Hey, it’s the first post in 9 months! Check out this nice shot of a crimson red tulip grown here in Oregon. I used a Canon Rebel XTi with a fixed 100mm macro lens, and no Photoshopping.

Click to download the zipped 1920×1200 image.

I headed out to Argyle Winery yesterday to take some photos of the vines and grapes. It’s still pretty early in the growing season, but things are looking pretty nice. Here are a few shots (out of 70+). Most of the photos were of Chardonnay vines.

Codi and I recently visited the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden in SE Portland. It’s 9 acres of rhododendrons and other flowers, but the most obvious attraction is the small lake and the hundreds of ducks and geese.

Betwen the two of us, we took about 300 photos. Here are a few samples – flowers to come soon.

Click for larger version (1920×1200, scales down to 1680×1050).

Click for larger version (1920×1200, scales down to 1680×1050).

Codi and I just got back from a few days in Florida – our annual Christmas Part Deux. We had a good visit, spent time with family and shivered a little in the unexpectedly cold weather. Of course, it’s now 25 degrees out in Portland and snowed earlier in the afternoon, so even a chilly Florida looks pretty toasty right about now!

This is one of my favorite flora photos from 2007. It’s simple, but the colors are intriguing to me. I took the photo in Dundee, Oregon around July 27th. Click on the image for a 1680×1050 version, good for desktop use.

Canon Rebel XTi, 100mm, 1/200 sec, f/4

Codi and I went to the lavender fields today with the GvL family. We picked an entire basket full of various types of fresh lavender, dodging hundreds of bees who were equally interested in the flowers. We’ll dry the lavender and hang it around the house.

Codi and I went to the Portland Rose Gardens to take some pictures. It’s one of our favorite spots for photos, so we look forward to it all winter and spring. Of course, when we got there, I snapped my first shot and realized I’d left my memory card at home.   #$%^&*!   So all these photos are courtesy of my very cute wife, Codi.

I took this one. =)

I wanted to test uploading video clips to the website, so I thought I’d start with a slideshow. It’s a quick run-through of about 1/3 of the polar bear photos I took this last weekend. The images will probably go by pretty quickly like a flip-book. Enjoy.

(Now that I’ve seen the video clip, I think the 1 second transition is a little sloppy, but hey – it’s just a test.)

Codi and I took a break Sunday morning and went to the Oregon Zoo. We like going there because we’re 99% guaranteed some good photos. Here are a few that I took. Codi will have some good pics to share soon.

Cougars asleep in their den. How frikin cute is that?!

This polar bear went swimming under water to find some fish pieces.

The polar bears had a wee little argument over who would get to chew on the fish-filled ice blocks. The big guy in the water won – several times.

Awesome bald eagle!

I was making some BBQ shrimp last night (in the rain) on our deck and I noticed that the light was hitting an evergreen in a particular way that made it sparkle. I got up close and noticed that the sparkling was due to tiny water droplets that had been caught in between the needles of the tree. I thought it looked neat until I got my 100mm macro lens. The closer I got to the droplets, the better they looked.

P.S. The shrimp was awesome!

We were recently in North Dakota spending time with Codi’s family. Here are some photos taken in Medora and in the Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

Boy, did I ever have a fun morning! I was out at Argyle Winery when a conversation turned to aerial photography. I’ve been itching to take aerials for years, so I offered to take some photos. Minutes later I was strapping in to a little two-seater Cessna, ready for take-off! Fortunately for me, the windows on this airplane opened up, so I was able to lean out a little and get some awesome shots. We were going about 100mph somewhere around 3,000 feet high, so the wind was very strong and very cold. It was totally worth it, though! So damn fun! I plan on repeating this adventure as often as possible!

I ended up taking over 470 photos. 350 of them looked great, with no wing or strut in the shot.

This is Knudsen Vineyard, the main source of Argyle’s tastiest wines.

This is a fun shot looking straight down. I thought it was fun how the landing gear was in the frame. It sort of adds perspective.

This is one of my favorite angles because it gives the impression that I could have been standing on the wing. (I wish!)