flower photography

Flower Photography at the Hood River Lavender Daze Festival

I learned about this festival just today, though my wife had been planning on attending for some time. Initially, I hesitated to join them in favor of cleaning my garage, but she told me one of the vendors had exotic birds so I grabbed my camera and hopped in the car. Upon arrival, I realized this place is a photographer’s paradise. The flower fields were in full bloom and the day was warm, clear and bright. While my daughter had fun releasing ladybugs and sipping a smoothie, I was in the flower fields, dodging busy bees and shooting everything in sight. After my camera card filled up, I was able to browse some of the vendors and ended up buying a Moroccan sandstone geode at The 3rd Rock’s booth. The festival was well attended and featured live music and great food courtesy of Solstice Pizza. [Read more…]

Catherine Creek Photography

I had another adventurous weekend, starting with my flight to Goldendale Saturday morning. I was at the airfield by 10AM for preflight and departed by 10:45 with the intention of beating the gusty winds that were forecast for the afternoon. I made it out to Goldendale and was busy practicing some ground reference maneuvers when the Gorge winds finally started to kick up. The flight home was bumpy, to say the least, and it culminated in my first solo crosswind landing with 16 knot gusts.

Sunday, LRH and I decided to take our little Fuss Nugget to Catherine Creek since the wildflowers are in full bloom. This is a incredible place for photography and portraits. The park itself is set on a plateau overlooking the Columbia River with a paved trail that forms a one mile loop. Siena had a blast with the wildflowers and foot bridges. She would excitedly proclaim “weeee!” whenever an airplane flew by, which happened several times since the Columbia River is a highway for air traffic. In fact, I had flown over this park the day before.