Fairhaven Environmental Photography

  I like the colors in this image, but I would have liked it to be less blurry. I also would want to have a main focus of the image and follow the rule of thirds more closely. I chose this skyline because it is my view from campus before I go into my student Senate meetings. It is lovely seeing the colors of the sky and the lights of the city just before the sun sets. The foreground is dark and not as warm as I would have like.  I love the colors and the gradient. It is a darker image but I think it it looks nice. I would try to make the foreground less of a focus or try to use them the frame the land more. There is also the slightest cloud in the sky that irks me.  I took this picture before taking the one above it. I liked the hallway as a path in theory, but my execution of it was not as flattering as I'd like. the sign hanging from the ceiling is distracting from the skyline and I would have liked to use the hallway to frame the skyline a lot more intentionally. There...

  Both of the photos I chose were taken on our field trip to Tennant Lake. Although the conditions were quite cloudy for most of the day, I actually really enjoyed how some of my landscape photos came out later in the evening when the fog was starting to clear. I think the combination of the sunset and the weather conditions made for a really calm, gloomy atmosphere for the photographs. In the first photo, I was really focused on capturing the reflection of the sky in the water. I really like the way the sunlight is shining through the clouds and how this is reflected in the water creating a mirrored effect. I also really like the way the trees are fading into the fog in the background. However, I think I could have used a slower shutter speed and higher ISO to let a little more light into the photo since it is quite dark. I also think a more colorful sky would make the photo much more compelling, especially with the reflection in the water. Although the second photo is also quite ...

  My first photograph was taken at the Sehome Hill Arboretum fire tower. I like how the tree on the left creates depth against the mountains in the background. For my settings I used an Iso of 50, a shutter speed of 1/3205, with an aperture of 1.6. Although I cropped some of the trees out on the left, I wasn’t able to get an angle where the tree in the middle wasn’t obstructing the mountain view slightly. Besides the trees, I think that using a narrower aperture could help sharpen the trees and the mountains further, and possibly going later in the day could help decrease the amount of shadows that are seen on the closer trees below. The second photograph I took was taken at Marine View Park, to the right of the railroad tracks. I used an iso of 50, an aperture of 1.6 and a shutter speed of 1/60,000. I think the pile up of rocks on the left help frame the water and the islands in the background. I like how much water you can see, but the glare from the sun coming in from the righ...

This was taken from the tower at the Tennant Lake Fragrance Garden. I didn't exactly chose this location, but was brought here despite never having heard about this before. I chose this photo because when taking it off the camera for the first time, I was stunned by the warm, sepia-esc colors I managed to capture. This image hasn't been visually altered or cropped in any way and is the raw file I got straight off the camera. The reason everything is so warm is because I maxed out my white balance temperature and aimed this photo directly at the sun (hence why everything is so visually dark). I genuinely love this photo. As for a critique, what is probably the most glaring issue is the graininess of the photo. But honestly, I think it adds to the feeling of this image being more like a painting. If you zoom in on any part of the photo, you can see that its made up of many splotches of greens and reds that in my opinion adds to the painting feel. I enjoy the colors the most as I ...

  I got my landscape photos at Tennant Lake Park on the Field Trip. I chose to use these photos at this particular location was that I thought the thick fog and setting sun really added to the photos.  The lighting felt almost perfect for what I was trying to accomplish and am really happy with the unintentional almost grainy effect I got on the photos that was most likely due to the combination of the lighting and fog. With the photo of the lake itself I really liked how the background got blurrier and blurrier then further you went because of all the fog in the photo. The reflections off the water were another thing I’m quite happy with as I feel they greatly add to the picture. As for things I think I could improve with I feel like both the photos I got would have been greatly improved if I spent more time in those specific spots playing around with where I have the camera, ISO, shutter speed, and changed what the main focus of the photo is I could of gotten better pho...

I wasn't thrilled with the images I got at Tennant Lake yesterday, so I decided to take advantage of today's sunshine and have a lovely and slightly perilous walk up the hill to take some photos of Mount Baker. I waited until mid-afternoon, as I knew if the sun was still shining it would cast complimentary winter shadows on the mountain. Plus, I've always wanted to stop to take pics of it, but never have.  The sky cooperated; I took some pretty nice photos over the hills to the West of my neighbor's property with some hazy mountains visible on the skyline, but I really wanted to get a good walk in and the view of Baker was not far. I I ended up walking a bit further than I expected to, as the views of the mountain were obstructed by trees and power lines, but I didn't mind despite the fact that there are no sidewalks and a fairly high speed limit. It was a little sketchy - I doubt I'll walk along the road like that again - but it was a beautiful day with some go...

  I took both of these photos on our Thursday field trip to Tennant Lake. For the first photo I walked down the trail until I found a place with an opening and visible water to try to capture the reflected light of the trees. I like this symmetrical effect- the visible trees above the water and their reflected image below. In the bottom right corner there is a bit of the shore and shallows visible, and I think this gives the photo some depth and context. I don't like the lighting in this photo; the sky and water both feel too bright. In retrospect I should have tried changing the shutter speed or aperture to try to reduce the glare of the back-lit sun while not darkening the trees too much. I think the contrast of the light and dark is nice, but this photo feels too intense to where it becomes confusing to the eye.   The second photo was also taken walking down the trail, this time focused away from the water. I saw a Chickadee in a tree and was trying to get my camera to...

When looking for a landscape to photograph, a specific landmark caught my eye because of how the fog was rolling into the mountain before a storm. I chose the location because I saw how the fog was reacting to the mountain as it was covering half of it, and I knew it would look ominous. In Colorado where I am from, we do not get much heavy fog compared to Washington and its islands, and I thought it was fascinating. As it was raining, I pulled my Zoom lens out and clocked my first few images to adjust my shutter speed, aperture, Izo, and set my main settings to cloudy. I experimented with different shutter speeds to get my lighting correct and allowed my aperture to move around willingly, but the aperture settings did not go too high. My Izo was set to auto because I did not want my images to be grainy. The first photo was captured with a shutter speed of 1/125 and aperture of f4.0. It allowed the tree elements to pop more because of the lower amount of light being let into the shutter...

  I took these photos during a winter hike I took this week in place of our field trip ( I am absent ). In general I feel these photos are relatively good in terms of the scenery and landscape, but the major flaw I see is that the landscape itself carries these photos and is what makes them ‘good’ photos. My lens does not zoom, so trying to accurately capture what the mountains look like in the background and also capturing the colors of the sky behind them was difficult. The second photo I like a bit more, though I think that the details of the mountain ( Mt. Baker ). Are missed because the photo is more focused on the tree off to the side. If I had moved more into the snow in the center and shot the mountain with less of the tree in the right third of the image I think that I could have captured those details more, even without a zoom lens. This also means I would have had to increase my f stop because of the excess of bright whites around me. The third image I had focused too mu...

  Photo 1 - Shutterspeed - 1/10, ISO - 3200, F/16  Photo 2 - Shutterspeed - 1/250, ISO - 100, f/5.6 Photo 3 - Shutterspeed - 1/640, ISO - 3200, f/5.6 Photo 4 - Shutterspeed - 1/60, ISO - 160, f/5.6 I chose a few photos that stood out to me that I’ve taken over the past few weeks of field trips. I focused a lot on framing and the rule of thirds while taking these photos. I grew up near Seattle, so being near water and rain is very near and dear to my heart and the long awaited rain in fall following a hot summer is a welcome event for me as the rain makes me feel at home. I grew up near Lake Washington, and had a yearly tradition of visiting Lake Chelan at the end of summer, so Lakes have always been my favorite body of water. I find them to be incredibly relaxing, especially during the hot summers. I don’t think I’d ever choose to live in a landlocked state or somewhere far from water, as it helps flourish the plant life around it leading to such beautiful areas to discover.

             What is water? In a word: water is life. ʔəshəliʔ ti qʷuʔ . Along with "when the tide is out, the table is set," that is one of the main mantras that really defines life in the Pacific Northwest. For thousands of years, water has been a defining force in the lives of humans living here. The salmon live in water, as do other fish, and the seals, whales, shellfish, amphibians, and many birds, all the bounty of water. And other creatures rely on it for drinking and for keeping the lands green and healthy for grazing or for farming. Not only does it have the power of life, but also destruction. It brings floods, tsunamis, blizzards, hurricanes, and all manner of destruction.  It isn't only important to this region as well. Entire religions of the Old World, such as the Greco-Roman pantheon, were dominated by a god of rain. Even the Abrahamic god, long before being worshipped monotheistically, was Yahweh, a god of storms. The po...

When I think of water, I immediately think of the concept of life- which is what I imagine many others think of as well. If I remember correctly, it's the origin of life- and necessary to keep any living being functioning. Trying to think in a more personal sense, water to me is associated with cleanliness but also work. Remembering to take care of myself is work- drinking enough, showering, stuff like that. Cleaning dishes or rinsing other dirty things is hard work too, but it's satisfying, and water is central to that.   

  Growing up in the pacific northwest I have constantly been surrounded by water. I have always had a great appreciation and comfort to this fact. While many others hated days of nothing but rain, I always loved it, made me feel so comfortable. Everything hit better during a light rain the dirt would smell fresh, and the reflection in the puddles were always so mesmerizing. I love seeing days of showers in the forecast it brings such great excitement and happiness to see. It’s on my opinion reductive to call the wet days “bad weather” when it brings so many miracles and prosperity to the land, the region we reside in wouldn’t work without all this rain we see.

 Water is a source of life. It is admired. It stimulates growth. It provides safety. Water is essential. It can take the form of powerful waves, soothing rivers, icicles hanging off the roof of your family home, or be a symbol of hope. Many do not have access to water, let alone clean water. Clean water is essential to life. It comes from the sky to paint the land. It carves mountains, homes many creatures. Water is a a need. It is a necessity that gets abused daily. It gets taken from people, is poisoned, is profitable, and wasted. People act like it is a commodity that has no end. It sacrifices survival for profit, community for capitalism. 

  Writing about water in a way that doesn't touch on cliche is difficult and especially impossible for an amateur writer like myself. So when I describe what water means to me, I have no choice but to mention its role in life. Water is a chemist's dream. In both organic and inorganic chemistry water is one of the most important materials of all time, primarily due to its simulations stability while also being an incredible solvent, a surprising rare combination of traits. These two primary traits, as well as it being liquid between 0-100C in Earth's atmosphere make it extremely useful for earth life.  We are meat bags of chemistry, and with 60% of our body being nothing but water, it drives every single chemical reaction in the body. This is even more striking when looking at plants, whose biomass is made up of anywhere from 85-95% water by weight. Photosynthesis and its derivatives, the source of energy for nearly all life on the planet, uses water as one of three ingredie...

  I spent the first seasons of my live suspended in the water of womb, so no wonder it is of such reverence now. I adore the ocean and its inhabitants. Marine ecology entrances me and I follow that siren song into the water. Few things feel as free as being in cold water. I relish in its chill and feel cleansed anew. I float on my back and ponder the millennia of humans to do it before me. It is one of those things- like eating slow smoked jerky- that reminds me we are all the same in such carnal behaviors. Swimming reminds me of my boundless shape, of my shifting and roaring and calm.      I think one of the greatest sights is a close-up of plants holding a precious orb of water. I love to see droplets in the moss, a drip running down a long blade of grass. It was a great joy to go searching for that in this assignment, and a good reminder to mist all of my plants. 

I've always lived near water. Whether it was the Pacific Ocean, the Hudson River, various creeks, ponds, and lakes in the Adirondacks, the Gulf of Mexico (I will not be calling it anything else), and now the beautiful Salish Sea, I have been blessed by the presence of natural bodies of water.   1/100s //   33mm   //   f4.5   //  ISO 2500   My senior year of high school, there was an elective science class available called "Spheres of the Universe". We spent probably half the semester making bottle rockets (and failing), and for the rest of the time, we got to choose projects and experiments that interested us. I wanted to learn about what caused the different colors of the auroras and how binary star systems move through space, so I did. Another endeavor was a project I titled "Water = Life". Working in foodservice, I knew that there was something called "the danger zone", so I had the suspicion that sunlight (heat) would provide microor...