Hummingbirds

The neighbor on Whidbey has a hummingbird feeder and so I tried to take some pictures of the hummingbirds.  Much harder to do than the eagle.  They are so small and fast, and they fly away if you get too close.

Lighthouse in HDR

I took these pictures from the ferry in Mukilteo.  The first one I really like how it turned out. The second one I cooked a little bit too much.  I think it looks too fake.

Eagle Getting Dinner

Last night just before we were getting ready to eat our dinner, Deb saw an Eagle swoop down and grab something out of the water.  By the time Deb and I got out of the house with the camera, the eagle was sitting on the beach getting pestered by some crows and seagulls.  After a minute of that it took off back to its nest, giving me a great shot at some pictures.  Click the pictures to view larger, we were pretty close to him, so they blow up pretty nicely.  In the first two pictures the eagle has its catch in its talons, and then it takes off with it.

We thought he got a young sea otter, but we aren't quite sure what it is that he was able to catch.

More Sunset

I love it when spring finally arrives and the sun is out so that we have sunsets. I think next time though, I am going to try taking sunset pictures with a slow aperture (like 16-20, instead of 4 or 5). This I think should give me more of a star shaped sun. I'm excited to try it, but first I'll show you the pictures we took the other night.

Flowers

On our walk last night to watch the sunset Deb got some great shots of different flowers around here.  I love how parts of the flower are in focus and the rest falls out of focus so nicely (shallow depth of field).

Sunset

Last night the sunset was beautiful here.  These pictures hardly begin to capture how beautiful it was.  We have been truly blessed to live in such a beautiful place. Its about time spring starts.

Natural Living Tip

I have been looking for ways to save money and put less chemicals into our environment.  Part of this comes from a class where we saw all the things that go into our water system and its kind of disgusting.  I will see if I can find the flash animation we made.  It was mostly dealing with drugs and other things that are disposed of in our water system (flushed down the drain).

Anyway onto the tip.  This comes in 2 parts.  Both are uses for cheap white vinegar.
1. You can use it to clean windows and mirrors (instead of Windex or similar product).  This tip comes from my sister in law.  I just couldn't believe how well it worked.  Why is Windex made at all?  It does an just as good a job if not better.  Just pour a little onto a paper towel and clean the mirror like normal.
2.  You can use it instead of Jet Dry in the dishwasher as a rinsing agent.  I just started doing it and my dishes look fine (don't have anything to compare it with).  We didn't use Jet Dry (way too expensive), but seems to work.

I'm sure that there are more uses.

Family Photo Preview

Click to view larger

Here's a preview of our photo shoot with this wonderful family. We had a great time and like I've said before Carkeek park is amazing. There is such a wide variety of backgrounds.  The daughter used to come to my daycare a few years ago, and it was good to get a chance to catch up.

Carkeek Park pt. 1

Deb and I went to Carkeek park for a photoshoot yesterday. It was a beautiful morning for photos and we had a fabulous time.  It is my new favorite place to do photoshoots.  There is a ton of variety for backgrounds to photos.  Plus one can get really close to the train as it goes by.  Pretty fabulous.  Look for photos from our Family shoot coming later this week.

Photography in the Rain

I'm supposed to do a family photo session this weekend.  But living in Washington its supposed to rain.  I got this recommendation from Scott Kelby (http://www.scottkelby.com/ not a personal recommendation, just off of his podcast) for rainsleeves.  You can find them here.  I will let you know how they work or hopefully I won't have to use one.  They are really small and I plan on keeping one in my camera bag just in case I get caught in the rain and want to take some pictures.

Run Results and Sunset

On Saturday I was able to run the 5k in just under 31 minutes. I ran all but 2 blocks in the middle of the race.  The two blocks were right after a hill that kinda wore me out.  Deb finished the race at just under 25 minutes.  Anyway, here are some sunset pictures from the other day.  It has been far too cloudy around here for spectacular sunsets, but its still pretty nice.

Walking on Water

When we were walking along the beach the other day, the tide was just right for a little walk on the water.  If the waves weren't crashing it would look a little more realistic, but I love how you can't see the land beneath me.

Run and photos

Deb and I are participating in a 5k run on Saturday.  We would love it if you joined us or donated to help end slavery. You can do either by following this link.  
And now back to what this site is all about. Deb and I went for a beautiful spring walk last Saturday and Deb got some wonderful pictures (I'm convinced that she is the better artist with the camera and gets lots more 'wall worthy' pictures than I).

I love the perspective

This would have been great if some bonehead hadn't walked into the background

More Eagles

Deb and I were walking along the beach and these two eagles just came soaring over us, as close as I've been this year to them. Deb had the camera and got some pretty sweet shots.