liftoff

I panned the camera with the moving subject, keeping the gull's body relatively sharp and blurring everything else.  It was a single frame exposure, so the nice wing position was pure luck.

Happy New Year!

paper mill

In keeping with the paper mill theme, here is an image of the one near Port Townsend, WA.  This black and white version was extracted with some effort from a mild-mannered color digital photo, yielding a much more dramatic picture.

Can you find the face in the clouds?  (Hint: he has a black beard and maybe a cowboy hat, and he's looking right at us.)

orange tank #2

Here is another image from Nippon Paper's big mill near the harbor in Port Angeles, WA.  You can see the colors better in the larger image, by clicking on the thumbnail.

orange tank

This industrial scene is of the Nippon Paper mill on the waterfront in Port Angeles.  It could easily have been a black and white image, but I like the orange tank stuck in amongst the less colorful structures.

canyon clouds

I am getting into a winter frame of mind.  Here is a view from Hurricane Ridge in nearby Olympic National Park.  This is another of my photographs that seems to be improved in black and white.

The ridges and peaks in the park will sometimes be above the local cloud cover, especially in winter.

sitting for her portrait

Or maybe just waiting for food.

Happy St. Stephen's Day / Boxing Day / Day after Christmas / First Day of Kwanzaa.

This image was made using available room and window light.  I corrected some of the color cast in it and re-posted it on 12-27-11.

smith rock #7

Here is the last of this series of black and white photographs from Smith Rock in central Oregon.  Happy Holidays!

smith rock #6

Here is another black and white image from the striking Oregon state park.  This view is from down near the river.

smith rock #5

Smith Rock State Park has miles of trails.  While the plein air painters were painting, I wandered all over, down in the river canyon and along the bluff overlooking it, to get these photographs.  The constantly shifting cloud and shadow patterns made an ever-changing scene.

smith rock #4

Here is another photograph from my Smith Rock black and white series.  The clouds were very spectacular the day we were there.

happy solstice

Tonight is the longest night of the year in these parts.  Time to light a candle.

sequim bay evening 3

The hillside trees fade into the evening mist.

"Shroud 1"

"Shroud 2"

sequim bay evening 2

Here are three more photographs from Saturday evening's visit to the head of Sequim Bay.

"Friends"

"Through the Trees"

"Country Road"

sequim bay evening

I walked along the Olympic Discovery Trail near the head of Sequim Bay yesterday evening, just before sunset.  The tide was out.  Here are a couple photographs from the head of the bay.

"Low Tide 1"

"Low Tide 2"

webster's woods 3

My final post of photographs from Thursday's visit to the art woods at the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center.

This info is from the PAFAC website:

The Port Angeles Fine Arts Center is the legacy of Esther Barrows Webster and Charles Webster, the late owners of the Port Angeles Evening News.

The Webster House Gallery and Webster's Woods Art Park sit atop Beaver Hill and command sweeping views of the city, harbor, and the Strait of Juan de Fuca out to Vancouver Island.

The semi-circular Webster House was designed in 1951 by noted Pacific Northwest architect Paul Hayden Kirk.

I believe this work is called "Anthology."  It must have been quite a feat to install.

This piece I think is entitled "Smokey's Wish."

I like this photo because it seems to show nature getting into the spirit of the art space.

webster's woods 2

Here are some more images of the art in its environment from our visit yesterday to Webster's Woods, which surround the Port Angeles Fine Arts Center.

The Art Outside program keeps the Woods stocked with new works each year, along with some continuing displays from previous years.

The art is everywhere in the park- up, down, near and far.  Sometimes you have to look closely.  Some, at first glance, seem to be just a natural part of the woods.  Closer inspection reveals them to be installed works of art.

"The Leaners," sculpted by Viva Jones

webster's woods

Today we visited Webster's Woods Art Park, the five acre "museum without walls" which surrounds and leads to the Port Angeles Fine Art Center.

PAFAC is the Westernmost center for contemporary art in the contiguous U.S.  The Center will close its doors for the first three weeks of the new year to sort out budget difficulties, according to a story in the Peninsula Daily News.

The Center's website suggests falling into a rabbit hole is a fitting metaphor for much of the Webster's Woods experience.  It's certainly a magical place.

smith rock #3

Here is my third image from Smith Rock State Park, in the central Oregon high desert.  Featuring remarkable cliffs of basalt and tuff, the park is very popular with rock climbers.

smith rock #2

Here is the second image from our Smith Rock visit.  It is really quite a stunning spot.  The day we visited, a Bend, Oregon gallery was coincidentally hosting a paintout in the same place, involving the artists represented by the gallery.

smith rock

I am currently adjusting some photographs I took at Smith Rock State Park, north of Bend, Oregon.  Here is the first image of the series.

The rocks have a striking orange color but I find I like the black-and-white interpretations more- they allow one to focus on the shapes.

desert track

Photographed in the morning light near Steamboat Rock in Upper Grand Coulee, Washington.

lunar eclipse

The first part of the eclipse was visible through cloud breaks.  I started watching about 0430 local time this morning.  As the eclipse deepened, the cloud breaks became fewer.  These photos were taken just before the moon disappeared for the last time.  The glow in the lower right of the first photo is from the lights of the city of Sequim.

Where's the moon?  I was hoping to see it in the picture below as well, closer to setting.  For an example of how the brush is mightier than the lens, see M's excellent painting of the scene as it could have been.

hay barn

It looks like rain.  Good thing the hay is in the barn.  Now if only the barn doesn't fall over.

sauvie island paintings

Here are two small paintings I did this fall on Sauvie Island, on the Columbia River near Portland, OR.  These were done during an Eric Jacobsen workshop.  Eric was a good instructor and a gentleman- he didn't paint on other people's paintings.  His demos were a joy to watch.  He has a wonderfully loose painting style.

Sauvie Tree

oil on canvas, 6"x8"

Sauvie Field

oil on canvas, 6.75"x9"

sicily churches

Here are the remaining two of my photos which went up at the Unitarian Fellowship yesterday.  I picked images of churches and cathedrals which we had toured in Sicily in part because of their style interest.  They tend to accumulate design and ornamentation details over the years from the religions of the successive ruling powers: Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Arab, Norman.

These photos will be on display at the Fellowship through February, 2012.

"Church of St Mary of the Admiral"

Palermo, Sicily

"March of the Columns"

Monreale, Sicily

photography show

Four of my photos went up today, along with works from four other photographers, at Quimper Unitarian Universalist Fellowship on San Juan Avenue in Port Townsend, WA.

The building is beautiful and looks to me as if it might have a bit of Scandinavian influence in the architecture.

The photography show is part of their revolving art program and will be on display through February, 2012.  I'm delighted to be part of the show.

note:  To see the images I have in this show, see my December blog posts "sicily churches," "sunset procession," and "tile setter."

QUUF

photos staged in the foyer

hanging

the sanctuary