Cherry Blossom Cheer

Last year when I met a few old friends in Taipei, we talked about going to Japan for Cherry Blossom Festival sometime. It is one of the major tourist attractions in Japan between March and April, an event has a bit less than 90 years of history and as you can imagine, there is multitude of cherry spices being cultivated throughout the years. Beautiful flowers in varieties plus Japan's unique cultural flare. The images I have seen throughout the years are simply fascinating.

As I discovered, Mayor of Tokyo had given 3000 cherry trees to Washington DC (city) in 1912 to bond the friendship between US and Japan, and that relationship lasts to this day.  Washington DC is now celebrating our National Cherry Festival from March 20 to April 13 this year. I have never known that this tradition is closely relating to Japan. 

A sea of pink flowers line up on two sides of main drag. Driving through the streets adored with cherry trees make me feel like going to a carnival with all the flower fairies standing along side to greet us.  Happy Day! Happy Journey! are what I heard in my mind. I almost want to think that Cheers has something to do with Cherry.  

Many cherry trees but they are not accessible for photos.  There is almost no chance to take pictures standing in the middle of the streets. Regardless how early it is, there are always ongoing traffic. Friends have been taking some amazing photos at capital mall in Salem where cherry blossoms are now dominating. My heart is leaping. I want to be there.

In order to get some decent shots, I have to be there immediately after sunrise. Had an early start at 5:15am on Sunday, I got on freeway at 6:00 and headed north.  It was still dark. I reminded myself that I need to give myself an undivided attention while driving, but it was so hard not to look around. Sun was hidden below the horizon; hazy mountain range half awake; shaded trees just began to yawn. The only sober one, morning fog, was moving across the green field, ponds and creeks. I could not shot anything, but that layers of color palette made my mind wander. I yelled out to myself, keep going and stay focus on my planned destination.

Arrived at capital mall a bit after sunrise.  Many photographers had been there shooting. I was late in the game. Not a big deal. I am here. Cheer out. Today is the only fair day of the week and there are more people than I expected. There seemed always to have someone in my frame wherever I had my camera aimed. vis versa, I believe I was in someone's frame as well. I tried to move away from people.

And yet someone was enjoying his morning on the bench. I did not detect that he would leave soon. But I really like the pink azaleas in front of the tree, so I snapped a shot and cut him off my picture. I am a bit hooked to Orton effect these days. I just love that creamy softness.

Morning is fresh and it's calm. I felt I could say Yes to anything and anyone without being uptight or being stirred up. Cold chill was still in the air, but sunshine was cleansing. And, I felt comforting being surrounded by beautiful cherry blossoms and non the less, the loose pedals on the ground. Blossoms and loose pedals are like soft pink puff and powder. I felt pampered.

Several patches of yellow daffodil has done well to accent the place. Daffodils usually bloom earliest in spring. Lots of them. They are easy to grow, year after year. I often look at them and think, just some daffodils, nothing special, but today they are special to me. If not for them, I would not like this image.  They are in the right place at right time. Their blooms are fading out, and the brown adds more to the color scheme, why not.

At this point, I even like the little streak of white jet trail in the sky.  'What's in your mind?' I say everything and anything. I bent my knee down on wet and muddy ground and had little fun with my wide angle lens. I love wide angle effect, but I have not used this lens much. One of these days, I will force myself to carry only this lens for a shot and see what happens.

When option comes down to zero, I bet we will figure out something else. When option is down to one, I bet I would cherish it and master it.

My mind was on Japan and whenever I walked by this fountain, I thought about Japan. I cannot explain exactly why, but the color and structure of the sculpture reminds me of Japanese culture, very structured, clean-cut, and spiritually powerful. I did not like to take waterfall with that creamy effect, but lately I changed my mind. If the waterfall does not look creamy and white, the clear drops cannot transmit energy and power. At this stage of my life, I have a strong principal established since long and yet, I am open to new concept and idea.

Fine water blind on the right comes in streamlined into the pool, calm and peaceful. When the output narrows down to couple spouts, water stream becomes powerful. A contrast between gentle and forceful, a bit of Asian philosophy being soft and tough at the same time.

A morning was well spent. My contentment is that I actually made the trip in spite of distance and being deprived of some sleep time. I strolled out of the path with satisfaction and smile.  My heart was light and ready to take on next project. To dream another dream.....

True grit – Pretentious – Natural

Growing up in Taiwan, I saw some legendary aged trees, but nothing like what I see here in Northwest. It takes me a long time to distinguish fir from cedar, and to determine if it is an aspen or birch. Last year our rear neighbor’s 20 feet cedar landed on our deck railing and dent our railing. That was a little scare, but our two-year old deck bounced right back.  I did not feel threatened. If not for recent snow storm incident, I have no clue what impact may cause from a 50 feet fallen tree.

Up high

Trees and greens make this region unique and attractive to people who enjoy being surrounded by nature. Nature is beautiful, loving and also dangerous sometimes. 

Two more oak trees adjoining to the fallen one can cause potential hazard in future snow storms and we were alerted to cut them down. It is quite expensive to cut down trees and I can never figure out why till I watched this logging event. 

This guy was high up in the tree for more than three hours all together.  He may have come down once to take a short break and that’s all. With my 300mm lens, he looks that tiny, you can imagine how high he was.

It is quite a dangerous endeavor. He has to climb up the tree, set up his work station between the trees with chains saw equipped, with channel of ropes (to convey the removals) and belted himself to the tree he is cutting. Then, he started to cut a few feet each time from top, tie the limb off the tree and lowered it down to the ground, re-stationed himself on a lower tier and cut another piece. 

Cowboy roper

There is quite a maneuver between each fragment of the work. He has to be a climber, a roper, a gymnastic. a mechanic and be quick to respond the unexpected hazard. 

Just by watching, I can feel my nerve is constantly restrained and I held on my breath whenever he was doing the cutting. If any section of the tree broke unexpectedly, he could easily fall with it.  

We are tiny and our life fragile in front of these big trees.

The guy is apparently enjoying what he was doing. Every time when I came out to check on him, he would put out a big smile. I adore his spirit and I prayed that all things went well and it did.....

Life on tree

Early in the morning with a hint of sunshine. I was out testing the temperature before I headed out for a walk. I opened the door and saw a commotion, the whole flock of turkeys took over our street, male and female. It was a Turk invasion. There were at least 15-20 of them right in front of our house.

Catwalk models (gals)?

Scottish pipers (guys)?

I ran back inside to grab my camera. As I came closer, they were slowly scattered,
but I was able to snap a few shots for fun.

It is spring time when all creature are active pursuing their mates. Gals were walking down the catwalk and guys are having their macho exhibits. Looking pretty funny and entertaining actually.

A friend often said, these are useless creatures. Other than pulling my flower starters from my yard and make a mess. I have to agree that I found no use for them, no, I take it back. They come around in spring and completely disappeared at Thanksgiving time. I wonder why..... I know they got to be created for a purpose.

Another pretender : Opening a drawer, I spotted a tiny SPIDER inside a divider. I have to admit that out of fear, I wanted to take its life instantly so it would not crawl into other space, but it moved so fast that I could not catch up. Instead, I quickly removed everything from the divider to isolate IT. Guess that? IT coiled itself into a ball faking death. Immediately when my finger were reaching close to IT, IT was ready to run again. A tiny spider has a brain and knows the art of war. Aren't you amazed? Instead of crushing him to claim my victory, I decided to send him down the toilet. But, if he comes back again, I won't make the same mistake twice.....

Spring is here. It is hard not to take some flower pictures. There is also a reason that I love to take flower pictures.  They are created to be pretty, but they don't go out of their way to promote it. We treat them nicely with water and sunshine, they appreciate and return with beauty for us to enjoy. They don't have to show off. We are naturally attracted to and discover them.

Calla Lily and Clematis are my favorite. They are common flowers, but I find their quiet confidence and understated beauty very appealing. For this reason, I did not want to do any post processing, no texture either. I like them to look natural and truthful.

Tree guy prompts my admiration. Turkeys make me laugh. Spider makes me sneer. Flowers make me smile, from the heart.

Becoming a duck (not Duck) fan

I don’t mind rain, but sunshine is still more uplifting.  That golden glare just has that up and soar elements while the clear spaghetti can make you feel rust and rut sometimes.  But I am grateful that I am a Northwest resident where abundant water has created miles and miles of green acres all year round.

Thought it was supposed to be a Mostly Sunny day with early morning fog.  I jumped off the bed early and started to get my morning routine going. After breakfast was made, smoothie and my husband’s lunch box were prepared; I was ready to hop in the car with my camera the moment when he left for work. I am always late. I thought if I was out early enough, I wouldn’t miss it this time. My planned shot was visualized with morning sun. It was still foggy, but I expect the fog to vanish in an hour or so. 

Pre-occupied with a sunny day thought, I put on lightweight jacket and go without checking the temperature. Fog was still too thick; I could not shot what I pre-visualized along the highway with farmhouses and sheep in background.  Instead, I drove to go to a fishing pond in the vicinity.  I caught an osprey once with fish in his mouth, but I did not have the right lens with me and the image was not clear. I came back dreaming for second chance.

 

The moment I parked my car, a large bird was flapping its wing in the sky, Instinctively I thought, what luck, another osprey?  Nop, just a cormorant and it was out of my sight when I had my camera ready.  Ok. How about capturing the fish is freshly caught and the fisherman is wheeling in his fishing line?  Neither, it was too early and most of them just cast their initial lines.  It was deadly cold and some of them even went back to the car to warm up.

So cold and I did not have anything except a stocking cap what I left in my glove box. I put on the raincoat that I usually have it in my truck, not much help. Go home to get some warm clothes, no, I would miss the sunrise. Photographers need to suffer for their passion and goal? I am afraid so. I hang on and continued to look for my subjects. No sun, no leaping fish, just a few fishermen and women, and some ducks.

Speaking of ducks, I am mostly ducked-out living in Eugene. There are quite a few Duck Shops, duck fans, ducks in the pond and tramping in the park. My husband worships Oregon Ducks and he likes roasted duck. There are duck-inflicted traffic jams blocking the streets in game days…  When I go to Eugene Delta Pond, I look for egret or herons, not ducks or geese.

I was freezing and fog was still in, no sigh of sun two hours after I left my house. When will our weather forecast be accurate? Our guys even made it to Mars, but no new technology to give us valid weather report? I don’t believe it.  I was freezing, almost calling quit, but my spirit said No.

  

Shoot a few red-wing black birds, not interesting, they are everywhere. Shoot fog scenes? Barely anything can be seen in this heavy fog. I saw many black spots on water in distance. I know they are ducks, so what? more ducks than I can handle.

Suddenly my eyes were lit, I saw the ducks were assembled by a leader (I am guessing) and they were lined up heading to right side of the pond.  I could barely see them, but the action certainly caught my attention. In another minute or two, the ducks were heading to the left. Right and left. Left and right. I have never seen something like this. Are they having their morning water aerobics class, you think? I zoomed my lens all the way out.

With their heads facing the same direction, the silhouette looks so cute that I could not resist shooting repeatedly.  I should have used my tripod, but they were moving around and tripod became a hindrance. The images are not clear because of fog, pre-dawn darkness and distance, but I got enough fun. I swear, this is the first time I feel that I like them.

From this point onward, I was looking for more ducks. They were far away and they were tiny in the big picture, but they looked appealing to me. The three companies have been there and still there. I have to guess that they are a family. They seemed to embrace one another and hold on to each other in spite of the surroundings.

What kind of ducks, what color and did I aim at their eyes? These questions were all no longer in my thought , I just simply enjoyed their existence.

Still no sign of sun. I finally looked at my smartphone, the temperature said 33. I was freezing though I had not given up chasing these ducks. I found this large family or friends hidden in the bushes. It looked like they were having a high level conversation discussing how dumb I was, suffering from chill just for a few pictures of them. 

If I really suffered because of them, I am gaining something back. I added tropical sunshine to freezing water. In the end of my small adventure, I got to enjoy ducks bathing in tropical sun. I am entertained. I hope you are, too.

Dramatic sunshine has just shot through my window, I have to leave my chair and turn off my computer now.

End of the Day

Away from home again.....

Frogs have been very active for couple weeks now. It is the sign of spring arrival and that makes me happy. I love to hear their sound (supposed to be matting calls) particularly on mid summer nights. They kept me awake occasionally, but for the most part, I would rather have them around.

I hope every day is a good day. Sun shines. Rain stops. I am able to follow up my routines. And, I take some good shots. Today is not this kind of day. 

From window, I saw my Hellebores (Lantern Rose) bloomed. I have been waiting for rain to stop so that I can go out and shoot a few close-ups.  I am also rushing to wrap up an existing photo book project before I leave for this  trip. 

The moment when rain stopped, I reached out to my flowers and sadly discovered that they all look beat up and sickly. Petals are covered with black spots, they are diseased. I don’t have a green thumb and last snow storm may have done them some damage. I cannot find one perfect flower for my shot.

I thought, why not take their pictures AS IS, the way they are.  It is the reality and I should accept it. Hellebores do not stand upright, they stand face down.  It was too wet for me to crawl down the ground, so I pinched them off and placed them on glass plates with water. And I geared up for shots.

Half day was spent and I downloaded all my shots. Guess what? After viewing them, I deleted them all. I simply did not like any of them. I am not used to the way they look, the sadness and disappointment made me critical and more picky. I was eventually not ready for the reality. Art is created for the pleasure of our eyes. Including myself, I want to see something close to perfect.

To get some fresh air, I came to my temp retreat. There were barely people around and the environment suits me for a good solitude, no dogs, no joggers, only trees and me.  Simplicity eases my pressure.  I certainly appreciate there is such a thing called Evergreen.  They are always there, reliable, steady and to me, have healing power.

There were good old days when logging boats were around and loading docks were everywhere. I can also imagine rows of fish & chips places and wine bars around. Now old glorious days were over wheras the floating wood are still existing. They look deserted and desolate, but the imperfection seems to paint an art piece in front of me.

It looks to me that the artist used charcoal pencil to draw them, simultaneously and nonchalantly.  It was in a cloudy day after dusk, but I did not feel dismayed or gloomy. I felt peaceful. I don't need them to be perfect. Why I was fussy towards my flowers? Is it me who claimed the ownership and expect  more? Or is it my own lack of inspiration and I blame on others? 

  

I am in for many countless journeys. Some I have planned and some I am expecting the unexpected. I know even with thorough planning, I will still experience odds and ends, and even some dramatic outcome. I am excited when I come across new discoveries. If nothing at all, I know there will always be something else.   When I started my journey, I did not know exactly where I was going. I believe it is that adventure spirit and the unknown keeps me going.

Does everything need to be perfect? Is it photography about a perfect shot and dramatic image?

This is an ordinary image of Oregon coast. I took that shot in a trail hike. The trail was more than 1000 feet high in elevation, and the edge of narrow path goes straight down to the ocean. In other words, I was walking along the cliff while I am literally afraid of height. "Don't look, it is long way down." I have said that to myself numerous times.

Only looking ahead, no side tracks. I manage to walk four miles. I prayed hard and I walked steadily. The hike finally came to the end. Just before we stepped out of the trail, I looked into ocean site and snapped couple of shots. It is a reminder to myself that I did it, I JUST DID IT.

Suing for perfection? nop. I am completely satisfied with what I've got.  I did not try to be a good photographer at that point, I was just wanting to stretch my horizon a bit more and did something that I would not have done it under normal circumstance.

Believe or not, I am feeling more relaxed now. My day is not bad over all.