More images from the Dec. 10th WTO protest in Portland, OR.

Heres a series of images from the Dec. 10th WTO protest here in downtown Portland. The shots from top to bottom are: "Looking On" a photo of a motorcycle officer who is directing traffic as the march begins to proceed around downtown, "The Two Marches" this photo shows the ever-present bicycle cops who were shadowing the march to make sure nothing got out of hand, "Trouble Brewing" This is a shot of some of the anarchists who were gathering for the march, they didn't cause any trouble at the march, but I guess they ran afoul of the police at a separate demonstration being held at a downtown fur store.

#700 near the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry

I really like the motion blur from the train that passed by as I took this shot. Enjoy!

#700 Comes Back

Here is a shot of the SP&S #700 steam locomotive as it returns from being stuck overnight on the rails near Oaks Bottom. From what I heard, the tracks that it was on yesterday and spread apart under the weight of the engine and a couple of the front wheels had come derailed from the track. The train is being used as part of a holiday train ride that is being given in cooperation with the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry.
Machinery such as this are really a marvel, with all the steam and the deep rumbling of a locomotive such as this, you almost get the feeling that its less a machine then it is some great beast rumbling up the tracks. Puffing and growling and screeching its way past in great bellows of smoke and steam. You get the sense of power barely contained as the very ground beneath your feet trembles and shakes with its passing. Truly a marvelous sight.
More shots to come!

Hey! Nice Bike!

Heres a shot I took during the WTO protest downtown in Portland today. I really like this image not only because of the obvious differences between the police officer and the protestor, but that they were able to have an amicable conversation about their bicycles.

Fur Protester Downtown

Last one of the series, not a technically great photo (I should've used a faster shutter speed) but I like the dichotomy here. The contrast between the skull mask, fur wearing protestor and the plastic, fur wearing manniqen is pretty humorous.

Anti-Fur Protesters at Schumachers in Portland, Oregon. 11/26/05

Here is a shot of local anti-fur protesters having a heated 'discussion' with an unidentified employee of Schumachers Furs here in downtown Portland. I was about to give up on getting any interesting shots of the protest when one of the protesters was dumb enough to try to enter the shop. This instigated a confrontation between managment and the protestors. Fortunately it didn't get physical, just harsh words between two ideologically opposed groups, with me getting good shots of the whole thing. I really like this photo because it tells a story unto itself.

More photos coming soon.....

Haven't been really active in putting up photos lately. I've been busy however, getting images ready for printing to be shown at the Talisman Gallery in north Portland. I had submitted some photos for a juried show coming up early next year. They've cashed my check for the entry fee and my friend, Nolan, who shows paintings there, tells me that they've accepted my work! So, I guess we'll see how things go. I'm kind of a little stressed about it now though, I'm having my images printed at about 20"x30" and that will set me back anywheres from $60 to $100, I gotta have them framed, and two of them will be an oddball size, so who knows how much that will cost. Add this stuff on top of the fact that finances for us are already pretty tight and Christmas is around the corner, and well...I guess it will force me to be very creative about how I approach this whole thing. The big unknown for me is the cost of framing. However, I'm pretty sure I can find some inexpensive frames that I can build myself at some of the local craft stores. I'd honestly like to submit the images in a matte frame, but that may look somewhat unprofessional. Well, at least I got one big problem out of my way, that was figuring out how to increase the size of my images without losing the sharpness of my images. Thank God for Photoshop! I had read about a rather clever way of increasing image size and Pixels Per Inch in Scott Kelby's book "Photoshop CS2 for Digital Photographers". Man, that book is a goldmine! Well, enough of my ranting, I'll get to work on some new images soon. I may release some of the high speed shots that I've been experimenting with, but I haven't gotten any shots that I'm really pleased with, so it may be a bit before I release any of those. Thanks for visiting my page!
-David

Thunderbirds Triptych

Heres a photo I created as a submission for the monthly photo assignment at Photosig. The images themselves are nothing new, but the arrangement is different than what I usually do. I think I like it, presenting the images this way helps to tell a story.

Nighttime in the Columbia River Gorge

Heres an interesting shot I got the other night while taking photos of the Vista House. It still needs some more processing to get rid of the noise in the photo, but I still like it.

Vista House at Night

Heres a shot I took of the Vista House at Crown Point last night. The illumination behind the building is coming from the half moon. Taken about 11 p.m.

Pink Rose with frame

Delved back into the archives and pulled out this rose photo from the Oregon Garden taken earlier this year. Thought I'd spruce it up a bit and post it! Enjoy.

Multnomah Falls #2

Another shot of Multnomah Falls from the other day. Enjoy!

Portland at Night

Here is an older shot that I made last March. I've been revisiting some of my old work and touching it up in photoshop and adding the framing that you see here. In this photo I removed a big bush that was in the lower right corner of the photo. I was able to simply clone it out. Also I sharpened this image extensively and also removed some digital noise. I really like the final result here and I may even make a print out of it! Thanks for viewing.

Pink Rose

Heres an image that I posted a close-up of before, now I've played with the lighting in Photoshop and added a really cool frame effect. I think I'll be using this frame on all my shots from now on. Let me know what you think!

Mt. Thielson wide angle

An Image of Mt. Thielson, Oregon. Taken from my fathers boat while fishing at Diamond Lake last August.

Multnomah Falls

Finally! Heres a new shot for all of you out there. Its Multnomah Falls about 20 minutes east of Portland. I've been meaning to get a decent shot here for years. Heres the first of several shots I took today, I'll be working on more photos and posting any others that I like.

Red Baron Pizza Squadron - Loop

Thunderbirds Diamond Formation

Yet another shot from the USAF Thunderbirds incredible performance on 09/11/05.

Thunderbird Reflection

Another shot of the Thunderbirds amazing performance on 9/11/05 at the Oregon Airshow.

Heritage Flight T6 Texan and T6 Texan 2

I think this flight was also part of the "Heritage Flight" that was originally meant to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the USAF. Here we see a World War 2 era trainer, the T-6 "Texan" and its modern day namesake the T-6 "Texan 2".

Heritage Flight - P51 and A10 Thunderbolt

Here is a shot of the World War II vintage P-51 Mustang flying alongside the A-10 Thunderbolt 2, aka "The Warthog". This flight took place during the 2005 Oregon Airshow in Hillsboro, Oregon. The organizers call this the "Heritage Flight" and was originally conceived in 1997 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the United States Airforce. Its always a thrill to see these two aircraft flying as they are my two personal favorite warbirds from the old and new generations of flight. However, I can't understand why they don't fly an original P-47 Thunderbolt along side the new Thunderbolt II as that would seem more suitable. They both flew the same types of missions and they both carry the same namesake. Of course, I don't mean to disparage the more famous P-51 Mustang, as it flew many air-ground missions as well during its tenure from WWII into the Korean War. Thanks for viewing!

Team Oracle Ribbon Cutting

Heres another image from the 2005 Oregon Airshow. This plane is the Team Oracle aircraft piloted by Sean D. Tucker. This guy puts on a really, really amazing performance and if you get the opportunity to see him, you should. I'm not kidding, I've been to a LOT of airshows and this guys performance is worth the price of admission alone.

Red Baron Pizza Squadron - Coming At Ya!

Another shot from last weekends airshow....expect more images to come!

Head on Pass

Heres a shot from the USAF Thunderbirds demonstration squadron. This team of pilots has consistently put out high quality shows throughout the years. Every performance that these guys do is their "A" game and you can always count on being entertained when they show up. This image is from yesterdays Oregon Airshow in Hillsboro, OR.

BOOM! - Unaltered Repost

Heres an unaltered shot of my post from yesterday. As you compare the two, you can see that I didn't do any of the burning in on this photo as I did on the other one. As to which one I like more.....well, its hard for me to say. I think I like the burned in version more myself. I'd like to know what you think!

BOOM!

An incredibly lucky shot I got of an F18 at near mach speed. I feel so very fortunate for being able to get this shot as it is a shot that I've always wanted to take. This was shot today at the 2005 Oregon Airshow in Hillsboro, Oregon.

Taken with my Canon EOS 20D with my Quantary 300mm lens at F8, 1600th of a second. ISO 400.

Repost of Portlandia

Here's a repost of my Portlandia image. I've been tweaking it a little bit here and there since I posted it last night. Here is one of the better results of my experimentation. I feel by blurring out the background, I've been able to increase the viewers focus on the statue. Hope you like it!

Portland Skyscraper

Heres a shot I took yesterday late afternoon.

Portlandia

Here's a shot I took of Portlandia earlier today. She is 36 feet high although if she were standing she would be 50 feet high. She is the second tallest copper statue in the United States, surpassed only by the Statue of Liberty.

Really Huge Cargo Ship

This is a shot of the MV "Indiana Highway" a cargo ship used by the Toyota company to haul vehicles from Japan to Oregon. She is registered in Kobe, Japan. Follow this link for some interesting stats on this ship (needs adobe acrobat reader).

Coast Guard River Patrol

Heres a shot of a Coast Guard patrol boat zipping past some fishermen on the Columbia River. I went fishing with my dad on Monday, had a big fish hooked, but I lost him. Although neither one of us had any more bites for the rest of the time we were out there, it was still nice to go out on the river and just enjoy being outdoors. We were fishing near the Trojan nuclear power plant on the river, but we were on the Washington side. There is a fresh run of Chinook thats running up the river from the coast and we were hoping to get one or two fish. Oh well, better luck next time!

Trojan

A black and white shot of the decommissoned Trojan nuclear power facility on the Columbia river near St. Helens, Oregon.

Race Track Wedding

Heres a photo I shot of a wedding that took place in Yakima on Saturday. It was the wedding of our friend Angel and her fiance, Mark. Cassandra and I were invited as guests, but I was more than happy to snap a bunch of photos for them. I must say this is the most unusual wedding I've ever been too, but it was quite a lot of fun as well. Congratulations you two!

Race!

Part of the pack of cars racing at the Yakima Speedway yesterday afternoon. I was there with Cassandra to attend a friends wedding. The wedding by the way, was actually quite fun, as our friend, Angel, was getting married to her fiance, Mark, at the raceway where I guess he practically grew up. The ceremony itself took place on the starting line of the track with Mark's familys car that they sponser as the backdrop to the ceremony. As I told Cassandra, this was the first wedding that I needed to bring earplugs too! I'll probably have one or two pics of the ceremony up soon.

Big Dipper with Shooting Star

A night shot I took at Diamond Lake a few weeks back. It shows the constellation of the Big Dipper with a shooting star off to the lower left.

Seal Watching at the Oregon Zoo

Heres a shot I took a long while back at the Oregon Zoo. You can see Cassandra holding Bryson in the center of the shot watching the sealion as he swims by. I'll be having some new stuff up soon, I promise!

On The Prowl

A photo that I took earlier this year. This little sucker was hunting in my garden for aphids. I'm sure he got his full as the darn things nearly took over my backyard this year.

Ode to Ansel

Here is an image that I enhanced using techniques from the book "The Photoshop CS Book For Digital Photographers" by Scott Kelby. This is an image of Mt. Thielson using the "Ansel Adams Style" Extreme Grayscale Conversion lesson in the book.

Crown Point, Oregon

An older shot I took of Crown Point earlier this year.

Republic Seabee air intake

This is an image of the intake on a restored Seabee aircraft from the late 1940's. It was part of the Northwest Antique Airshow 2005 Fly-in. It won the "Presidents Choice" award at the fly in, and is piloted by Steve Lantz. A particularly interesting note about this aircraft is that its powered by a Corvette engine!

SR-71 Blackbird Engine Detail

This is a resubmission of the original photo I posted yesterday. I decreased the contrast and burned in some areas that were a little too bright. Sr-71 Blackbird at McMinnville Air Museum.

Cowling Swirls

ISO 100, F10, 1/640th of a second, 55 mm focal length. This is the brushed aluminum swirls on a world war 1 era replica aircraft that was about 3/4 scale. Image taken at the 2005 Northwest Antique Airplane Club airshow at the McMinnville Airport.

Daredevil's Plans

Cockpit of a SU-29 stunt plane operated by professional airshow performer Renny Price. I took this photo today at the Northwest Antique Airplane Club 2005 McMinnville Airshow near the McMinnville Air Museum. The paper you see in the cockpit is his performance plan. I used a circular polarizer on this photo to minimize the glare coming off the canopy of the aircraft. I like the end result of this photo because I feel it helps tell a story about the plane and its owner.

Old Warriors

This is a photo of Mr. Stanley P. Richardson jr. He is a volunteer at the McMinnville Air Museum. He is also a World War 2 pilot. During the war, he flew P38 lightnings and P51 Mustangs in the European theater. He escorted bombers, attacked German ground targets and flew as air cover over Normandy on D-day. He has shaken the hands of two men who have walked on the moon and has also met with several other Apollo astronauts. This man has one of the most amazing careers I have ever heard of and he has done and seen many amazing things. If you ever get to McMinnville, Oregon, be sure to take the opportunity to talk to him and the many other veteran volunteers there. They all have amazing stories to tell, and their tales should be remembered by all. This photo is of Mr. Richardson standing in front of a P38 lightning, similar to the aircraft he flew, but as you can see, the markings on it are of another plane that saw action in the Pacific theater.

Moon Shot

Another one of my shots of the moon taken last week.

Milky Way.

An image of the Milky Way that I captured last week. Canon Eos 20D, ISO 3200 (!), F 3.5, 18mm focal length and a 30 second exposure. Sorry about the noise in the photo, but its somewhat unavoidable at such high ISO settings. I tried despeckling it in photoshop as much as I could, but the next time I try this photo, I'll be using an ISO of about 800 with a longer exposure.

Phantom Ship

Here is an image of the island named "Phantom Ship" that resides near the edge of crater lake on the southeast side. 1/125th of a second at F7.1 with a 70mm focal length and ISO 100. The photo was taken using landscape mode with my Canon EOS 20D.

Wizard Island, Crater Lake

Taken at F5.6, 1/100th of a second at ISO 100 while using a circular polarizer filter. This is an unenhanced photo with no PS work at all, save reducing the size of the image and some crop work. As incredible as it may seem, the water really is that blue!

Crater Lake

Here is a panoramic view of Crater Lake that I created using three different photos and combining them using Canon's wonderful photostitch software. I'm really happy with how this photo turned out using that software and I can't wait to try it some more.