with Lorelle and Brent VanFossen

Tag Archives: nature photography

Leaves Crackle Beneath My Feet

Each summer, I live for the days when the leaves turn all shades of red, gold, and brown, and cascade from the trees. To be in the land of seasons again gives me no end of joy. I love to run around barefoot in the leaves and listen to their crackle. Leaves to me is […]

The Future of Photography

In “Where the Photo Industry is Going in Five Years,” Chris Gampat talks about the future of photography. “The industry and the state of technology is evolving or developing so quickly I frankly cannot guess what will be five years from now. I am not certain if you’d asked me this during January 2014 I […]

The Art of a Moth

Brent has a beautiful eye for capturing the essence of a photograph. This moth is perfectly framed on the pine needled covered ground at Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Park. Moths are amazing. There are over 160,000 species of months, nearly ten times the number of butterflies, so sayeth Wikipedia. We love photographing moths. […]

Letter to Those Desiring a Career in Nature and Travel Photography

On a regular basis I get emails and comments from students attracted to the photography bug. To them, photography represents the exotic, exciting, and adventurous. While there are some aspects that involve travel, adventure, and excitement, for the most part photography as a hobby is fun. Photography as a business is hard work and boring. […]

Water Droplets on Sheet Web

Just as there are many types of spiders, there are many types of webs. A favorite of ours is the sheet web. Lying flat across plants and grasses, Brent and I are impressed by these diligent web makers as they work on the horizontal rather than vertical. Our front “yard” filled with knick-knick, Oregon Grape, […]

Backlighting Devil’s Club Overhead

Traveling to Seattle, a friend and I went to the John Bastyr School for one of their health and herbal festivals. A nature walk through the forest next to the campus intrigued me. It was incredibly informative, discussing how to use plants in the wilderness for medical treatments and health. The Pacific Northwest forest was […]

Flash Isolates Natural Subject

This dried thistle head in the Painted Hills of Oregon caught my attention with its textures and lines. I’ve always loved thistles, alive and vital with their fluffy tops, and dried out cone-like structures of mystery and pattern. To isolate this thistle, I used flash to force the background to go to black. The flash […]

Exploring Painted Hills in Oregon

A few years ago, my mother and I went on a genealogy romp through Oregon trying to track down the records of my family. We swung out into Eastern Oregon to one of my favorite nature parks, Painted Hills. I’ve photographed it for many years. Here are a few of the choice images from that […]

Arctic Ground Squirrel in Grasses

You can’t travel up to Alaska and through Canada without running into the ubiquitous Arctic Ground Squirrel. Brent found this cooperative ground squirrel near our campsite in Alaska, a brown fuzzy creature against the lovely green grasses in the background, dotted with buttercups. Photographing these animals is like “shooting fish in a barrel,” as my […]

Patterns in Nature: New Growth on Evergreens

In the spring, while everyone is looking at the spring flowers, I’m looking at trees, running my hands over the feather softy new growth on the tips of the evergreen trees. I love how dark green trees suddenly seem to flower with the light green “blooms” on their tips. Within a few months, this slippery […]

The Beautification of a Danelion

In our series on Background Magic, we talk about how to do this, to blur the foreground of your subject by holding a leaf or flower petal in front of it, close to the camera lens. It becomes a blur, almost a transparent wash of color around the subject. Brent and I were photographing wild […]

A Reflection of Trees

A select few artists and photographers specialized in working with reflections, images captured in lakes, rivers, ponds, and puddles, then turning them upside for display, making what would normally be seen upside down be right side up, a portrait of abstract Monet-style photography. This particular image I took in spring at the Bellingrath Plantation and […]

Rows of Tulips – Skagit Valley Tulip Festival

Rows of tulips at the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. There were several intriguing things about this composition that compelled me to take it. First, the leading rows moving into the distance towards the cars. Then the cars at the end of the line. It’s like a strange parking lot in the flowers. Second, the building […]

Closeup of Red and Yellow Tulip, Skagit Valley Tulip Festival

Among the many beautiful photographs of the tulips from the International Skagit Valley Tulip Festival held annually in the Mt. Vernon area of Washington State, I love it when I can find a simple tulip and focus on just the color and micro patterns in the image. Tulips are such powerful symbols of Spring for […]

Behind the Scenes: Lacy Trees in Winter

Winter is one of my favorites, and trees coated in snow is top of the list. I captured these ancient trees along the pond at the farm in Gaston, Oregon, where we stayed the first two years back in the Pacific Northwest. Their twisted and gnarled branches were perfect for creating a lacy effect with […]