Sunset settled over the Cascade Mountains as my brother-in-law and I shagged flies in one of the baseball diamonds at Glacier Peak High School in Snohomish, WA. The school is up on a ridge southwest of town and, as you can see, has an amazing view of the mountains. I had to cut the games short in order to snap this hurried panorama while the fresh snow was still lit with alpenglow.  It wasn't the most technically sound shot - I was attempting to stabilize the fully-zoomed lens and camera on a round fence post with shaky hands - but it turned out well enough, I think.

Anyway, lucky students. 

[view in gallery]

I pretty much took a summer hiatus. Too busy enjoying the warm, summer sun to post anything. But, I have been shooting and will get around soon to posting some more photos.

T-minus 6.5hrs on the Photo Center NW Long Shot 2012 photo contest. 17.5hrs remaining. Go have some fun and take some shots!

"LONG SHOT is an event that celebrates photography, creativity, and our greater community, while raising funds for education and outreach programs at Photo Center NW. It is a fun, one day event where photographers hit the streets to capture a theme, community, or subject of their choice. Any image taken between June 1-2, 2012 is eligible for exhibition, and at least one image from each participant will be featured in the LONG SHOT exhibition at Photo Center NW on July 28, 2012. The event is open to everyone, using any camera, anywhere."

Spike is a term used in software development for a quick research project. I recently commissioned myself on a photography spike - using lighting.

I've never used lighting much, or even been that favorable to it. Mostly, probably, because I have generally been a nature and candid moment photographer and lighting isn't always necessary or practical in these scenarios. Also, it's always kind of seemed like cheating - like artificially altering the scene no longer makes the picture a legitimate capture of a real moment - so I just relied on what the scene provided. I realize, of course, that photography isn't just about snapping a picture. In many ways, photography is about creating a picture and lighting can be an immense help. I've admitted it, I've purchased a little lighting kit to begin experimenting and playing around with, and I'm excited to begin learning some new areas of photography.

The picture of my daughter here, who curiously watched the whole endeavor, is one shot from a small roll of the first experimental photos I snapped in our home studio.

I've been doing a little back-end site swapping so you'll have to append "gallery" in place of "www" for any gallery links that use "www." The gallery was originally hosted at "www.huotariimages.com" and I've switched it to "gallery.huotariimages.com." I've also swapped out the "Favorites" gallery in favor of the "Top Shots" one since the former was my test run of sorts and didn't have the original images. Sorry for the confusion!