Oct/Sep/Oct

WOW,  I can't believe my last post was in August! It feels more recent! I didn't intend to give up on the blog, but when things got hectic at work this summer, I cut myself lots of slack on personal projects. Also, I tend to use Instagram a lot more for my photos, since I can easily transfer them off my camera even while I'm out in a garden or wherever. If you don't already follow me there, please come visit/follow! I'm @greengatephoto. If you don't yet have Instagram, why not? :)

Anyway, I wanted to say happy October! As you probably know by now, I loooove October. It's my birthday month, but it's also a nice time of year for other reasons. This October has not disappointed so far. It's only day 4, but I've been feeling great and I am super excited about my plans this month (more about that in a minute).

Before I proceed with October, let's talk September! I know I won't get to it otherwise. It was a busy month (work and personal), but I did get out to take pictures a couple of times. By the way, most of the photos in this entry have been posted elsewhere on social media, so I'm sorry for repeats.

First, at the state fair. I mainly went to try a few of the classic ride photos that I've been seeing online.

Later in the month, my parents visited! It was a really nice time, and we got to go to the coast and the refuge. I didn't take a ton of photos, but here are a few.

There were TONS of bullfrog pollywogs, but sadly most of them probably died since the water was drying up quickly.

I also got out to Bush Park at some point, but didn't stay long. It had only started turning fally at that point.

Back to October! The weather has been awesome--sunny, but milder than our hot summer. The leaves are changing and it's looking really nice outside. To kick off October, I got to go to the Oregon Garden for a work photo assignment on the 1st. After taking care of my duties, I spent my "lunch break" briefly walking around the garden and taking a few photos. I was carrying a heavy bag so I didn't stay as long as I normally would.

Then, last night I went to Deepwood hoping that the porcelain berries would be in bloom. Timehop showed me that they were ready last year at this time, but we've had such a weird year of hot weather that I wasn't sure. But yes, they are looking their awesome selves!!

I loooove them. I know they are invasive, but they're so cool looking!! I would love to pick some for some photos/arrangements, so if you happen to know of someone local who would let me take some, please let me know!

Oh and I also took a few other pictures:

I mentioned having fun plans, and now I'll tell you about them: I'm going to Utah! I have never been, but my friend Dania invited me to join her on a trip to Zion and Bryce Canyon. We'll also get a little time in Vegas, where we're flying in. We're both super excited! I have even rented a lens so I can hopefully get a few good landscapes. While I'm down south, I'm also quickly hopping over to New Mexico to visit my younger sister's family. It happens that I'll be there for part of the hot air balloon fiesta, so fingers crossed the weather cooperates for us!

I hope you're having a good October so far. :) I want post here more before the end of the year. Hopefully some trip photos, and then I have plans to go to Houston (where my older sister and parents now live) over Christmas, so that should give me a lot to post about. Meanwhile, I will definitely be Instagramming as usual, so find me over there if you want to see some pictures on an almost daily basis.

Thanks!

10-5

The 5th was a crazy-busy day full of photo assignments for work. So I took a lot of photos, but it was hard to think of which one should be my photo of the day. I decided on a more general picture I took at the Oregon Garden, where the final event was taking place. It was perfect weather and the evening light was really nice.

I was going to use a picture of the dining hall we used at the garden, but I've already posted it to Instagram and elsewhere, so I figured people would be tired of it. :)

Now to get a photo for today. It's a much-needed day off and I am not really in the mood to take pictures, but I'll think of something.

Project 52 (40) + Oregon Garden

I know that this is a poor photo, technically speaking, but it seemed like the best representation of "everyday life" that I had this week. Especially for kids this time of year. It all happened so fast that I had no time to adjust my camera's settings (and then the frog jumped out of the girl's hand), so there you go.

That was taken at the Oregon Garden yesterday, so I'll put the rest of my photos in this same post.


This is the only photo I took of flowers. It was an unusual visit. I had a weird day, and due to the weather, many animals were out that I usually wouldn't see, so I ended up just taking creature photos and not bothering with the rest.

(If you don't like snake pictures, you'll want to just skip this post.)


Another bad photo (sorry, but it's true!), but I wanted to remember this silly koi in the pond. It kept going around the edge and sucking at the rocks. I've never seen my parents' koi do this. You could even hear the sucking noises from across the water. It's a plecostomus in training, I guess.


At first I couldn't see any frogs, but there were several tadpoles/pollywogs/whatevers.


After missing a photo op of a heron catching a frog, I was feeling grouchy at myself for not being prepared and sulkily walked back behind the pond where I found not one but two garter snakes hanging out in the sun. That sort of made up for my heron miss.






Then there was this woodpecker.



Later I saw a/the heron again. This time I was determined to get a picture of it catching a fish or frog, but gave up my resolve after standing there for like ever while it basically stood motionless.


I should note that the animals at the garden must be extremely used to humans, because I've never been this close to a heron. Instead of being skittish when someone walked nearby, it was like he thrived on the attention. For that reason, these photos seem kind of cheaty and less rewarding, like I was at a zoo.


There were plenty of red-wing blackbirds out.


Finally I started noticing the frogs. It's one of those situations where once you see one of them, you better know what to look for and you see several that have been out all along.




I'm sure I'll be going back soon to take photos of the actual garden areas. By the way, did you know there is a resort at the Oregon Garden? (Too bad about their website, though. :P) I learned only a couple of months ago, though I think it's been around for at least a couple of years. It looks nice (I had to go to the front desk to get some passes). I wouldn't mind staying there, even though Silverton is only half an hour from me.

Unrelated: last night I dreamed that I saw two pink and purple hummingbirds (I'm sure they exist, but not in Oregon). I kept trying to get photos but then would notice my camera was off, or it was backwards (?), or I couldn't focus. Typical photography dream. But eventually I did get a couple of photos. I only wish I could show you!