Columbia River Gorge , OR

The third in a series (Sort of)

I decided to hunt down some waterfalls in the Columbia River Gorge while I was there. Ironically, though these are the last of the pictures I plan on posting from that trip, they are also the first ones I took. I posted in reverse order, and I don’t know why. Not that it matters, just a strange thing to me.

A little more about that trip. It was in June of 2013. I had the opportunity to go shoot because being an East Coaster I prefer to stay on my body time when I travel in the US, and I was thankful my customer wanted to work from 7-3:30. Fine by me! I was able to get out and explore. And I did.

Horse Tail Fall 1

Horse Tail Fall 2

Multnomah Falls 1

Multnomah Falls 2

Multnomah Falls 3

Multnomah Falls 4

Multnomah Falls 5

Union Pacific

Here are pictures of two different waterfalls that are very close together. Multnomah Falls and Horsetail Fall. Horsetail is tall and impressive in it’s own right. Multnomah is a common one to be in tourist publications. The trail is easy to do, but with my limited time, I shot everything from below. It is high on my list of places to go back to.

I was lucky enough to have a Union Pacific train come up the valley behind me as I was about to head in to shoot. I like shooting trains as well. So there is a bonus picture of that for you to enjoy.

As usual, I would like the photos to speak for themselves and welcome your comments and thoughts.

Mount Hood, OR

Part two of three

Another series of photos from when I was in Oregon. A great place to visit if you ever have the chance. This post is all about Mt Hood and Lonesome lake.

I wound around the mountain roads, my goal was to make it to Lonesome Lake, the only lake I could find that would allow me to shoot Mt Hood with water in front of it, with the time I had. The park ranger let me in for free since I was only planning on being there for an hour or so to shoot and try and get out of there before full dark.

I honestly thought my boss was going to get a call that they found me in a wrecked car at the bottom of some ravine. The roads were narrow and hard to navigate late in the day in an unfamiliar rental car. Suffice it to say I survived (the rental car got more than a little muddy), and these are some of the results of that shoot.

 

Thoughts and comments are always welcome.

Cannon Beach, OR

A little more about me:

For a long part of my life, I traveled for work. Depending on how you measured it, it was a lot. I have spent time in every province of Canada, and every State in the United states, except for Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado. Ive been to Mexico, Germany, and hope to go many more places in time. I detest the act of traveling but I enjoy it once I am there.

 

Random posts to follow

I feel I should post some pictures from my travels. I only took my camera on occasion since it was “yet another bag” that I had to worry about and it was difficult to navigate my work equipment and camera equipment. While I have left that life behind, I still have fond memories of many places I have been and I want to share some of the pictures from those travels. Not all are from work…

Haystack Rock

North along Cannon Beach

Resilient

Alone… yet not

Lonely expanse

Cannon Beach, OR

I posted some of my favorites for a photo challenge already, but there are two more (and I’m re-posting the ones used in the challenge. Cannon beach is best known for Haystack Rock, and is the area of the world that Goonies was filmed (if you think you recognize it).

In general I love these photos for more than just the visual aspect. I arrived at the beach just before sunset, only to find marine layer fog. I LOVE fog. I feel like it causes the viewer and photographer to focus in a different way. It softens the edges. It blurs the lines between what is, and what could be. I didn’t capture the sunset I was hoping for, yet I got great shots that had a hazy, soft, and surreal quality.

On a side note: I have thought often of a couple I found broken down at the side of the road as I left after taking my shots. I did what I could for them, calling for a tow truck and giving them a bottle of water I had not opened, and a candy bar that I really did not need to eat. I wonder if they ever got to where they were going.

 

As always, comments are welcome.

 

Photo Challenge – Story

Photo Challenge – Story

 

Lonely expanse

Alone… yet not

Resilient

 

I am new to this. My apologies if I am a little disorganized.

Visual Stories. Initially I thought to myself that ANY photo is a visual story. However, some pictures evoke the story that I saw or felt more than others. Here are three shots from Cannon Beach, Oregon. At some point outside of this challenge I will post other pictures from this same evening.

A few things. I suppose I could let the photos speak for themselves, however in this post I want to talk about these three and why I wanted to post them.

The “Lonely Expanse”. Here there is some marine layer fog on the water. I arrived in time to do sunset pictures and was bummed that the fog took that away from me. I was left with very weak light and not a lot of time. This is actually a shot North along the coast and I liked how the Dune in front of me led to this long stretch of sand, water, rocks, and ultimately the beach winds it way onward. I also like how the fog limits the view and makes things less distinct. Much like life, the further away I look in the picture, the less clear it becomes. That is somehow comforting to me as it is echoed in nature. Even though I could mess with Photoshop and have the sun be less blown out, I like the burst of light, the slight bit of color, and knowing that even here, at this time, the sun was indistinct and weak.

The second is Alone… yet not. I actively avoid taking pictures of people when I can. I watched this young lady sit and take pictures on her cell phone and stare out at the waves for the entire time I was there. I shot around her. However, when the couple walking their dog came into frame… I couldn’t resist. I find it interesting that the center subject is simply staring at the ocean (alone in her thoughts), the couple are looking down (Alone in their thoughts as they were not speaking), and the dog… The dog. It was being a dog, alone in it’s thoughts yet his head is up and paying attention.

The third, Resilient. What is there to say about this one? A battered tree, growing best away  from the ocean. Beaten by wind, rain, and all manner of elements. Yet it stands fast along the corner of this property. Oh, and Haystack Rock is visible in the background.

So. First post done. Thoughts are welcome.

Obligatory First Post

In the ever present style of the day, here is my first post. I have no idea what I’m doing at this point, so please bear with me. While I’m at it, enjoy this picture of some ice on a river….