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This blog is moving!

Thanks to Blogger, I'm being forced to change this blog to a new URL address because they are discontinuing the FTP feature for Blogger. I'll still be posting at this blog so don't give up on me. :)
Hopefully there aren't any problems with their migration assistant and I'll come out on the other end perfectly fine.
The new address will be- http://blog.blainefranger.com/
I believe there will be one more post above this one that Blogger places there automatically.
Please update your bookmarks and RSS feeds to follow- http://blog.blainefranger.com/

Check out my new blog too! Beautiful Hood River! http://beautifulhoodriver.com/

Thanks!

New Blog! Beautiful Hood River, Oregon!

Hi all,
Just today I launched a new blog that I fully intend on keeping up with a lot better than this one. It's called "Beautiful Hood River" and the address is http://beautifulhoodriver.com/. The idea behind it is simply just a photo a day from my beautiful hometown, Hood River Oregon. I have thousands upon thousands of images that have never seen the light of day, so hopefully this will be a good way to get some of them out there to be seen. Each and every day at 12:01AM the blog will automatically update itself with a new image, that is, as long as I keep on top of the "posting in the future", haha.
Please also check out the Beautiful Hood River, Oregon facebook page HERE and click "like" to keep updated with the new photos and general Hood River stuff. :)

A little drive to Mosier

Bethany and I wanted to get out of the house today so we took a little drive to Mosier, the back way. :)
Everything is so green and vibrant this time of year, I love it! These are some photos I shot along the way...

Columbia River and Syncline, Washington


Columbia River and Syncline, Washington


Tractor Sign-


Trees-


Oak tree and cloud-


Cloud reflections on a pond-


Mt Adams-

Hood River Marina

The Hood River Marina/Port area a few evenings ago.

Columbia River Gorge Sunset

Lots of photos of the Columbia River recently! Here is one I managed to quickly grab of the sunset tonight after finishing up a busy day of work and heading to dinner with friends and family. I was hoping the sunset would perform a lot better with amazing colors, which it didn't, but still very beautiful and peaceful cloud formations. :)

Columbia River Panorama at Sunset

6 photos stitched together to make this panorama. Shot handheld from a kayak!
Click pic to see it larger.

Latourell Falls, Columbia River Gorge, Oregon

I dropped Bethany off at PDX yesterday and decided to bring my camera for some waterfall photos on the way back to Hood River.

This is Latourell Falls, right off the Historic Columbia River Highway where there are many many waterfalls. This is 6 vertical images stitched together to make a panorama. Resolution and detail are greatly improved by shooting multiple frames for a panorama rather than just simply cropping.

Latourell Falls Horizontal Panorama-


Latourell Falls Vertical Panorama-


And thanks to my new Lowepro Pro Roller x200 for the much needed rest for 3rd tripod leg! :)

Panorama photo of Hood River, Columbia River, and Mount Hood

I went out shooting this morning and ended up coming home with this new panoramic image I'm pretty happy with! It consists of 23 vertical images stitched together in Photoshop. Printed out at full size without enlarging the file size, it would span about 175 inches wide and 20 inches tall. HUGE!
Here is a small preview of the image, click to see it larger!




Also here is a link to another previous panorama image of the Columbia Gorge.

Rainbow over Columbia River Gorge

Yes I know... over a month with no new posts! I'm a slacker....
Been shooting lots and lots of new photos recently but haven't been posting them, obviously. Still working on the thousands of Mexico photos from January too.

Anyway, for now just wanted to share a quick photo from this morning!

Rainbow over Columbia River Gorge-

My Alaska Airlines photo contest entry

A snapshot of my 3 entries to the 2010 Alaska Airlines photo contest... chances of winning are super slim but never know if ya don't try. :)
I decided to enter it last minute on the day of the postmark deadline and had to pick a few photos that happened to be on my laptop at the time... then super quick sent them to Walgreens 1-hour (they look like crap) and made it to the post office a few minutes before they closed...

Mt. Hood Sunset from frozen Kingsley Reservoir

I've been itching to get out on my dirtbike for a long time now with all this traveling and finally had a chance to go out for a quick sunset ride this evening. Forgot how much I love being on my Honda CRF450x out there in the woods. So much adrenaline riding fast through the trees, up hills, down canyons... then you get to the top of a viewpoint, kill the engine, and turns from crazy adrenaline trip to a peaceful calm moment with the flip of a switch. I love that I can hop on my bike and ride up some hills a mile from my house and be miles from civilization and totally secluded, in just minutes.
This evening I took my camera bag, hopeful for a nice sunset, and it was beautiful! After riding through a bunch of crusty, chunky, icy snow I stopped at frozen Kingsley Reservoir and got a decent view of Mt. Hood's west facing side with some sunlight on it.
Mt. Hood and sunset, check out the wind blowing snow off the peak! Brrrrr!


And a snapshot of my bike, camera, and frozen Kingsley reservoir with Mt Hood-

Curious fish in Sea of Cortez, Mexico

another Guinea Fowl Puffer photo!

I can't get over how cute these guys are!

Paddle boarding on the Sea of Cortez and Pufferfish photos

If you're reading this on a facebook note, please click here to go to my blog. The photos are larger and look much better against a dark background! Feel free to comment here if you wish though. :)

Today Bethany and I went stand up paddle-boarding (SUP) here in La Ventana Mexico before the afternoon winds picked up and kiteboarding started. SUP is so much fun, especially here in the Sea of Cortez! The water is so clear and calm in the morning... the feeling of silently and effortlessly gliding over coral reefs and thousands of fish is quite fulfilling. :)

This was Bethany's first time trying it out and she did great, loved it too.

I brought my snorkel stuff and underwater housing along... here are some of my pics-

Bethany getting used to the balancing act-

Beautiful clouds-

Bethany looking like a pro already-

I went for a snorkel and caught this absolutely amazing and adorable pufferfish called the "Guineafowl Puffer". They are really slow fish and catching them isn't very difficult. They look a little bit boxy and funny at first, then you bother them, and they'll instantly start rapidly sucking water through their mouth to entirely fill their rubbery body, then, hundreds of small quills come out of their skin. It's FASCINATING! As you can see, these things are freaking comical when in this mode... I love it.

Video would be even better because the action of their tiny little flippers trying to move about is hilarious. For a size comparison, this one is almost basketball size and weighs like 10 pounds with the water inside.

Onto the next puffer! This one is a Barred Porcupine Fish an is equally adorable... but what's crazy is that puffers are the earths most deadly fish, as the ovaries, liver and intestines contain a tetrodotoxin that is known to be at least 1,200 times more potent than cyanide!! A poison that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says can “produce rapid and violent death.” The spikes don't contain the toxin so it's ok to gently handle them, but if you eat one of these guys you'd be lucky to live for 24 hours. In Japan it's considered a delicacy and can be ordered at special high end restaurants for $100-$200 per serving, but people die every year from it being prepared incorrectly... thanks but I'll pass and have the tuna please.

Size comparison to my hand. Some were much larger but harder to catch the big guys!

Back to paddle-boarding-

Bethany is feeling great and looking beautiful at 24 weeks preggy! Our baby enjoyed the ride too. :)

On the way back the wind started to pick up, luckily it was at our back though.

Hoping to go again tomorrow!

Breaking Wave - La Pastora Playa, Todos Santos, Mexico

Lightning over Sea of Cortez, Mexico

I know I know.... totally slacking on blogging these days. Been keeping busy traveling, playing, and shooting a lot during our offseason. It's been nice to spend almost 2 full months in Mexico (first Isla Mujeres and now Baja California Sur) while it's super cold and rainy in Oregon right now!
Currently in La Ventana, Mexico learning how to kiteboard and taking lots of photos of course. Here is one I shot last night of an extremely rare winter lightning storm over Cerralvo Island in the Sea of Cortez. The island is also called Jacques Cousteau Island or Isla Cerralvo.

More blogging to come soon, hopefully!

2010 baby.... Happy New Year!

Yes I know this is hideous and makes no sense... but it's 4AM New Years day and I just felt like creating something before bed. :)

Pelican and Sunset... can you say cliche! :)

Pelicans and sunsets, two very cliche and commonly photographed things, but how can you not when it looks so beautiful! This was our last sunset in Isla Mujeres Mexico before we headed off to the snow and cold in the states. Our tans are disappearing as I type.... :(

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! Bethany and I arrived to Michigan yesterday to spend Christmas and New Years with her family. It's been cold, windy, and wet but great times with family makes up for all of that. :)

Hard to believe we were just in sunny & warm Mexico yesterday! Here is a photo I shot a couple days ago at Isla Contoy Island National Park in Mexico. Bethany and I had a wonderful relaxing day there before we headed back to the cold weather in the states.....
Now we're already thinking about our next warm getaway. :)

Ever feel like you're being watched?

This is a 3 foot long stingray who buried his entire body under the sand when I spotted him today. Just left one eye popping out to see what was going on!

Sunset on Mt. Hood at Trillium Lake

A couple days ago I knew the sunset was going to be beautiful on Mt. Hood... of course I wanted to shoot it, but from a different perspective! I opted to head up the mountain to Trillium Lake. After a 2 mile hike (with some jogging, I was running late) in the snow the view really paid off. The mountain lit up vibrant pink because there wasn't a cloud in the sky. I also waited around for a bit to catch the moonrise which was beautiful, but not quite in the right spot to get the shot I was hoping for with the moon rising behind the mountain. Maybe next time. :)

Mt. Hood with frozen Trillium Lake in the foreground-

I'm not much into the color pink, but in this case, I can deal with pink!

Last minute of pink sunlight on the mountain-

All the direct sunlight is done and the colors dramatically change-

Long exposure, see the star trails? You can also see a light and the lifts from Timberline Lodge-

Moon rising over Trillium Lake and Mt. Hood-

Moon rising over Trillium Lake and Mt. Hood-

This mornings view from the office

Not too shabby of a view from the office this morning! From left to right, Mt. Saint Helens, Mt. Hood, Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams. Love them Cascades!

Just one pic for now... more coming later!

Full moon rising over Hood River

Shot this from my deck about an hour ago. Beautiful full moon rising over the hills in Washington!

Canon 40D with Canon 100-400mm lens, zoomed into 400mm.


One more-