the painter, originally uploaded by Dean Forbes.

Photographer Dean Forbes tells us about this artistic March 20, 2010 image: I was shooting around a daffodil field when I saw the painter on the side of the road set up in a ditch between the road and a fence. I asked him whether I could photograph him working and he consented. I took several images using a wide-angle lens.

rows and rows, originally uploaded by Dean Forbes.

Photographer Dean Forbes tells us about this mellow yellow image: The image was taken in the Skagit Valley of Washington state on March 20. I don’t know the name of the variety. I used a 80-200mm telephoto zoom lens set at 80mm and cropped the image to eliminate an obvious horizon to help give the “endless” effect.

The area farms grow daffodils and tulips for the cut flower industry and are a major tourist draw. The valley is about an hour north of Seattle.

Here is information about the Skagit Valley blooms, from our website Daffodil Festivals Fields and Gardens 2010, with a link to the Skagit Valley Bulb Festival hotline.

Here is information about the Daffodil Festival in Washington State, from our website Daffodil Festivals Fields and Gardens 2010.

Overview of some Daffodil fields, originally uploaded by Ursula Haigh.

Photographer Ursula Haigh tells us about this March 18, 2010 image, which is geotagged on the flickr page: It’s hard to tell the type, since this photo was taken from Best Road on our way to La Conner, WA, but the unmistakable colour is proof that these are the beginning of many more daffodils & narcissus that will fill the Skagit Valley bulb fields prior to the arrival of the tulips later this month!

According to the Skagit Valley Bulb Festival hotline, the Daffodils are about a month ahead of schedule due to the unseasonably warm weather. They said the tulips are up and should be in colour at the end of March. If you plan to attend ~ don’t delay the beauty in these lovely fields is fleeting!

Here’s a photo set posted by Ursula Haigh titled “Road Trip to Skagit Valley”, if you would like to see more photos of the daffodil fields and the La Conner area.

Here is information about the Skagit Valley blooms, from our website Daffodil Festivals Fields and Gardens 2010, with a link to the Skagit Valley Bulb Festival hotline.

Here is information about the Daffodil Festival in Washington State, from our website Daffodil Festivals Fields and Gardens 2010.

Daffodils Chasing Butterfly, originally uploaded by terrijane01.

Photographer terrijane01 tells us about this lively image taken on March 17, 2010: The daffodil photos were taken at St. Placid’s Priory in Lacey, Washington. St. Placid’s is a Benedictine Monastery for nuns. I am not a nun, but I was taking a retreat there.

These daffodils were growing in the garden that the nuns keep. The last time I was here, the garden was overflowing with vivid summer colors. I was not expecting to see the beautiful yellows of the daffodils when I went there on a retreat in mid-March. Most of the garden was barren.

IMG_0610 Daffodils and Road, with Irrigation Canal, originally uploaded by cookinghamus.

Photographer cookinghamus tells us about this March 6, 2010 image and his technique using a kite and camera: This photo was taken via camera lofted by a kite, this technique is called Kite Aerial Photography, or KAP. The technique is this: You launch a kite (some kites are much better for this than others). When the kite reaches a stable height, you attach a camera to the kite string by means of a device called a picavet cross. The camera attaches to a harness located beneath the picavet cross, and stays relatively stable, and pointed in the same direction. Then you simply let out more string, and the camera gains altitude. I have modified the camera I shoot with, I’ve caused it to take photos at 5 second intervals. The day I shot that, I had the camera in the air for approximately an hour and a half, with a total of about 590 images. The technical details on the kite and camera are listed in the description of the image. (“Rok” is short for Rokkaku, a kind of Japanese fighting kite: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rokkaku_dako )

The image was taken on Saturday, March 6, in the Skagit Valley. The nearest town is Mt Vernon, although this particular shot may very well have been closer to La Conner. The tulip field was on the corner of McLean and Best Roads, the map is here: maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=best+and+mclean+road,+mt+vernon+wa&sll=47.60621,-122.332071&sspn=0.812012,1.237335&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Best+Rd+%26+McLean+Rd,+Mt+Vernon,+Skagit,+Washington+98273&ll=48.420344,-122.443485&spn=0.024978,0.038667&z=15

The field also appears on this map: www.tulips.com/bloommap.cfm It was field #11. I know relatively little about daffodil varieties, according to that website, the daffodils planted are Dutch Master and Flower Carpet. I have no idea which of those I photographed.

I have been doing Kite Aerial Photography for about a year, the skagit valley daffodils and tulips were the reason I first decided to attempt KAP. You may be interested in the other photos I took that day, which can be found here:

www.flickr.com/photos/cookinghamus/4411739507/in/photostream/

www.flickr.com/photos/cookinghamus/4412508068/in/photostream/

If you’re curious about KAP, my other KAP work can be found here: www.flickr.com/photos/cookinghamus/sets/72157622373376607/ (including shots of the same general area from last year, which included daffodils and, in a separate shot, tulips).

Wow.

Click here to see the original size image.

Skagit Valley Daffodils 007, originally uploaded by mizjane225.

Photographer mizjane225 tells us about this March 8, 2010 image: The photo was taken in the Skagit Valley just west of Mt. Vernon, Washington one morning last week. The valley is famous for huge fields of bulbs both daffodils and tulips. The flowers are grown by commercial bulb farmers. These photos on my stream were taken in the early morning when ground fog was still present. In this photo the ground fog blocked out any detail in the background therefore allowing for a very simple picture of just daffodils.

Click here for the Skagit Valley page on our website, daffodilfestivals.com.

Skagit Daffodils, originally uploaded by roswellsgirl.

Here is a lovely image by photographer roswellsgirl, taken of the Skagit Valley daffodils in bloom on March 6, 2010.

See “First Daffodils” in Skagit Valley in this photo by roswellsgirl posted in January .

Here is information about the Daffodil Festival in Washington State, from our website Daffodil Festivals Fields and Gardens 2010.

_MG_3070, originally uploaded by roseannadana.

In our second of the two-part series, we post this February 27, 2010 image. Photographer roseannadana tells us: The area the fields were taken in has a zip code of 98273 for Mount Vernon, Washington. The fields are located on Best Road near Christianson’s Nursery. I was attending a workshop at LaConner Flats and left early so I could take pictures of the fields.

It was a beautiful grey rainy day and the lighting on the yellow fields was gorgeous! I shot it with my Canon Rebel XTi at 1/125; f5.6 and ISO 200 with my 17-55 wide angle lens. This was taken at 4:01p.m.

The surrounding area is a hub for tourists and the Tulip Festival follows here in a little over 2 weeks. Tourists come from all over the world to the area of La Conner, Anacortes and Mt. Vernon to see the Daffodils and primarily the Tulips of Skagit County, WA.

“Everything” here bloomed early – Spring came very early. We could still get a freeze here in March.

Click here for our Daffodil Festivals website page on Skagit Valley.

Additional note: Photographer roseannadana has announced a new website gallery for her photographs. Click here for the website.

_MG_2348, originally uploaded by roseannadana.

We love this photo. It makes a great first of two series with our next post by the same photographer, roseannadana. This image was taken on Februrary 14, 2010, and roseannadana tells us: This lone daffodil I captured in Mount Vernon, Skagit County, Washington. The harvesters had arrived to top the daffodils, I expect to use as cut flowers. It was the first daffodil I saw in bloom in the fields in our area.

Click here for our Daffodil Festivals website page on Skagit Valley.

Additional note: Photographer roseannadana has announced a new website gallery for her photographs. Click here for the website.

a touch of yellow, originally uploaded by dylans mom.

Photographer dylans mom tells us about this bright image taken February 28, 2010: Daffodils bloom in March in the yard of the light keepers house at Cape Disappointment in Washington State. See light house pictures in this set. The beach below where Lewis and Clark first saw the Pacific Ocean.