Betterphoto Finalist for June and July 2010

I have not posted for quite some time.  I have been very busy this summer in the yard with planting and general maintainance.  I have also had considerable problems with my desktop computer where all my original photos and backups are stored.  I wanted to share with you the Betterphoto Finalists for the months of June and July.  I am very pleased to inform you that I received four finalist recognitions in both months.  Please click on the links below for individual photos.

June Finalists:

• "A New Day"
• "Gate"
• "Nostalgia"
• "Fossil"

July Finalists:

• "The Alaskan Frontier"
• "No Sale"
• "Roadster"
• "Raw Horsepower"

Hope you enjoy these photos, I will be posting new photos in the next few days.  Hopefully, my computer will continue to cooperate.

Tracy’s Arm Glacier and Juneau, AK

After two days at sea, it was nice to wake up to realize that we were headed down a strait leading into the Tracy’s Arm Fjord.  The reflections of the hills and clouds in the channel water is simply spectacular.  As we sailed farther into the fjord, the icebergs became more numerous. The deep greens and blues were absolutely breathtaking "Quiet Menace" .   I could not stop snapping photo after photo of the beautiful scenic platter "Tracy's Arm Fjord". Did I say that the reflections are amazing?

Unfortunately the large ship cannot get through the ever narrowing channel all the way to the glacier. While this was a disappointment, the vistas were so incredible that it really did not matter. ("Breaking through the Fog") and (“And let there be Light”). There is an excursion that takes you to the glacier for an extra charge. Since we had already been to Glacier Bay and the Mendenhall Glacier on an earlier trip, we decided not to go on this extra excursion.

We arrived at Juneau at about 2:30 pm, and had a whale watching excursion booked for 4:00, so we did not have very much time to tour the city. We did make it to a few stores and took a few photos of the famous “Red Dog Saloon”.

Unfortunately, the rain began to come down in buckets before we boarded our whale watching boat the "Saint Maria”(Allen Marine Tours).  The captain and crew took us up Auke Bay, through the Northwest Favorite Channel. As promised we saw a rare sighting of Orcas (Killer Whales)  and the more common sightings of Humpback Whales and Stellar Sea Lions. Despite the rain, we had a great time.  This is a great excursion that is well worth the extra cost.

Very Busy Times

Quite a bit has happened over the past few weeks. My son had an attack of severe migraine headaches and ended up in the hospital emergency room three different times. Since then he has had surgery to remove a large cyst that was lodged between or in (I am not sure) his sinus cavity. Anyway, it was remove, this ear infections has cleared up, and the migraines have abated.  Hopefully we are now over the critical period.  In addition, we have had a house remodel of sorts,  to update our 15 year old house. That has been interesting as well. This remodel and illness has put a hold on my photography, but I have won several awards/POTD’s over this period.

I did explore two interesting places relatively near my house.  One is called Elks Rock Garden of the Bishop's Close.  It is a beautiful estate that has native tree and perennial plantings, wonderful trails, and a gorgeous view of the Willamette River.  It is a great place to take a walk, photograph, and just reflect. See a photo here. Admission is free, although they ask for a minimal donation (optional).  I also made a trip to Silver Falls State Park, which is near Silverton, Oregon. This is a great place to take waterfall and running water shots.  The only cost is for parking (now $5.00 per car). See a photo here.

BETTERPHOTO.COM

On March 28, I was notified that my animal photo Kitty, Kitty placed SECOND in the Animal category in the February contest. It was selected out of 17,100 qualified entries. In March, Separation, Natural Splendor and Cemetery in Old San Juan were chosen as FINALISTS but did not win the higher recognition.  Finalists are still quite an accomplishment at this level of competition.

Today, I received two email notices that two photos achieved the level of finalist for April 2010.  They are Quiet Waters and Gimmy a High Five!.  Both were chosen out of 17,899 submissions, and are among 1126 finalist photos.  So keep your fingers crossed for good luck.

DIGTAL IMAGE CAFE

I had a very good two months on DIC. I have won several POTD’s  Instead of listing all of them, I will provide a link to my profile page where you can see the dates and the images.  You can link from HERE. As you can see, I have won 3 in March, 3 in April, and 3 so far in May.  I hope I can keep up that pace.

SHUTTERBUGS

I joined a new contest community that is run by the original owner out of Australia and is managed by Todd and Cathy from DIC.  I wanted to give it my support and try it out for a year at least.  Many of the pros have migrated there and the competition is equally fierce.  I was surprised to win a POTD my first week.  You can see my win HERE.

NEW SOFTWARE

Recently, I read some information from Jason Odell of the Nikonians Image Doctor Podcast fame, about his Nikon RAW workflow.  One of the things that I dislike about DxO and Lightroom 2 is that neither are RAW friendly. However, I have incorporated Photo Mechanic into my workflow and it works seamlessly with NX2 and a 100% RAW workflow. I only go into Photoshop from NX2 to do any final editing and either save my FINAL work to a PNG or TIFF format.  If you are a Nikon/NX2 user, you should do some research into this alternative.

NEW ADVENTURES

In the near future I will be on a Photo Safari in the Yukon and Northern and Central Alaska.  I am excited about the possibilities and my visit to Denali NP.  Hope to blog on the road.

Until my next blog installment, be happy, and keep shooting!

Hello To My Readers

It has been over a month since I have posted to my blog. It has been very busy and I now realize that posting after every shoot or event is not realistic.  I have decided instead to post twice a month, on the 15th and the end of the month, all the activities for that month. I believe that this is a more realistic approach.  Since I missed April 15, I will put together a lengthy posting for the end of the month that will cover the many activities that occurred since March 10. Thank you for your patience.  If you would like to be added to the immediate distribution list, please send me an email at cyberray50@msn.com and I will add you to the list. This will ensure that you receive an email version of the post when it is uploaded to the blog.

"Welcome Home" wins a POTD at DIC

I just received another notification tonight that I won a POTD for the Black and White category for "Welcome Home", a photo I recently captured in Newport, Oregon.  While I thought the color version was very beautiful, I decided to convert it to B/W because of the tonal range and the contrast in the sky and clouds.  If you want to see the DIC posting and comments, follow the link below.

See Winner and Comment Here

©2010 Raymond H. Laurence. All photographs are copyrighted by Raymond H. Laurence and may not be duplicated without expressed permission. All rights reserved.

Painted Hills won POTD at DIC

I just received the email that my recent photo "Painted Hills" won photo of the day (POTD) at the Digital Image Cafe (DIC). I am especially pleased with this win, since I believe this photo illustrates that my photographic skills have matured to the professional level. I am experiencing an increased level of interest from the judges at the DIC.  For example, in the past, my average number of "thumbs up" from the judges at DIC averaged approximately 3-4 a month.  A this moment I have 9 out of 22 photos with TU's.  Contest entries remain on DIC for only 8 days before they must be resubmitted, ( you loose the TU) so 11 TU's are substantial.

See DIC Winner with Comments

©2010 Raymond H. Laurence. All photographs are copyrighted by Raymond H. Laurence and may not be duplicated without expressed permission. All rights reserved.

Trip to Astoria, OR and Cape Disappointment, WA

This morning, Gloria woke at 4:00am and decided to take a road trip to Astoria. We arrived in Astoria at 7:02 and had breakfast at the Pig and Pancake. Unfortunately, we were greeted with overcast and foggy condition on what was forecast to be a clear and sunny day. We spent about an hour touring Astoria, and taking a few photos of the docks and pillars, and then made our way up to the highest point where you can find the Astoria Column. We then decided to venture over to the Washington side and visit Cape Disappointment and the lighthouse (not much of one, I might mention). The unexpected treat was finding the little fishing village on the Columbia known as Ilwaco. We saw this quaint little church called Saint Mary’s that is shown on the left in the photo entitled “Church by the Sea” (46.24642000,-123.91012000). We also visited the marina where I was able to capture one of my favorite shots of all time “Overcast Morning”  on the upper right (46.30486667,-124.04072500).

On our way back to Astoria we discovered Fort Columbia Historical State Park (46.25214833,-123.91920167). What a wonderful place to visit and picnic. The old fort is very unusual, but the old buildings are well maintained and depict the period very well. See "Officer's Quarters" on the lower left.

©2010 Raymond H. Laurence. All photographs are copyrighted by Raymond H. Laurence and may not be duplicated without expressed permission. All rights reserved.