Every year, Portland, Oregon has its Rose Festival in June. This includes parades, visiting ships, a fun center, and many other events. One of those has been a Hot Air Balloon Festival, which was held June 24-26 this year (2016.) After a rainy start on Friday when the balloons could not go up, Saturday turned out beautiful and many people turned out. We arrived about 4:30 a.m. and they weren't even set up to let us in, yet. Eventually over a dozen balloons were set up, filled with hot air and took off. It was a beautiful sight against a clear blue sky. We were able to get as close as we wanted, but sometimes farther away was better to capture the whole picture.

The first balloon up carried a flag and someone sang the National Anthem. The largest balloon depicted the "Purple People Eater" and we were reminded that if we remembered the song, we were OLD. To add to the interest, the moon was still up, and shows in some shots. Here are a just few of my photos. Click the button to see more.

Stay tuned for our next adventure.
Grace and Paul

For the first time we spent a winter in Green Valley, AZ, and enjoyed doing many things that the area offered. Mostly, Paul enjoyed reading and the pool while I (Grace) enjoyed participating in activities at the Camera Club. But alas, it was time to come home to Portland. We arrived in time for the long rainy Oregon winter to turn into a warm beautiful spring - at least for a while.
 
It is tulip blossom time in the area, and in Woodburn, about 45 miles south of Portland, is the Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm, where the owners hold a “Festival” of activities every year while their fields are a mass of blooms. We spent a delightful morning there so I could take photographs. It is unbelievable that we have not gone there before, but certainly we will go there again. I may even go back soon, but early in the morning when they allow photographers to enter before opening to the general public.
 
Here are some of the photos I shot on April 1, 2016. I used my Canon 5D Mark III camera with a 24-105mm lens and a 70-200mm lens, as well as my Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 “bridge” camera with a built-in 24-400mm lens. I developed the photos using Lightroom 6.

That is all for now,
Grace

My Meetup Group (DSLR Photographers of Portland) had a scheduled Night Photography event for Sunday night, and many signed up. As the day went along, starting very nice with some sun, it turned somewhat nasty about 5:00 pm with rain and some wind. I had invited my friend Pat to go with me, so we forged ahead, going the the Meetup location on the east side of the Willamette River near OMSI. The rain was not too bad so we braved the elements and spent about an hour shooting from under the new Tillicum Bridge to past the Marquam Bridge, walking along the Esplanade. We saw one other person from our group, but there probably were more, scattered around. All in all, I'm glad I went to try out some skills I had learned previously at a session at the Green Valley Camera Club.

For those interested here are some tips.
1. Turn OFF Image Stabilizer (on a tripod)
2. Go to Manual Focus
3. Shoot on Manual
   a. Aperture at f/8-11 for depth of field
   b. ISO 100 - 200
   c. Time is your variable
4. Use a cable release or set the timer so you don't touch the camera
5. Lock up mirror, or use Live View
6. Optional: Bracket Exposures for at least three shots +/- up to 1 each way (can set in menu)
7. Shoot a lot, always being mindful of composition
8. Shoot RAW if you have a good editor like Adobe Lightroom
9. When in the rain, be sure to keep you gear dry by covering it with a plastic sleeve or shower cap, or something

You can be the judge of how my first attempt went, but I'm glad I got out there and tried. After all, I'm a native Oregonian and used to the rain.

All for now,
Grace