It’s been a while since I’ve updated my blog here and uploaded any new pictures!  Jacob and I got a new puppy over three weeks ago, and we are staying VERY busy training him up to be a well behaved guy.  His name is Cannon, a purebred golden retriever.  He has brought us a lot of joy, and we love him to death.  He is very smart, and catches on to things very quickly which is great!  Here are a couple great pictures I have captured of him so far!

I’ve been plugging away at my photography class for about a month now too and I have learned SO MUCH!  I have so much more confidence when taking photos, and I can’t believe how much confidence I already have to take a better photo.  I’ve been busy taking photos for assignments, but also captured some great ones in the mean time that I have uploaded!  Last week I went to the Pittock Mansion in Portland.  It has so much cool detail, and really makes you feel like you are back in the early 1900’s with the way they decorated.  I got some wonderful shots for my photography class, and was able to enjoy getting out of the house and puppy training for a bit :)  Today we took Cannon for a nice little trip along the Columbia River Gorge Highway so I could take some photos for my class assignment, and we stopped at one of the MANY waterfalls along the highway, the Horsetail Waterfall.  It is quite the site, and I was able to get some great pictures.  Here are some newer photos I have taken since my last update, starting with a photo of the horsetail falls:

Anyway, I hope you enjoy my new photos!  I have a few more that I uploaded, so make sure to check out my galleries to see my new work.  I appreciate all the great support I continue to receive with my passion.  Hopefully *soon* I will get my gallery set up to allow purchasing my prints.  I have been talking about it, and found a great service that is reasonable.  However, I have to now organize my photos, and upload proper sizes etc. for the prints, which is taking me quite a while.  I will keep you guys updated on how things are coming a long with that, but continue to check back in with my site as often as you can!

Thank you again to everyone!

Kelly:)

This weekend, Jacob and I went to Washington Park in Portland. What an amazing park it is! The Oregon zoo, International Rose Garden, Japanese Garden and many other exciting sites are there. We went to the Japanese Garden, and the Rose garden during our visit. The Japanese Garden made the one in Lithia Park in Ashland look very small. It was an amazing site to see, and there was a lot of beautiful things to look at. The rose garden was my favorite part of the day…what a stunning site it is!! There were so many roses to look at, it smelled so wonderful, and I wanted to stay there all day! I have lots of pictures below, and more on the way from the rose garden as I go through them. Here are a couple photos from the rose garden:

I started my online photography class last week as well. It is in the fundamentals of digital photography. Each week over eight weeks I get a lesson. Then I need to take four shots showing examples of the weeks lesson, and the instructor will give me feedback on what I did right and wrong. My first week I learned about exposure (shutter speed), and depth of field. I had to play with the different shutter speeds and f-stops (aperture) depending on what I wanted to accomplish. My assignment was to take four photos. One showing an extensive depth of field (where there is great depth and everything is in focus), and one showing a shallow depth of field (where the subject is in focus but everything else is blurred). I also had to take a photo using a long exposure with a moving object to show blur, and a shot with a moving object at a fast shutter speed to capture a sharp object. Below are my four pictures I submitted for my assignment:

Extensive depth of field (taken at the Portland, Oregon Japanese Gardens):

Shallow depth of field (taken at the Portland, Oregon International Rose Garden):

Slow shutter speed (taken at the Portland, Oregon Japanese Gardens):

Anyway - I hope you all enjoy my new photos. Please do leave feedback/comments, and let me know what you think! I have found a cool online community that will allow me to sell my prints in different formats such as a canvas, or a greeting card, at a pretty affordable price. I am also going to research and find a place where my prints can be ordered as just a picture (4×6, 5×7 etc.) so there will be several different options. When I get all my pictures uploaded and everything in order, I will update everyone on how they can purchase my prints. My goal this week is to get that done, so hopefully within the next week I will have one or two places where you can go to order my prints. I appreciate so much all the time that is taken to look at my photographs, and all the WONDERFUL feedback I have gotten on my website. Please pass it along to anyone you know that might enjoy it, and remember to keep checking back Thank you for all your support…and I’ll talk to you all soon!

I am also very excited because I am starting my first photography class on September 3rd. It is all about the fundamentals of photography, and I can’t wait to learn as much as I can to take better photos.

Jacob and I decided to take a little trip this last Friday! If you look under the nature tab of my gallery, you will notice some waterfall pictures. The pictures include the Latourell falls (249 feet tall) along the Columbia River Gorge Highway, as well as the second largest year round waterfalls in the US, the Multnomah Falls at 620 feet! There are dozens of falls along the highway and my goal is to capture each of them I was so in awe of the waterfalls, especially the Multnomah falls because of the size, but quickly found it was difficult to photograph. I did get some pictures though, which I will include below! I really enjoyed photographing the Latourell falls and have a few pictures that I truly love. I have uploaded them to my gallery, and am including the pictures below, so ENJOY and remember to check back often and leave comments please

Picture one: Full picture of Multnomah Falls

Picture 2 Close up of part of the Multnomah Falls

Picture three of the Latourell Falls

Picture four including part of the Latourell Falls