TheRagens Newsletter
Wildlife photography, wine tasting, and great books

Month		Highlights
March 2006		I have finished work on some of my last photographs from 2005. Check them out! A brief update on our backyard vineyard with the work plan for 2006. More microstock photography from our site!
January 2006		Missed this one as I was fully engaged in building starter portfolios for some of the microstock photography agencies.
November 2005		It took longer to post than I had hoped but the new album from Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks is live! Our book review of "Rock Prints" by Greg Epperson. A brief update on our backyard vineyard. Some new options in fine art and stock photography from our site.
September 2005		Whoops! I was working on an album of new photographs from Yellowstone (now posted) and the deadline just snuck by me.
July 2005		With summer comes some new photos of bald eagles, including one that I've titled "The Morning Gargle." A paragraph of quick notes on a couple of wines from our recent trip to Napa. Our book review of "Rock Jocks" by John Long. Ron van Dongen's website that chronicles all of his flower photographs.
May 2005		I've posted a really bright red poppy photograph in both color and infrared versions. And, as a bonus, I've added some of my first travel photographs from Borrego Springs. Review of Black and White Magazine plus a link to the magazine's 2005 Book of the Month list. Our vineyard has moved from dormancy to spring growth. Stay posted here for more.
March 2005		I posted a dramatic highlight of a bald eagle perched on a tree. Book of the Month lists, with pocket reviews, from Outdoor Photography magazine are new too!
January 2005		Misty Mountain Air wins a Photo of the Day Award! Holiday Book Guides from Outdoor Photographer magazine are now included on the site.
November 2004		I added a nifty picture of an eagle landing as well as some still life photographs. The winners of the 2004 climbing and outdoor book awards have mostly been announced now. I'm starting to experiment with a bit of infrared photography. I've pulled together a few links to share what I've found.
September 2004		I'm still working through my pictures but I have some nice new landscape photographs from the beaches of Oregon to Mt. Rainier. The 2004 climbing and outdoor book awards are being finalized. We have the first set of finalists on our site; winners in November.
July 2004		In addition to other new photographs, I've added the best picture of a bald eagle I've ever taken. The grapes are growing again. In one of the earliest starts to the growing season ever in Seattle, our vines are growing fast.
May 2004		Whoops! Things really got hot at my day job and this one completely slipped. We'll have to make up for it in our July update.
March 2004		We've added some nifty photographs of seals -- or maybe they're sea lions. In the spirit of the movie Touching the Void (see our book review for this book by Joe Simpson), we're featuring another cold weather survival book.
January 2004		We added the last few good wildlife photographs from last year to our online albums. This time, we highlight two fabulous photography magazines: Outdoor Photographer and Outdoor Photography.
November 2003		In our photo section, we didn't get many new pictures but, by demand, we are announcing the opening of our online photography gallery! We are highlighting Gorilla Monsoon by John Long. Great book!
September 2003		In our photo section, we captured a number of wildlife photos from the San Juans. We also got some great lightning shots and more with our new camera! Our vineyard made great progress through our summer as the vines grew and grew and grew in the war summer we experienced this year.
July 2003		In our photo section, we captured several pictures of a red fox from our place on San Juan Island when it scampered by less than ten feet in front of me. We also posted new photos of orca whales and more. We tasted many bottles of wine but we didn't have a formal wine tasting this period that we could document. Most of the casual tastings are described on our sister website Bottled Poetry and Other Thoughts.
May 2003		We got the first new eagle photos of the year. Our orca whale photos were discovered by a conservation group who is interested in showing that people can get good pictures of whales from shore. In books, I described my philosophy and taxonomy of climbing books covering the gamut from expedition climbing alpine climbs to rock climbing and bouldering. In wine tastings, we held our Washington State red wine tasting with great results which we summarized in our newsletter.
March 2003		Published the last of our good photos from 2002 since I had some time in the winter to finish editing them. Bookmarks. Documented some of the books that the gentler side of our family is reading. Feature review (one of my books) is Kiss or Kill by Mark Twight. Wine Tastings. Found a few really nice wines and started to document our odyssey towards a backyard vineyard.
January 2003		New photos of bald eagles, orca whales, and deer. Book awards for mountain climbing and outdoor literature. Book review of Conquistadors of the Useless by Lionel Terray. South American red wines reviewed.