May
22
During our trip to Portland we went and saw the Japanese Gardens located about 20 minutes from downtown. The gardens are situated at the top of the hills and you can get a view of the city from the top. I took the opportunity to do some photography while we were there and I decided to do some experimenting with HDR shots (High Dynamic Range). Without going into the technical details, you can see that with this particular photography process the photos exhibit greater detail compared to a regular shot. The textures and grain of wood are more evident, the cracks in stone walls are more detailed and the final product has a dramatic effect…
 
 
The Japanese gardens were a perfect place to experiment with this technique because of the vast variety textures and colours of the scenery, statues, wooden objects, rocks, moss and stone.
 
 
 
Check out the photos and let me know what you think…
May
19
 
Over the past long weekend Tash and I decided to do a roadtrip down to Portland Oregon. This was our second trip there and this time round we had a chance to see more of the sights and had a chance to enjoy our first real taste of SUMMER! The temperatures hit 35 degrees Celsius and after the 7 hour drive I actually noticed a tan line on my arm where my sleeve ended! Of course the great sunny weather comes with a price… Tash and I got hit with a huge case of hay fever and we suffered all day with runny noses and tearing eyes! Even little Jasmin was suffering from sneezing fits and puffy eyes. We decided to bring the dogs on this trip and they enjoyed every moment of it! Candy ran around the parks like a mad man (dog) as per usual, and Jasmin loved the attention from all the random strangers…
 
We checked out a few of the local sights such as the Saturday Markets where Tash got a Henna Tattoo drawn on her. Not quite the traditional indian design, but it’s a lot less permanent than the real deal. It was fun walking around the markets checking out the local crafts. After that we went to the Washington Square Mall and Woodburn Factory Outlets and check out some of the sales.
 
Portland is a very green and beautiful city. There are plenty of trees and the city is so clean and tidy compared to other Cities in the US. We checked out the Portland Japanese Gardens and I took the opportunity to do some photography. The garden is spread over 5 acres and had a variety of Japanese style gardens with water features, rock gardens, moss and statues.
 
The trip was great and gave us a much needed break from the regular routine of work and day to day life… all we seemed to do when we weren’t sight seeing is eat! One of our favourite restaurants has to be The Cheesecake Factory. The food is great there and I’d have to say the cheesecake is to die for…Â Â
 
 
 
Check out the photo gallery with all the highlights of the trip… I can’t wait until the next holiday…!