With the celebration of the 4th of July only 2 days away, there is a lot of red, white, and blue being displayed in the United States right now. As we were walking along the boardwalk in Seaside, Oregon this past Sunday we saw this little boy holding a very patriotic umbrella. I snapped this shot just before he closed it. Click the thumbnail for a larger view.
Photo of the Week: Portland International Airport
After we dropped our daughter, Sydney, off at the airport we spent some time taking photos of the cool architecture of the Portland International Airport. Click to enlarge.
Camping on Mount Hood for Father’s Day Weekend
For the Father’s Day Weekend we went to Clear Lake, which is one of our favorite places to camp on Mt. Hood. After dealing with the stress of trying to get ready for 2 years of round-the-world travel, getting our house ready to sell, and trying to figure out what to keep and what to get rid of, we needed a break. With our Coleman tent trailer in tow a and roof full of kayaks we made the 1 ½ hour drive from Portland Friday evening and arrived with just enough light to setup camp without the aid of flashlights. Clear Lake is a very simple campground; no hookups, no showers, no plumbing. The bathrooms are pit toilets and the potable water is from a well with a hand pump. But the place is an excellent escape from the artificial light and fast pace of the city and we always feel refreshed after a weekend of staying there.
Astro Photography
Something I have always wanted to do is take photos of the stars at night. I tried it in our backyard a few weeks ago, but after the long exposure required to show the stars the photo looked as if it had been taken during the day. There is way too much light pollution in Portland. But high up in the mountains the sky was dark and filled with countless stars. So around 11pm I setup the tripod and camera and started taking photos of the night sky. Here are some of the results:
Frog Lake and the Search for Jumpy
A couple of miles down the road from Clear Lake is Frog Lake. Frog Lake is a small natural alpine lake with an amazing view of Mt. Hood and home to lots of small frogs that appear later in the summer; hence the name. We had camped there a couple of years ago and our daughter Sydney had fun catching the frogs. She named one of the frogs “Jumpy” and tried to teach him to dance. It was a very funny sight. So now anytime we are in the area we must stop in and look for Jumpy the frog and to see if he had taught the other frogs to dance.
Hike to Tamanawas Falls
We are always looking to try new hikes and we read about one that sounded like a good one to try. The hike to Tamanawas Falls is only 4 miles roundtrip and was said to be kid friendly; perfect for a quick afternoon hike. We invited my uncle Gar to join us and after he arrived to our campsite on his motorcycle we headed out to the eastside of Mt. Hood for our hike. We overlooked one little detail and forgot to pick up a $5 Northwest Forest Pass, something that would cost us a $100 fine if ticketed. Many trailheads elsewhere have pay stations, but not in the Mt. Hood National Forest. We feel it’s kind of dumb to charge people to access public lands. Isn’t that why we pay taxes? Fortunately, there was a campground a ¼ mile from the trailhead and our camping pass would allow us to park in the day use area for free. The trail meanders through a forested canyon along Cold Spring Creek and has several foot bridges. Sydney was a like a little mountain goat running ahead and leaping from rocks and logs and asking every dog owner that she passed if she could pet their dog. We stopped at several scenic spots along the trail to take photos and enjoy the sound of the forest and creek. When we reached the 100-foot high Tamanawas Falls we were impressed! Oregon has a lot of waterfalls and we have seen a lot of them, and this one was amazing.
After our hike we returned to our campsite and cooked up the ultimate camp dinner; chili dogs! Gar had brought along his famous homemade macaroni salad and we had a good feast. Sydney made friends with the kids at the neighboring campsite and they invited her over for s’mores. She is social enough that there shouldn’t be a problem with her making new friends as we travel the world. We enjoyed the evening sitting next to the warm fire and wished we could stay a few more nights.
On Sunday we packed up and made the quick journey home. It’s always nice to get out of the city and spend a few days in nature. Hopefully we will have the chance to do that a few more times before the summer ends.
Making Miniatures with the Kipon Tilt Adapter
Finding the perfect present for Kerri’s birthday was a little harder this year since we are preparing for a 2-year round-the-world trip. The few things that we will be taking with us will need to be small and multipurpose. As much as we would like to bring a lot of different lenses for our cameras, that’s just not going to happen. Since Kerri has an Olympus E-PL1 Micro 4/3’s camera and I shoot a Nikon D7000 DSLR it would make sense if Kerri could attach some of my pro quality Nikon lenses to her camera using an adapter. A lot of people love the Lensbaby Tilt Transformer and we had found one at a local camera shop a few weeks ago but found it to be a bit difficult to use, but functional. It looked like an okay little adapter, but it cost $249 and is made out of plastic. The Tilt Transformer also comes with the Lensbaby Composer, but that costs $349 and the composer lens would probably not get used. So after pouring over online reviews and looking at all of the available options I chose the all metal Kipon Micro 4/3’s to Nikon lens tilt adapter for only $159.95 from Amazon for Kerri’s present.
While I could have saved a lot of money and just purchased a plain adapter, having the option to tilt the lens allows for greater control of perspective and depth of field. And one fun thing to do with a tilt adapter is to make miniatures. That is, the tilted lens gives the look of looking down onto a fake miniature city or toy models.
Here are some examples that we shot. These are straight out of the camera and other than resizing them, nothing has been altered or “Photoshopped.” All of these photos were taken with a Nikon 28mm f/2.8 AIS lens as shown above.
(Click to enlarge)
Technique
The technique to get the miniature look is pretty easy. You simply set the lens to the widest aperture, we used f/2.8, tilt the camera down, tilt the lens up, and manually focus on the center of the frame. I found that that the more downward you shoot the better the effect. Trees and sunshine also help to maximize the effect as the shots taken while cloudy or lacking trees did not have as much pop.
We are planning to hit a couple of other cool locations around Portland and will post those photos here when they are ready. We are also curious to see how different lenses look and will post our results.
Photo Tour: Portland’s Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden
One of our favorite places to go in Portland is the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden located in SE Portland’s well-to-do Eastmoreland Neighborhood. The garden is owned and maintained by Portland Parks and Recreation which keeps the entrance fee reasonable at $15 per year for a family pass, $3 per person for a single visit, and free during the Fall and Winter. The gardens are open year round and with the pass we just pop in whenever we feel like a quick stroll through the gardens.
This past weekend we had unusually good weather for being May and instead of keeping with our intended plans of working on house projects, we decided to take a stroll through the gardens… with camera gear, of course.
(Click on any of the photos to enlarge)
Flowers
We come to the gardens year round for the peace and tranquility that can be found there. But during the Spring the garden becomes a very colorful and magical place with 1000’s of colorful flowers.
Photographer’s Paradise
The rhododendron garden is a very popular shooting location for wedding, portrait, and macro photographers who take advantage of the colorful backgrounds, flowers, and the tranquil setting. On the day and time that we visited the sun was overhead and direct, which is a lighting nightmare for photography. We could have come back at the magic hour (right after sunrise or right before sunset) and had some amazing photos, but we were there and thought we would try our luck and just have fun.
Wildlife
Besides having a lot of flowers, the rhododendron garden is also home to a lot of not-so-wild wildlife. There is an assortment of geese, mallard ducks, wood ducks, squirrels, blue jays, blue herons, and others. We often come with our daughter to feed the squirrels peanuts and the birds crushed corn (they don’t allow bread.) Many of the animals are so friendly that they will come right up to you and take the food out of your hand. During the Spring and Summer it is common to see lots of fluffy baby chicks swimming around the pond.
Location
In case our photos have inspired you to go visit this wonderful place, you can find the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden is at 6015 SE 28th Ave in Portland, Oregon.
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