Digital Photo Tip: Soft and Hard Light

Posted on October, 2011 by Mark Turner

The way light plays across a subject can dramatically change your perception of it. Does your garden appear flat and one-dimensional or richly layered? Does texture appear or disappear in the sand on the beach? Are facial contours accented or hidden? Consider two aspects of light: the size of the source in relation to the subject and the direction from which the light strikes it. This month I’ll discuss how the size of a light source affects its quality. Next time I’ll cover the effect light direction has on revealing shape and texture. Continue reading →

Plant of the Month: Rose Hips

Posted on October, 2011 by Mark Turner

Autumn doesn’t come immediately to mind when I think of roses. Since my childhood, roses have been associated with warm summer days, with colorful blossoms emitting rich fragrances that waft across the garden on gentle breezes. We stop in the rose garden and inhale deeply of the heady aroma. Continue reading →

Assignment: Bricks

Posted on September 1, 2011 by Mark Turner

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 →

Family Portrait Special Benefits Food Bank

Posted on August, 2011 by Mark Turner

Larrabee Saturday & Whatcom Sunday

Have your family portrait created at one of our favorite locations, Larrabee State Park or Whatcom Falls Park, and support the Bellingham Food Bank at the same time. The weekend of September 17 and 18 we’re offering a special price of only $100 for the session (half our regular price) and we’ll donate the entire session fee to the Bellingham Food Bank to support their “milk money” program. Continue reading →

Don’t Settle for an “OK” Senior Portrait

Posted on August, 2011 by Mark Turner

September and October are prime months for high school senior portraits. Yearbook deadlines are coming up, so if you know a senior at any of Whatcom County’s high schools have them give me a call (360-671-6851) to arrange their senior portrait session. Continue reading →

Photo Tip: Seeing the Light

Posted on August, 2011 by Mark Turner

Light is the stuff from which pictures are made. Light has color. Light has shape. Light brings the world to life.

So often a snapshooter is concerned only about capturing a fleeting moment. The subject is everything. There’s certainly a lot of value in catching the crack of bat against baseball, the warm embrace of grandmother and grandson, or your triathlete husband crossing the finish line. Those are memories to cherish and your photos help preserve them whether the lighting adds to or detracts from the subject. Continue reading →

Plant of the Month: Tanoak

Posted on August, 2011 by Mark Turner

Tanoak

What looks like an oak, has acorns like an oak, but isn’t an oak? That would be tanoak, Lithocarpus densiflorus, a west coast native. This evergreen tree is also known as tanbark-oak. It has flowers like a chestnut but forms acorns rather than having its nuts enclosed by a spiny bur. Both Lithocarpus and Quercus are in the Beech family, the Fagaceae. Continue reading →

Certification and Continuing Education

Posted on August, 2011 by Mark Turner

CPP Logo One of the things that sets me apart as a photographer is having earned my Certified Professional Photographer designation. Certification means that I passed a comprehensive written examination on the technical aspects of photography and also passed an exacting portfolio review. I am one of only four Certified Professional Photographers in Whatcom County. For more information on the certification program visit the Professional Photographic Certification Commission website. Continue reading →

Photography Classes Wrap Up

Posted on August, 2011 by Mark Turner

This was a great year for the photography classes I taught at several locations around Washington and Oregon. In March students in Salem, Oregon braved rain in the pocket camera class at Historic Deepwood Estate. In May we spent a day at the Burke Museum and University of Washington Medicinal Herb Garden. June found me teaching a 3-day digital SLR photography at the Siskiyou Field Institute near Selma, Oregon as well as leading a one-day field workshop at the Oregon Native Plant Society annual meeting southeast of John Day. I led a similar session outside Winthrop for the Washington Native Plant Society, then taught a 3-day pocket camera class for North Cascades Institute. Continue reading →

Wahoo!

Posted on July 15, 2011 by Mark Turner

Western Wahoo blossom Western Wahoo, otherwise known as Western Burning Bush or Euonymus occidentalis, is an uncommon shrub in the forests of southwest Washington. In fact, it’s considered a sensitive species and the online herbarium records withhold the exact locations of the specimens.

In Oregon, Western Burning Bush is scattered in northwestern counties and occasional elsewhere west of the Cascades. A friend pointed me to a roadside population along Oregon Route 6 northwest of Forest Grove.

Wahoo is more common in California where it’s found in several counties, mostly in the northwest and along the central coast. But it’s not common anywhere in the region.

Wahoo grows in shaded forest habitats as a rather straggly understory shrub. It would be easy to miss it if you weren’t looking for it. Which is exactly what I was doing last Tuesday. Continue reading →