Something Big is Coming?

Did that grasp your attention? Well, maybe here in the next few days I am going to update my smugmug account and also post a few shots out here. It has been a long November, with the Thanksgiving holiday, hiring a few new staffers at work and getting some new floors installed in the house.......updating the old vinyl flooring, that stuff is just inadequate!

Will be posting again in a few days....I think I am finding some energy!

- Tim

Find A Niche!

I was sitting around the other day seeing my e-mail box fill up with OBRA racing results and photo links from a recent Sunday Cross race held in the good state of Oregon. I was pretty amazed at the speed of some of the photo postings and started to realize that just about half the folks watching a race are shooting some record of the days happenings. Some post their photos to share because they want to and others like myself post to share but also to make money.

Sure I have a day job that pays the bills and for my equipment but would like to actually make photography my day/bill paying job...someday! Anyway, it got me to thinking why do I waste time shooting at events and why am I shooting anything at all. But it came to me as I was reading Outdoor Photographer while taking a break at work and in this one article there it was. You have to find your "Niche" and be the best at it......Damn! That's all it is?!

Well, I will still shoot races now and then or hire out for a team to shoot just them in a race, but I think my days of wasting time traveling, shooting, post production for most cycling are about over. I might shoot when I actually go to a race to race but will have to see about that, it doesn't fit with my Niche.

My Niche: I think it lies in animals and landscapes, as I truly love shooting birds (not the one finger type) with the camera and I love landscapes be it vast open spaces or urban jungles. So I will try to direct my focus that way and see where this journey will continue to take me. I will continue with this bolg and try to post photos here along with more photos to smugmug and one more outlet which I will talk about once it is set up.

So there you have it! Find what you do really well, and then work to become the best you can be at that thing you do well. Simple!

bye, tim -

Been a long time!

Hello to anyone reading!
It has been a long time since I last posted. Almost a month in duration and what have I done or reasons may I make up to cover why I have been lazy. Um, I was at the coast one weekend, oh yeah, family things have tied me up for many evenings and weekends.....the list is almost endless!

Actually did go to the coast (Lincoln City) a few weekends ago and got some decent shots, a few of some birds, seals and what ever else came in view. It was kind of overcast rainy weekend so it was super to be outside but it was fun being away from home with the family. I still haven't dropped the photos from the camera yet so it might be some time before I get those out. I am still working on photos to go to Smugmug and finishing up looking at setting up a location on Istock.com as another place to move my photos for sale.

Been doing some shooting for my daughters fall soccer team and will be using some of those shots to give away for the girls at the end of their season.

I have a new bicycle on order from the Bike Peddler and it should be here by the end of October. It is a Specialized Roubaix Expert, could not justify going over $3,000 for a new road bike but it will be my first more/less all carbon bike. Well the frame, fork and I think the bars might be carbon so not completely a carbon setup. When it gets here I will have a 2001 Cannondale R2000 60cm complete bike to sell. More details can be had by emailing me on the bike.

Well, thought I would at the least post some trivial type speak for you to read.

Tim -

Fall is in the Air

Hi ya!

Here in the NW we are getting closer to a new rain season, and where we moved from in the Rockies they are getting ready for a new snow season. The autumnal equinox is coming up so we will officially be in the fall season.

Cyclocross is getting in gear in Oregon, but I don't have a bike to race on as I sold it to another guy so he would have something other than a mountain bike. I am not in shape either so basically it is good all around.

Last week I had gotten a few shots uploaded to my smugmug site, but not this week. It has been pretty busy and I am hoping to get something done this upcoming weekend. I am starting to get some display photo work done to put out in local businesses if they have some wall space. Will keep you posted on anything that is out there in the public for view.

As I have probably said a few times before, when the skies are not raining and clouds are minimal we get some awesome sunrises here at the house. You can not see Mt. Hood in this shot but a fantastic sunrise back in July with some sun rays coming through. Enjoy!

Thanks for checking in and hope you enjoy the photo. Please feel free to go out to my smugmug site and browse through there.
Tim -

Posting sans Photo

Well, I am trying to get to a weekly thing going and sometimes it is going to mean no photos. Just sitting down and taking the time to post. At least I am not posting a bunch of stuff from 'youtube' for you watching enjoyment.

Post 9/11 and the sun rose today, once again in the east just south of Mt. Hood from my house view looking back at the Cascades. I will have to unload some digital photos one of these days and see what is what as I get a few shots almost every morning. I did get a couple of photo galleries updated on "SMUGMUG" over the weekend and am trying to at least do about a half-dozen a week. Check it out if you get a moment the link is over on the right. I am also in the process of going through some paper work to see about getting set up with another photo outlet called "iStock" which is a stock photography place. I can upload and hope people, businesses or what have you will download my photos....for a fee of course!

Saw that Brian Marcroft was putting up a little whining on his blog about lack of frame sales for his small business. Go check out his stuff and see if anything is maybe in the line of what you could use for a new bike frame. I am thinking about going back to some mountain biking, but haven't really made that commitment. Maybe Brian could build me a large frame (he is shorter than I) and I could build some middle of the road machine to do my damage on. We'll see about all that as the 'Funding' issue always comes into play.

My co-workers all thirteen of them, out of 1,250 have posted trips for the Bicycle commute challenge put on by the BTA out of Portland. It is currently eight more than posted trips all of last September so I have made a small improvement on getting people to try bike commuting. I am actually seeing more folks doing some bike commuting around Salem, especially going from West Salem across the bridges to work on the Marion County side. So it is pretty cool to see others whom I do not know putting their legs to good use. To them I tip my beer!

I'm going to call it for now. Keep looking forward, have no regrets and learn something new everyday! Tim-

Nothing Big

Howdieeeeeeee!
Not much happening, well actually a lot is happening but I am failing to keep up with it all. I don't think there will be photos in this post as I have spent a little time on the files but not enough.

I did get a couple of shots loaded into the 'Smugmug' site. When you are out there you sometimes have to dig through the various categories and galleries and at the bottom of each there should be a date that shows last update. Sorry it isn't more convenient but you can not always choose the weapons you go to war with!

Labor day w/e came and went and I spent the better part of Saturday and Monday helping with Eugene Celebration Stage Race, doing wheel support. Pretty good courses and a great way to wind up the road racing season. At least it looked liked the racers were enjoying the courses. I couldn't believe the amount of attacking in the 'masters 35/45' group on Saturday! Glad I was driving my car full of wheel sets. Sheesh!

School starts tomorrow for all the grades in the Salem-Keizer SD, all that is except Kindergartners. Our daughter will a first grader and seems pretty stoked about getting to the class room and being at school for the whole day instead of the half day of last year being in kindergarten.

Bike Commute Challenge kicked in for the month of September here in Oregon and is sponsored by the BTA (check the link over on the right). I am the volunteer coordinator for my employer this year and have about 24 people signed up out of 1250 FTE's. Pretty sad, but people love their cars and will not think about other transportation. I try to bike commute to the day job at least three days/week. Sometimes I take a day with my honey as she works two blocks away on the same hours so at least it is two people in the car instead of just one.

Well, hope all is well in your neck of the woods. Will get something more interesting in the next posting or two.....maybe some bug shots? bye for now!

Hood River - Mid August

Okay, I am able to head to Hood River, Oregon for a weekend with the family but can not get photos posted to my smugmug web-site! I promise to myself and all those fans, I will be getting some of the categories updated this weekend 8/25-26. Follow a link on the right side of this page to get there and if you like something, feel free to make a purchase!

Like I said, we went to the HR for a weekend to hook up with my wife's friend and her husband who were up from the San Fran area. First time I or any of us had spent any time in the area except for passing through on i-84 or one visit for a Thomas the Train thing. Have stayed up North from there in Trout Lake, WA. which is basically at the foot of Mt. Adams fantastic view from there.

Anyway there are quite a few things to do in Hood River, good eats, places to stay and activities such as biking, hiking, wandering around and of course "Wind Sports!" tons of folks hit the columbia gorge to Sailboard or Kiteboard, you choose your fancy. Our friend is the old school person and does the sailboarding so have put up a shot of some folks out doing their thing.


Also spent some time doing what they call the 'Fruit Loop' in the Hood River valley, which is basically a ton of spots to stop at and get fresh fruit and other assorted goodies from the many orchards, wineries and local folks who make a living off the land. Included is a shot of some lavendar growing as part of 'Hood River Lavender Farms'. The relaxing scent from those plants was simply amazing. Pretty fun thing to do and would recommend it for anyone spending some time there. Great scernery and super folks to talk with about their products, etc.

Hey couldn't forget to throw in a shot of a small flower from our back deck, you see you do not always have to travel to find some beautiful things!

Well it was a short weekend as they always are. Hope things are going great in your world, as things are going pretty darn good in our world. From Salem, OR. Bye for now - Tim

Mourning Dove - Sunset & a Blimp

Well here we are the close of another weekend the second full one in August! I have recovered quite well from last weeks State TT's and got in a good little ride with Scott's Tuesday night rides this past week. I took Monday and Tuesday off as it really was getting old going to the day job every Monday and Tuesday.

Since I had some time off I was hoping I was going to get some photo work done, maybe like posting out to Smugmug and cleaning up files on the PC here at home. Got a few files cleaned up but nothing new posted and now am aiming for this week - week of 8/13/07.

Back towards the end of July I was spending an evening with my Pentax ist-DS out on the back deck near the bird feeders. I keep a Sigma 135-400 lens attached and mounted to my tripod for some of the closer work. I am still a bit skeptical on the glass work of this particular lens but some other landscape shots have come out quite nice, so I will keep it for a while longer. Anyway, I was able to be still for a long enough time to allow some Mourning Doves to continue feeding off of seed and insects from the ground. I took this shot between two slats on the deck and have cropped in to get a closer feel.

The same evening, I got bored with the birds so tilted the camera on the tripod and took some shots of some tall pines just a few hundred yards away. Looks kind of cool with the darkness of the trees, the clouds drifting by all the while the sun is setting beyond the Eola Hills.

A couple of days later while having dinner I look out the window and there is the 'GoodYear' Blimp cruising by! Not sure where they were going and never saw anything in the local paper about it, so obviously was not that interesting to many. My daughter thought it was really cool as this was the first time she had seen one and my first time in the last 20 years or so!

Thanks for reading and feel free to drop a line at tim@trephotos.com anytime you like.

Bye,
Tim

OBRA State TT's

Wow, Did that totally suck wind or what? I added around 4 minutes and 30 seconds to my best time on the Peoria 40K course. By added, I mean, slower....1:06:11 which gave me DFL for the master mens 40-44.

Wasn't feeling bad hitting the turn around with a just over 25 mph average, was trying to conserve some as it was going to be a consistent head wind on the way back. Really affected me, but didn't seem to bother much of anyone else.

I can't complain to much, it was a great course as usual and I felt in decent shape. Could afford to drop a few LBs and train a little harder. Speaking of which I finally went out on one of Scott's Cycle group gathering rides tonight [8/7]. I rode with the faster group of the slower group, as I didn't feel like getting dropped with the overall fast group. Didn't know many of the names or faces in my group as I had not been on this ride in over two years. I train alone....all by myself, maybe not the best tactic and my TT results show not riding high paced rides can affect you.

Sorry no photos of the TT that I am aware of, but will have a blimp story and some more feathered friends here later this week.

Bye
Tim -

My Ride & the Kestrel

Whoa! It has been a while since I have been out here working on the bloggishness of my site. Can I use that long b..... word? I will try to do some updating over the next several days and try to get more regular on blogging. Wanted to make sure what I was to be regular on! It also helps having our daughter out for four days at a camp (her first) so we will not see much of her until Wednesday. Hope she makes it through.

Back in June I was taking a little ride, a bit rainy and some wind out on the west side of the 'eola hills' from where I live in West Salem. Just ahead of me along Greenwood rd heading south I see two birds hanging by the side of the road. As I approach one flies off but the other kind of hovers by the road. I go by it and then turn around as I thought it looked like a little immature Hawk or something. After staring it down and having it retreat to the brush about seven feet from the road I felt better and kept peddling along. Still not sure what type of bird, but am sure it is a member of those 'Birds of Prey'!

As curiosity killed the cat so did this feathered friend spark my interest. So later in the day around 4:30 PM I drove back out to the area with some of my camera gear and would you believe it, the little bugger was sitting in a field across the road from the AM siting. So I walked along the road and got some shots and it was working its wings with the wind and flew off to a post close by my car parked on a side road. Then I just let the bird sit there on the post and it allowed me to get closer to it, until I was about 15-20 feet max distance from it. I was also shooting with a 70-200/f2.8 lens so didn't need to be super close!

Anyway after about five minutes the little fella tested it's wings and flew back across the road next to another field. That is where the other shot came in, as I was able to sit along the side of the road where the bird flexed its wings and made itself look like a big old monster....can you see it!

It eventually flew off to some small scrub oaks and blackberry vines near the field and away from the road so I packed up and headed for home. Upon return I was tring to figure out what the bird was and thinking a 'Sharped Shinned Hawk' or a 'Copper's Hawk'? Obviously in an immature stage but was not paying attention to markings on the head. Neither was correct, after looking at my birding books, the answer was right in front of me.....'American Kestrel'. Looks like it is in the immature stage and watching it learn to fly I would guess that to be true.

No harm came of this bird while capturing the images and I gave it as much space as needed so hopefully not to stress it. What a great day that was, and makes me appreciate those rare moments when I get a chance to be so close to something so beautiful. Oh yeah it was back on June 24th, I have ridden by there several times since but have yet to see the Kestrel or any of its other family. I took a bunch more shots but just sampling two out on the blog.

Tim -

Backyard Birds

Earlier I had posted about various birds that visit the feeders in my backyard and here I am wondering what the male House Finch is saying or asking the Female. Maybe something like, " Hey I know a great place for some bird seed.." or looking at his beak, she might let him know that he has a 'little something' on it and it looks embarrassing! More will be posted to my smugmug area that has the birds!

These little devils are starting to let me set up my gear outside and then I stand/sit and wait for a little while and let them get comfortable enough to come and eat and hang around the feeders. Some of the shots I have taken are from within the house so not only shooting through all the glass in the lens but also the window glass.....way too much glass.

So another little House Finch is hanging out on a plant trellis looking all cool and then "Poof"!

He makes his whole little body and feathers just pop out! Kind of like saying "How do you like me now! You want some of this?!"

Of course the equalizer in the whole show is when the friendly Cooper's Hawk comes around and sits on the feeders. Now he is looking for a free meal too, but most of the other birds that hang out for the free meals do not like becoming a meal themselves. I am not totally sure this is a Cooper's Hawk or possible a Sharp-Shinned Hawk? If you know, feel free to let me know.

Thanks for reading and hope you enjoy!

Tim -

Upcoming

Hello family, friends and fellow countrymen! I will be getting some posts out, again about those little birds in the backyard. I need to sit down and unload the camera that is getting full on the disk. Also will be updating some of the "Smugmug" areas this week, energy permitting.

I also have a number of items that need to be outta the garage so will be posting not only to OBRA but also to this blog which will have pictures and prices included.

That's it for the moment, guess I should get back to my day job!

Tim -

Sunrise, Birds and shoot the Moon

Here we are just flying though June and I am sitting down to the once a week deal of an update to the page.

I spent a little time in May sitting out in front of my house shooting the moon! The neighbors did not seem to mind as it was actually me taking photos of the moon as it was working towards full. During the early and later part of May the moon made it to full so the later we call a 'blue moon'. I try to pick it up in various stages and with the longer daylight you have more sunlight from the setting sun to help light the moon. This moon shot is from the first week of May, and has been cropped in a bit to help show some of the craters. Sorry for being a bit out of focus, I should have used the remote trigger on this application. I am working on more of these shots to post to my regular "smugmug" account.

I also have some bird feeders off the deck in the back yard and they attract a fair number of finches, sparrows and other little birds to feed for free. This shot is a handful of the little feathered friends waiting their turn for an open space at the feeder below (out of shot).

It is also great to wake up in the morning and see where the sun is rising in proximity to Mt. Hood. I have some great view of Mt. Hood, Mt. Adams and Mt. St. Helens from the deck, of course some of that is weather dependent. Here is a shot from a sunrise in May, if you like it you should check out some other sunrise shots in my 'smugmug' site. Just look for the links on the right of this page.

Well that will wrap it for the moment. Have to get something else done but can not remember what it is. Thanks for stopping in for a look.

Tim -

Memorial W/E - Silverton RR (5/27/07)

well this is a few days past but went to the Silverton RR to volunteer some time for the cycling sport and was a corner marshal on the back part of the 17 mile loop. A bit of chilly day with overcast skies and temps in the upper 50's to low 60's by mid-day.

I was only doing my part for the AM races and had Dave who races for OSU (beavers) was helping at this intersection with marshal duties. Races were pretty well smashed apart during the first lap except about 35-40 cat 4/5 men were able to stay together for all three laps. I found out later that there had been a pretty nasty crash with about 300-500 meters left. mulitple broken collar bones and one individual who was rushed to Silverton then life flighted to OHSU where he is making some a very good recovery the last time I checked. His name is Ryan McKnab and friends have set up a blogspot that you can check to see how he is doing. The blog location is ryanmcknab.blogspot.com if you get a chance put in a little prayer or send some positive vibes to PDX/OHSU and Corvallis where he and his spouse live.

I am going to post out a few pictures in the next few days of some of the general racing. I did take a few shots while some of the morning groups came by. Not much in the way of traffic so was able to get the 'ol trusty pentax out a get some clicks in.

Not much else for the moment...thanks for reading.
Tim -

Hey folks,

I will try to do this at minimum once a week to let you know of any happenings in my world of photography or other happenings.

Last week 5/12 (Sat) I went and shot the OBRA TTT along with a few other photographers. I will try to get their links figured out as I learn this but here are a few shots from my collection. you can check the rest out at http://trephotos.smugmug.com. Go to OBRA Racing and check out the galleries!

First Photo is CMG winning the Sr. Mens Field and the second is some of my teammates from Bike Peddler here is Salem, competing in the Cat 3's.

Thanks and see you later