

Picture of the Day - Homesteader's Cabin

Another digital sketch from my home county. I ran across this old abandoned cabin someplace in the hills east of Soap Lake. There are many unimproved roads all over this county and I am not sure I could find it again.

As usual, I photographed this because it knew it would make an intriguing image. As for using it as a color photograph...well I knew when I snapped the shutter that wouldn't work. It was a nearly colorless scene. But, I knew it might make a good digital sketch.

I played with many techniques, but was not happy with most of them. This one, I thought turned out well and after a few weeks of thinking about it, decided I liked it a lot. By the way, that it something I do for almost every digital painting or sketch I create...I print a copy, then let it sit around for a while to see if it grows on me.

Black and white sketches are an art form I dearly love. I really enjoy the old engravings from the 18th century onward. They are something I always seek out when in Europe as they seem to be more appreciated there than here in America. B&W sketches don't sell very well, but I don't care. I do them occasionally just for me.