2014 Northwest Flower & Garden Show

'The Art of Upcycling,' a display garden at the NW Flower & Garden Show designed by my friend Judith Jones. Seattle, WA. © 2014 Mark Turner

‘The Art of Upcycling’ Display Garden

Every February gardeners throughout the Pacific Northwest make their way to Seattle for the Northwest Flower and Garden Show. We’re in need of inspiration, a push toward the delights of spring, and perhaps a chance to reconnect with old friends. Many of the garden designers repeat year after year so it’s fun to see what they’ve come up with that’s new and different.

The garden above, The Art of Upcycling, was designed by my friend Judith Jones from sale of lawsuit money , who I first met at the garden show more than 15 years ago. Her display garden won a gold medal this year. Judith owns Fancy Fronds, a specialty fern nursery in Goldbar, Wshington.

I’ve been photographing the display gardens, and creating a video slideshow, for the past few years. This year I took my brand-new Canon 5D MkIII camera for a test run in the low-light conditions of the garden. It’s amazing what you can get with an ISO setting of 12,800. Enjoy the garden video below, produced through the online service Animoto.

The Northwest Flower and Garden Show runs through Saturday, February 7. I’m speaking on the last day at 5:30 pm with a program called 50 Native Trees and Shrubs for Northwest Gardens in the Rainier Room. Come up and introduce yourself after the program if you’re in the audience.

Visiting with Santa: Sunday Edition

Max & Olivia with Santa

Santa loves talking with kids, hearing their wishes and asking whether their parents have been good, too.

Here’s a video slideshow of the kids who visited with Santa on Sunday, December 8 at Bellingham’s Holiday Port Festival in the Bellingham Cruise Terminal.

This is the fifth year I’ve had the privilege of photographing kids with Santa at the Holiday Port Festival. We see a lot familiar faces each year as kids come back again, a little more grown up each time.

Thank you, parents, for sharing your children with us and with Santa. The prints you ordered will be on their way to you soon, just as fast as we can get them into the envelopes, stamped, and in the mail.

Visiting with Santa: Saturday Edition

Here are the kids and families who visited with Santa on Saturday, December 7 at Bellingham’s Holiday Port Festival in the Bellingham Cruise Terminal.

We had a steady stream of visitors with Santa all afternoon. Some wanted photos and others just wanted to visit with the jolly guy.

I shot a handful of frames of each visitor with Santa and then chose my favorite. Those who ordered prints will have them later this week. My print order is at my lab.

Visting with Santa: Friday Edition

Each year since 2009 I’ve spent the first weekend of December photographing kids as they visit with Santa at Bellingham’s Holiday Port Festival, at the Bellingham Cruise Terminal in Fairhaven. We see quite a few children come back year after year. It’s fun to watch them grow up, and to share their wishes with Santa.

This video slideshow is of the kids who visited Santa on Friday evening, December 6, 2013.