Postcards from the Creative Journey

On the Road Again… Back to Base Camp.

Saturday meant a trip back to Lynden to meet up with some friends for a Xiang Sha Wan reunion. In January 2011, I was among a group of ten American photographers invited to participate in an exhibition of landscape photographs with members of the Chinese Photographers Association. Some of us are rendezvousing in Lynden for a few days of camaraderie.

We made it back  to Lynden and finished the day eating oysters and drinking beer in Blaine, Washington overlooking the Semiahmoo Bay. Photo Safari XXXIII is officially complete. 

Free Day Friday Fotographs

We finished the areas we wanted to photograph on Thursday, so we had a free day on Friday. Based on our experience and a bit of a lark, we thought that we would travel a road that paralleled the Klickitat River. We have always had good luck following a river so that’s where we went.

We found the lower part of the Klickitat to have steep walls and quite turbulent. That did not stop the fisherman, both white and tribal from fishing. The tribal fisherman stood on wooden platforms and used long poled nets to catch steelehead and salmon. As one of the fishermen told us, “We’ve been doing it this way for ten thousand years and it works pretty good.”

We followed the river for a while and then took off over the farmland for a change of pace and photographed because we  thought we had lost the river.

We crested a hill and a beautiful valley opened up in front of us. It was absolutely beautiful, but the clouds blocked the light to the valley floor. We did what landscape photographers do. We parked and waited for the light to peek through the clouds. We talked, listened to mp3 files and waited and looked around. The wind was blowing at about forty miles an hour so getting out of the SUV was not a real good option. We waited for about two and a half hours until the clouds and light were just right for two or three compositions we identified. When the light and clouds positioned themselves to our liking we made some photographs…

This is the one we were waiting on…

That’s the way landscape photography goes some days. Sometimes it’s really easy and other times you just have to wait. And other days it rains. We’ve seen them all this week.

If you've been following the blog this week, I would love to invite you to continue stopping by and reading my postcards from the creative journey.

For those of you interested in the technical details, the following equipment was employed:

Panasonic G85 micro 4/3 camera

Panasonic 7-14 zoom lens

Panasonic 12-35 HD Zoom lens

Panasonic 35-100 HD Zoom lens

I have finally been able to do what I have wanted to do in processing image files away from home using a chromebook. I used f-stopper software to read my SD cards and display the images on my chromebook. I had to set my camera up to make both RAW and jpg files for each image because the free version of f stopper does not read RAW files. The f stopper software seamlessly integrates with Adobe Photoshop Express to allow editing of the jpg files. I used my chromebook to make the blog entries using both text and pictures.

606 My Old Golf Group

We were enjoying lunch in the clubhouse after a morning round of golf. Dan came in to join us for lunch. We asked Dan why he didn’t join us on the course. He replied that he used to play more when he had a regular golf group, but not anymore. We asked why. Dan replied, “Most of them have either passed away or had to go back home because they needed to be close to their children.” He continued, “I really should find a new golf group.” There was a momentary silence as we contemplated our mortality.

Bob broke the silence and said, “I think you should find a new golf group.” He paused and then continued, “Just don’t tell them what happened to the last group you joined.”

Access is Necessary for Photography

We started to drive the back roads west this morning. That meant Old US 30, a narrow, twisty road that winds along the south bank of the Columbia River. Once we got into the Columbia Gorge, we encountered the bane of all landscape photographers; access, or more specifically, no access. All along this narrow road all the pull-outs were barricaded with lots of warning signs. It is a photographic truism that all scenic views are located adjacent to “No Stopping” or “No Parking” signs. Such was the case in the Columbia Gorge. I’m not sure if it’s a lack of money and manpower to maintain the roads and parks, but some really beautiful views and places are inaccessible.

Here’s an early morning photograph from the road from an accessible spot. I didn’t see the horse until after I made about three exposures. Then I readjusted to make sure the horse held down that lower right corner.

Our first stop was Horsetail Falls and turned out to be one of the better waterfalls we saw. The tough part about photographing these truly beautiful features is the tremendous vertical distance and your proximity to the waterfall. For the photographically interested, I used a wide angle lens with a 7 mm focal length on a micro 4/3 camera. That is what gives the ability to show the entire waterfall as well as those really big leaves in the foreground. And they are really big leaves, too.

Wahkeena Falls was a quick stop because it was one of those places where the trails were closed just past the parking lot. A pretty little place, but not very much to see. There was only one vantage point (because the trails were closed) and we had to wait in line to take our photographs.

Latourell Falls was memorable for two reasons. One, we got there just after an entire school bus of middle schoolers unloaded and took off on the trail to the bottom of the falls. Chaos ensued. It was to be expected from a busload of kids. The second memorable moment was after I made the photograph below. A fellow was posing his girlfriend in front of the waterfalls. She was wearing a sports bra and white yoga pants. The girl’s mother was also in attendance. For those interested, the temperature at the falls was about 50F and a lot of mist from the waterfall made it even cooler.

Because of the lack of access, we finished much earlier than we anticipated. What to do with the rest of the  afternoon? Last year we photographed the Japanese Garden in Portland, but did not have the time to photograph the Grotto. This year we had the time and we spent the afternoon at the Grotto. While I didn’t make many good photos there, it was an afternoon well spent. On the way back to the Dalles, we stopped a few times to catch the evening light in the Gorge.

This image will be part of a four frame panoramic photograph when I get around to making it after I get back home.

The lack of access along Old US 30, gave us an extra day to explore and photograph the east end of the Columbia Gorge. I think we’re going to cross over to Washington on Friday to explore. That will be the last photographic day of this year’s safari. The weekend will be spent with some other photographers we met when we were invited to display our photographs at a meeting of the Chinese Photographers Association in 2011.

A Lovely Day to Drive Around Oregon

Buoyed by yesterday’s success, we started out this morning by heading west and driving the “blue and white” roads south and west of The Dalles, an area neither Brooks nor I have ever explored. There were not a lot of people on the back roads so we could drive slowly and stop when we wanted. Like all unplanned and unknown journeys we had no expectations. One of the first stops we came to on old US 30 was Rowena Crest, near Mosier. I took what I thought was a clever photograph, but then again so has everyone else that has been there. 

Haze was prevalent from our vantage point and we could see the brown smoke layer throughout the Columbia Gorge and going west towards Portland. We continued to explore the back roads and came into some very dense tree growth that is typical of the rainy side of the Cascades. Moving from the wide open spaces of Eastern Oregon to the densely forested Cascades was a huge change. The chaos of dense vegetation and trees made it difficult for me to create a coherent photograph. We settled for working on details, most successfully with back lit leaves.

We broke through the top of a hill and some heavily forested land to happen upon a recently harvested tract of timber. We came upon the still burning slash piles. I had never seen that before, so I had to make a photograph.

We drove by a lot of  orchards and vineyards in our trek. It’s way past the end of the growing season and the harvest is in. The leaves are changing colors and it is time for autumn to begin. Often there are different crops side by side and that makes for colorful afternoons.

We were pretty much toasted by 4 PM. We had been exploring and photographing for six or seven hours non-stop and were in dire need of a break. Tomorrow, we’ll head further into the heavily wooded areas of the Columbia Gorge to photograph waterfalls and the like. It’s an area known to us and should provide us with some great subject matter. It seems like every other day is very productive and if our current trend holds true, we should have a good day tomorrow.

Finally, A Lovely Day

Landscape photographers seek the “golden hour” the two hours after sunrise and two hours before sunset. The bad part about the sunrise thing is you have to get up when it is still dark. It takes a while for the light to reach the bottom of the Deschutes Canyon so we weren’t up that much before dawn, but it was still a breakfast in a bag as we drove away. On the way there, I put down my MacMuffin because the skies cleared up enough to see Mount Hood in the distance.

We made it to the Deschutes Recreation area and began our drive down the Canyon looking at the canyon with the light coming from a different position. We drove and photographed the seventeen miles to the end of the canyon. 

We turned around at the end and drove back.

It got warm enough to open the sun roof on the SUV and when that happened I looked up and we stopped to make another photograph or two or three.

The last of the early morning light was gone and at that point there was not much to do but to head on back to the base camp in The Dalles. On the way, we stopped by a place we photographed almost thirty years ago, Kent, Oregon. Kent used to be a town, now it’s more of a state of mind. About the only thing left is the “EAT Cafe.” The sign with the “EAT” on it is long gone, but strangely, the fuel pumps remain.

We stopped by the MaryHill Museum and the War Memorial, (the War Memorial  is a reproduction of Stonehenge) on the way back to The Dalles. Tomorrow we will head west on “blue and white” roads to find the Columbia Gorge.

Gray, Gray, Go Away

Here is a photograph near The Dalles from the first day. Brooks stopped to make another photograph and I got out to look around. This seems like a nondescript intersection with a pair of signs. The sign on the left notifies of an internet cable buried beneath. The other sign is a historical marker showing the Oregon trail followed the same path. I thought it was kind of interesting to see those two important historical markers side by side.

With the overcast sky, there were no real shadows or highlights so we had to work for subjects to photograph. We started looking and came up with grasses growing through the columnar basalt along the edge of the road. While the photograph looks pretty good in color, it will require a lot of photoshop to get this to what I want this to look like.

Finally, something happened for just a few minutes when we were in the right place at this time. It’s not as good as what we did yesterday, but landscape photography is a crap shoot. If you’re only going to be out there for a few days at a time, it’s a matter of luck and percentages whether or not the weather will be to your advantage and you’re in the right place at the right time. 

Yesterday we were the bat, today we were the ball. Who knows what tomorrow will bring?

The Rain is Stopping

This morning's weather was gray and misty. This blue gray October sky thing might work well for some folks, but it didn't work at all for me this morning. I didn't come up with anything useful or memorable. We stopped for lunch in Dufur, Oregon and had lunch with some other folks passing through at the local grocery store/sandwich shop/general store. The folks there suggested we stop at White River Falls State Park. They said it was small, overlooked and even had a machinery ruins. So, we headed out to the park. We've had problems before with some locals only because what they think is neat to photograph may not be what we think is neat. Well, this time everyone was in sync.

With the recent rains, the river was up and sadly, very muddy. At the bottom of the falls was a ruined hydroelectric plant that was very old. Despite the signs warning of danger, it seems a lot of folks have been there. Including yours truly. It was a great place to photograph for a little bit. 

After leaving White River, we headed on down the road a bit and found an access point to the Deschutes River. About that time, the clouds were breaking up and the late afternoon sun began shining on us. Overcast skies broke up and we had great sun, broken clouds and some spectacular scenery. We photographed until the light got so low the canyon was in shade. We got back to the hotel after dark. 

Deschutes River, Afternoon. We're heading out of the gorge and going home.

We hope the rain stays away and we can continue with some great weather and better photography.

605 Ol’ Sven Up and Died One Day

Sven was a Norwegian bachelor farmer with a little house and farm on past the edge of town. His closest family was still in the Old Country. After he died, the town folk got together and buried him in the town cemetery. We sent a letter to his family in Norway. We never got a reply.

His house is still there, just like the day he died.

On the Road Again

In the Fraser Valley on Friday. Some of the weather we're trying to miss. Today was not a day for photography.

---

We decided last night that the certainty of rain on the west side of the Cascades was assured, so we thought that if we could get to the dry side of the Cascades we could photograph without complete rain suits. We started planning our route this morning and found that most of the passes through the Cascades were closed due to the storm. That dashed our hopes of photographing east of the Cascades in Washington, so we headed off to The Dalles. That meant driving I-5 through Seattle-Tacoma-Olympia down to Portland and then east on I-84 to The Dalles. A lot of time sitting in the car without  photographing. We're willing to trade a day's travel to make it to a place where we can photograph both Central Oregon and the Columbia River Gorge from Monday through Friday.

---

While the grand views are foggy, misty and cloudy, getting close to the subject means you can see clearly and pick up some nice wet rocks to add some contrast to the scene. 

---

We're going to hit some of the back roads out of The Dalles tomorrow and maybe do some of the secondary roads that run parallel to I-84. Basically, we're going to be driving around until we see something that we can make into a photograph. 

Rain, Rain, We're Going Away

And here's another one.

It is a fact that if the weatherman says 100% chance of rain it's not going to rain everywhere all the time. That's true even in the Fraser River Valley in British Columbia. It rained a lot as we made photographs in the Fraser River Valley, but it didn't rain all the time everywhere we were. We made do photographing out of an open car window or being patient enough to wait until the rain let up a bit. Low clouds are always fun as they quickly move along the river. 

We forecast our future photography based on the weather and we will be heading south and over the Cascades to the (hopefully) dry Oregon desert. We'll lose a couple of days in travel, but at least we won't be stuck in the perma-rain cloud of winter in the Pacific North West.

---

The Fraser River Valley east of Yale, BC. We found what looked like an old version of the main highway out of Yale. It had some spectacular overlooks of the Fraser River and was completely deserted. The low contrast lighting from the heavy rain clouds muted the bright color of the yellow leaves. 

604 Whatever Shall We Do?

Weeks have gone by and we’re pretty sure that Captain Meyersmith had our wagon train on the right trail. Until everyone stopped. We could not see it until we got right up to the edge. Daddy called it a Dirty Devil because we could see no way around it. We’ve trusted in God for this entire trek. Momma is confused because God put something so beautiful and so deadly in our path.

Whatever shall we do?