I continue to be drawn to Chuckanut Mountain trails for my winter hikes. Last weekend I headed up the Fragrance Lake Trail from Larrabee State Park. There’s a lookout over the bay just over a mile from the trailhead and Fragrance Lake itself is only about 2.2 miles with less than 1000 feet of elevation gain. I carried my Canon G12 pocket camera and a small tripod. continue reading »
February 24 2012 | Bellingham and Native Plants and Photography | No Comments »
A couple of weeks ago I ended up with an hour or so to wander around Fairhaven, where my studio is located, when a client failed to show up for an appointment.
I gave myself the assignment to photograph bricks. I ended up straying a bit from the theme and included a few other textures, but with all the brick in this old commercial neighborhood I was able to keep myself busy and come up with some interesting views of the subject. continue reading »
September 01 2011 | Bellingham and Fairhaven and Photography | 2 Comments »
The Old Fairhaven Association, the business group for the neighborhood where my studio is located, hosts an annual Girls Night Out fundraising event each May. The money goes to the St. Joseph Hospital Cancer Research Center, part of our local hospital. There’s a small parade late in the afternoon, then a fun-filled evening of entertainment in the Fairhaven Pub & Martini Bar with a fashion show, comedy, and a bachelor auction.
Here’s a video slideshow with highlights from the 2011 event, held on May 12:
Prior to the event most of the bachelors came into my studio for a portrait to help promote the auction. The gals who won the bidding on each of these guys are going to have a great time on their dates. They’re all relaxed, easy-going, and ready with a smile.
I enjoyed the challenge of photographing the event, which is so very different from the more deliberate kind of photography I do most of the time. I shot with my Canon 5D Mark II at ISO 1600 with an on-camera fill flash with a small modifyier to soften the light. A little quick adjustment work in Lightroom, and then the slideshow was created in Animoto.
May 18 2011 | Bellingham and Fairhaven | 3 Comments »
Natalie and I headed out to Lake Padden for a walk around the loop trail this afternoon. The rain had stopped before we left the house, but the sky had that leaden tone so common to winter days in the northwest.
The forest along the back side of the lake was lush and verdant. Conifers, Oregon-grape, salal, and ferns glistened with moisture. Mosses and lichens reveled in the life-giving rain.
And on the sunny side ducks swam, oblivious to the color of the sky or the temperature of the water.
All along the shore the red alders, Alnus rubra, leaned out over the water. Dangling catkins, waiting expectantly for the warmth to come within just a few weeks. For now they’re sealed up tight, clasping their pollen until it’s time to release it to the wind and the sticky female flowers on an adjacent tree.
Reflected here, a branch bowing low to the surface of the lake.
Nearly tame, Mallards and Coots feed on cast-off breadcrumbs tossed from the path by a human couple luring them close to their lens. They dance forward with each underhand throw, racing backward with unhealthy morsels. Repeating until the bag is empty.
Our jaunt complete, we experienced a little exercise on a drab day brightened by fresh air, earthy aromas, textured forest, and avian adventurers.
Back in the warmth of my office I processed these images from my Canon G12 in Adobe Lightroom and tossed them up to the web for you. It’s not yet spring, but not really winter either. Something of a nether season. As a passing walker said today, “Hiking season will be here soon.” Maybe it never left.
February 06 2011 | Bellingham and Photography | No Comments »
When you’re tiny and looking to get pollinated this early in the season you’ve gotta put on a show. At least that’s one way to look at this Common Filbert, Corylus avellana, blossom. All that feathery red stuff is part of the female flower. Dangling in the background are the long male catkins which soon will be releasing drifts of pollen to be carried across the void.
You can see other bits of red, more female blossoms, on other twigs here. That big fat bud at the base of the flower is actually the ovary. It’s going to turn into a tasty nut, fine food for a squirrel or human, later in the season.
Common Filbert is one of the first trees or shrubs to bloom around here. It’s actually an escapee from cultivation. Our native species, Beaked Hazelnut or Corylus cornuta, won’t start blooming until March. The two species look very much alike when they’re in flower. Actually, they’re hard to tell apart any time except when they’re in fruit. And then you have to beat the squirrels to them.
Here are the male flowers on the same plant. Each dangling catkin has many individual blossoms. Last year’s foliage is still on some of the branches, weathered to a nice shade of brown.
These photos were made this morning along the Whatcom Creek Trail in downtown Bellingham between Grand and Dupont. The trail has lots of nice native trees and shrubs, mostly planted in a restoration project about ten years ago. I also noticed swelling buds on the Indian Plum, another plant that blooms very early. But it’s going to be at least another week and maybe two before its flowers start to open.
I walk this route frequently on my way to the Post Office or other downtown errands. Today I just headed out to clear my head, carrying my Canon G12 in my pocket. I shot in the cold fog with natural light and used macro mode and manual focus to get close and keep my subject sharp. The trick was to set the focus as close as possible and then move the camera back and forth until the blossoms were sharp. Like most pocket cameras, the macro mode works best when the zoom is at its widest setting. That means camera position is critical to keep distracting elements out of the background.
My photographer friend David Perry blogged about Tiny, magenta girl-flowers about a year ago. Check out his take on sexy Corylus.
Oregon-grape is another shrub that can start blooming very early, although not all specimens are as early as this one along the same trail. In our back yard it will be at least a month before the Oregon-grape begins to blossom.
What have you seen blooming? My friend Janet Loughrey posted a series from Portland yesterday on her Facebook that included Crocus naturalized in a lawn. Some of my native plant society colleagues down in Oregon have been reporting first blooms of Grass Widows and Salt-and-Pepper Lomatium in the Columbia Gorge.
January 27 2011 | Bellingham and Native Plants and Photography | 1 Comment »