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.

Serendipity

We had a fabulous ground fog yesterday morning, so I thought I should head back to the tulip farm in Woodland to see if the fog was hanging there too. Turns out there was no fog in the tulip field, but as I drove past the large farm building looking to set my sites elsewhere I discover another large tulip field with plenty of red! And surprisingly, this field was shrouded in a thin layer of fog! This field was not open to the public, so I set up at the edge of the field and waited for sunrise. Too bad the sun rose directly in front of me so it turned out to be way too strong. This photo was taken several minutes before the sunrise.

Tulip Field Sunbreak

Finally a break in this rain week we've been having! I took advantage and headed to Woodland to check out the tulip fields at the Holland American Bulb Farm, which is quite a bit smaller than the Wooden Shoe Farm in Woodburn, Oregon but is also a lot closer. It was pretty foggy this morning, but at least the fields were in full bloom. During my visit a tiny strip of blue sky opened up for a short time, and I capitalized.  Technically it might not be a sunbreak, because the sun was still behind the fog.  But it made for a bright photo without all the shadows cast by the sun, and I think the photo does a good job giving the illusion of a sunny day.  There weren't any red fields to photograph, but at least I stuck to my goal, kept my zoom lens in the car and focused on the wider field view.

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.