A Day in the Mountains

This past weekend, my husband and I went up to our local mountains to see some beautiful scenery and snow. We just wanted to get away, alone, for a while and enjoy each other's company in God's beautiful creation. God blessed us with falling snow for much of our day. I didn't take nearly the pictures that I usually do, and most of the ones we took were with our little family point & shoot camera. What a special time we had together! I'm so thankful.

My husband and I, enjoying each other, and the falling snow; not to mention the beautiful scenery.

This is a little place in town, where we stopped for lunch. I highly recommend them. We were going to rent one of their cabins for our upcoming, extended get-away but decided to go to Oregon to an old historic hotel instead. I can't wait!

This is the little town on Idaho City, in black & white.

Here I am moving my gear so I can get another shot of Grimes Creek.

For more & larger images from this trip, CLICK HERE!

Follow my adventures on my Facebook Fanpage!

Today's Chilling Image

Comments welcomed...

Idaho Rainbow

There have been some awesome rainbows in Idaho this fall. I took this one near the end of the season, just before the weather turned colder and the snow started flying. The colors are so brilliant! I added scripture to this one.

You can order this image as a quality print (matted & framed or just the print), canvas or gallery wrap at my main website, or as a greeting card! Just go to the Inspirational Gallery on either site. There is a discount for greeting card orders in quantities of 8 or 16!

Jim Richardson on Travel Photography, Travel Photo Tips -- National Geographic

While preparing to travel to Wyoming for some out-of-state, in-the-field shooting, I found this great article on researching a place to which you'll be travelling, before leaving home. This will aid me in being in the right place, at the right time, and capturing best images possible on my trip. This article has helped me and I trust it will be of benefit to some of you, as well.


Jim Richardson on Travel Photography, Travel Photo Tips -- National Geographic

Lightning Storm

We had a fantastic lighting storm last night. We drove out to get a good view to take some pictures and we ended up having the storm pass right over us. I've never heard lightning so close and so loud! My heart was pounding and I was thinking, "I'm still alive and nothing hurts. That was awesome!" After that loud bold of lightning, the wind and rain hit. The car was shaking from the wind and the rain was a real downpour! By the time it quit raining enough to open the window and take a picture, the lightning was pretty far off in the distance. I never even got a chance to get my tripod out so all the photos I took were hand-held. Below is one that was acceptable to share with you all, but not what I was hoping to capture. Maybe next time, though! You just never know...

On My Own-An Independent Film

I took the stills for this independent film, last summer. The movie is by AKB Productions and premieres on August 21, 2010, in Boise, Idaho. This is the movie poster for promotion of the film. (The graphics were done by Media Ghost Productions.) Click here for more about On My Own, and to see the movie trailers.

For more about the film company or to see other films they've done, CLICK HERE.

If you are interested on working on their next full-length film, A Sweeter Song, click here for more info.

HDR-style editing technique

If you are into photography at all, you've surely heard of HDR images. For those of you who haven't heard of it, HDR stands for high dynamic range. Usually, you would take 5 or more images at different exposures and combine them in a software program. The idea is to bring out more detail in an image, especially in the shadow areas, while not clipping the highlights. There's a lot more to it, but I won't go into all that here.

I have been hesitant to delve into this area of photography because as far as art goes, I am a bit of a purist. I once took a watercolor painting class and did poorly because I like pure color and the opacity of the medium eluded me in practice, no matter how much I tried to keep a light hand. In photography, for the most part, I like images that look as real and natural as possible.

HDR can look very natural or very un-natural. HDR has the ability to enhance an image in a way that will enable it to look more like the scene looked to the human eye sees, but when overdone/over processed it just looks hokey to me. If you're going for hokey, or even artsy then I'm okay with that; but when it's supposed to be a photograph, it should be done with extreme caution so as not to overdo it and take the realism out of the image. I do believe there is a place for both.

So, this is one of my first images that I have edited this way. It was actually done in Lightroom 2, from a single RAW file. I learned the technique from a post at Digital Photography School's site. I'm pretty pleased with the way it came out. You can view it larger in my "Artistic" gallery, if you want to see it larger. Let me know what you think...does it look realistic enough? Is it too cartoony? Not cartoony enough for you?

Update: Here's another...

...and, one more...

Broken Fence-Free Wallpaper Download!

I just love old barns, old structures and old fences so I decided to offer this image as my latest free wallpaper download. This image was taken in Gem County, Idaho.

By downloading this file, you are agreeing to certain license usage terms. If you do not agree to the terms, please do NOT download the file.

If you would like to use this image as your computer background,

Please CLICK HERE and follow download instructions. Please also leave a comment.

*If you know someone who would like this download, use the share button; please DO NOT send them the file yourself.

ENJOY!

Snake River Birds of Prey Festival

Last year I attended a wonderful event! It's the Snake River Birds of Prey Festival, and it's coming up again! It will be held May 14-16 in Kuna, Idaho. It offers tours, lectures, and children's activities.

The lectures are very interesting and informative. There are falconers on site with live raptors as part of some of the lectures and in the vending hall. You can view them up close and ask questions about them.


I went on one of the tours last year. It was the Burrowing Owl Tour and it was an awesome experience! Below is one of the pictures of the owlets, just over a week old, I took on that tour. Click here to see more of the photos and read about my experience.

This year I plan to attend again, and I hope you will, too! Next year I will probably be a vendor there, but in the meantime, you may purchase my photography as fine art prints, framed or unframed, as well as greeting cards.

Owyhee Reservoir

Last Saturday, February 27th. 2010, my husband and I went on a birding field trip with the SIBA, over to Malheur County, Oregon. After lunch, we split from the group since we had a previous committment back in Idaho, and I was getting exhausted from my back pain. Before we headed home, I took some scenic shots at the Owyhee Reservoir. This landscape show's a view from above the Owyhee Dam, with the Mullein plants as forground elements. Some storm clouds were closing in again, making this shot somewhat moody.

I have posted some close up images of a downy woodpecker on the Mullein plants, on my bird blog, that I took in the same area.

Free Wallpaper Download!

Brighten your cold, winter days and liven up your computer screen, with this beautiful monarch butterfly!
Get your FREE wallpaper download of this beautiful monarch butterfly, HERE! Limited time only!

New Wide Images

New wide images are now available for purchase through my website:

Shekinah Photography

I only have a few so far, but will be adding more, so keep checking back.

This image was taken last spring near Stanley, Idaho.

Divine Desolation

My most recent time in the field yielded this image of the Spring Shores Marina, at Lucky Peak Reservior in Boise, Idaho. This is one of several landscape shots I took, in addition to some soaring bald eagles.

This image paints a much different picture from the one seen in the summer months, when the area is alive with a flurry of activity. A time when the docks are floating, the weather is pleasant and people are out on their boats and on the shores, enjoying the tepid summer sun.

This place holds a strange attraction for me in the winter months; one of forsaken charm. The weather is harsh and the beaches are vacant, barring the occasional fisherman. The unrelenting wind blows over the frozen terrain and the clouds roll in. It is the birth of another winter night and I'm thankful I can be there to capture the quiet beauty of the moments before the sun begins to vanish on the horizon and darkness invades the fleeting light.