Winter Snow of November 2010!!

We had an artic storm hit us the week before TDay.... ended up with almost 6" of snow....and then the following day the skies cleared and it was sooooo cold....down to 12 degrees!! But it was sooooo beautiful....the sky was so blue and the sun so bright!! I was playing with my filters and I liked the way I was able to catch the shadows of the snow without having it overexposed and at the same time not underexposing the rest of the photo..... And of course....I always love a photo that has my pup, Ms Tana.... in it!!!

Focaccia Bread!!!

I took a bread making course at a small farm house near Maytown.... she was teachng how to make focacci bread.....and I tell ya....I've never had a focaccia bread like this....and never one sooooo delicious!! We baked the bread in her wood fired pizza oven... hmmm....I think I may know what my next toy will be!!!

My Hobbies!!!

As if I need another hoby to my list of making wine and soap.... I am now somewhat intrigued with making candles!!! I love the scent of the candles in the house (much better then the "wet puppy" smell that's usually in the house!!).....and I love the lighting it produces when I'm relaxing and watching a movie.... And with winter coming soon.... it should be nice and cozy with a nice fire and watching a good movie!!

I 've been recently experimenting with flash photography.... and I really liked the way the shadows go across the photo...rather then directly behind as is typical when you use a flash mounted on your cameral. I had the flash setup oriented at the side....and used an indiret flash shot with an umbrella....that was almost oriented straight down...

2010 Dahlias!!

Summer is here!! I think this is a hydrangia bush...but I'm uncertain as I planted it 6 years ago...and didn't label it!! But I think the flowers are kinda cool!! I also think this is the first time it's bloomed!!

Feisty Freda Dahlia

The Dahlias are finally starting to bloom!! I hope to get a nice full garden shot this summer... this one I purchased from the Kitsap Dahlia Society near Bremerton WA...

Watercolors Dahlia

Another Dahlia I purchased from the Kitsap club... this was my year of "experimentation" with different types of Dahlias!!

Stargazers in bloom!!!

The frist flowers in the Dahlia Garden.... in the back ground you can see my "fierce" protector.... Ms Tana!!! I was using an aperture setting of 5.0 to focus on the flowers...which is why Tana is blurry....

Murhut Falls Hike in Duckabush Valley

Murhut Falls

These photos were taken at Murhut Falls in the Duckabush Valley. The falls were surrounded with steep ridges which limits the sun light. When walking you turned around the bend on the trail you could feel the coolness of the falls even though you couldn't see it!!

The Trail to Murhut Falls!!!

It was such a gorgeous hike to the falls....all 0.8 miles with a 200' raise in elevation to approx 1200'!! This photography hobby may actually do me some good.....or else kill me!! I should've taken more photos on the hike to the falls since the sun had set behind a ridge on the way down....

Hood Canal near Hama Hama

I just love Madrona's.....and here you can see the little bay and the Canal as the sun was setting...

This is near the mouth of the river as it enters the Canal.... the river ran along this narrow peninsula that I was standing on....

On my way home from the falls, I saw this little road by the bridge that headed to an empty point in the Canal. The road was lined with Madrona trees and looked sooooo gorgeous!!! I need to go back to get some photos of them..... but on one side of the point was the mouth of hte river....and  the other side a bay within the Canal.... I need to post more of those photos..... when I get time!!!

Chai the Hunter!!

Manual mode, custom preset white balance.

Photos were taken at 8:55 p.m. June 5th.

It was tricky trying to capture a photo since it was dusk. But I'm slowly learning my camera settings. I'm now taking my photos in manual mode and using a grey card to create my custom white balance. I was focusing on movement and trying to catch that "blur" effect without having everything blurred.

Spring Flowers!!!

Check the SPSCC folder to the left for more of my recent spring flower photos.. I took all of them using manual mode....and I think they turned out surprisingly good.... especially considering I took them!!!

The Skokomish Valley in Spring

The sun had just broken through the Skokomish Valley... and the colors were so vibrant!!

Butterfly in Dahlia Garden....

Experimenting with shutter and metering mode

The "kids" at play!!

Kota & Tana ready to play!!! The "kids" can be quite demanding!!

Waterfall-Pond at Night

My waterfall-pond taken at night while playing with shutter mode. The light was created from holding a 3 cell flashlight while shining it at the waterfall for 15 seconds....I thought it looked pretty cool!!

Pups in Winter!!

These are two of my "kids".... they a handful, but worth it!!