Another Beautiful Day

Good morning, first full day of spring! Glad you're back! :)

Picked Clean

One thing about heading out to the Skagit Valley tulip fields at sunrise is that I shared the fields with the agricultural workers. They weren't picking the fields clean though. They would walk down a row and carefully select flowers for bouquets. However I did see several fields picked clean like this, and wish I could relay the reason for it. I do know that these farms dig up and replant these bulbs each year. Maybe clearing the flowers at once helps speed the bulbs to their resting phase? 

Skagit Valley at Sunrise

I found this smaller tulip field in Skagit Valley much more accessible than some of the larger fields where they charge admission to enter or park.  Here I could pull up along the roadside and photograph to my heart's content.  I photographed on the evening of the 2nd and the morning of the 3rd.  This photo is from the morning shoot.  From a photography standpoint, one thing I became aware of during my artistic photography class is my tendency for a very static horizontal composition, which I've gone to here out of habit.  The thing is, I do find myself liking this type of composition.  I guess I was trying to highlight the stripes of color bands, including the foothills in the distance.  I'd be curious for feedback on this though, as the week goes on.  I think this might be my only horizontally composed image. 

Skagit Valley

I was up in Seattle over the weekend, which gave me the opportunity to visit the largest tulip farming region in the Pacific Northwest, the Skagit Valley.  The tulip farms center around the towns of LaConner and Mount Vernon, about an hour's drive north of Seattle. I had a short visit here last year in bad weather and my memory was that the tulip color in this area was especially vibrant. I felt that way again on this trip.  The colors seemed almost unnaturally vivid. Be prepared for at least a week's worth of tulip photos!

The Back 40

Another view of the back field at Holland America Bulb Farm in Woodland, Washington.  The front fields include a self pick area and viewing field with labeled rows of each variety grown and sold here.  The back field is larger with thicker bands of color and tulip variety.  Just before the fence line in this photo is a thin strip of yellow and pick tulips, which I know is barely visible in this bright fog.  This photo was taken after sunrise, and it really taxes the abilities of my camera to render extreme light.  Too bad I didn't notice the fence before the sun rose!

Linking to Good Fences.

Happy Wednesday

Seeing Red

Another closeup from my early morning trip to the Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm in Woodburn, Oregon on Saturday.  It seems like this backlit closeup was the only type of composition I had any success with.  I need to be more disciplined on my next visit though, because I don't want a tulip closeup this year; I did that last year.  This year I need a tulip field photo.  And I do want red.  So I got it half right at least. Note to self: Next time go right for the red tulips, and no zooming in!

Tulips and Ferns

I'm not sure what that fern-like plant growing between these tulip rows is, but it made for an interesting photograph next to the rosy shade of tulip. I didn't fully realize this until I got home and viewed the photos on my computer or I would have spent more time here, oh well.  This should be the last tulip photo I'm posting this season...although I guess I'm not making any promises.  Also sorry that I forgot to record the tulip variety here.  It appears in the two most recent posts as the thinnest layer of red at the edge of the field.

Skagit Valley Tulips #2

Same field as yesterday, but from a different angle. 

Skagit Valley Tulips

Yet another tulip field, this time from arguable the most famous tulip growing region in Washington, Skagit Valley.  This area about an hour north of Seattle still has a large number of tulip farms, so people drive up here and either drive or bike a large tour route through the fields.  We didn't have a lot of time to visit here, just a short excursion from a trip to Seattle.  And I didn't anticipate how very crowded these country roads would be with cars.  If I drive up here again next year, it will be on a weekday, and earlier in the morning.  Probably the most vibrantly colored fields I've seen all year.  Too bad for the hazy weather!

Tulips at Sunrise

I've been back from the Palouse for over a week now, and while I've been posting photos from my trip out there I was continuing the tulip field practice.  This is probably my best photo from the week.  This particular tulip variety is called Dordogne. I like the morning dew, and unopened tulips, plus the colors are really soft. I arrived at the field about an hour after sunrise, which is sleeping in for morning photographers.  There were several photographers there, just finishing up and probably chuckling at my late arrival.  I feel like I would have liked the light better if I'd shown up an hour earlier.  I did try arriving earlier later in the week, but it didn't go quite as planned.  I'll post some photos of that particular trip over the weekend.

Color Block

From my sunny day shoot at Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm in Oregon.

It gives a sense of how the field was looking back on March 24th.

I'll return here next week and post some new photos of the field for an update.

Out in the Field #2

I haven't had a chance to get out with my camera in the last few days, but this morning I looked through my SD card in preparation for a trip I'm taking this weekend, and decided to post a few more photos from my trip to Woodburn last week.  My main issue with all the photos I took that day was that the light was pretty harsh, but I'm liking this one especially today. I'll post a few more over the weekend, and should hopefully have some new scenery to post next week once I get back. 

P.S. Post 900 today :)

Spring Showers #2

I think this is the photo that best shows the rain coming down, mainly along the top edge of the image.  This must have been one of the last photos before I headed to my car, because the rain was getting worse as the shoot went on.  By the time I got in the car it had turned to a full-blown Midwest-style downpour!  If I had some special gear to protect my camera, it would have been fun to try some photos.  I've seen people just cutting small holes in plastic bags; I should keep some on hand for any future rainstorms during a photo shoot. 

Early Bloomer

I thought this might have been the prettiest tulip yesterday at the Holland America Bulb farm. It certainly stood the tallest in a 'notice me' sort of way. One thing that shows up pretty well in this photo is that the tulips are really just starting to bloom. Maybe in a week or so the fields will be in full bloom, and then I won't need to use this narrow focus close up framing that works so well for individual flowers. 

Spring Showers

We've been getting a lot of rain this week. Not a bad thing for this time of year, plus I've been wanting to get a more rainy version of my closeup tulip photo.  Timing the weather has been tricky though.  Ideally I would photograph in a light drizzle or just after it finished raining, and I've been second guessing myself about photo opportunities all week.  Today I just went for it. I left this morning in a light drizzle for Holland America Bulb Farm in nearby Woodland, and by the time I got out in the field with my camera I was standing in a driving rain.  I had raincoat, umbrella, and puddle boots, but still managed to get drenched and hope I kept my camera dry enough!  I like the photos though, and I'll probably post several (I really hope you guys don't get tired of seeing tulips here this month!) The rain is actually visible in the photos, although not so much in this one.  Just one streak in the upper center of the frame. 

Out In the Field

I visited Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm later in the morning when the light was getting too bright for photography, but I had pretty good luck with these rows of red and white tulips; I'm not sure why, but the light doesn't look too harsh in these photos.  Yesterday's was taken from the opposite direction, with the sun almost directly facing the red flowers, while in today's photo the flowers are backlit. I think this photo really shows the state of the field, with some rows in bloom and others preparing.   One thing I learned about tulip fields that really surprised me is that they dig up the bulbs every year and replant them in the fall, rotating locations of the different varieties to help with disease, insects, erosion, etc. and they cut all flowers before any petals drop, also to prevent disease. There were lots of workers in the field when I was there on Monday. I just never considered the extent to which tulip field maintenance is a year round job!