Category Archives: Landscape and Nature Photography

Shot of the Day, June 28 2021

June 28, 2021 by admin | Comments Off

Wow, two of these posts this year! What’s up with that you ask? Not sure, but perhaps this post has more to do with the outside conditions around there than anything else.

We are in the middle of a record breaking heat wave across the Pacific Northwest these last few days. It is not normal for temperatures to reach 100 degrees and for the last few days we have been well above that. In fact, the forecast today is for Puyallup to reach 115. Unheard of.

So what are people doing to stay cool? Of course, if you have air conditioning it is normal to stay indoors next to the cooler, but for the rest of us we need to get close to the water. Whether that is Puget Sound or a lake somewhere, we flock to the edge of the water in an effort to stay cool.

Yesterday, we were at a graduation party at a house on Lake Tapps, Washington, and of course I had to bring the drone along and see if I could get a few shots. I was mostly just showing friends the flight abilities of this machine, but when I could I took some video and tried to compose something photographically. The bright sunshine and super washed-out highlights of taking photographs on days like this make it challenging (underlining the need for me to get some ND filters for this drone), but it’s always worth an effort to get what you can.

So this is a photo of Mt. Rainier in the background against the eastern edge of the lake and Snag Island bridge (and a private airfield also in the foreground I believe).

Anyway, enjoy the photograph and as always blessings to you. And stay cool!

Chris

Also posted in Drone Photography, Shot of the Day Tagged , , , , , , , |

Drone Photography Now Available for Business and Personal Use

June 26, 2021 by admin | Comments Off

Hello friends,

I am pleased to announce that I have passed my FAA Part 107 exam and am now a licensed commercial drone pilot with capability for drone aerial photography and/or video.

What does that mean for you? Well, drone photography offers a perspective that ground photography just cannot provide. In real estate, aerial photography is the perfect way to show off the surrounding environment of your property. Why? Because location is everything. And for many industries, location sells.  For others, the use of aerial photographs or video can be included in digital marketing (and print with photo) on your website, social media posts, and email campaigns. It really doesn’t matter what your business does or where your business is located, by adding stunning visuals it will truly complement your marketing and creative efforts on getting your message out. And finally, keep your employees and crew safe and out of danger by using my drone services for various inspections and assessment of hard-to-reach or potentially treacherous places and situations.

Our aerial photography and video services are not only just for business, but also for every individual. Consider a personal portrait session and wedding photographs that can now have a new perspective for a truly unique image. We are only limited by your imagination and what is legal and limited by FAA regulations.

Please give a call and let’s talk about how we can help you achieve your goals.

Blessings,

Chris.

BTW-don’t forget to visit our Instagram page.

Also posted in Architectural, Drone Photography, Engagement Photography, Event Photography, General, Photography Tips & Techniques, Real Estate Photography Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

My Cool Pics of the Florida Keys 2021

June 23, 2021 by admin | Comments Off

Hello again friends,

This May, we were once again supposed to be in the Bahamas. But for the 2nd year in a row Covid kept us out. So we were left wondering what do to. Do we take our chances traveling to Mexico? What about going back to Hawaii? How about giving Iceland a try? Turns out Covid played a part in keeping those destinations out of reasonable reach for us so we decided to stay in the lower 48 and go to the Florida Keys. I have never been there before and since the diving was supposed to be great the destination made absolute sense.

We packed the bags and our equipment and off we went. We flew into Fort Lauderdale, rented a car, drove across the State of Florida and stayed the night in Cape Coral. Cape Coral is a city that we have considered moving to and we wanted to check out the scene. You know…housing, community, and of course the dive scene. It checked all the boxes except one: the local diving wasn’t exactly what I was expecting. But that’s ok…after spending some time there and meeting and talking with some local people I believe that if we could find good jobs there we would make the move.

After, we drove down through Naples and hit the northern part of the Everglades before crossing the bridge and arriving in the Florida Keys. We ended up in Marathon, which is right in the approximate middle of the chain between Key Largo and Key West (link below). It was a good place to base out of and we were happy to be there. And I’m sorry I didn’t get any pictures of these areas before getting off the mainland, but if you ever driven the highway we were on you’d know there isn’t much to photograph along that route.

Unfortunately, the weather didn’t exactly cooperate with us the entire time we were there. The wind never stopped blowing and it got worse with each passing day. The result was that the water was so rough and churned up that half our diving was canceled out (an no chance to get in and snorkel and swim off the beaches). It was so rough that I even got seasick at one point. Yuck. But of those times that I did get out to dive I managed to get a few photographs that I’ll post separately.

The wind didn’t really stop us from getting out and doing a little exploring, however. We got to Key West and the southernmost point in the contiguous United States, the 7-Mile Bridge, some of No Name Key, Deer Key, Islamorada, The Bahia Honda Bridge (before and during sunset), and Crane Point Hammock.

Below are some of the non-diving pictures I took (those will be in another post). I hope that you enjoy them. As always, please don’t hesitate to comment.

Blessing,

Chris.

Link to Marathon in Maps

Also posted in General, Travel Photography Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Photographs of Maui in 2017

April 15, 2021 by admin | Comments Off

Ok, ok, ok. Before you start, I know already. 2017, you say? Yes, 2017. I was looking through my draft blog posts today and I saw one buried deep in there-this one. So I’m going to post it now regardless of the fact that the year is now 2021.

So we visited Maui, Hawaii again in 2017. This was our 2nd visit to the island, and it was no less disappointing than the first visit. In some ways, it was better. You see, it was February and that means whale season and we had arrived smack dab right in the middle of it (last time we went the whale season was over).

So in this gallery you will see a variety of pictures that I took over the week that we were there. It starts with some sunset photographs overlooking Molokini from South Maui, other sunsets from Lahaina, sunrise at Haleakala (the dormant volcano) including a startrail photo I took, surfing, whales, island landscapes, and ending with a variety of Hawaiian flowers that can be found on Maui.

I hope that you enjoy the photographs as much as I love taking them. BTW Maui is one of my most favorite places in all the work and I really look forward to getting back there in 2022.

Blessings,

Chris.

Also posted in Travel Photography Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Bald Eagles of Seabeck 2020

April 12, 2021 by admin | Comments Off

Hello friends,

I just realized that I had never posted anything about one of my highlights from last summers lockdowns.

I managed to sneak away from work for a couple of hours and drove to Seabeck, Washington to check out what I was hearing about the eagles that show up every year. Well I was a little bit late in my timing of a visit, but not to disappoint there were still a few of them hanging around. There were a couple of mature eagles in the area and a few of juvenile ones flying around. And I managed to get a few photographs before they moved on!

I even was able to capture a couple of photographs of a raccoon that decided to swing by and give us a show. There is also a few other photos in this gallery from some of the scenery as I continued to drive around that day. You know, waterfalls, mountains, Hood Canal, and hummingbirds.

Enjoy the photographs.

Blessings,

Chris.

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Oahu 2021

April 10, 2021 by admin | Comments Off

Greetings friends.

Well after a year of lockdowns and quarantine for me (seriously a year), we managed to get away from the house and work for a few days last month and visit Oahu. We’ve only been one other time, so being the least restrictive of all the islands in terms of travel from across the Pacific we decided to go back and chill for a bit. So negative tests in hand, masks on the face, off we went.

We met Lynette’s cousin and his wife there for a week of fun and relaxation. We got in a few a sunsets, toured the island a bit, managed a few dives, and just turned off the brain for a bit.

And of course, I drug my cameras with me and snapped some photographs., both above the water and below. Landscapes, shipwrecks, mountains, sunsets, fish, and of course Diamondhead. Couldn’t ask for a better time.

I hope that you enjoy the photographs as much as I did taking them.

Blessings,

Chris.

Also posted in Travel Photography, Underwater Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , |

Shot of the Day, April 2, 2021

April 2, 2021 by admin | 1 Comment

Oh my goodness, do you know how long it’s been since I’ve done one of these posts? Maybe 5 years. Holy Cow!!! Time sure flies when you’re having fun. Or is it time’s sure fun when you’re having flies. Whatever. Haha.

Anyway, I have taken so many photographs of round-the-house stuff while stuck in quarantine during this pandemic. This particular photograph is of Mt. Rainier that I took a few months ago while sitting round waiting to start my day. It was a foggy kind of day and the mountain was in complete silhouette during the sunrise and the top of the it had a hint of the sunshine to come.

Enjoy and Blessings,

Chris.

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Hawaii 2020, part 1

November 13, 2020 by admin | Comments Off

Hello Friends,

What an absolute crazy year this has been! Crazy is an understatement to say the least. We’ve all had our challenges with the coronavirus crap and everything that that has meant (if you have lost a loved one because of it we are deeply sorry and offer our prayers for you and your family), but me personally this year started with us losing my father and needing to say goodbye to him. There have been other challenges that 2020 has thrown at me but I’ll keep those to myself and not bore you all with my sob stories.

Anyway, we were fortunate enough to have planned a trip to Hawaii (Maui) and were able to travel (and return home) before we were all locked down and sheltered-in-place. Our kids joined us and we had a fabulous time.

The photo’s below are but just a few of the many photographs (non-diving related) that I shot when we were there. Certainly not as many as previous trips as our kids were with us, but always just as entertaining. There are a few of our family scattered within.

I hope that you enjoy. My next post will be some of the underwater photos I shot so stay tuned.

Blessings as always,

Chris.

Also posted in Family Portraits, Travel Photography Tagged , , , , , , , , , , |

Kona, Hawaii Part II

December 26, 2018 by admin | Comments Off

Greetings again,

My last post had a lot of the underwater photographs I took while diving out of Kona, Hawaii. Because this was primarily a dive trip for me there was not much time to take a lot of landscape and architectural photographs. However, we did manage to get out of the water a few times and snap a couple of photos here and there.

For your enjoyment, I have posted a few here.

Blessings,

Chris.

Also posted in Travel Photography Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Bahamas – May 2018

July 10, 2018 by admin | Comments Off

Hello again Friends.

Here we are now half-way through the year. Wow-where has time gone?

In May, I joined a group of local divers for the trip of a lifetime in the Bahamas. We headed out on a chartered Blackbeards 65′ Sea Explorer sailboat for a week of sailing, playing pirates, and of course scuba diving. And what would a scuba trip be without me taking along my camera to see what I could get–photo wise that is.

We headed out of Nassau and sailed south into the Exuma Cays Land & Sea Park and hit 16 dives in 5 days. It was a lot of diving, but certainly a lot of fun. While there were a ton of fish and coral life to gaze upon in awe and photograph, diving with the sharks was probably the highlight for me. Nothing that I can think of topped that experience.

Kudos and many happy thank you’s to my dive buddies for making this a wonderful trip and especially to those that spent time with me underwater: Michelle, Glenn, & Kyle.

I hope you enjoy these photographs.

Blessings.

Also posted in Sports Photography, Travel Photography, Underwater Tagged , , , , , , , , , , |