Kevin Merchant Photography News 2011

For the last 22 years, the city of Prosser, Washington has hosted a hot air balloon rally. This year I finally went to it. What great fun it was. According to the flyer that was published, there were 24 balloonists in attendance. It is a three day event in late September. You can find information about the event here.

The balloons launch from the Prosser Airport, just north of the Yakima River. One of the optimum viewing areas, within walking distance of the airport, is on the bridge crossing the river on your way into town. Inflating and launching one of the balloons is a multi-person effort and they welcome volunteers to assist. With 24 balloons to get up into the air, that's a lot of volunteers. Me? I was just there to take pictures.

It has become a tradition for the balloonists, if conditions allow, to fly south towards the river, touch down the gondola in the river west of the bridge, "float" along towards the bridge, lift up and over the bridge and touch down again on the east side and then finish the flight wherever the wind carries them. This maneuver requires a fair bit of skill on the part of the pilot as there are trees, utility wires and other obstacles to be avoided. I can report that there were no incidents this year.

The launch is right around sunrise, so there should be really nice light on the balloons as they pass by. On both Friday and Saturday, I was not disappointed. Conditions were very favorable for all concerned - the pilots, passengers and all of us gawkers. Any person without a camera on the bridge was in the minority, for sure. If nothing more than the smart phone camera.

We're all standing in anticipation as the first balloon makes an appearance from the airport. Then another and another and another. Pretty soon it seems there are too many to keep track of. As a balloon lifts off, we all watch in anticipation to see which way the wind will take it. In some cases, the pilots adjust altitude higher or lower in an attempt to navigate the balloon in the desired direction. Some are more successful than others.

Pretty soon, they are right on top of you, literally. There is a traffic jam on the bridge as drivers slow down to see the sight - either planned, late arrivals or just on their way into town.

As the balloons drift away to their destinations, with chase vehicles in pursuit, the crowd on the bridge begins to wander off as well. A few folks linger to enjoy the quiet of the morning. Those of us who were up early are heading to a coffee shop or breakfast. Me? I went to Starbucks for a light breakfast and a place to plug in my laptop to start the image download process. Gotta empty the memory cards for tomorrow's shoot!

On Saturday night, there is a balloon glow event at the Art Fiker Stadium. With space for about 5 balloons on the football field and weather permitting, the glow went off without a hitch. I have shot at glows before and sort of knew what to expect - you have to operate in the dark, it lasts for maybe 20-25 minutes, you don't always know where to point the camera as the balloons glow at the whim of the pilot. Fortunately, several times, the balloons all glowed at the same time, giving opportunities to get them all lit. Still, you really don't know what you got until you see it on the computer. I'm still working on those so watch this space.

This year, Friday was the best day, at least from my perspective. Saturday was good as well. Sunday morning, I woke up to wind and had a sneaking suspicion that the balloons would not launch. As it turned out, I was right. That made for a very short morning shoot. Now, I know why they plan for three launch days - you never know what the weather will be, and you have a good chance of at least one good day. Not so good for the folks who only planned on a day trip, but those are the odds. I am glad I had the opportunity to be there for the whole weekend.

The next batch of bird shots are up in the NEW section of the GALLERY now. This year I added quite a few species to my library, including burrowing owl, sandhill crane, red-winged blackbird, great egret, great-horned owl, black-necked stilt, American avocet, western tanager, lazuli bunting, Wilson's phalarope, white-faced ibis, common snipe, western kingbird, cliff swallow and California quail. I suppose this is only exceeded by my first year of shooting birds when they were all new to me.

The end of the year is quickly approaching and we are staying busy up in Snohomish at the Washington Public Market. We will certainly be there through the holiday buying season. We hope to see you there.

A new offering this year are Personal Holiday greeting cards. We're taking orders now. You can select any image from the print library (otherwise known as the PURCHASE section) and personalize it with your own message. The cards, sized 4" x 8.5", will be $1.50 each with a minimum order of 12 and that includes envelops. Shipping is not included.

I mentioned this in an earlier post this year, but I'll re-post if you missed it.

I witnessed a male burrowing owl doing something I have only previously read about - regurgitating a pellet. A pellet is "the mass of undigested parts of a bird's food that some birds occasionally regurgitate". Not the most pleasant thing to think about, but it is a rather unique behavior to witness. And, I got a few shots of the process as I noticed the bird appeared to have a choking problem or something. Once I saw the pellet coming out of its mouth, I realized what was happening.

I've put together an animation of the series of shots. Educational if nothing else. Click here to see it.

The Grand Opening of the Washington Public Market occurred this past weekend. Judging from the traffic that came past our booth, I would say it was a success. We certainly have nothing to complain about relative to our results - I ran out of business cards! The wet weather on Saturday didn't seem to be too much of a factor. There were even a couple of brave food vendors set up out in the parking lot - brave because it was wet and cold.

Our plan is to be there every weekend to the end of the year and see how it goes.

For the Photoshop nerd, I've written a short article on a refinement to the layer mask process that I am currently using. If the phrase layer mask is not in your daily vocabulary, then this article is not for you. But, it might give you some insight to how much effort I try to put into each and every image that I put out for the world to see.

Here's one just for fun. As I was going through bird images from my spring trip to Oregon, I came upon this series where the bird is standing in one spot, putting it's head down in the water for a tasty morsel. What caught my eye was the water droplet on the end of its bill, dropping and hitting the water while the bird is going down for food. I thought I'd have a bit of fun making the series into an animation. What do you think?

The fun for me was learning how to animate a series of images in Photoshop. The fun for you, hopefully, is that I wouldn't normally put up each of the images you get to see here in the animation.

Idle though the NEWS section has been this summer, happily I have not. After my last show in August, I was expecting to have two months off from festival-ing. As it turned out, I have had three months off due to circumstances beyond my control. But, I am happy to tell you that I will have a booth at Washington Public Market/Wine Cellars of Washington for every weekend to at least the end of the year. Located in the heart of historic downtown Snohomish, this will be an indoor market with plans for it being open year round.

The complex consists of two buildings that have been refurbished into a warm and inviting space for shopping as well as wine tasting. Our booth will be upstairs in the south building. The web site has all the marketing details. If you are local to the Puget Sound region, why not take an opportunity to visit? The vendors have been juried, which in my experience means there will be a wide variety of quality handmade arts and crafts available for sale. We are looking forward to a successful holiday shopping season and hope to see some of you there.

On the photographic front, my idle time has been spent sifting through 6000 some odd (mostly) bird images and almost again as many landscape images (a lot more work to go on those). I have posted a few new images that have been through the full processing treatment (de-spotting, noise reduction, contrast adjustment, and other such things). As time permits, more will be showing up shortly so be watching the GALLERY > NEW section. And I will post a few of the highlight shots right here in the NEWS section.

The Coupeville Arts & Crafts Festival was a success for us. I have to give a lot of credit to all the festival organizers and volunteers. This is the best organized festival we have attended. Volunteers came around with coffee/tea carts while we were setting up - very much appreciated since we did not have a chance to get any before then. Later on, volunteers came by to see if we needed a booth sitter for food and restroom breaks. Signage to get to where we needed to go was good coming in to town in the dark of morning. All important things that helped us be ready and open to the public by 10:00 am.

Overall, it was a very well attended festival. We only heard about the traffic backups getting to it - one advantage of being a vendor. Lots of people vacationing from out of town as well as island residents and I'm sure people from the greater Puget Sound area.

As usual, we saw artists we have met from previous shows and made friends with new ones. There is an amazing variety of creative folks at these events to share their creative works. It's nice to rub elbows with like minded individuals who are clearly passionate about what they do. It's a blessing to us when we meet them.

Sometimes, we are so focused in on what we're doing that we forget to look up and see what else is around us. That's the same message I try to convey in my photography - we are surrounded by so much beauty, if only we take time from our busy lives to see that it's right there in front of us. I know we are not always able to do that, and that is one reason I strive to share some of those places that I get to see.

This week, I'm off to Lake Chelan for the Lake Chelan Arts Festival. The lake is in eastern Washington nestled next to the mountains and provides access to a portion of the North Cascades. Believe it or not, but I have never been there, even though I wish that weren't so. I know it's a beautiful area - how can you go wrong with the mountains and lake? It's going to be another tent camping trip but I think the weather is going to be favorable.

Well, here it is August and not much news to report. I've been plowing through all the images taken this year as a lot have been left sitting on the hard drive while I went off on another trip. When you get this far behind, it takes awhile to catch up. And, it doesn't help that I have kept sneaking out to shoot locally; including a trip to the Palouse region in eastern Washington and a sunrise shoot in Mt. Rainier National Park. Eventually, I'll have something to show for all my efforts.

Until then, I'm off to the Coupeville Arts & Crafts Festival this weekend for two days. Located on Whidbey Island, Coupeville is a quaint little port city that happens to have a flourishing art community. This week the Penn Cove Gallery was broken into and thieves stole art worth a substantial amount of money. I hope this doesn't put a damper on the weekend's activities. It certainly has for the artists who would have had items for sale during the festival. I know some are scrambling to generate replacements, but there is not a lot of time for them.

Here's hoping for good weather and a successful festival. Maybe we'll see you there.

June flew by like a flock of birds and here it is after the Fourth of July. The Bothell LiveARTS Festival was a success. Located on the beautiful campus of Cascadia Community College, it was a great setting for sun, art and people. We enjoyed meeting lots of new folks and really enjoyed working with the organizers of the event. We really appreciated all the help we got for the heavy lifting we generally do for a show.

Now it's time for the next show - Sequim Lavender Farm Faire. We're hoping for more great weather, now that it has finally made it to the Pacific Northwest. Maybe we'll see you there.

As planned, I returned to eastern Washington, Othello specifically, before heading south to Burns, Oregon. This being my third trip in search of burrowing owls and hopefully chicks - it was still a little early for the chicks. I don't know if I have time to do yet another trip, with the summer selling season bearing down on me. But, I was not disappointed with the two nest sites I have been shooting. Besides getting looks at the females, I witnessed one of the males doing something I have only previously read about - regurgitating a pellet. A pellet is "the mass of undigested parts of a bird's food that some birds occasionally regurgitate". Not the most pleasant thing to think about, but it is a rather unique behavior to witness. And, I got a few shots of the process as I noticed the bird appeared to have a choking problem or something. Once I saw the pellet coming out of its mouth, I realized what was happening.

After two days in Othello, it was time to head to Burns, Oregon in pouring rain. It turned out to be quite a wet day in both eastern Washington and Oregon as there was localized flooding due to the rain and snow melt. As I was passing through the town of John Day, Oregon I noticed that there were sand-bagging operations going on. The John Day River was cresting and they trying to protect some of the lower lying areas. The river level was just below several of the bridges that I passed on my way out of town. You know it's not good when the water level is so close to the lower part of a bridge.

There were a couple of 5000' passes between John Day and Burns where I found myself driving in snow. Fortunately, it didn't last long, but I'm sure it would have proved difficult driving later in the night.

So, what's in Burns, Oregon you ask? The primary attraction for me is the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and spring bird migration. I was not disappointed but did find myself having to adjust my strategy. Remember all that rain I just mentioned? Well, the main north/south road of the refuge, built by the CCC in the late 1930's, was closed due to flooding. As a matter of fact, the refuge is expected to exceed the record level set back in 1986.

The main north/south road, known as the Central Patrol Road (CPR), approximately 35 miles in length gives you access to a wide variety of wildlife habitat. Without access to this road, you are restricted to the five east/west roads which intersect the CPR. One thing I have learned with wildlife photography is adapting to the situation handed you. In this case it meant looking harder for the shooting opportunities that were there and they were definitely there. I'm not one to keep a list, per se, of birds I see the way many birders do, but I made an exception in this case. After awhile it was hard to keep track of all the different birds I was seeing, and quite a few were for the first time for me. According to the refuge brochure listing 320 bird species, I barely tapped into what has been seen on the refuge. Still, my count is above 40 species with about 12 new ones. I am impressed.

Here are a few of my favorite shots from the trip.

The Grays Harbor Shorebird Festival was a success once again this year. Of the years I have been attending, this year had the best weather for the weekend of the festival. The birds seemed to be arriving a bit later than usual. Fortunately, there were plenty in the area for the festival.

Other times during my trip, the weather was not as cooperative. After a couple of wet overcast days, I shortened the trip a few days as the weather forecast did not look promising. I have plans in the works to make a visit to eastern Oregon for spring birds and then up to the Columbia River Gorge when the waterfalls should be in full flow. On the way there, I am planning to revisit Othello and the burrowing owl sites in hopes of finding chicks.

It's that time of year for the shorebirds, but before I head out, I thought I would post a few shots from a recent trip back to Othello, then the Columbia River Gorge and then to Silver Falls just east of Salem, Oregon.

I went back to the nest site I visited a couple of weeks ago and found that there was an active pair. So, I got a few shots of the female when she made very brief appearances. She and the male were vocalizing to each other which was cool to hear.

I also found a great location on one of the Columbia National Wildlife Refuge sites for red-winged blackbirds - right by the road and in afternoon light.

The main goal in the Columbia River Gorge was Punch Bowl Falls. For a number of years there was a log lying diagonally across the falls that was not so photogenic. Sometime in the last couple of years, the log was flushed out by a storm and is now lodged in the bowl to the right out of sight of the prime shooting location - in the middle of Eagle Creek.

Silver Falls is one of those destinations that I have passed by on the way to the south Oregon coast for many years and never took the time to detour not too many miles off the freeway to see. What a great location. There are North and South falls, with upper and lower falls. There are several falls and they are all in a well developed state park. There are miles of developed trails, and I wish I had more time on this trip to do some hiking. Now I know!

In late February we had a snow storm that moved in for a few days. We had just enough snow to give the trees a nice dusting and just enough to throw everyone into a panic. The morning that we awoke to snow, there appeared to be some nice light developing and I was not disappointed. So, I sprang into action, completely in the wrong attire (too lazy to find a coat and I didn't want to miss the light), but it was just out my back door so I dashed inside between periods of good light. Here are some of the results.

Besides liking the panoramic format, I am able to produce high resolution images with my 12MP EOS 5D. If you were to produce the same image from a cropped single image capture, you would be much more limited in how large the image could be printed. To put this in perspective, you can make a 200MB sized file, rather than a 40MB file. With a little care, this technique can be applied with any DSLR camera and yield very satisfactory results. Try it sometime. You might be surprised.

We were at the Sandhill Crane Festival in Othello, Washington this past weekend. This was our first year and what a great event. It doesn't hurt having such a spectacular bird to be the star attraction.

We had very good sales and really enjoyed meeting all the people - those who helped to put on the event this year and all the attendees. We found out that the festival almost didn't happen this year, but the City of Othello stepped in to help make it happen. Hats off to the City of Othello.

We arrived a little late on Friday for the booth set up, but got everything unloaded, the booth assembled and even got a few pictures hung. That made for a more leisurely Saturday morning for doing all the finishing touches. And we even had time for a decent breakfast.

Even though the festival started Friday and ran through Sunday, the craft fair was one day only on Saturday. Having come all the way to Othello, we decided to stay over to Sunday, and do some scouting. This area has been on my list several years for bird photography.

We went wandering around to various spots for the sandhill cranes as well as another well known local species - burrowing owls. With the help of some tips from another photographer, we managed to find both. We found one burrowing owl who was quite cooperative and we used the truck as a blind to shoot from. This allowed us to get in close enough range to have the kind of shots I like to make of the smaller birds. We found another pair who were less cooperative; it seemed they had had enough attention for one weekend so we left them alone.

We were not so fortunate with the cranes. We did find them and as other photographers had mentioned they were too far away for making the kind of images I prefer. I see another trip in my future.

The Wings Over Water festival was a great success. The weather turned out to be quite a nice day. I heard reports of lots of birds and was quite envious as one on the inside looking out.

We were up at 4:00 am; on the road by 5:00; watched the beautiful full moon setting; stopped in Everett for our Starbucks breakfast; arrived in Blaine by 7:00 and unloaded the truck at the Middle School Cafeteria (a great place for the craft booths); mostly set up by 10:00 when the doors opened to the public; was in the booth until 4:00 when it officially closed; took down the booth and had the truck loaded by 6:30; went to dinner at the Chada Thai Restaurant (great Thai food) in Blaine; drove home watching the full moon rising; was home by 9:30 and unloaded the truck; and dropped in bed by 10:00.

We renewed some acquaintances made last year and began new ones this year. The bird festivals are fun because everyone is so enthusiastic about the birds. We meet lots of kindred spirits. Many thanks to all that stopped by to browse, chat, and purchase.

It's all about the birds. My Enumclaw exhibit, that is. A total of 18 bird images were hung last Wednesday in the Enumclaw City Hall's Council Chambers. All but two are 12" x 18" prints, with the other two in panoramic format sized 6" x 18" and 5" x 24".

The exhibit will be up until April 6^th. The available viewing times are weekdays from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm Tuesdays will have limited access due to court sessions in the Council Chambers. See the City of Enumclaw web site for directions to the City Hall.

The images were all selected from species commonly found in Washington State, although not all of them were photographed here - some were photographed in Alaska and Oregon. Species represented are trumpeter swans, brown pelicans, common loons, black-bellied plovers, ring-necked ducks, great blue herons, anna's hummingbirds, marsh wrens, song sparrows, bald eagles, western sandpipers, yellow-headed blackbirds and short-eared owls.

I want to especially thank Gary LaTurner, the Cultural Programs Manager, for guiding me through the process of applying for this exhibit, his helpful suggestions along the way, the press release he wrote and helping to hang the prints. I would also like to thank Lauri Hillberg for putting me in touch with Gary in the first place. We met at last year's Art In The Garden event in Enumclaw.

Wednesday was a typical rainy day here in western Washington. I think it is safe to say we are all ready for spring, and the birds seem to be a good way to look forward to that. I've heard red-winged blackbirds calling - a sure sign that spring is on it's way here in the Pacific Northwest.

Last Fall I applied for and was accepted to show some of my work in 2011 at Enumclaw City Hall. The exhibit is scheduled to begin March 2^nd and end April 6^th. This will be my rookie outing for displaying prints in a public space.

So, there has been lots of behind the scenes activity - deciding on a theme (birds), selecting the images, making prints, getting them matted and framed (still in process), writing an artist statement (yikes!), designing image labels, etc.

The prints will hang in the Council Chambers at Enumclaw City Hall, located at 1339 Griffin Avenue. City Hall hours are 8:00 am to 5:00 pm Monday through Friday. The Council Chambers have limited access on Tuesdays due to court sessions. Check the web site for directions.

Send me an e-mail if you have a chance to get by and see the show. Let me know what you think.

As always, thanks for stopping by.

I wandered up to the small town of Concrete, on the North Cascades Highway, today with a friend. This road runs along the Skagit River, where a large number of bald eagles congregate annually during the winter salmon run. We attended the Skagit Eagle Festival and more specifically attended the photography workshop led by Tim Boyer who presented an engaging and instructive one hour session. Tim is an accomplished bird photographer that I have known for a couple of years. Thanks, Tim, for the workshop.

We went to Annie's Pizza Station for lunch. Very good pizza. We finished the day scouting the Skagit Flats for birds, seeing all the usual suspects - bald eagles, trumpeter swans, great blue herons, more hawks than I could identify, one peregrine falcon, snow geese, red-winged blackbirds, ring-necked pheasants, lots of ducks and a few more I don't remember. There were birds everywhere we looked. It was good to get out and shake out some of the cobwebs. It is still hunting season, so we didn't wander too far off the beaten path.

We even made a stop along the road to shoot some trumpeter swans that were flying by. We were fighting the light as it was clouded over with an occasional sun break.

It's hard to believe another year has come and gone. We ended the year on a positive note at the Si View Holiday Bazaar and hope that continues this year. We are busy behind the scenes here on Merchant's Pond, applying for shows and festivals this year. With a whole year under our belts, we feel like we're getting the hang of it. We are refining our list of shows that we believe will better suit what we have to offer. Some shows will stay on the list and others will be replaced. Keep an eye on the UPCOMING EVENTS section at the top of this page to see where we will be.

We hope to see you somewhere along the way. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!