Waterfall Wednesday

Water.

Falls.

Waterfalls.

Welcome to the Columbia River Gorge, Oregon. Home of many, many beautiful waterfalls.

Now that the summer drought is long over (we've even had some winter flooding recently), the waterfalls are as magnificent as ever. It was a little sad to see them all wispy during the hot, dry Summer and Fall.

I recently went on a hike after work (Hooray for longer days!). 

I started at Horsetail Falls.

Talk about water flow! Tiny water droplets were going every where! I had to be strategic to capture the gushing water without the Tokina lens wearing too much water.

From the base of the falls, I made a short 0.4 mile hike (one way) up the fern lined trail (plus a tree top fell over the trail, I had to nearly crawl under it) to above the falls, Ponytail Falls aka Upper Horsetail Falls. At Ponytail Falls you walk behind it and watch the powerful flow of water pound down. It's so refreshing and rejuvenating up there.

Once I returned to my Highlander, it was still light out, so I traveled down the road to Multnomah Falls.

Once again, I only had my Tokina with me so I can learn how to utilize it more. It's awesome for all the wide angle shots I was missing these past couple years.

Last time I was at Multnomah, there was ice every where, so I didn't go up to Benson Bridge. But this time I went up there, once again being strategic so that all the water falling droplets weren't obscuring the view of the mighty, classic waterfall. There's been so much water lately, a "little brother" showed up on the right hand side of the upper tier of Multnomah Falls.

Enjoy!

Horsetail Falls

Ponytail Falls

Multnomah Falls with Benson Bridge

Multnomah Falls at Benson Bridge

Thanks for following along!

Vista House at Crown Point

On Friday I headed out to capture the beautiful January sky at the Vista House at Crown Point.

I only brought two lens with me, Tokina 11-16mm and Canon 70-210mm. Those are the two lens I need to learn (I love my 85mm, but need to learn how to master the others).

I had some fun exploring different angles of the classic, historic Vista House. I even had time to get a great photo of my Highlander when some of the cars left and before others parked. It's usually quite busy up there with people coming and going all the time.

I didn't get any bright, vibrant colors at sunset, but I did get a couple awesome shots of the moon rising over the Columbia River Gorge.

Favorite Shot | Something to Learn

It's raining once again in the Pacific Northwest which leaves me pining for warm summer days.

One of the photos I took last summer of the beautiful Drum Horse mare, Holly, at dusk is what bringing me through these gray days. I can almost feel the warmth of the sun falling behind the distant trees and can hear the therapeutic munching of horses on the dried grass. It's like a Summer Dream.

I listen to a lot of podcasts about photography and my favorite is Improve Photography. I've also read a lot of posts via Pinterest to learn more about manual settings and backlighting models in photography.

In this picture, I did exactly that.

85mm  |  f/4.0  |  1/250  |  ISO 100

One of the keys is to set your camera to Spot Metering, this is when the metering is set to expose (properly) the area which you have the focus point on. In my case, it was Holly. I also positioned the sun out of the composition, and enough out of the way so that there wouldn't be any sun flares. I didn't do anything drastic in processing the image, I strive to capture clean, timeless images.

Right now my summer dream of Holly is the desktop background of my computer. If you're interested in having her be the wallpaper of your computer monitor, you can get her here: Summer Dream Drum Horse Digital Photograph

Mount Hood Forest Buck | Hand Printed T-Shirt

Show off your PNW pride with this hand printed t-shirt. I worked on a more "sketchy" style which looks more true to my drawings. 

This is my third screen printing design. I actually used this one as a Christmas present (printed on tea towels) for my family. And now it will be available for you to order on a t-shirt!

You can order a shirt with this design until January 29/31. Then I will order the shirts, and start printing once I receive them. The approximate shipping dates will vary, but focused around February 29.

There are two options for ordering now:

1. EMAIL ME (EMAIL HERE) the style, color, and size of shirt(s) you want and your mailing address. Then I'll email you an invoice which you need to pay by Friday, January 29. The specific shirts you want will then be ordered, once they're received I will hand print Mt Hood Forest Buck on the front and Western Rose Studios logo on the back in black ink. And if all goes to plan, they will be shipped around Monday, February 29!

2. ETSY, yes, I'll post this also on Etsy. ORDER ON ETSY HERE. I set the limit to 25 orders on Etsy and will be stopping the listing on Sunday, January 31 at 9PM PST.

This is the ONLY chance for you to order. After this run of orders, the design will be washed away, never to be repeated the same. Truly limited edition, small batch, and handmade, making them even more special.

Here are your options:

Styles: Loose (men's/unisex crew), Fitted (women's crew), V-Cut (women's fitted v-cut)

Colors available for Loose and Fitted styles (left to right): Neutral, Silver, Blue, Pink, and Green

Colors available for V-Cut Style (left to right): Hot Pink, Stone, and White

Sizes and Pricing: 

Loose and Fitted Styles: Small $20, Medium $20, Large $20, X-Large $20, XX-Large $25, XXX-Large $28

V-Cut: Small $24, Medium $24, Large $24, X-Large $24, XX-Large $29

T-Shirts are 5 oz. 100% cotton high density fabric (Fruit of the Loom brand). Stone may be a poly/cotton blend.

Remember, you need to have the invoice paid by Friday, January 29 to secure a shirt just for you!

Tiny | Christmas Ornament

Tiny

This little pup was deeply loved. Now this ornament will be a little remembrance of her.

Multnomah Falls with Ice | Photography

Ice, Ice ....

It feels like it's been below freezing more times this year than last year and we're not even a month in 2016 yet! Knowing that I-84 was free of ice, I drove down to Multnomah Falls yesterday after work (yes, I work in an office for my "day" job). I really wanted to capture some images with ice clustered around this iconic set of waterfalls.

Now I want to get out and photograph more ice-crusted waterfalls! I hope you enjoy these photos ... 

Self Portrait | Photography

Self Portrait 

Tokina 11-16mm lens on my Canon 

11mm  |  f3.2  |  1/20  |  ISO 100

You can't really tell, but I'm like a foot away from my lens. 

I went up to Multnomah Falls today after work. It was very windy driving up the Gorge on 84, but worth the trip! I got some great photos of Multnomah Falls (I'll share those later), but I'd have to say that this is my favorite photo out of the trip. I was planning to do a self portrait since last night with the iced over falls in the background, and I absolutely love how it turned out. Of course, this photo wouldn't have been possible without my trusty tripod. :-)

Hashtag 101 | Something to Learn

Yes, when I was growing up, "#" was called a "pound sign" or someone would use it in front of your phone number. Now, they are a "hashtag."

What's a hashtag? It's now used as a device to widen the social media database for more people to see something else related to what you're looking at.

For instance, Instagram. This is a prime example when to use hashtags, this is how you will be able to get more exposure for your images/posts.

How to hashtag. Hashtags can be more than one word, but there can't be any spaces. If there are spaces, then it just won't work. Here's a little example, I have a hashtag I created: #WesternRoseStudios

I tag (type it in as the description or comment) this particular hashtag with all my posts on Instagram. Now, just because I started this hashtag doesn't mean that others can't use it, no one "owns" a specific hashtag. I always tag with this hashtag, so that if you go and search for this hashtag, then you can see everything I've posted and tagged.

Also, I use other hashtags when I post something, like for this photo I took up on Mount Hood:

I used other hashtags that "described" my image. That way more people are likely to find my image and then "like" it or comment.

Another little tidbit of information ... if you want to have a certain someone see something, you can reach out to them by typing their username with "@" in front of it. You can see above where I replied to some comments on my photo. If I didn't type in the user names then they would probably have no idea that you replied to their comment.

This is part of my new little info series: Something to Learn

Thanks for reading!

Mount Rainier | Photography

This weekend John and I headed up to Yelm, Washington. We went on a shooting adventure - he and some of his brothers and nephew when to an indoor shooting range and I took the Highlander out to some country roads. I drove and found Lake Kapowsin and then on the way back I pulled over on the side of the road and took photos of Mount Rainier.

In the ditch, there was frost bitten leaves, a tiny little bird flitting from branch to branch, and glimpses of Mount Rainier through the barren shrubs.

2016 Art Goals

Dwindling Light 

Tokina 11-16mm lens with my Canon

13mm  |  f/5.6  |  1/160  |  ISO 100

Jonsrud View Point

Welcome 2016!

2015, thank you for teaching me everything I need to use to make 2016 destined with excitement and adventures.

Last Christmas John gave me my beloved 85mm lens and this year I added a Tokina 11-16mm to the collection. It's hard to believe that it's been an entire year since then. And I've been improving with my photography with attending a waterfall workshop with Gary Randall and listening to Improve Photography's many podcasts, along with obsessing with Pinterest. ;-)

I've painted lots of new paintings this year, 12 of them for my solo show, Western Gold, 3 commissions, and 17 ornaments as special Christmas gifts for my collectors. I even created a couple stickers of some of my watercolor paintings. Now, I have more than enough original paintings the St. Paul Rodeo Art Show, so I'll be applying to more art events to set my art booth up at.

I've learned how to screen print and created a set up for at home. I've designed 3 screens already and one of them I made an edition of 25 tea towels (that was quite the production!). I also discovered that it's a lot easier to print in the coolness of the fall and winter versus the heat of the summer (something about ink drying too quickly ... imagine that, haha).

Here comes the part where I see if I fulfilled any of my goals for the year. Once I make my goals, I like never look at them through out the year. I just know what I want to do and don't need any reference.

My art goals for 2015 ...

1.) Post all my new paintings and in progress photos on my blog. Facebook is just the easy way to do it, but I want to make things more interesting. I'll continue to share my posts on Facebook and Twitter. Done, plus Instagram.

2.) Continue to enter more art shows, near and far. I didn't really fulfill this one.

3.) Have a solo art show. I had two solo shows! February at AntFarm and in November at Linn-Benton Community College.

4.) Have a booth at the St. Paul Rodeo Art Show. Yes!

5.) Attend an additional show (western/horse related) to sell my art. I went to Fiesta, I didn't sell anything but I did get some great painting reference photos.

6.) Explore more into photography. Definitely did that!

7.) Do a Kickstarter for my own booth set up. Kickstarter never approved my project, so I had to take out a loan. I do have my own amazing booth set up and I just had to buy a car it could fit in.

8.) Develop a looser style in the studio. Yes, my "sketchy" style has been created.

9.) Paint. Draw. Create. Always.

10.) Develop and expand Western Rose Studios. I started screen printing and it has been productive and I'll continue with it.

My art goals for 2016

1.) Book Photography Sessions - Families, Couples, Seniors, Pets.
2.) Have a booth at the St. Paul Rodeo Art Show
3.) Have a booth set up at: a Dog Show, Lavender Festival, Gresham Art Walk, Oktoberfest, Crafty Wonderland.
4.) Sell original watercolors.
5.) Enter paintings and photographs into local art shows.
6.) Design and sell screen printed tea towels and t-shirts.
7.) Post and sell items from Etsy along with my website.
8.) Design something amazing with my photography/paintings - maybe a book?
9.) Go to someplace like Yellowstone and photograph the wildlife with a super-telephoto (rented) lens.
10.) Find a house to live in and have a roomy studio.