Just in case you missed the news.
'nuff said.

Any mountain landscape junkies out there?? I know there are. And do you know where you can find some of the most scenic mountain landscapes in the country? Yep, Grand Teton National Park and Colorado's San Juan mountains.
Don Mammoser and I are leading trips to each of these places this summer. Grand Teton will be June 17-21, at the peak time for wildflower filled foregrounds, and Colorado will be July 8-12, also the peak time for mountain wildflowers (and boy, did we have a banner year last year).
Sign up is through Don's website but you can get an idea of what you'll see by visiting the above linked workshop pages on my site and then clicking on over to Don's.

And be sure to visit my Workshops Page for the full listing of 2014 trips.

The Olympic workshop I'm leading with Don Mammoser July 15-20 has sold out. Already. This is the earliest this workshop has ever sold out and I'm guessing there may be more people out there who wanted to sign up (I already have one person on the waiting list). So if I get enough interest, I'll set up another workshop for the following week. This trip will be limited to six or seven participants. I've already checked on hotel availability and there's still space available. So if I get enough people telling me they either are, or might be, interested, I'll go ahead and put it together. Please let me know as soon as you can.

This mid-May workshop has lots of waterfalls. A lot more than Olympic! And there's still plenty of space available in this workshop. There is a bit of hiking involved, some of it uphill for an appreciable distance (1/4 mile or more at a time), though not overly steep. Just steady. If you're in average shape, the hiking will pose no problem. But it's worth the effort; these are classic waterfalls. And several of them are right next to the road.
One thing I really like about this workshop is that there's not a lot of driving involved. Well, at least not the distances needed in places like Olympic or Mt. Rainier. In fact, a couple of the places are just minutes from our Cascade Locks hotel. Then you start hiking. There's always a trade off.
If you want an idea of the kinds of images you'll be capturing, take a look at my workshop report from last year's trip.
And if you have any concerns about the hiking involved, drop me an email and I can give you a better idea of what's in store.

A number of times on the TTG community forum I've seen people asking about how to highlight the navigation menu link for the current page so that their visitors will have a better idea of what page they're on. So I did a little Google searching and found a simple JQuery script to do the job. Combine that script with a teeny bit of custom css and we're in business. You can read all about it on my blog.

I know that some of you out there are using The Turning Gate web plug-ins either to create your entire website or to post a few galleries. If you've ever wanted your visitors to be able to search your site for images, your wish has been granted. GallerySearch for CE3 has just been released. This utility, created by TTG user Daniel Leu in cooperation with The Turning Gate, first indexes your gallery folder structure. It also allows for the exclusion of specific folders. So if you have private galleries or a client area, you can exclude those folders from indexing and thus from the search results. After the indexing is done your visitors can use the search form to search your site. The actual search function looks at file names, titles, captions, and keywords. There's also an option to search on keywords only.

Update: the Flowerpod is no longer available (and the link to it has been removed), but you can probably figure out how to make your own from the description below. Last month I mentioned that I might have review of a new piece of equipment. Well, I didn't get around to trying it out yet but I wanted to tell you about it anyway. It's called the Flowerpod and it's ingenious in its simplicity. It's a small tripod (which can extend up to 45" tall) that has an articulating arm with an adjustable clamp at the end that will gently hold flowers in place without the risk of crushing them. The clamp is actually a drafting compass with padding. But the cleverest thing about the Flowerpod is that the arm attaches to the tripod with a magnet making it quick to set up. What's more, the Flowerpod comes with a "ground pod," which is another magnet attached to a long bolt that acts as a ground spike. Just stick it in the ground and pop on the arm/clamp assembly.
The whole thing fits inside a bag that's about 11 inches long and weighs just over a pound. I'll have it with me at all my workshops this year and I'm thinking it's going to get plenty of use.
I heard about the Flowerpod from the same friend that introduced me to Zerene Stacker, the amazing focus stacking software. Speaking of stacking, I ran across a blog by British photographer and fellow TTG user, Mike Hawkridge. Mike is really getting into macro focus stacking. So much so that he's created a computer controlled focusing stage for his close up insect work. If you're into macro photography, electronics, robotics, or are just curious, check out Mike's blog.

Just taking the pulse here. I'm thinking of adding a couple of workshops for later in the year. One would be a twist on my traditional October Wineries of the Willamette Valley tour. This time I'm thinking of Wineries and Waterfalls. Basically it's two days and a morning exploring the wineries and then an afternoon and morning at Silver Falls State Park, in all its fall color glory.
Silver Falls is a small park with several very photogenic waterfalls. Some are close to parking lots, others require short hikes. None of the hikes are difficult, overly long, or steep. And it's quick; it doesn't take much time to visit all the good falls plus a couple of the bad ones. They're not really bad, they're just disadvantaged by their particular location and are just not that photogenic.
I may even offer an optional add-on to spend an extra day or two in the Columbia River Gorge photographing those waterfalls. The hiking here is a little more difficult than Silver Falls, but still not difficult for anyone in average shape and good stability.
Another trip I'm contemplating is Mt. Rainier sometime in the first couple weeks of August. This would be limited to no more than seven people. I'd need to make any hotel arrangements soon so if you're interested, please let me know.
And I'd be up for scheduling another Zion National Park workshop if there's any interest out there. It was really pretty there last year, despite the fact that we had clear blue skies. Perfect tourist weather, though. Again, let me know if this intrigues you.

Washington's Palouse region is on the bucket list of many photographers. And for good reason. The graphic landscape with it's rolling hills, the classic abstract landscapes from atop Steptoe Butte, the famous fence made of wheels, old trucks, a restored 1950s vintage gas station with its accompanying collection of old trucks, the barns, old houses, cemeteries, amazing light, the Old European breakfast restaurant, and more make this location tops on many "must visit" lists.
This location is so rich in possibilities that one visit can never be enough. I've got a few pictures on the Palouse workshop pages, but I've got even more in my Palouse gallery.
In June, Victoria Dye and I are leading a pair of workshops to this region. Or you can think of it as a two-part workshop. Either way, part two of this workshop is devoted to getting you up and running with Lightroom. Both Victoria and I use Lightroom every single day and we can help you to be proficient in it as well. Right now there is still room in both of these workshops and you can sign up for either or both, but if history is any indicator, that condition may not last.

Just though you might like to see what passes for the quitting whistle around here. Every day, right around 4:30 or 5 p.m., Bailey lets me know it's time to stop working and to start playing.