This photo was taken in Hana on the Island of Maui.  If you have ever had the pleasure of visiting Maui, I hope you made the long drive to see Hana.  We visited Maui once before and spent a day in Hana.  It is a winding 3+ hour drive (depending on where you set out from) thus one day doesn't leave you much time in Hana, so when we planned our most recent trip to Maui, we booked a night at a house in Hana to have more time to see this beautiful area.  While Hana gets many visitors, it is still not very developed and we could only find one (rather expensive) place to eat dinner.  It was right on the ocean and we were dining late so the sun was setting.  As we were waiting for our dinner order, the sky faded to this lovely combination of blues and pinks and I captured this amazing sunset that we never could have experienced without an overnight stay. 



On the way back from our overnight stay in Hana, we stopped at this beautiful waterfall to view and listen to the wonderful sound of water cascading down the cliffs.  The sky was a bit overcast which seemed to make the green plants just glow.  Unfortunately, there is often not much of a parking area near these beautiful sights along the narrow winding road.  I think we played a little 'Frogger' getting from the car across the road to take a few quick shots!

To view these and more images of the beautiful state of Hawaii, visit my website www.gailagraphics.com

How did the watercolor card line come to be?  I had this photo of orchids, and although I loved the image, the original photo was missing that 'wow' factor.  Since I liked the composition of the shot, I decided to start playing around with Photoshop effects.  When I applied the watercolor application, the 'wow' came back to the image.  Then, instead of printing on photo paper, I printed directly on to the textured card stock (it is similar to watercolor paper) and loved the appearance ~ a new card line!  The final touch was the brush stroke edging.  I didn't like the hard lines of a standard print, but couldn't find a quick and easy mask to create the frame in my version of Photoshop.  After a little searching on the internet, I found a free program with many frame style masks and it easily converted the straight edges to the brush stroke you see here.  While the pop-up ads associated with this program are a little annoying (you get one just as you open the program and one when you close it to sell you a complete version of the software), all you have to do is 'x' it out and hey, the effect is free!  If interested, look for Professor Franklin's Instant Photo Effects 2.  Contact me if you would like a link to the site.  

This is one of my favorites of the Watercolor Orchids.  To see more orchid photos and watercolors, please visit my website at  http://gailagraphics.com/orchids.htm

OK, I have to admit, I love this guy's expression.  He looks as if he's saying, "Oh, you caught me!".  This shot was taken in Lahaina,  Maui, Hawaii in the summer of 2007.  We were waiting for about an hour to get a table at Cheeseburger in Paradaise and were watching the sunset from the boardwalk by the restaurant.  The walkway was about 5' over the sand and the tide was high.  What little sand was exposed was covered with dozens of these cute little crabs, digging away.  Every few waves would wash away their hard work and the little crabs would resurface as the water retreated and start all over again!  I shot this using the 10x zoom on my camera near sunset which created ideal lighting to capture this cute little guy.  Hope you love him as much as I do!



This photo was taken at an Iris farm in Fresno.  I had no idea how many different color variations there are in Irises until I visited the farm.  Nestled among the dozens of rows of plants were 8-10 artists painting various varieties, and me, snapping away.  The background for the plants was tan dirt and wasn't doing a lot for my shots so I began to look for other angles to improve the background.  As I began peering upward, I found this light colored spider on the underside of the bloom.  Was I laying in the dirt to shoot this you ask?  No, fortunately Irises grow pretty tall, so kneeling was sufficient!  I love the way the sun comes through the translucent petals, and the natural iridescence of the plant shows in the curves and countours of the lavender flounce of the bloom.  I only got a few frames in before the spider crawled away, but he added an interesting touch to this beautiful flower.

These images are not on my website, but if you would like a print, contact me gailagraphics@comcast.net !

Last month (May) I entered my first Photo contest with the Fresno Camera Club.  In the print competition this photo "Blue Butterfly" was awarded 10 points, earning a blue ribbon!  Of the 3 prints entered this month, this was my favorite.  The image was taken on one of my many trips to Tucson, AZ where my family lives.  My Aunt suggested a trip to the Tucson Botanical Gardens to take flower photos and as it was late spring, their Butterfly House was in its last days of operation for the season.  Braving the 90 degree heat and 90% humidity of the exhibit I spent about an hour chasing the flitty creatures as they lit from one flower to the next.  I quickly learned which varieties were lengthy feeders (easier to photograph) and which ones only lighted for a second or two at each bloom.  It is also interesting to note that some feed with their wings spread, while others held their wings closed.  A few varieties (such as the one pictured here) had lovely markings on the underside of their wings, but most were only pretty when their wings were spread.  The trip was quite productive as I shot many usable images which have been turned into note cards.  This particular shot is not featured on the website, but if anyone would like a reprint, contact me and I would be happy to offer it!

Each spring in Fresno, for only a couple of weeks, the fruit and nut trees display nature's beauty as they blossom in white and shades of pale to deep pink.  With my note cards in mind, I set out to capture the beauty of this brief event back in March.  Perrin, which is a main street near my home, dead-ends into a lovely orchard at Willow Ave.  As you drive east down Perrin, on a clear day, you see a swath of pink at the base of the mountains which are usually snow-capped at this time of year.  I watched the blossoms for several days, trying to determine when I felt the blooms were at their peak and when I felt this day had arrived, took my camera and walked up the street to take some photos.  The sky was a deep rich blue and the sun was low and behind me, nicely illuminating the blooms.

About a month later, the tractors came through and knocked down all the trees in this lovely orchard.  My first thought was that the land might have been sold for development as so much of our farmland has been in recent years.  After a few weeks during which the uprooted trees died, were chipped and removed completely I waited to see what would happen.  Happily, it appears that the orchard is being replanted with another variety of crop so hopefully in a few years (when the trees have grown a bit) there will be another sweep of color at the base of the snow-capped mountains in spring.

I'm so glad I captured the images this year as I have taken this lovely view for granted for the last 10 years and now it is gone.  Hope you enjoy the images as much as I do!  Note cards and enlargements of some photos featured here are available at Gaila Graphics.


Between the rows of the orchard.


Blossom close up (from note card collection)


Blossom branch (from note card collection)

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