Tulip Season Finale

Those of you reading this from the Seattle area know that Spring has been unusual this year to put it mildly. We went from a 70 degree Saturday to a pouring down rain Sunday shortly followed by a snow storm that left up to 8 inches of snow on the ground for a couple of days. All this happened in the heart of tulip season. Mount Vernon, WA has many fields that during the month of April come alive with vibrant colors stretching out as far as the eye can see.

Because of the freak weather, the tulips didn't bloom until much later than usual. The season was supposed to end a week and a half ago but I heard on the radio that because of the late bloom they were extending it another week. That was good news for me as I had a Mother's Day project at the restaurant that needed a good tulip photo to complete. Saturday, I hit the Freeway and drove up. Halfway there it started to rain. Not a light sprinkle, but a seriously strong downpour that had me driving 45 MPH at most on I5. I was determined to get at least one decent shot rain or shine so I pressed through.

I got up to where I knew there were tons of fields and couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that they were all gone! They topped off the fields even though the radio had said they were waiting until Monday to do so.

I kept driving and saw a small sign that said the word "tulips" with a small arrow. Just then, the rain stopped. I took a right and couldn't believe my luck. With dramatic clouds in the sky, nice even light there were acres of tulips brighter than ever!

The strong rain had created dramatic color saturation with the flowers and the raindrops were a great added element to the close up shots.

Another fun part of the storm was the thick, oozy mud everywhere! People were slipping and sliding. Many a rump was covered in muck! I saw a woman walking in bare feet after she lost her shoes to the goop. I didn't even hesitate for a second to ask her if she would let me take a picture of her feet! I wonder if she thought I was some sort of a weirdo :)

The tulips are gone until next year but I've got some good photo's. The Lavender fields bloom in June up here. I've never seen them before but hopefully I'll get some shots.





This is the lady that lost her shoes.

This guy was driving people that didn't want to brave the mud.
I wasn't the only one taking advantage of the photo op. I love the umbrella in the field.
They almost don't look real.
This is all that's left of the tulip fields today.
I don't know if these were the most practical shoes, but they sure made for a cool picture.

Sneak Preview..Reid and Andrea

Reid and Andrea drove out from Wenatchee, WA today for a fun Engagement Portrait session at Alki Beach. I met Reid at Alex and Trina's wedding last fall and I met Andrea quite earlier than that as she worked at the Vancouver restaurant with me. It was great to run into her then and even greater when I learned they are getting married September 5 at one of my favorite wedding locations...the Newcastle Golf Course Andrea and Reid are golfers and they hinted that one of the deciding factors in choosing this location is the fact that getting married there qualifies them for a free round of golf. The first time I went to Newcastle was for a dinner hosted by the Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck along with a bunch of other players. Something that struck me funny was even the starters for the Seahawks thought it was an expensive place to play a round of golf! It is a beautiful place to get married and I can't wait to photograph their wedding. They were full of laughs and truly enjoyed each other today, I can only imagine how much fun it will be September 5!

I just got done uploading their photo's. Here is a photo I really liked quite a bit. It was a very sunny day and the overhead sun presented some challenges and some great opportunities such as this one. Shouldn't be too hard to guess where the sun was by looking at their shadow.

I'll post more when they are done.

Year of the Frog

Check out this link for the Year of the Frog

Those of you that have been to my house may recognize my pet Tanzanian Big Eyed, Yellow Spotted Tree Frog. All the photo's on this page are of my little guy.

Jen and Tyson

Here are a few of my favorite photographs of Jen and Tyson from last Sunday. We started out at the Tulip Festival. Normally there is a field of Tulips I visit yearly that is a sea of colors. There are hundreds, if not thousands of people typically wandering around and a small army of Tulip Protectors yelling at people to stay out of the flower paths. I was a little disappointed to see there wasn't much color. We paid the fee to get in the official Tulip Festival and got some shots inside. I loved shooting Jen and Tyson because they were pretty much up for anything. At one point, Jen and Tyson climbed up into a tree in the middle of the festival. Shortly after, I joined them in the tree for a better angle! I'm sure we looked like quite a site, but I love the pics so it was well worth it!

On our way out to the car, I wanted to check around the corner behind a building. Most of the flowers in the field we say were discolored and dying. Not a great photo op. There was one patch of flowers that were filled with yellow and went on forever. Because we weren't at the popular Tulip Fields (which we later learned were only about a half mile away) there wasn't anyone around. We had the place to ourselves and were able to get some really great photo's because of it.

After that, we drove up Hwy 20 to find an old abandoned building for some moodier shots. I was like a kid in the candy store at this place. We had only 20 minutes or so to shoot there so unfortunately we didn't get to explore what I am sure are many more incredibly great spots. If anyone reading this is looking for some grungy/moody portraits...I know where we can go!

Thanks Jen and Tyson for your sense of adventure. I can't wait for your wedding in August!

You can view a slideshow of the E-Session here...Jen and Tyson

The gallery with all of the images from the day is here...Photo Gallery



Very romantic
Too much fun!
Sometimes to get the shot, you've got to do some climbing.
All alone in the field of flowers.
I love this photo!
Is this place cool or what?

It was risky hanging out in this attic as there were holes everywhere! The risk paid off though..I love this shot.

What a cool wall! The Paintballers made it even better!
I love the mood of this shot.

Sophie Turns 4

On Saturday April 26, Sophie celebrated her fourth birthday. A special surprise visitor stopped by to say hello, make some balloon animals, do some magic and paint some faces. Sophie's favorite Princess..Aurora aka Sleeping Beauty provided entertainment for the girls. Everyone (not me) was decked out in Princess Dresses and they had a great time. I set up the seamless white background downstairs so the girls could show off their dresses and their face paint. Here are a few pics...

Sophie was mesmerized by the Magic Show.
Athena the Zebra!
Savannah with her Princess Crown painted to go with her Cat Like Persona.
The Birthday Girl!
Princess Aurora and Princess Aurora
All the Princesses pose for a pic.
Balloon animal requests included, flowers, fairy wands, giraffes and monkeys.

And the Winner is.......

CHAD BRIDWELL!

Chad is the director of US Operations for the mega-microstock site Fotolia.com!

For the most part, I am very happy for Chad as he works with tens of thousands of photographers around the world. Having his photo come in first place amongst so many talented photographers with some beautiful photo's shows us that he isn't just a pencil pusher with a Skype headset (we didn't actually think that Chad :)

The only disturbing part about this photo winning in such dramatic fashion is that Chad was the only member of our group shooting with a Nikon Camera. What this really does is further validate his tremendous skill as clearly he was at a severe disadvantage regarding camera equipment :)

Nice going Chad! I'll get your 16X24 Standout print started right away!

Please Vote for your Favorite Image.

Chad Bridwell
Chris Boar
Jan Klier
Terry Lang
Mat Hayward
Dennis Dow
Dennis Dow
James Tosch
Chris Boar
Chris Boar
Chad Bridwell
Dennis Dow
Jan Klier
James Tosch
Terry Lang
James Tosch
Chad Bridwell
Mat Hayward
Terry Lang
Mat Hayward
Jan Klier
On Sunday April 20, 2008 myself, James Tosch of Kits Camera along with his beautiful girlfriend Sandhya, retired Navy Photographer Terry Lang, Flickr afficianado and serious strobist Jan Klier (who is the first guy I met that made me feel like I don't have enough toys....he has some serious gear let me tell you!), wedding photographer Chris Boar and his very charming family, the director of US Operations for Fotolia.com Chad Bridwell along with the ever talented, super nice and highly competitive Dennis Dow who is also a photographer at the Woodland Park Zoo. I say he is competitive as at one point a Dahl's Porpoise was jumping in front of the boat. I had just composed my shot, I could see his sillhouette under the water, I knew he was just about to make a spectacular jump...one second left, my finger began to apply pressure to the shutter when WHAM!!! Dennis sideswipes me, knocks me on my tail and grabs the shot for himself. He claims it was an accident, but I know better :) With Dennis was Sue who is one of those people you meet and you instantly like. Always armed with a great smile and standing by her man holding his second camera ready to swap it out for him in an instant (they do make a great team).

We all met up with Captain Ivan and the very funny, very knowlegable naturalist John Boyd (JB) on the Western Prince II . We embarked on a 4 hour tour of the Puget Sound in search of wildlife as part of a photography challenge. Captain Ivan in addition to being a Whale Tour Boat operator is a photographer armed with a Canon 40D and a Canon 100-400mm lens. Ivan being a photographer was great because after he would find the animals he would position the boat in the best possible way to enhance the light and subsequently, our shots. He is out on the sound nearly every day and gets some incredible photographs which he posts on his blog along with great stories of his adventures. Be sure to check his blog regularily here.

Unlike the last challenge I hosted in Seattle where we were limited to the use of a 50mm lens, this time there were no limitations other than the photographers imagination. Within a 24 Hour period any photo's taken on Friday Harbor or Anacortes were elibible to be entered. Below you will see the entries. If you would be kind enough to take a look at them and to vote for your favorite image it would be very much appreciated. The photograph with the most votes will be printed on a 16X24 Standout Mount and delivered to the talented photographer responsible for shooting it.

We want to get a lot of votes from as many people as possible so please share a link to this blog with your friends! The box to vote is to the right of your screen. As always, comments are very much appreciated.

Thank You!

P.S. I've posted some links to images of individuals mentioned above as well as links to their web pages...the following are links to images of the shooters I wasn't able to fit above. Thanks again to everyone who made the trip and to you for voting!

Chad Bridwell
Dennis & Sue
Ivan & JB
Jan Klier
Terry Lang
James & Sandhya

A Whale of a Tale!

Today was the day for the Photographer Challenge I was hosting out of Friday Harbor in the San Juan Islands.

Those of you not from around here may or may not realize that the past few days have represented some of the most bizarre "Spring" weather I have ever seen. Yesterday and the Day we had anywhere from 6 to 8 inches of snow covering the ground. This morning at Very Early Oclock my good buddy Terry whom I blogged about previously picked up my other good buddy Chad whom I have never blogged about and I and we headed up to Anacortes. On the hour long drive we started under gray sky, cold weather...drove into sprinkling rain, followed by a steady drizzle, into an intense rain with limited visibility followed by massive snow fall.

I'm not going to lie. I was a bit concerned about the weather. We met up with the rest of the group at the ferry terminal and everyone shared the same apprehension about the weather. As the Ferry approached Friday Harbor however, a miracle occurred! The clouds parted, the sky turned blue and the sun shone! It became one of the most beautiful days I've seen in a long while.

We headed out on my favorite boat the Western Prince and spent 4 hours cruising the Sound finding Big Horn Rams, Fallow Deer, Dahl's Porpoises, Harbor Seals, huuuuge Stellar Sea Lions and more. It was a great trip with great travelling companions. This is a photo of everyone except the Boar family who traveled down from Canada for the trip. They stayed on overnight and were not on the ferry home where this photo was taken.

Please be sure to check back later this week as everyone is going to send me 3 of their favorite photo's of the day to be shown here. You will have the chance to participate in our contest and vote for your favorite image. The winning image will be printed as a 16X24 Standout (my new favorite print size and style) for the photographer responsible for the image.