Day 334

ISO 200, 75mm, f/8.0, 1/80 sec.

Day 334 - A new appreciation

Today I developed a whole new appreciation for photographing children, something I really haven't done on my 365 adventure.

Two smiles and four eyes going the same direction, towards me, nearly impossible.

I was taking photographs for the Foundation at the college and I didn't have much time to entertain, distract or get to know the kids like all of the books suggest. I was robbed, these kids were adorable and I would have loved to have had a little more time.

Day 333

ISO 160, 58mm, f/7.1, 1/60 sec.

Day 333 - Just a portrait

I thought I was too lazy to go out in the rain tonight, fiddle with the tripod, yada, yada, yada.

Good grief, trying to capture a portrait of one of the greyhounds was torture. I guess cooperation was not on their to do list today.

Day 332

ISO 100, 24mm, f/20, 30.0 sec.

Day 332 - Oregon State Capitol

It was a beautiful day today, busy, but beautiful.

One of the images on my bucket list is the state capitol. One of the benefits of the the 365 photo project is always the quick history check of my subject.

This is actually the third capitol building for Oregon, both of the previous buildings were destroyed by fires.

The current building was completed in 1938 described as "Egyptian simplicity and Greek refinement with an overall art deco style."

I am not the only one that thought the style was weird, early on, the dome was described as either a paint can or a squirrel cage.

The Oregon pioneer that rests on top of the dome is an eight and one-half ton, 22 ft. bronze statue with 23k gold leaf. Apparently it took the residents some time to bond with pioneer as well.

Day 331 - If not by rail, then foot

ISO 100, 28mm, f/10, 20.0 sec.

Day 331 - If not by rail, then foot

This is the historic Union Street Railroad bridge from the west bank of the Willamette River. The railroad bridge was completed in 1913 and in 2009 was re-opened as a pedestrian bridge in 2009.

Day 330 - The bridge to Salem

ISO 100, 58mm, f/10, 25.0 sec.

Day 330 - The bridge to Salem

Tonight was such a trip. My friend Jeff has made it his personal goal to keep me moving.

I tend to find a place and keep working the area. So Jeff, if you are listening, I moved to the west side of the river tonight. :o)))

I haven't thought much of Salem's skyline because the town is just low to the ground. However, looking at it from the west side of the river, especially toward the bridges was a treat.

It has been raining on and off all day, but the clouds held while stood at the river's edge.

Day 329

ISO 100, 150mm, f/11, 30.0 sec.

Day 329 - Metro

Downtown Salem, a romantic view from it's roof tops.

Day 328 - Color, courtesy of mother nature

ISO 100, 105mm, f/6.3, 1/80 sec.

Day 328 - Color, courtesy of mother nature

I was talking to my Cranial Aperture friend this morning. I was scrambling to get ready for work. He was shooting the sunrise. I quickly looked out the window, saw nothing and was immediately jealous.

A few minutes later I was gathering my camera bag to head out the door, looked out the window and there it was, the sunrise.

Checked the clock, grabbed the camera and out the door. First shot, LCD showed nothing but the black highlight warning. Didn't put my settings back. ISO 1250, AWB-tungsten. And besides, all I really saw through the view finder was power lines and our neighbors roof.

I fussed with the settings for two blocks, found a clearing and yup, I was definitely going to be late for work.

ISO 500, 200mm, f/2.8, 1/125 sec.

On my way into the building I glanced over at the garden and noticed the most incredible purple berries and about 15 feet behind that a tree with beautiful orange leafs.

I made a mental note to myself that I had to come back and retrieve the image. I only had my 70-200 mm, this is almost what I was after but not quite.

Still in love with the color.

Day 327

ISO 100, 65mm, f/22, 1/5 sec.

Day 327 - Baby it's cold outside

We don't get very much snow here in the Willamette Valley. It does seem like the winters are getting colder though.

When it does snow, I am almost guaranteed a day off of work. When the public schools have a snow day, so does the community college.

We didn't get much snow last night, but as soon as I knew it was enough to close the college, I had my boots on, layered my clothes and headed over to the campus for the elusive snow/cold pictures.

Hmmmm, seems like a bit of an oxymoron.

ISO 100, 60mm, f/22, 1/4 sec.

We got just a tiche of sun this morning. I got it while the gettin' was good. It never even got above freezing today.

Day 326

ISO 100, 24mm, f/4.0, 1/13 sec., four-image horizontal panorama

Day 326 - Office space

Our campus just built a new building downtown for the business center. Normally, new architecture rarely gets a second glance from me, but I really like this building.

The second floor has office space, class rooms and a resource center. I'm standing just at the edge of a curved hallway that overlooks the street and main lobby.

I originally shot this as an HDR, but after processing it, it just didn't work for me. I took the best exposure out of five exposures and merged four images in Photoshop for the panorama.

The above image is some work in Lightroom.

The below image is the original panorama before I re-imported it into Lightroom.

Day 325

ISO 100, 200mm, f/25, 2.5 sec.

Day 325 - When the moon hits your eye

We have a couple of cold fronts coming our direction, but there was a promise of a clear sky this morning so we were up before the crack of dawn in hopes of one of "those" sunrises.

I completely forgot about the full moon.

We headed back up to the top of the parking garage that we were on last night.

I watched as the fog got thicker and thicker on the Willamette River afraid that I got up for nothing, but stood out in the 29° weather and waited.

How on earth do you keep your hands warm? I was layered and warm but I was pretty sure after about an hour and a half of watching that my hands were going to exit stage left. Even with thin gloves on, they were frozen.

ISO 100, 70mm, f/22, six-image pano,

five-exposure HDR 1/6 sec., 1/40 sec., 1/15 sec., 0.4 sec., 1.0 sec.

I did crawl back into the car for awhile waiting for the not so amazing sunrise to warm up.

Apparently red sky at morning doesn't apply to cold fronts because this is the best I could wrangle for the eastern sky.

This is a five-exposure HDR pano of the Salem skyline.

Day 324

ISO 100, 110mm, f/13, 30.0 sec.

Day 324 - Watching over Salem

I will be the first to admit that I love doing a daily photo. I've had that occasional evening, OMG, what am I going to do today, but most of the time I post my photo on a high note.

Tonight was clear and we headed out for the twilight shot. (Kudos to Karen for humoring me on this frigid evening).

There is a parking structure downtown that I am particularly fond of. I discovered a gargoyle at the top of the building adjacent to the garage. I had no clue we had a gargoyle up there and I have lived in Salem for nearly 20 years.

Construction was completed in 1927 on the 11 story building, the tallest office building in Salem.

Day 323

ISO 160, 105mm, f/9.0, 15.0 sec.

Day 323 - The traveler

We have a beautiful maple tree in our backyard. In the summer it saves us by providing a huge amount of shade.

In the fall, the leaves turn either gold or brown, never the brilliant reds that attract me. I was a little surprised when I looked under the tree and saw this lonely red leaf, clearly not in it's own turf.

It must have blown over from the neighbor's tree about 500 yards away.

What a way to avoid raking the leaves.

Day 322

ISO 160, 200mm, f/2.8, 0.5 sec.

Day 322 - Moody

After all of the rain we delighted in today, I was so surprised to see the moon.

Those clouds really are as nasty and cold as they look.

Day 321

ISO 100. 142mm, f/9.0, 30.0 sec.

Day 321 - Wind and rain

According to weather.com, this is just the beginning. It isn't nice outside at all.

Under safe cover of the patio I shot out towards my beloved greyhound spinner. About half-way through the 30 sec. exposure I manually triggered my off-camera flash and much to my amusement, it caught a few raindrops.

Welcome to winter.

Day 320

ISO 200, 58mm, f/6.3, 30.0 sec.

Day 320 - When darkness falls

This is the Willamette Falls in Oregon City. We had actually stopped to take pictures of it about two weeks, but honestly in the daylight, it isn't that impressive.

I had to run up to the airport tonight to meet Karen's plane and left early enough to stop and see what I could see.

The falls where barely visible because of the darkness. It's pretty amazing what a 30 sec, exposure can do.

Day 319

ISO 100, 99mm, f/8.0, 1/100 sec.

Day 319 - Portrait of a couch potato

Day 318

ISO 320, 100mm, f/11, 1/50 sec.

Day 318 - Shroom texture

Still stalking mushrooms in the backyard.

I have on good authority that these little puppies are edible, but probably not on my clock.

Day 317

ISO 250, 65mm, f/4.0, 1/50 sec.

Day 317 - The change

No waterfalls, no skylines.

I spent the day in my own backyard watching the leaves change.

Day 316

ISO 100, 17mm, f/22, 20.0 sec.

Day 316 - Life after dark

Now that the sun is setting at 4:45 pm, the city is coming back to life earlier.

After the triumphant waterfalls yesterday, I told Jeff that he owed me a skyline and wow, he really knows how to produce. :o)))

I drove up to Portland and met Jeff at his house. From there he took me to the Eastbank Esplanade.

It rocked.

Just as a side note, my friend Jeff always brings out the competitive side in me.


Damn, I think I was skunked again. Cranial Aperture

Day 315

ISO 100, 40mm, f/11, 0.6 sec.

Day 315 - Oregon Water Fall

My friend Jeff has never been to Silver Falls State Park and today he joined on a short hike to see three of the falls.

This is upper north falls. 65 ft.

ISO 100, 105mm, f/9.0, o.3 sec.

Small cascade on Silver Creek

ISO 100, 24mm, f/22, 0.6 sec.

Walking behind North Falls. 137 ft.

ISO 100, 24mm, f/20, 0.3 sec.

South Falls. 177 ft.

Watch for Jeff's blog, I'm know he will post some fabulous photos. http://blog.cranialaperture.com/

Day 314

ISO 1600, 145mm, f/3.2, 1/800 sec.

Day 314 - Eyes on the ball

Tonight was the last home game for women's volleyball.

I learned that it is a whole lot easier to follow a soccer ball than a volleyball. It was just as much fun though. :o)))

Day 313

ISO 320, 88mm, f/8.0, 1/50 sec.

Day 313 - The blanket

I had a press check in McMinnville this morning. Despite the pouring rain, the autumn colors where still vibrant. Even if I had to look down instead of up to find them.

Day 312

ISO 100, 16mm, f/9.0, 1/60 sec.

Day 312 - The Fam

We're doing this promotion on campus for the holidays, a holiday card contest.

This is the Marketing and Student Recruitment Department.

I'm not normally a big fan of a lot of post-processing, but this picture seemed to scream for a retro dye job.

Day 311

ISO 200, 35mm, f/10, HDR-1/100 sec., 1/640 sec., 1/250 sec., 1/40 sec., 1/15 sec.

Day 311 - The marina and moi

We had to run up to a Costco in Portland today and took a back road along the Willamette River.

When we moved to Oregon some 20 years ago, this marina was in full swing, lowering the boats down about 20 ft. to the river. Have no idea when it closed.

ISO 100, 105mm, f/7.1, 1/50 sec.

The me part. Ugh. I'm getting gutsier and a self-portrait was on the bucket list for 2010. I have been putting this off since the beginning of time. I much prefer being on the other side of the lens, but Karen is heading back to Boston and wanted to take a picture of me with her.

And so, with a half-century under my belt and two daughters that ruined my figure for life, here I am.

Day 310

ISO 800, 100mm macro, f/18, 1/50 sec.

Day 310 - The gnome home

And so our 180 days, at least, of rain began today.

I took a little time during a dry spell and surveyed the mushroom population. OMG, I can post new pics of mushrooms for days. That is, as long as we don't get any freezes soon.

Day 309

ISO 640, 55mm, f/8.0, 1/40 sec.

Day 309 - The fungus amongst us

Like I said, the mushrooms on the acre are going bonkers. I don't know where they are coming from this year.

Day 308

ISO 500, 100mm macro, f/11, 1/40 sec.

Day 308 - The day the earth erupted

When I went home at noon to run the hound dogs I noticed some really strange dirt beside the driveway.

Squirrels and jays are constantly burying their treasures and the neighbors cats frequently get confused about which yard they are in, so I just assumed that something had been buried.

I was so surprised to see how the mushrooms had lifted the ground around them.

ISO 320, 100mm macro, f/8.0, 1/40 sec.

The entire acre seems to be exploding with mushrooms. It's November 4, aren't they warm weather plants?

Day 307

Day 307 - The path

I love this time of year. And today, I am particularly fond of my 365 project.

My hope was to get more comfortable shooting people, and I am finally starting to feel a little more at ease. It's even kind of fun. :o)))

ISO 100, 123mm, f/10, 1/125 sec.

Day 306

ISO 100, 80mm, f/22, 20.0 sec.

Day 306 - Skyline revisited

Hoping for a sunset we went up to the rooftop of my favorite parking garage.

Not much for a colorful sunset, but the skyline behind me was quite beautiful.

Day 305

ISO 100, 100mm macro, f/10, 1/60 sec.

Day 305 - Smokin'

It shoulda been a rain drop day but by the time the gale force winds slowed down, it was raining so hard that the camera and I never had a chance.

So why not play with fire?

This time I set up both flashes, one on camera right and one on camera left.

The green is purely a request from Karen and a slider in Lightroom.