I was in Portland most of last week and while in town I had the opportunity to spend an entire day with some absolutely amazing photographers, all of whom I’ve met through Google+ (Brian Matiash, Varina Patel, Jay Patel, Patricia Davidson and Michael Riffle). This day-trip has probably been the best photography experience I’ve had since I’ve moved to the Pacific Northwest … it was gorgeous, peaceful, chilly (in an absolutely good way) and made me fall in love with everything I was surrounded by.

I also spent my time with some extremely talented artists, which is always a good way to be filled with inspiration and a drive to continue to grow in your craft. I’ve never considered myself much of a landscape photographer but have been very smitten with photographing nature lately, mostly because I’m trying to create a larger portfolio of personal images (along with my stock and food portfolio). So it was refreshing to soak up some invaluable information from the Patels, who just happen to be incredibly gifted landscape photographers who are also beautifully geeky with the technical side of it all (which I especially appreciate). I can’t wait to do more travelling to create many more images like this.

For some tips on long-exposure photography check out my article over on the Canvas Pop blog.