FSO: Steps

The idea of My Town Shoot Out is to post photos of your community every Friday, and hopefully improve your photography skills. If you would like to see examples of this week's theme from other parts of the world, go here.

I was in Portland, Oregon, last weekend and it was really fun to notice the steps and stairs.

Coyote VI, Gynn Murrill, 1999

This bronze statue watches the entrance to the Portland Art Museum.

Curving staircase in the Center for Performing Arts, Portland.

Curved steps are so cool; they look like a seashell, or a fan.

We stayed in a grand old hotel, The Benson, where the staircases were elegant.

I imagined myself in Downton Abbey. But only for two days.

We're back home in Corvallis now, and it snowed hard last night. The trees and bushes looked like this when I took the dogs out for a walk this morning! I had to duck, but even then I got a collar full of wet spring snow.

Friday Shoot-Out: Motion

The idea of My Town Shoot Out is to post photos of your community every Friday, and hopefully improve your photography skills. If you would like to see examples of this week's theme from other parts of the world, go here.

My town is Corvallis, Oregon.

This is a flicker taking off from a snowy branch. I haven't mastered panning, and must admit that this shot was a surprise to me. You can see which branch he was on because the snow is falling off of it!

FSO: Arms and legs

The idea of the My Town Shoot Out is to post photos of your community every Friday, and hopefully improve your photography skills. If you would like to see examples of this week's theme from other parts of the world, go here.

In mid-November John and I became grandparents of a tiny little boy.

He lives in Chicago with his parents. It's a long way from Oregon, but we visited not long after he was born. His arms and legs were still all curled up!

See? I guess it takes a while before we straighten out.

FSO: Places to hear music in my town

The idea of the My Town Shoot Out is to post photos of your community every Friday, and hopefully improve your photography skills. If you would like to see examples of this week's theme from other parts of the world, go here.

Photos shot in Corvallis, western Oregon

Music can be heard regularly in our house, and as I write this I am listening to my husband John, who is a jazz musician, practicing classical piano.

John plays guitar with a couple of different groups, and I am often tasked with the job of taking band pics.

I really enjoy this. It gives me a chance to observe them when they are practicing.

And I may find myself at a gig before there is any audience at all.

Gigs are hard to photograph, but usually there are one or two shots that I like.  This one captures the crazy improvisational energy that an 8-piece jazz ensemble can create. Taken with my little pocket Canon, I'm not even sure how this picture happened.

John also plays in a trio, and they have had a couple of gigs at a resort in the Cascades, about an hour and a half from Corvallis. This is a laid-back venue.

Still, I can't take my eyes off of the drum set.

It's a cool place to play, with surprisingly good acoustics. And twice now, a Yeti has appeared...can you spot him? Yep, the Yeti exists here in Oregon, and loves cool jazz. He always asks some beautiful young girl to dance with him. 

Another common venue for the trio to play is on the OSU campus, for various functions. I think it's a little hard to be cool in this setting, but the bass player's wide stance is helpful.

The trio has played multiple times at Cloud 9, a restaurant/music venue downtown, and this is what that looks like. Pretty cool. They get a free dinner when they play there; the Korean ribs are great.

Music, yeah. I really like this topic.

Friday shoot-out: layers

The idea of the My Town Shoot Out is to post photos of your community every Friday, and hopefully improve your photography skills. If you would like to see examples of this week's theme from other parts of the world, go here.

Photo shot in Corvallis, western Oregon

Just one photo this week:

This is the strange, peeling red bark of the madrone tree, found mostly in California and Oregon. Such a weird tree!

Mid-week blues

I don't have the blues at all, but I have some recent photos.:

We just got back from a trip to the midwest, where we laid eyes on our first grandchild, little Rowan, 2 weeks old. The blue blanket was crocheted by my niece; looks like Rowan likes it just fine.

We rented a little blue car and drove to Wisconsin, where I watched these little grand-nephews practice hockey.

 Five years old and oh-so-serious.

Friday My Town shoot-out: imbalanced

The idea of the My Town Shoot Out is to post photos of your community every Friday, and hopefully improve your photography skills. If you would like to see examples of this week's theme from other parts of the world, go here.

Photos shot in or near Corvallis, western Oregon

 This week's assignment:

Imbalance. Lack of proportion or relation between corresponding things. Shots with strong points of interest on one side of an image and ‘emptiness’ in another area. Misproportioned.

This is a pier on Odell Lake in the Cascades, one of the mountain ranges that runs north-south through  Oregon; it's just east of us and we sometimes go to spend a weekend there.

Salmon from the Columbia River, prepared in the traditional way by being staked near a smokey fire. When my son got married, this is what was for dinner: so good!