Thea Martin Photography

When it was clear the sunrise was not going to light up the clouds and Mt. Hood was being shy, I looked around for other things to capture when this hot air balloon passed over the structures on the property.

Rightside up or upside down? My Breakthrough Circular Polarizer rocks! In this case, I opened it wide open so I could capture all of the reflection. Yes, this is a tulip refection in one of the many "ponds" left by all of the April rain. Getting completely muddy was worth it?

The Circle of Life for a Tulip. Even though I the sunrise was flat that day and Mt. Hood was shy, the clouds ended up pretty dramatic and when I found these tulips all at different stages of bloom, I had to capture it.

Really wish I would've had more interesting skies than this ... I guess it'll have to wait until next year. Aside from some touch ups to remove the power post and lines that were a distraction, this is almost straight out of camera. The skies were this color as this was taken about ten minutes before sunrise. I knew the color would change fast and without some clouds, I did what I could for an interesting shot. I then moved on to detailed shots.

Yamhill, Oregon

When totality sets in during a Solar Eclipse, the temperature drops and things feel still and silent.

Diamond ring effect, happens Shortly before (or after) totality, the crescent sun converges into a single brilliant “diamond” of sunlight as the last bit of the sun’s bright disk shines along the edge of the moon, while the first glimpses of the faint corona create a “ring” around the moon.

Shot west of Salem, Oregon

Diamond ring effect, happens Shortly before (or after) totality, the crescent sun converges into a single brilliant “diamond” of sunlight as the last bit of the sun’s bright disk shines along the edge of the moon, while the first glimpses of the faint corona create a “ring” around the moon.

Shot west of Salem, Oregon

The path to totality was very special to witness in the Solar Eclipse that crossed North America. I was located in Dallas, Oregon which is just west of Oregon's capital of Salem.

This blended shot combines the majority of the stages of this Solar Eclipse

Loved how these tulips grew in different directions - yellow up and pink sideways.

The rustic fence with the tulips was very pretty.

The water falls up river from the Cedar Creek Grist Mill are fun to play in and find the swirls and patterns.

The Cedar Creek Grist Mill is a historical grist mill located in Woodland, Washington listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The mill was built in 1876 by George W. Woodham family and A.C. Reid. The remains of the dam which supplied water to the mill were removed in 1950s. The mill was restored to working condition in the 1980s and now operates as a museum.

Poplar trees are always fun to shoot and find creative ways to shoot them. The wet winter day was perfect for this grove of trees.

The Astoria-Megler Bridge is a steel cantilever truss bridge that spans the lower Columbia River between Astoria Oregon and Point Ellice near Megler Washington. This cantilever bridge is the ninth-longest bridge with the main span at 1,232 feet. The truss type is different on each side of the bridge. The pillings in the river give cool opportunities for photos.

Taken from the Washington side of the Columbia. The fog was stunning and I had to be quick in order to get this shot as the fog rolled in and out in seconds.

These tulips looked quite fierce with their "teeth" ... almost looked like venus flytraps.

Reflections at the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival

In mid-April, I went out with a friend to the Tulip fields in Woodburn along with oh at least half of the photographers in Portland who braved ankle deep mud only to get welcomed by a blue bird sunrise, thus no interesting clouds to make a "postcard" comp interesting.

After the sun rose, the light got harsh quickly so I concentrated on detail shots. This is my favorite of the bunch ... this is a hand-held reflection of tulips in the standing water.

Detailed shots are fun when the skies do not cooperate. Yes, my love of purple comes through here.

I was early enough to get blue hour at the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival. This particular morning, I had the fields almost to myself this allowed me to reflect and take in the beauty.

This fun abstract was created by playing with my zoom lens.

Created/inspired by following a technique as explained to me third hand from a fellow photographer.

A fellow photographer inspired me to try this technique and I had moderate success in the fields where the tulips were the same color. I wanted to try this with the multi-colored section to see how it would turn out. I'm pretty happy with this!

The geometry of these tulips was fun to capture.

The vibrancy of the flowers was lovely. The flat light helped with the detailed shots such as this one.

Mona Lisa Tulips get kissed by sun as it rose. These are Rembrandt-like tulips. History states that the stripes on the Rembrandt-class tulips was caused by a virus which eventually damaged the bulb. This varietal was created in the 17th Century.

After I got my "sunrise" shot, I took advantage of the soft light and worked on a few more detailed shots. I did not want to move as I was in one of the trenches between rows of tulips, had I stood up, I would've ruined another photographer's shot. So I got further down and worked on macro and detail shots.

Here the light started to get harsh but I loved playing with the light here. I did not want to move as I was in one of the trenches between rows of tulips, had I stood up, I would've ruined another photographer's shot. So I got further down and worked on macro and detail shots.

The temparature got to the dewpoint as the sun began to rise (and yes, my lens got fogged up for a bit) so I took advatage of this and had a chance to get dew drops on my flower! Even if it meant gettig completely muddy.

Love playing with extension tubes for floral macro work!

Oregon has had a record winter and spring. We are all craving to get out and photograph the beauty of our state. This lovely flower was found at the Schreiner's Iris Gardens in Salem. She was out while most of the Irises had not yet bloomed.

The magic of dew drops! The main display garden had this lovely section of wonderful yellow flowers and long tulip like stems and leaves. Found this gem in the middle of the patch.

Macro of a plant at the Iris Gardens in Salem Oregon pre-bloom.

Macro of a plant at the Iris Gardens in Salem Oregon pre-bloom

Lovely Iris details. Gotta get some irises as after all, I was at an Iris garden and working on perfecting my extension tube techniques.

Columbines are shot from the front as they are so so pretty ... yet you miss the oh so interesting back! So I searched the gardens for the right columbines to show off the rest of the flower.

Bee butt and wings. This bee was really entertaining! She would get herself completely in the lupine bud and get as much as she could. I love this shot because I caught the wing detail.

Busy bee pollinating lupines in the main display garden at the Schreiner's Iris Gardens in Salem, Oregon. I loved watching her go to town in the lupines. I could see her little butt wiggling.

Koi pond swirls. At the entrance of the gardens, there is a koi pond with a couple waterfalls. I saw the water flow and saw SWIRLS! So I played with them. This was a challenging shot, the top left of the frame is in full on shade and the top right was in the full sun. To get the swirls, I used a six stop ND filter, stacked on a three stop filter and then a polarizer.

In the color version, there are koi in the main swirl ... going to try an abstract with that.

These abandoned ships were just past Megler as I headed back toward Longview. The textures were fun to play with in this area.

Before the Columbia River had a dam put in place in March 1957, Celilo Falls were a prime salmon fishing spot for the tribes of the Columbian River Native Americans. These cabins were part of the fishing villages where elders and chiefs regulated the fishing that would only begin after the First Salmon Feast and would occur at each village upon the migrantion of the salmon. The Native American term Wy-am which some say means “echo of water” is the term the tribes use for the falls and the term still lives in the traditions and religions of the Columbia River Native Americans.