I’ve become a fan of our native ninebark, Physocarpus capitatus. It’s a big, glorious shrub. As the common name implies, the shredding bark provides year-around interest whether it really has nine layers or not. In June it is covered with ball-like clusters of small white flowers, held just above the dark green foliage. Birds eat the mature seeds in late summer and in autumn the leaves turn golden. Continue reading
Exposure mode and ISO dials on the Canon G12 compact camera
Most digital cameras, except for the very simplest, offer several exposure modes . How do you choose which one to use? It depends on what’s most important in the photo you’re making. This month I’ll explain the difference between the primary modes: Program Automatic, Aperture priority, Shutter priority, and Manual. Your camera may also have a variety of Scene modes. Continue reading
The thimbleberries (Rubus parviflorus) are getting ready to burst into bloom throughout the Whatcom County lowlands in the next week or so. The first flowers opened on the plants in our garden last weekend. This robust shrub will soon be covered with large white blossoms, highlighting roadsides and woodland edges.
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I’ve been a big fan of trilliums since I was a kid in West Virginia. Out there you’ll find several species blooming in the woods. Here in northwest Washington we only have one native species, although there are others a bit further south or east in the Pacific Northwest. Our species, Trillium ovatum, is common, widespread, and showy.
Western white trillium, also known as wakerobin, is blooming in our woods right now. Recognize it by three showy white petals held just above three large triangular leaves. Did you pick up on the threes, which give the genus its name? Continue reading
With the advent of digital photography we have so much post-processing control in applications like Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop, or Photoshop Elements that many of the filters we once used are no longer needed. But there are two exceptions, filters that I still carry and use in my outdoor photography. This month I’ll remind you why a polarizing filter is still important.
Most people, when they think of a polarizing filter, associate it with darkening a blue sky. That’s certainly one of the most common uses of this filter. You can compare the effect of the polarizer in this photograph of our home made on a sunny afternoon with the sun roughly 90° to the left of my camera. Without the polarizer the grass is lighter green, the sky is a pale blue, and the brightness values of the yellow paint, the grass, and the sky are similar. Continue reading
Turner Photographics studio exterior
I’m moving my studio to our home on the outskirts of Bellingham this summer. Last fall we purchased five acres at 4682 Wynn Road, just off the Slater Road I-5 exit, and moved into the house in January. My office is upstairs in the new studio building and we start renovation of the first floor into a spacious new studio this month. The new front entrance will be to the left of the big garage door you can see in the photo above.
The studio building was built in 1928 as a feed store. It was originally located on the corner of Rural Avenue and Highway 99 and was moved to its current location in the early 1960s when Interstate 5 was constructed. Continue reading
We awoke to a dusting of snow on the day before the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. I had to wait a few hours for the sky to brighten enough to rush out and photograph our “old” garden for the last time in the snow and then to photograph our “new” garden for the first time.
![0314703 Deer Ferns in moss garden w/ Salal on decaying stumps bkgnd [Blechnum spicant; Gaultheria shallon]. Bloedel Reserve, Bainbridge Is., WA. © Mark Turner](/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/DeerFern_Turner_0314703.jpg "0314703 Deer Ferns in moss garden w/ Salal on decaying stumps bkgnd [Blechnum spicant; Gaultheria shallon]. Bloedel Reserve, Bainbridge Is., WA. © Mark Turner")
Even in the depth of winter there are dollops of green on the Northwest forest floor. Deer fern (Blechnum spicant) is one of those hardy evergreens. It’s smaller and less common than the ubiquitous sword fern (Polystichum munitum), which to my mind makes it more interesting and desirable for our garden. The photo above shows Deer Ferns in the moss garden at Bloedel Reserve on Bainbridge Island. Continue reading
This holiday season you can’t avoid coming across wonderful light displays that add a festive touch to our long nights. Whether it’s the lights on your own home, a favorite neighborhood you like to visit, or one of the great public garden holiday light displays, you can make great photographs of the lights. Just don’t expect to get top results with your phone camera (although it doesn’t cost you anything to experiment). Continue reading
There aren’t a lot of perennials or small shrubs that continue to pump out brilliant red-orange blossoms well into autumn. This month’s featured plant, California fuchsia or hummingbird trumpet, is growing in our full sun, rarely watered, shallow soil, streetside garden where we can enjoy it every time we come home and park in front of the house.
Formerly known as Zauschneria californica, it’s sometimes still available under that name in the nursery trade as well as under the currently accepted name, Epilobium canum. It’s a tough plant that’s native to California and adjacent southern Oregon. There are several varieties of the species. If you want all the details, check it out on CalFlora. Continue reading
