Any News? Updates?

Again, here we are on a Sunday afternoon! The rain has stopped for a bit the sun is out and the winds are gusting into the 30's. I was going to ride the bike out on the road but didn't want to fight the winds or possible rain earlier so I locked it into the stationary trainer and spun for almost 50 minutes. Watched a little 'Paris-nice' on Versus and of course CBS to see who is in for the 'Big Dance'.

Saturday saw me take the trusty Pentax K10D and trade it in for a new Pentax K20D. Get a few more megapixels and some upgraded features and little bigger screen in the back. Overall a good swap and the folks at Focal Point Photography always take care of me. So now I need to browse through the manual and see how things function compared to the model that is no longer in the house!

Also got signed up on facebook so will use that as another way to get my photo work out. Hopefully will not spend to much time doing updates on that sight and answering other folks posts. Heck, I had one of my friends from back in Nebraska already go out and look at my smugmug stuff. That is a positive sign!

Well - I think I'm gonna end this one for now. Have a great week ahead and hope it is a positive one!

Tim

Some Changes and another Year older....

Another year has passed in continuum of my life. I have no complaints, well maybe none I need to talk about here or that I should bring up. But, it was another wonderful year and I look forward to another and many more!

Changes - not just my age but some things on the small business side. In order to cut some expenses I will no longer be having a generic site that gave information about me, had some photos, links, etc. Spending $200 a year for a static site didn't seem to be in the best interest at this point for my business.

I have several domains and will have them pointing to my Smugmug site which can also be accessed at http://www.timehlers.com/ for those who want to check out more photos and possibly purchase a few. This will be my focus to start up-loading photos to this site so there will be a lot more to look at. I will also be focusing on maintaining this blog a little more consistently to provide updates on things and something to while away some of my free time.

I will also be working on how to advertise services that I could provide to those that might be looking for a photographer. At the moment I am open to working with groups to shoot their event, etc. The basic cost is $60 for showing up and includes the first hour then $45/hour after that which would include shooting time and PC time if needed. I would place a cap on the amount of my charges and would work with those who have hired me. This is just a small thought on that, so if you know someone looking for a photographer, I would be happy to sit down and discuss matters with them! thanks!

Anyway, I guess I will go for now. We have changed into daylight savings time overnight so this week will be another adjustment working with a few extra daylight moments. Included in this posting is a Long Shot of a Blue Heron from a few weeks ago. I was resting my lens on a fence post in the country side and trying not have the Heron get spooked. I was probably about 100 - 125 yards on this shot so I still need to get a bigger lens. This was only a 70-200mm lens.

Have a great week! Tim

February - Got to make the time

Well - let's see what we have been up to shall we? Not much blogging, a little bit of uploading to smugmug account and basically going to work and not making the time for the PC or much photography.

Well, that actually has been changing as I have been going out to the country side on one day per weekend. A friend told me of some Elk hanging near his farmland just West of Salem and North of the Baskett Slough Wildlife Refuge. I have spotted them but unfortunately they are usually to far away for me to work with even my longest lens. Also, it is all private land out there so will need to get permission to do some "early morning" arrival and do the sit and wait! But they are out there and in kind of unusual area I think, but hopefully they are finding some peace and joy.

While driving out and about on these country roads was able to catch some other animals, mainly the bird life. I have included one of just a small patch of Canada Geese, we have thousands cruising up & down the valley. Also a Hawk, maybe a red tail but they never let me get to close before they up and fly. This one is just not going to stay long enough for me to get a good frontal shot so you get a backside in flight shot!

Weather has been good so have been getting miles on my bicycle and working on some projects around the house when I/we find the time. Thanks for stopping in and taking a read!

Tim

January - Just coming & going

Here we are over half way through the first month of 2009 and I finally sit down to write something or at least let anyone who might check this know that I/we are alive!

End of the year was pretty uneventful but we ended up with some good snow amounts and enough that made the local school district shut down a week early for the holiday break.

Overall it has been a rather chilly December into January but we have stay pretty dry other than the snow in December and some rain early in January for a few days. I think it rained all day on New Year's Day so that was pretty special.

Been working a little on some photo work and trying to sort though photos to get ready to upload to smugmug for further viewing or purchase. Here is a shot I took of the Capitol in Oregon just before Christmas. you can see the 'Star Trees' of Willamette University in the background cropping over the top of the capital building. It was a rather cold evening so my shooting was not the best as trying to keep my fingers warm and adjust the whole time was making the shoot rather interesting.

Well, I hope you all have a great New Year and I hope you will check out my smugmug area and find something you might like to purchase!

Tim

Mid-December

Zoinks! Here it is the middle of the month, going to try and type something out to all those who might be reading and just share some thoughts.

Thanksgiving was good and got some photo work done around the 'Little North Santiam River' while we spent a few days at a lodge that my spouse's employer owns. Went with another family so we had two sets of parents and three crazy girls all together! That pretty much wound up the end of November and since have been just doing the regular day gig (govt. work) and making it through the day.

December and we have been pretty busy it seems? Most weekends something is going on and getting Christmas shopping done and things mailed to family that lives in other states, etc. Where does the time go? We have currently turned into a regular winter location in Salem, Oregon and have daytime temps in the upper 20's and some SNOW! Which is melting a little bit and turning to ICE! I actually got out on my snowboard (Sunday Evening) and made a few turns on our street with minimal scrapping on the pavement below. Pretty exciting!

I added in a shot as I was toying around with a camera and a candle holder we have. Our daughter had gathered the leaves and they fit between to cylinders of glass and then use a tea candle on the inside. I was playing with different shutter speeds and also using "bulb" mode so I could manually control the shutter with a shutter release cable. I actually shot this photo using "Raw" and then did some work and converted to the easy to use 'x.jpg' format. With Cropping, etc I have made the file pretty small overall, saves space. I thought it was kind of cool and hope you enjoy it!

Thanks for reading - Tim