A quick Gorge hike

When we visit Iceland in a few weeks I anticipate taking many photos of waterfalls… the country is famous for its outrageous abundance of falls.  I also expect to visit falls when the light is harsh and not really the best for photography.  To prepare ourselves and my photo skills we hiked up Eagle Creek in the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area today.  It was a short hike and we got to Metlako Falls (~100 feet high) as the light was starting to bath the western canyon walls. No cloud cover to diffuse the light but at least the sun was not directly on the water. We stopped long enough to take a few shots of this iconic Gorge falls before heading on to Punchbowl Falls.  As always, you can click on the image to see a larger version.

A short distance upstream from Meglako Falls is a true Gorge icon… Punchbowl Falls.  I’d been to the falls before but have always turned away since to view the falls in a grand fashion requires wading and I’d not been prepared for that in the past.  Today I found that someone(s) had constructed a small, 1 rock wide, path out into the stream to allow dry foot access to a view.  While this is not necessarily the best view it did allow me to dance around a bit and set up a shot.  Again, we got there just before the light would have made the shot way to contrasty to succeed.

I visited with another photographer who I assume was a visitor to our area.  He had expected there to be a trail down to this waterfall.  He had attached his polarizer and was moving out onto the rock path as I turned around to join Dianne for the hike back out to our car.

This was a classic, beautiful day in the Portland metro area and the trail into the Falls was pretty heavily populated by a variety of hikers heading in.  Everyone had a smile on their face and seemed to be enjoying the day.  Why not?

Out and about

It seems that at least once a year I get together with Deigh to venture out with cameras in hand.  Yesterday was such a day. We had a general plan of attack for the day… visit Rowena Crest to see if the flowers wanted portraits made, then to Panther Creek Falls north of Carson, Washington and finally a hike into Elowah Falls.  Well, the wind was strong on the Rowena plateau so we looked around for some calmer areas in the lee of a ridge and timed shots to minimize movement as best we could.  The sun was BRIGHT and the clouds were absent.  My original thoughts of making portraits of balsam root and lupine against a white background using a “field studio” vanished as we drove to Rowena and I saw the wind working on the trees.  I settled for wandering and grabbing images that appealed to me.

I happened on an unusual plant growing out of a pile of basalt.  While I have no idea what this plant is, it reminded me of some exotic trees I saw on the Art Wolfe video about Madagascar.  Strange and intriguing pattern in this plant.

We headed for Panther Creek Falls and found the trail after a short stop in Carson, WA to get some water and a snack.  The last time I was at the falls was years ago and I’d heard that the Forest Service had developed a platform to view the falls.  Previously, I scaled down a small cliff using a rope that had been left by a generous person(s) to access the creek and a view up into the falls.  The viewing platform provides a good view and I was really pleased to see that the trail into the area had not been upgraded and enlarged.  I did not venture out to see if the rope was still in place.

Part of my intent on this trip was to gain experience with a new travel tripod and head that will go to Iceland with us.  Since I will be carrying all the needed gear on my back each day in Iceland I’m semi-determined to figure out how to pack the gear and to work out any wrinkles prior to the trip.  I found a few wrinkles yesterday.  Once I got set up on the platform I found I could not pan the ballhead.  Say what?  It worked just fine on the desk at home.  I compromised my tripod placement to get the rough framing I wanted but I was mentally planning how to return the head back in Portland.  As we left I found that I had tightened the head too tightly onto the tripod legs and that once loosened a bit the head panned just fine.  Of course this was after the session.  I also learned that the little carbon fiber legs shake at the least disturbance.  I forgot the cable release that will be essential equipment in Iceland if we want sharp images.

Our plans to visit Elowah Falls disappeared when I turned right instead of left. After driving a few miles in the wrong direction we opted to just keep going and I suggested Ponytail Falls near Multnomah Falls.  I’d been there the week before as part of my hike to Triple Falls and I knew that the hike in was fairly short but uphill.  I was most interested in the exercise and some more experience with the pack, tripod and ballhead. Everything worked much better than it did at Panther Creek.  Without the cable release I was using the self-timer in the camera and even then I was getting enough vibration to know that I am going to have to be very deliberate with the setup once in Iceland.

On the way out to the car Deigh had the misfortune to have his camera and 16-35 lens eject from his pack and land on rock.  Tore the lens right off the camera.  YIKES. I took away a lesson from this unfortunate event… if a pack has two zipper pulls it is probably safer to zip them to the bottom of the pack rather than to the top.  I think that Deigh’s pack had weakened over time and the zippers worked their way down as he walked and bounced down the trail.  Gravity and physics at work.  He has a new pack now and the lens is in for a hopeful repair.  Not the way either of us wanted to end a nice day.

Gorge-eous green

Di and I will be doing a lot of hiking to prepare for our trip to Iceland but until she finishes the Hippie Chick Half Marathon this Saturday she’s sticking to a training regimen that does not include trail walking.  I gathered up the new Lowepro pack and the camera gear I expect to take to Iceland, put on the new boots and headed out for a short 4 mile ramble into Triple Falls along upper Oneonta Creek in the Columbia River Gorge.  I find that the new Lowepro Photo Sport 200 pack works really well.  I’ll get the gear stowage figured out eventually but came back impressed with how solid it felt with a tripod attached and carrying nearly everything I anticipate will be aboard in Iceland. I’d kind of sworn off Lowepro packs due to their zippers but this one works well and has the room to store personal gear as well as the camera and a laptop.

Here are a couple of shots from the hike today.  As always, you can click on the image to see a larger version. The initial shakedown is over and now we’ll get serious about some feet and body conditioning with progressively longer and more challenging hikes in the weeks to come.  Stay tuned.

Super moon and much more to come

We traveled to Bozeman, Montana to celebrate our youngest grand daughter’s first birthday last Friday and Saturday.  This is a BIG story that deserves to be told in a proper way.  Since we spent 12 hours on the road yesterday driving home I have many photos to edit and prepare for sharing.  The birthday story and photos will come soon.

I did not want to lose any more momentum on the “super moon” theme though so I processed a few frames from our experience.  A short story to go along with this photo.

Friday night we were seated at the dining room table in the house we had rented between Bozeman and Belgrade, MT.  We’d had a great family day involving both or our sons, 2 grand daughters who share May 4 as a birthday, one daughter-in-law, my 97 year old Mother and my sister.  The word “wonderful” keeps coming up as the most appropriate adjective for that day.  We were just sitting and talking when Chad pointed out the window and noted that the full moon was outside.  I turned around and jumped up from the table to grab the camera and tripod.  About a half hour later I rejoined the table group. I knew that the super moon was coming but, honestly, family was THE priority… until I saw the moon outside.  Luckily, my family understands me and tolerates my camera habit.  I shot several versions of the moon rising near some trees in the front yard.  Not ideal but better than nothing.

Saturday was the big birthday party at the rental house.  After the crowd thinned down it was back to our family members at the onset of dusk.  I really wanted to get a shot of the true “super moon” with snow capped mountains in the foreground.  Derek and I jumped in the car and headed toward Bozeman and a higher elevation viewing spot in a neighborhood.  We cruised the development looking for the best vantage and ended up back at the main road.  I checked The Photographer’s Ephemeris (TPE) on my phone and found that the moon would rise further down the ridge than what I wanted but I was committed to the spot and didn’t know of another, better place.

As Derek and I settled in to wait for the moon to rise a truck drove past us and turned around, came back and parked by us.  Now it was me, Derek and Chad sitting and waiting for a moon to rise.  Frankly, my evening was complete before the moon showed.  Having the opportunity to be with both of my sons when they were relaxed and able to just sit and talk without any distractions of work or, pardon me, family, was a great moment.  We watched and enjoyed the stares we got from passing motorists who must have thought we had some wildlife sighting or such.  I kept visiting the camera on the other side of the road to check exposure and framing but my heart was with the guys sitting on the tailgate of Chad’s truck.  This is the type of experience that reinforces how fortunate we are.

The guys were torn by being there or back at the house with their grandmother and mother  though.  They took off to return to the house but I hung in there for another 20 minutes until saw the moon rise right where TPE said it would… behind a cloud and way too far away from any suitable composition.  I flamed out on the whole shoot.  Such is life.

Yesterday morning we woke early for the long drive home.  Derek and Gina were traveling in their car and Dianne and I in ours but we had a few minutes over coffee and cereal as the new day began.  Of course the Super Moon was setting in the west over what I think is the Madison Range.  The camera and tripod came back out of the car and I set up on the back porch of the rental house.  My hope was that the moon would set over the snow capped peaks but I shot it for about 30 minutes as it came into the frame with the mountain range.  Of the shots there are two that stand out for me.  Of the two, this is my favorite.  The Super Moon, snow capped mountains and a weekend of totally rewarding family immersion filled me with thoughts and warm feelings as we packed and drove away.

 

Eastside Esplanade

My thanks to everyone who commented on the post “Color”.  I never know what is going to elicit some sort of response and this one surprised me a bit.  Encouraged by the feedback I went back down to the Esplanade to shoot the rust patterns with more deliberate purpose and with a tripod to help get sharp images.  Anyone who has ever stood on the path that runs along the bottom of the Steel Bridge knows that vibrations and movement are more common than calm.  I think it is probably possible to categorize runners into broad categories like “heavy footed clompers” or “I may be heavy but you can’t feel me run by”.  Pretty amazing to see how some folks just never created a vibration and others set the whole bridge swaying from a great distance.  Even some light people create big vibrations.  That has to be running style and I don’t envy their joints in the future years. But I digress.  It’s just that timing shots to minimize vibrations from runners, bikers and the procession of trains and buses and cars crossing the bridge meant that I had a lot of time to just stand there and observe.  Hence my unscientific survey of “clompers” and “feathers”.

I shot the front of the boat from as many angles as I could.  It has an amazing array of patterns across the bow and the side of the ship.  I tried to find compositions that emphasize color patterns and textures. We’ll see how these pass the initial screening here at home before I post any online.

I also shot the bridge beams with their rust and rivet patterns.  Very different stuff really and I kind of enjoyed watching people try to figure out what the heck I was doing.  Lots of strange looks but only a couple of people actually stopped to talk or ask questions.

On my way back to the car I found an interesting view of the city across the river.  For now that view will be the only image posted to the blog.  More to come if they pass the test of processing and edits by a trusted editor.

Color

I just returned from downtown Portland where I walked around while Dianne and a friend did a 12 mile training run on the waterfront.  I’m testing a pack for the trip to Iceland so the camera came along for the outing.  I wandered across the Hawthorne Bridge and into downtown.  Then, after a leisurely coffee I headed into Saturday Market and across the Steel Bridge to the Eastside Esplanade and then south to the car and to meet Di and Audrey.

I think it is interesting that my friend Deigh posted a blog entry today titled “A Colorful World”.  It’s an interesting combination of chard and crayons to emphasize color.  His post takes on more interest to me since the one place that I stopped to purposefully take a picture was at the east end of the Steel Bridge where a tanker is tied off to take on grain.  Whoa…. what a color explosion on the bow of this boat.  I couldn’t help myself.

Click on the image below to see a larger version.

Other than some contrast adjustment and some sharpening, this is the image straight out of camera.  The colors were intense.  I don’t know exactly what the colors are but I do know that I love the mix of cool and warm, the textures and varied patterns.  A rather fun find I think.

 

On the river… sort of

Honestly, there are times when I question why I spend so much time centered on photography.  I spend an inordinate amount of time reading about lighting, photo techniques, post processing stuff…. I mean, there’s a lot of other “life” that could be helped out or enriched if I applied my time differently.  But then I bump into words by others that explain it to me in a way that I can appreciate and understand.  Two quotes to illustrate this:

“Another great thing about being a shooter?  You get, occasionally, to meet people who are supremely talented at what they do. It’s enriching, and humbling.”  Joe McNally blog

“If photography is my spiritual practice, then the experience is always more important than the photograph.”  And, “God gave me photography so I could pray through my eyes”, Dewit Jones, Outdoor Photographer, May 2012.

So that’s my frame of mind as I write this blog entry.  It circles back to last week when we had the good fortune to once again photograph Savonn who is a master yoga practitioner and teacher.  She’s also quick with a smile and just fun to be around. The shoot at Sellwood Yoga was a great way to get reconnected and led to a fine meal and visit with Savonn, Brian, Isaak and Bonnie…all some of our favorite people.

The next morning found me wandering along the eastside esplanade in downtown Portland as Dianne got in a long training run.  I was given the gift of time to wander in good weather.  People watching (lots of people).  The river was high.  Lots of memories of my time spent down here when I actually worked for a living. It was just a wonderful time to take in the scenes and appreciate that we have the good fortune to be here and are physically able to get out there.

Recently I brought the two experiences, yoga and the river, together. What a fun way to mix experiences into something that never was.

 

Back to Ridgefield

We love it when friends visit and are willing (eager?) to take a short trip out to the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge.  It is particularly fun to take others to Ridgefield when it is their first time out.  The place almost always never disappoints.

Yesterday our friends Barb and Jon were with us and we woke to rain and overcast skies.  We had already planned to go to Ridgefield and confirmed that it was still a good idea as we lingered over breakfast.  We exited Portland after the morning rush hour and turned into Ridgefield about 10:00.  Checking in at the entrance station went quickly and I noticed that there were not many entries on the white board.  We headed out to see what we could see.

It wasn’t long until we found a male red-winged blackbird calling from a cattail along the road.  What was different this time was the number of red-winged blackbirds in the area.  While I’d still consider the numbers to be less than in the past there were more of them around than I’d seen so far this year.  I take that as a good sign.  We got some nice shots of both male and female RWBs.

We made a full lap without much to brag or write about.  Lap two changed that for us in a rather dramatic fashion.  As we approached marker #6 we were flagged down by a Ridgefield regular who pointed out a Great Horned Owl in a tree off to the right.  We got ourselves oriented and glassed the bird before shooting.  It was a long way away but still impressed all of us with its size.  I have 4 files showing the bird but branches in front of the bird and closed eyes spoil any quality that might have been present.  Regardless, these are some of the few great horned owl files I have.  Others are from years ago at the Bosque del Apache.

As we moved on we saw a car parked just past marker 6 at a solitary tree on the left. What caught our eye first was a group of racoons hiding in a tree cavity and climbing around on the trunk and branches.

Then Barbara spotted a rust color and got excited as she said “OWLS!”  Sure enough, two barn owls were seated on a branch about 15-20 feet from the racoons and were very intent on watching the coons as they gradually exited the tree and headed for the water. We jockeyed around to get a decent camera angle and proceeded to take photos.  I had never seen a barn owl before… I know, I need to get out more.  It was great to watch these birds and to have the opportunity to photograph them.

After we had exhausted our image opportunities we drove on.  I had hoped to show Barbara a bittern and was anxious to make the corner around Rest Lake and head into the area where I’d most frequently seen bitterns working along the ditch.  Dianne surprised me with a “BITTERN” call well before we got to the area.  Sure enough, a bittern was off to the right side of the road.  We barely pulled to a stop and the bird began extracting a large frog from the dense grass.  When the frog was exposed I was amazed at the size.  Dianne and Jon began capturing the action and about 20 seconds later the frog was gone and bird was smacking its beak.

We headed on toward the exit from the refuge and made one more stop to photograph a kestrel sitting on one of the roadside signs.  I sure wish there were some natural perches along the road for the birds to use.  Kestrels seem to really frequent the signs and while it is always a treat to see one up close and get a photograph I really wish it wasn’t sitting on a bright white sign.  Breath deeply Bruce, it will be OK.

We all agreed that the trip was a success and headed out for lunch in SE Portland. I never tire of the relaxed drive around Ridgefield’s refuge and enjoyed this trip a great deal.  It’s a good thing when good friends visit and give us an opportunity to visit one of our favorite places.  Thanks Barb and Jon.

A trip south

It’s great to have friends…especially those who will open their homes to you and share their time and interests.  We’ve been fortunate lately to take advantage of visit good friends Steve and Suzanne in Pasco, WA, Jon and Barbara in Medford, OR and John and Alice in Walnut Creek, CA.  We’ve put a few miles on the cars and the miles were our ticket to our time with these friends.

We adjusted our trip schedule last week to beat a snow storm that was invading southern Oregon and northern California.  That meant one less day with our friends in Medford and one more day in California.  Friends will let you visit.  GOOD friends will adjust a visit on the fly and at short notice.  We were glad to get over the Siskiyou Summit before the storm hit and the doors opened to us when we arrived in Walnut Creek.

We enjoyed our time at both locations (Medford and Walnut Creek) but felt badly about visiting when Jon and Barbara were both a bit under the weather.  I know that when I feel sick I’m not really into playing “host” for visitors.  Cutting our visit here short was a bit of a bitter-sweet decision. I’d like to think that our departure allowed our friends to recover more quickly since they didn’t have to talk or “be on”.  At least I hope so.

Our time in CA was wonderful.  We wandered around Walnut Creek a bit and I finally got to see where John volunteers time to the Monument Crisis Center.  I get a phone call each Tuesday as he prepares to go to work here and I’d always wondered about the place. No I know.  Full of nice people doing meaningful work.  Good on ‘em.

The foothills of Mt. Diablo, Walnut Creek, CA

We headed out to spend a couple of days in the Monterey Bay area… actually a bit north in the town of Watsonville, CA.  The area is a huge agricultural area growing a wide variety of crops…strawberries, raspberries, artichokes and who knows what else.  3 crops a year… all very labor intensive.  One of the benefits of being in an area like this is the inevitable access to authentic Mexican food.  Oh my!  Great food prepared and served by happy and enjoyable people.

We stayed in a condo in Pajaro Dunes.  Our friends have been coming here for 35 years and know the area well. We were given so many options of things to see or do that it was a challenge to make a selection.  Our first outing was to the Monterey Aquarium since it was kind of a snotty, rainy day.  The place is huge, the displays are really well done and interactive and the variety of animals on display is wonderful.  For me, the jellyfish and sea horses were the high points among the wonders we saw.  It was an unexpected answer to the question about taking photos inside the aquarium… the answer:  “the rule is that you should take as many photos as you can”.  Flash?  “sure, anywhere but with the octopus”. What a breath of fresh air in today’s usual restrictive practices.

We hurried back to Watsonville with hopes of catching a sunset on the beach.  Hey.. you really have to be near the beach at sunset don’t you?  The few remaining clouds gave us a bit of a show.

Sorry about the bit of lens flare in the above shot.

The next morning broke clear and calm.  The ladies of the house decided that a yoga session was in order and headed to the beach to “practice”.  I set up to take photos with hopes of catching them at a moment of still posing that would last long enough to blur out the waves behind them.  It worked… sort of.  Lots of blurry lady shots bit the dust but the ones we kept are pretty nice.  I’m always amazed at how much strength and flexibility it takes to perform what looks so calm and simple to a casual observer.  Nice work ladies.

After breakfast we headed south to Carmel via the “17 Mile Drive”.  This is chance to see how “the 1%” live as you drive through multi-million dollar homes and golf courses along the coast.  Does the name Pebble Beach sound familiar?  Just one of the many golf courses in the area… it’s the keystone course but, still, just one of many.  How many do we need?  It was interesting to see the houses even though their size is a bit irksome in today’s age and when contrasted to the homes of the people working the fields near by.  No doubt that the mansions are beautiful but I have to say that they seem more than a bit out of place in an age when resources are limiting and there is so much need.  Just saying.

We stopped to view the “solitary cypress”.  I’m not sure that is the correct name but the tree is famous as the logo for Pebble Beach.  There’s a sign in the area that declares that the tree is trademarked and any photos taken can’t be used for commercial purposes.  Whatever.  It’s a beautiful view.

If you look hard enough you’ll see cables holding the tree up and together along with decorative rock work that stabilizes the cliff face and tree base.  Honestly, I wish the tree were more of a wind-swept curved cypress.  You have to admire the tenacity of the tree though…. it’s been through a lot of storms.

As we moved around we stopped occasionally to take some photos.  One area gave Dianne another chance to do a bit of yoga posing.  I love watching her do this anywhere but it really made me happy to see her strike a pose in such a beautiful area.

We wandered the streets of Carmel and visited shops long enough to remind us that the area caters to the wealthy.  We bought some food for dinner and went to visit the Carmel Mission.  This is a great facility to visit to learn about the history of the church and religion. Built in 1721 it still serves as a parish church and has the original bell tower in place.

From there we headed back to Pajaro Dunes with hopes of another sunset on the beach.  Yes, the sun set but the blank sky didn’t give the color anywhere to really mature.  No worries… there were curlews and godwitts and sanderlings feeding.  Backlit birds are not the best photos but every once in awhile the sun angle actually showed the birds in good form.

We spent the evening with good cheese, bread and salami before heading home the next day.  What a wonderful way to close down a visit with friends.  Thanks so much dear friends.  We await your arrival!

Wahclella Falls

I try to listen to comments made by people who don’t live near the Columbia River Gorge.  It’s common to hear exclamations about how lucky we are to live near such a beautiful spot.  They are right of course.  I was sipping coffee this morning and discussing the day with Dianne.  She had a full day of events lined up so I looked outside at blue sky and decided that I’d go to the Gorge to take a short hike into Wahclella Falls.  It had been a year since I was there and I wanted to see if I could get a picture of the falls that I’ve been wanting for some time.  Off I went.

The hike into Wahclella is an easy mile.  The trail winds along the creek near the falls and makes a nice little loop back to the main trail to return to the parking area. My friend Deigh and I both wanted a view of the creek, both levels of the main Wahclella Falls and a small falls that comes off the cliff to the west of the trail.  This smaller falls is intermittent so one needs to be onsite after a period of rain.  Not a real problem this year.  The trick to this shot though is that it requires leaving the safety of the trail and climbing up a scree slope to get the elevation needed.  Both Deigh and I have done this before and come away thinking that we were lucky to be in one piece.  Tricky walking.  Today I took a different approach and made it to my vantage point with little effort or concern about safety.  Not to say that I wasn’t pretty deliberate about foot placement and balance… I was.  But I was relieved to get to the target spot and off load the pack and tripod.

My initial test shot told me that the composition was within my reach.  I set up the tripod, mounted the camera and lens along with the cable release.  I framed, focused, metered and shot.  Nice… if you like lens flare.  My dallying around in Portland allowed the sun to climb to a point where it was lighting the hill just above me and the sun line was descending the hill as I shot.  I moved into a deeper shade and tried again.  I finally got a frame without flare and set out to shoot a bracketed series thinking that HDR may be needed to bring the range of light into range.  I continued to shoot as the sun drove me back down the hill.  Soon I lost the composition that I was after and went back to the trail and poked around there a bit.  Got to meet some nice people who were out enjoying the area.

I was pretty content with the image set and started to head back to the car.  I paused to look back and was caught by the brightly backlit tree and spray at the top of Wahclella Falls.  I set the tripod back up and switched to a longer lens and began to shoot bracketed shots based on the character of the spray that was drifting up and down.  Very dynamic scene and some really interesting light – in my opinion.  The shot below captures what I saw.  My eyes kept bouncing from the backlit maple tree and it’s glowing rim to the mist to falls behind the mist and back to the tree.  Very nice way to spend another 20 minutes in this beautiful part of Oregon.