Peninsula Park

Peninsula Park - the first public rose garden

My former co-worker has been begging me for years to come here and take photographs. Well, I think I used too strong of a word, she has been asking me; I think it is a better-suited word. I have to say; I was dumb founded to see this rose garden exists here in north Portland, just 20 minutes where we live. This 16.27-acre park was originally purchased in 1908 for $60,000.00. It is the first public rose garden in Portland. Pokie is credited with all the close-up images in this website.

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/2015/peninsula

Festival of Flowers 2015

Pioneer Court House Square

Once again, my co-worker lent me his new toy (camera) to shoot the Festival of Flowers in Portland Living Room. Bright sunny day is not my forte when it comes of taking flowers, but I would not pass along to get my hands dirty on a full frame mirror-less camera. It is SONY A7. It feels like a regular camera except it is light. I am disappointed that the design of the flowers is getting worse by the year. But please enjoy it, the rate it is going there might not be any Festival of Flowers in the future.

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/2015/pioneer

Lewis Creek Park

Lewis Creek Trail

Pokie’s nephew took us here to this park to “walk” his son before an afternoon nap when we visited Seattle last weekend. I was having a “field” day photographing this park, I have never seen buttercup flowers blooming and filled the wetlands so beautifully. It was indeed a delightful afternoon, but best of all; his son took a long afternoon nap after the walk. I took many different compositions and I hope I do not bore you.

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/2015/lewis

The hunt for the Witch's house

Along MacLeay Trail

When I showed Pokie (some pictures I “google”) that I want to go and see the Witch’s house, she was scared and balked and not wanting to go, she was petrified because some people might use the house for other purposes other than just an attraction such as drinking and smoking some weeds, also the graffiti is destroying the beauty of this house.

I told Pokie, not a problem if you are scared, I will bring my “buddy” guard with us on the trail. The day is cloudy and a bit dark and that’s exactly what I wanted for soft photography. Come, I will take you to the Witch’s house.

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/2015/witch

Eastern Oregon (Revisited)

Sunset

Sometimes, digging through my previous images will yield to some photographs that I overlooked when making the very first website. The joy of finding old photographs is compounded with the post-production techniques that I did not posses previously. In here I found many sunset images that I only process one for the original website.

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/2015/eastern

Wetlands of Portland

Expo Center Wetlands

This is the second test of the new toy. This time the wetlands are the subject. It is close to Portland Expo Center. The Yellow Line of Portland light rail serves the location well. Thank goodness for the electronic viewfinder, otherwise it is really hard to see the preview image against the bright sky.

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/2015/wetlands

Painted Hills (Re-do post production)

Painted Hills

A few friends inspired me to “redo” the Painted Hills images in the post-production, so I experimented and I think I am more satisfied than what I did in 2010. I use “Hue” saturation, shadows and highlights and the “High Pass” Sharpening tool as well as Contrast adjustments. Here are the results.

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/2015/painted

Tillamook Forest Center

Tillamook Forest Center

We drove for about an hour west to visit Tillamook Forest Center as featured in the AAA Oregon/Idaho VIA magazine recently. I also tested my latest toy, SONY Alpha A6000 that is small enough to be used as a travel light “point and shoot” camera. I think I am happy with the result; it is good for indoor and outdoor general photography (see the last image). This is a mirror-less camera and it is way less bulky than what I generally used to take photographs in the past. This camera is good for hiking as well. Enjoy the Tillamook Forest Center, I certainly learned about the forest fire today.

http://www.yongkieandpokie.com/2015/tfc