Lodi Grape Festival Entries

Since I am a new resident in the town of Lodi, Ca. I thought I would enter the Lodi Grape Festival this year. Here are my 6 entries that I will be entering. I was able to do 3 color and 3 B&W entries. I chose these 6 mostly because I already had 4 of them printed, matted and framed. So wish me luck! 

Umbrella's, Las Vegas

Lodi, Vineyard

Lady Baltimore, Juneau, Alaska

Aspen Trees, Hope Valley

Giraffe, Safari West, Santa Rosa, CA

Golden Gate Bridge

Blogger Photographer

Well here goes. I am new to blogging and am not really sure what I have gotten myself into. I have had a passion for photography most of my life. I can always remember that my Mom would always have the newest in the camera department, when they came out with an 8mm she had one, I still remember when she got a 35mm film camera once she saw mine. I feel that I have really come along as a photographer over the past 5 years, I try to challenge myself regularly with new techniques or places. I love landscape and wildlife the best. I am not much into taking portraits, by I am proud to say my daughter Mary inherited the same passion, she owns a photography studio in Lodi, Ca and does 25 to 40 weddings a year. I am now working full time at her studio helping out as much as I can. I also enjoy having a website to show my work at www.bgillespiephotography.com and am the new chairperson for the Lodi Community Art Centers annual photography show. So we will see how long I can keep this up. Thanks for coming along on my journey. 

www.bgillespiephotography.com

Bethel Island, California Delta

I recently went on a sunset cruise on the Delta with about 30 other photographers. It was a nice 3 hours on a 55 foot houseboat. It was a very enjoyable trip and it was nice meeting other photographers in my area. Here are a few of my favorite shots from that night. 

www.bgillespiephotography.com

Bethel Island, California Delta

USS Advance

Butchart Gardens & Butterfly World, Victoria B.C. - July 2013

While on our Alaskan cruise, our last port was Victoria, B.C. we chose to go to the Butchart Gardens and Butterfly World for the 3rd time. But this time I went armed with my 70-200 2.8 lens and my daughter's awesome macro lens. What a wonderful time we had, it is amazing at both of these places. For sure a great place to go if you enjoy gardens. The only bad part was that our port day is rather short and we had to kind of hurry through the garden and butterfly world. But I was happy to get some great shots while there.

www.bgillespiephotography.com

Animoto of Alaska

Here is an Animoto of my Alaska trip.

Auke Bay, Juneau, Alaska

While in Alaska we decided to go out whale watching with the Allen Marine team out of Juneau. We were so very fortunate to come upon a mother humpback and her baby. This baby was having a great time breaching, tail slapping and frolicking in the water.We watched her for at least 20 mins and I was able to get some great shots of her before moving on to find a pod of killer whales. All in all a great day!!  Once I returned home I contacted the naturalist on board the whale watching boats about the great shot I got of the babies fluke and I am proud to say it is now being used on the registry.

www.bgillespiephotography.com

 http://www.juneauflukes.org/

Lady Baltimore~Juneau Raptor Center

This is Lady Baltimore. While on a cruise to Alaska we went to the Juneau Raptor Center after lunch while in port. Here is her story. 

Lady Baltimore (adult bald eagle)(Haliaeetus leucocephalus)In May of 2006 Lady Baltimore was found injured on Juneau's Douglas Island. She had been shot in her beak and the wrist of her right wing. Also, her left eye is completely blind from a detached retina . The impact of the bullet through her beak may have been the cause of the detached retina. With only one working eye, she doesn't have depth perception. Because of this, she has a tendency to run into things and wouldn't be able to hunt for her own food in the wild. The injury to her wing prevents her from achieving lift above six feet into the air. She is not releasable to the wild because these injuries are permanent and she would not survive on her own. The poacher was never caught.

It is estimated that Lady Baltimore was on her own for about two weeks with these injuries until someone found her. The reason for this estimation is due to her weight. She was about six pounds Lady Baltimorewhen she was found, where she is now about eleven pounds. She was originally thought to be a male because she was so light. Therefore, her name originally was Lord Baltimore.

- Her age is unknown because she was already a full adult when found. We haven't bothered to ask her what her age is because it's not polite to ask a lady her age.

- Her wingspan is 6 1/2 feet wide.

• - Her favorite part of a salmon is the head.

- She is very talkative. If Chan or I (2009 tram naturalists) move from one side of the deck to the other or just stand after sitting for awhile she calls to us. She does this even if she already has food.

- She is very calm around large groups of people as long as they aren't too loud or using their camera flashes. When she gets annoyed with people using flashes or making noises at her to get her to look, she will turn her back to them. If it persists, she hides in a corner where people can't see her.

I've been told she is quite feisty toward the other eagles.

I was kind of saddened by her enclosure that she now calls home. I have contacted the Raptor Center and asked if I could help upgrade her living conditions through sales of this image. I am still in the beginning stages of that project.