ace97302's photostream

Despite being a resident of the D.C. area, this was my first visit to the National Cherry Blossom Festival. It's amazing how locals (everywhere) rarely do tourist stuff. Personally, I've been driving by the huge crowds for years--it just kind of turns you off. But my folks were in town visiting, so I went. The trees aren't at their peak yet, but they were still very beautiful. And it was pretty cold out, so the crowds were slightly more reasonable than normal, I think. I was very happy to find a rare spot to get a shot with nobody in it!

I think I need to go back near sunrise/sunset to get something really special. There's a lot of potential with the monuments and the trees. Any recommendations on the best spot for photos?

View it large!

As a bit of background to this photo, I grew up in Oregon but haven't lived there for the last 10 years or so. As I was going to add tags to this photo I was thinking, "Well, there's Haystack Rock in the background." Then I suddenly worried that I had confused my Oregon geography suddenly worrying that Haystack Rock is actually located elsewhere. Oh no...

Thanks to Wikipedia, I now know that there are actually three Haystock Rocks in Oregon alone! This particular one, located in Tillamook County off Pacific City (next to Cape Kiwanda), is the fourth tallest "offshore sea monolith" or "sea stack" in the world. It stands 327 feet tall. Oregon's more famous Haystack Rock is located near Canon Beach--it's only 235 feet tall. Oregon's third Haystack Rock, which I was previously unaware of, is located at the southern end of the state near Bandon.

You learn something new every day =)

This is another shot from the archives, taken the same day as the previous photo in my stream.

View it large! Your comments and critique are always appreciated.

Digging some old shots out of the archives. I took this last summer when my wife and I went to visit my family back home in Oregon.

My brother had a sweet pair of retro looking sunglasses made by a company called Raen.

If you live in Oregon or you visit the Oregon coast, make sure to visit the Pelican Pub & Brewery in Pacific City. It's a great spot--fantastic view, excellent food, and wonderful homemade microbrews.

As always, comments and critiques are appreciated =)

I think this little guy noticed me pointing a giant lens at him; we had an intense staring contest. The 200mm f/2 is pretty huge looking with it's lens hood, even though it's not very long. Never interrupt a prairie dog while he's eating--look at those vicious teeth!

On a side note, does this photo look underexposed to you? On my iMac, it's perfect, but it looks rather dark on my PC at work. I realize the two systems have different default gamma curves. Any thoughts how best to expose photos for all systems? (Maybe there's no solution?)

Make sure to press 'L' and view large!

Comments are always appreciated =)

Just a closer view of the last photo I uploaded. I guess I need to get a pro account so I'm not limited to such low resolutions.

The weather was surprisingly nice this weekend so we decided to get out and enjoy the sun while it lasted (and some great light for photography!).

The Smithsonian National Zoo has some lion cubs right now, so we decided to try and catch a glimpse of them. We missed their limited viewing hours, but we did catch something nearly as impressive and ferocious--the mighty prairie dog! This guy was a real eating machine, but his table manners weren't so hot, as you can see from all those crumbs falling.

Check out this larger close-up: Large on Black

Comments are always appreciated =)