Again… and maybe it’s because of the way I tend to see things, but I looked back last week (last of October) and was just about blown out by all the photo opportunities I’ve been given this year. I say “Thank you” to the Good Lord and to my wife for all these little jaunts and outings.
Back in January I set some picture-takin’ goals for myself; One was to learn of different ways to shoot Carlene’s flowers. In past years I’ve mostly tried to capture just the bloom up very close with a macro lens. One technique for ‘011 has been to photograph the entire plant (or a stem) in front of colored backgrounds (usually a poster board) so to contrast and distinguish the plant and bloom more vividly. I’ve been fairly satisfied with the results so far but have a long way to go.
In early March I got to visit one of my favorite places on this earth, 
Big Bend National Park in far South Texas and then in June the same happened with a chance to visit Alberta, Canada from Calgary west to Banff and Lake Louise. 
What a great time even if the weather wasn’t the best for blue skies and puffy white clouds.
Then Carlene came up with entry ticket discounts and plans to go south here in Oregon to The Wildlife Safari and then across the Cascades eastward to Crater Lake which was still closed coming from the north in late June. Amazing.
July 4 was the annual Molalla parade which never grows old on us and.. I am so enthralled by the dancing horses.
In early October Carlene and I were asked to photograph a neighbor’s family wedding which was most all done in language we didn’t understand and customs completely new (to us). What a blessing of experience for us.
Late October then… we headed out for Las Vegas, The Grand Canyon (south), Phoenix (and points in between), Lake Havasu City, the Grand Canyon (west this time) and then back home again via Las Vegas. I’m attaching a slideshow of captures maybe representative of my first 10 2011 months. If I don’t catch a “keeper” between now and Dec 31 I’ll still be a very happy camper. For an overview of the wonderful variety I’ve enjoyed this past 10 months “shutter clicking” please Click here
