Parting shot

Copyright Nathan Montgomery, 2008

To commemorate a successful rebooking of my return flight this afternoon, I took a celebratory stroll through Raleigh's Raulston Arboretum and snapped a few shots with my camera (not the fancy, shmancy dSLR I'd been using). I'm pretty happy with this shot mostly because it confirmed to me that I indeed can take a decent picture with my own camera.

See you in a few weeks.

Watermarks go away

Today, I had the bright idea to spend 15 minutes adding copyright watermarks to all of my posted images. For whatever reason, the images came out in awful shape on the other side. As a result, what was supposed to be a break from packing and studying turned into a major chore (fixing a lot of my images). I haven't had time and probably won't have time to fix most of them here. However, the images on our website all look good again, sans watermark.

Calla lily

Copyright Nathan Montgomery, 2008

This is the last picture I took with my father-in-law's Canon Rebel XTI digital SLR camera, before I sent it back to him. I really enjoyed playing with the camera during the few weeks I had it, and I learned a lot. I thank him for lending it to me.

Not wanting to miss out on a last chance to use such a nice camera, on the last day I had the camera, I decided to spend an hour taking pictures of some calla lilies my mom bought for Stephanie. I took this picture in our office, and my mom was nice enough to hold up a blue pillow behind the lily while I shot, so that I could get a nicely constrasting background (otherwise, the light blue walls in our office came off as almost white).

I spent more time just cropping this image on Photoshop than I've ever spent manipulating an image before. The original shot was fairly uninteresting, but by cropping to zoom in, I think it's added a lot to the shot. The subject is really just the front petal, which I hope leads your eyes down through elegant path. Without cropping, it didn't have nearly the same effect.

While exploring the possibilities with this flower, I also tried spraying it with a $3 spray bottle I purchased from Target. Typically, it's an easy way to add something to a shot, but I actually like the uninterrupted lines of the flower here. On the other hand, I did a better job of lighting the subject in this second version in order to avoid shadows.

This site is likely to go quiet now for more than a month. I leave for India on Thursday and won't be back until the end of July. I hope to have lots of nice pictures when I return. In the meantime, I've updated the photography portion of our webpage, and most of my favorite images are now posted there.

Stokes' Aster

Copyright Nathan Montgomery, 2008

When I was about 8-years old, my mom enrolled me in an art class. My brother and sister were talented artists from a young age; I was not. Even so, being the sentimental type, my mom has kept every picture I ever drew or painted. Walk through her house, and you'll notice that the best drawing I ever did was my first. The reason for that is pretty straightforward; my art teacher helped me more with that picture than she did with any subsequent work.

Given that history, I was eager to get home from my photography class so that I could try to take some pictures without professional assistance. On Sunday, Steph and I took my parents to the Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh, and I took a little time (okay, a lot of time) to shoot flowers. After several 100+ degree days in North Carolina a few weeks ago, many of the flowers on display were looking a little rough, but this native aster was still doing pretty well. I'm actually quite pleased with the shot.

Thank you for voting

Thank you to everyone who voted in the favorite flower poll. "Tiger lily" and "Columbine" tied with four votes apiece. I was happy to see that "Lupine" also got a late vote, as when I printed these off, it may have printed better than any other flower shot.

Last shot from the workshop: Wild Lupine

Copyright Nathan Montgomery, 2008

This is the last shot I'll post from the photography workshop I attended last week. The subject here is the wildflower known as lupine. I've already posted a few pictures I took of a domesticated variety of lupine. To me, the main virtue of this photograph is that this flower grows in the wild. I feel the same way about all of the wildflower images I've posted- I like all flowers, but I'm partial to those that got here without a hand from us.

Over the next few days, I'll post a few shots that I took after returning from the workshop.

Thank you for voting

Thank you everyone for voting for your favorite landscape or waterfall picture. "Latourel Falls" got the most votes, followed by "Stream below Bridal Veil Falls." The feedback is really helpful.

Bridges of Multnomah County

Copyright Nathan Montgomery, 2008

Copyright Nathan Montgomery, 2008

The stonework on the guardrails and bridges along the scenic Columbia River Gorge drive dates back to the 1920s and is really quite lovely. The masonry is itself impressive, but the mossy growth that lines these old stones is equally beautiful.

As a result, it's unfortunate that my pictures of them were amongst the most disappointing shots I took all week. I really thought that I nailed these shots, and unfortunately, I did not. I think that the pictures I've posted here still convey something of how beautiful the drive through the Gorge is, but as for photographs, they are average at best.