Kevin Merchant Photography News 2010

The Si View Holiday Bazaar this past Saturday was a success for us. For just a 5 hour event we had lots of traffic in the booth. It was great meeting everyone, and encouraging to hear all of the positive comments.

It was a fun day for us. We got to use all of our Christmas decorations from the Tacoma show and the booth looked good, even if we do say so ourselves.

We are already starting to look at our 2011 calendar for festivals and other weekend events that we would like to participate in. Maybe we'll see you somewhere along the way.

We would like to thank all those who have purchased prints, bookmarks, note cards and calendars this past year. You have affirmed all the hard work that goes into capturing the images and then making the various print related products that we have to offer.

Speaking of calendars, we still have plenty of 2011 calendars for sale. Check 'em out.

We have achieved snowed in status here in western Washington. That means temperatures dropped low enough to snow, but not so low that the snow didn't melt and then freeze to the roads, and then continue to snow so that there was a nice wet layer of snow on top of the black ice. This is the recipe for disaster here in the hilly Seattle area.

After witnessing this for many years, our routine has become to stay put and watch all the disasters on the television news. Of course, it helps to be stocked up and ready for a long stretch of cold weather. We did and declared it a morning for egg nog lattes.

It is also a time of thawing out the hummingbird feeder every few hours in the daytime. Yes, we have a few hummingbirds that will winter over and we try to take care that the feeder stays full and in a liquid state. The ulterior motive being that they are quite willing photo subjects. Today looks like it might be a good day for afternoon light at the feeding station.

Well, I have been busy updating the web site in the PURCHASE section. With over 200 images now in print, I have broken them up into groups to make the search a little easier -

• BIRDS
• COAST
• FLOWERS
• LANDSCAPES
• LIGHTHOUSES
• MOUNTAINS
• PANORAMAS

Since I continue to write all the code for the web site, I know it's not your Amazon.com experience - one-click ordering/search/etc., but it helps me to keep my costs down and hopefully continue to deliver high quality prints.

As promised, we now have our Note Cards available. They are $2.50 each. They will make great gifts, for yourself or that someone special. Remember, you won't find these anywhere else but right here. Ask about a volume discount.

And don't forget to check out the 2011 calendars. It's that time of year - the days are short and 2010 is almost over. These calendars are printed on Fuji Crystal Archival paper and once the year is over, the picture can be matted and framed in an 8" x 10" size frame. Supplies are limited to stock on hand. I won't be printing anymore, once they are gone.

As always, don't hesitate to contact us about any questions you have concerning what we are offering for sale here on the web site. We do our best to give you all the information you need to make a purchase decision, but we might miss something.

Thanks for stopping by.

I have been doing some catching up on image processing which means there are new images in the GALLERY. Check the NEW section to see what has been added.

We have one more event this year in North Bend, Washington - the Si View Holiday Bazaar, on Saturday, December 4^th, from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM. Admission is FREE.

We will have prints in the following sizes - 6" x 9" (finished size - 9" x 12"), 8" x 12" (finished size - 12" x 16"), 12" x 18" (finished size - 16" x 22") and various panoramic sizes ranging from 12" to 36" widths. We have a new line of 30 unique note cards, four different single page 2011 calendars (great for refrigerators & cubicles), bookmarks and even Christmas ornaments. We hope to see some of you there.

I am happy to report that the Bandon Cranberry Festival was a success. We had outstanding weather on both days of the festival, and the weather on Friday for the early setup was good as well. Since this was my first year, I did not know what to expect in terms of attendance. For sure there were lots of folks passing through on vacation. In fact, I provided directions for several folks to a couple of my favorite photo destinations in the Bandon area - Face Rock and the Coquille River Lighthouse (also known as the Bandon Lighthouse).

Being the town where my mother and father lived for many years, I saw people I haven't seen in awhile and met a few people who had heard about me from various relatives. It is a nice small town event with lots of activities going on. Unfortunately, I could not attend any with the booth open, which happened to be during most all of the events.

One bit of news that came after the festival is that I now have a few prints for sale in Whistling Gallery, about five miles south of Bandon. This is a new gallery in the area, and recently opened about two months ago. So new, in fact they don't yet have a web site or I would provide a link. I hope to provide that when it is available. In the meantime, the address is 87456 Whistling Drive, and the phone is 541-404-7336. I would suggest calling for days and hours they will be open.

Where did the summer go? We have been insanely busy operating our travelling retail sales business this summer. We now have several festivals under our belts and seem to be getting the hang of it. Setting up the canopy, hanging pictures on the walls (in the right order), setting up tables, filling display racks with matted prints and all the other miscellaneous merchandising needed for selling to the public. At the end of the weekend, you get to tear it all down, pack up, load the truck, then go home and get ready to do it again.

We've had rain and blistering heat, but not on the same weekend, thankfully. We are doing one more outdoor festival and then head inside for a couple in October. It is the Pacific Northwest, after all. The rains have returned, but we're hoping for a little more summer weather before giving in to fall.

The next festival is the 64^th Annual Bandon Cranberry Festival. I am looking forward to this one as I have never attended because I always visited my mother on Labor Day weekends, and the festival always came later in the month. This year is no different, except there will not be a Labor Day visit with my mother. I will be solo at this festival due to distance.

September 11th, 10 AM to 5 PM September 12th, 10 AM to 5 PM

In October we will be at the 10^th Annual Ridgefield BirdFest, located in the town of Ridgefield, Washington. This is the location of the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge. A weekend that combines birding activities, shopping and bluegrass music and should be a fun time. We will be one of the indoor vendors located in the community center. The refuge is located on the scenic Columbia River, dividing Oregon and Washington.

October 9th,   10 AM to 5 PM October 10th, 11 AM to 4 PM

After that we will be in Tacoma, Washington for the Tacoma Food & Gift Festival, a five day event starting Wednesday. Another annual event that has become a holiday tradition for many in the Seattle/Tacoma area for gift buying. As you can see from the web site, it is a large event with many vendors. We are currently working on adding notecards, calendars and ornaments to our current offering of prints and bookmarks. All I can say right now is watch this space for news on these new products.

October 20th, 11 AM to 8 PM October 21st, 10 AM to 8 PM October 22nd, 10 AM to 9 PM October 23rd, 10 AM to 9 PM October 24th, 10 AM to 5 PM

Thanks for stopping by and maybe we'll see you somewhere along the way.

Slowly getting back into the swing of things following my mother's passing in May.

I again spent two weeks in the Grays Harbor area for the spring shorebird migration. My shooting opportunities, besides the usual, included red knots, red breasted mergansers, common loons, brown pelicans, surf birds and wandering tattlers.

In the midst of my two week stay, was the Grays Harbor Shorebird Festival. The bird festivals are a lot of fun because I meet people who are WAY more knowledgeable about the birds than I am. And the festival organizers are some of the nicest people you would ever want to meet. These are by-and-large volunteer efforts and well organized. I highly recommend attending.

The two festivals in April and May were our first venture out with the new Flourish canopy system purchased this year. We had many positive comments. It makes for a much more professional presentation. Since we're planning on doing this long term, it made sense to make the investment. There are quite a few pieces to the system and we are still on the learning curve to setting this thing up efficiently. I learned last week that we were not properly extending the legs and so the canopy was shorter that it should have been. I thought I needed to purchase leg extenders, but not so, at least not yet.

Along the line of festivals, I have applied for and been accepted to several upcoming festivals:

These festivals are not specific to birds and will be much more general in terms of our audience. Therefore, we are in the process of gearing up our inventory to be less heavily weighted towards birds. This means more time at the computer processing a lot of images that have been sitting idle. Kind of fun to go back and see what strikes me as worthy of printing. And, I hope the festival goers will find something appealing as well.

Thanks for stopping by and maybe we'll see you somewhere along the way.

April is shaping up to be a busy month for me. I will have a booth at two festivals in the latter half of the month:

Visit the festival web sites for more information on activities, times and directions. Both of these festivals are in very scenic locations and worth checking out. With the mild spring weather we are having, this is a great year to get out and see the birds!

This year I will have prints available in standard sizes - 6" x 9", 8" x 12", 12" x 18" as well as panoramics in 18" & 24" widths (and varying heights). I am also introducing some prints done in the triptych style, grouping three similar subjects together in one print. There are a number of new images dating back to last year's shorebird migration and more recent shoots from this winter. Many of these are still not up in the GALLERY, yet, as I have only just processed them for printing. Watch the NEW section for upcoming additions.

I hope to see you there!

2009 was a year of change for us. After 24 years of living in the city of Newcastle in our "fixer upper" house, we took the plunge in a very depressed real estate market and sold it to move to a larger new house a few miles north in the city of Redmond. Besides having more space for the business, we are adjacent to a storm water retention pond which is a major attraction for water fowl. So far, we have seen mallards, buffleheads, hooded and common mergansers, gadwalls, ring-necked ducks and the occasional flock of Canada geese. I expect to see more as the winter turns to spring. I'm hoping to have a busy winter.

With all of the activity surrounding the selling and buying of houses, 2009 was a much diminished year for photography activity. I did have the opportunity to do some exploratory trips to areas I have not visited before. First, I went on an extended weekend trip with a friend to the eastern Washington region of the Palouse. The old barns and rolling hills of various grain crops in this rich farming region would be enough of a reason by itself to make the trip. But there is another attraction that is pretty amazing - Palouse Falls and the canyon that has been carved out by the Palouse River. Who knew Washington had such a photogenic canyon?

I also had the opportunity to visit a couple of great locations in eastern Oregon as well. The Painted Hills of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument; they are so otherworldly with the exposed layers of soil. And I had a productive day in the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge with some yellow-headed blackbirds. This is a place I definitely want to go back to. However, the mosquitoes were something else.

Speaking of mosquitoes, I had the opportunity to return to Bruneau Dunes State Park in Idaho for a morning shoot. The mosquitoes were so thick, I am certain they managed to get through all my layers of clothing. Thankfully, I did have a head net to keep them at bay while shooting the wonderful sunrise light on the dunes.

I want to wish everyone a happy and prosperous New Year. And, I would like to take this opportunity to let you know that I have not one but two 2010 calendars for sale here. These one-page calendars are great for refrigerators and cubicle walls.