Day 569 - Twister

ISO 100, 50mm, f/20, 1.6 sec

The Riverfront in Salem is hosting the Brew & Bite this week-end.

Day 568 - Moonlight in the Vineyard

By day I am the graphic designer for the local community college. I'm really lucky because I love what I do. I have my days when I am tearing my hair out, banging my head against a brick wall and threatening to jump from the second story window in my office...

Then, the days arrive when I smile inside and think yep, this is why I do what I do.

Our biggest event for the Foundation is coming up. It has always been Moonlight & Roses, which seriously, design wise has infinite possibilities. Mid-stream they changed the theme.

This is how I spent my evening last night.

Day 566 - Three sisters

ISO 100, 82mm, f/22, 0.3 sec.

Looking at the Three Sisters peaks from the top of McKenzie Pass.

Day 565 - One person's weed...

ISO 200, 100mm macro, f/6.3, 1/125 sec

Is someone else's garden.

At least until Karen mowed the lawn.

Day 564 - On top of the Cascades

There is a place at the top of McKenzie Pass called the Dee Wright Observatory. I've always thought it would be a great place to watch the sun rise.

To accomplish this, we had to leave the house at 1 am this morning. This is what it looked like at 4 am.

Worth it, you might ask?

Oh ya.

Day 563 - Happy Friday

ISO 400, 100mm macro, f/5.6, 1/500 sec.

Here's to a colorful and cheery week-end.

Day 562 - Turf wars

I will warn you right now, if you don't like insects, this probably isn't a good day to read the blog. We've heard from many people this year that say the ants are the worst they have ever seen. Because of the dogs, I refuse to spray any kind of insecticide. We go through a lot of cinnamon, setting up barriers and it works really well for us.

Last year, about this time a colony of ants appeared out on our patio. They were fascinating to watch. We would set down a piece of large dog kibble and watch them move it sometimes as far as 24 inches and then work it down into a crack in the cement.

This morning, we noticed they were back.

When I ran the dogs at noon, activity around the ant crack caught my eye and on closer inspection, I realized that they had caught a much larger black ant. They were literally holding him captive by his legs.

He was a fighter though. His body twisted and turned as he reached out with his fangs to grab at the smaller ants. Several little bodies laid in his wake.

To look at him through my 100mm lens was something akin to watching a SciFi movie. Now I know where they get that stuff.

Part of me felt really sorry for the black ant, not sorry enough to help him though. In the end the little ants killed the big guy.

Before they were done, he had probably killed about 15 small ants. They left his body lay, but by the end of the afternoon, they had removed all of the bodies of their own.

The teamwork of these ants amazes me every time I watch them.

Day 561 - Upper North Falls

ISO 100, 24mm, f/13, 1/4 sec

Silver Falls State Park. A great place to go for a quick drive, short hike and beautiful view.

Day 560 - Evening glory

ISO 200, 200mm, f/4.0, 1/320 sec

Guess this morning glory missed the memo that it was supposed to close down in the evening.

I've never seen so many morning glories as we have this year. They are clearly enjoying the cooler days we've had this summer.

Day 558 - Wet

ISO 100, 105mm, f/4.0, 1/60 sec.

The brochure.

Our assignment for the Project 52 this week was an image for a new water repellent. Her are the details:

• Bright colors are great!
• The product works on skin and most materials
• The product makes water less damaging to the material
• The product is used in business and consumer products
• Their target market is product producers

The image was going to be used in three formats:

• Cover for the brochure. (Square)
• Banner for the website. (Horizontal - 960 pixels x 245 pixels)
• Background for the product itself. (Just a section to use for the packaging background) 

Go figure, it rained this morning just for me (actually, it rained all day).

The web banner.

The background texture.

Day 555 - Hookie

ISO 100, 300mm, f/6.3, 1/1000 sec

I played hookie today. This is what it looked liked at the Oregon Sand Dunes near Florence, OR.

Nope, no guilt.

Day 553 - The mad scientist

ISO 100, 60mm, f/8.0, 1/80 sec

Matt is the summer intern in our office. He's helping me round up students for photo shoots this summer.

Not only is he doing a great job, but he looks pretty darn good in front of the camera.

Day 552 - Afternoon in the park

ISO 100, 24mm, f/4.0, 1/100 sec

Today was the last day of my Learn to Light and it totally rocked. The models never showed up and that worked out perfectly.

We lit up everyone in close proximity that would let us.

I never learned the back story on these kids, but the interaction between the two dogs was worth the entire day for me.

Day 551 - Another workshop

ISO 200, 105mm, f/4.0, 1/100 sec.

I'm up in Portland taking a lighting workshop. This is from today.

Day 549 - Why it rains so much in Oregon

ISO 100, 200mm, f/2.8, 1/1600 sec

So that every field is cluttered with wildflowers.

It's a scorcher today, 85°, wonder when the rains will come back.

Day 548 - Smooth landing

ISO 100, 200mm, f/4.0, 1/800 sec

It has been so rainy all spring that we never made it over to the wetlands this spring. Now everything is fenced off because they are re-roofing the high school.

There is an opening, and we knew our way around it, so off to the wetlands we went.

Not much for activity except for a few ducks.

Karen wandered off to explore the construction and I began to wander down the creek to see what else I could find.

I was stopped dead in my tracks by this smoldering patch between the road and the very dead grass.

Neither of us had cell phones on us, so I couldn't call for help, I tried to stomp it out, but it quickly became clear to me that it wasn't helping. Fortunately, someone had pitched a 16 oz. empty pop bottle close by. I sat my camera down and hauled water back and forth from the creek until I had put out all of the smoking areas and surrounded the entire patch with water.

It may have gone out on it's own, but it would have been devastating to the wetlands if it hadn't. And since the entire area is barricaded, there is no telling when it started to smolder or when the next person to sneak in would come by.



The culprit.

Day 547 - Happy 4th of July

ISO 100, 24mm, f/10, 7.0 sec

Not making it out his year, this was from last year.

Day 546 - Before the rooster crows

ISO 100, 23mm, f/22, 13.0 sec

My assignment for Project 52 this week is to make a killer self portrait for my About page. Right. Killer because they die laughing?

The verdict is still out on whether or not I'll post the best image of the bunch. The river looked awesome.

Evening shots are out of the question since we have a couple of greyhounds that freak out because of the frickin' frackin' fireworks. We got up at 3 am to catch this moment on the river.

The bridges are always worth it.

Day 545 - Swimming lessons

ISO 3200, 70mm, f/4.0, 1/200 sec

Roxy will be 15 in September is starting to show some weakness in her hind end.

This is Laurie, her hydrotherapy coach. Roxy loved the water, she's sleeping soundly now, but she really seemed to enjoy herself.

Portrait of Cinderella

ISO 200, 75mm, f/6.3, 1/400 sec.