Close to home

It has been so very cold here the last few days – at least cold for us – and I have limited my shooting to areas close to the house – Delta Ponds.  I actually saw a pair of Wood Ducks the other day – thank you David for the tip – but they were well out of range of any lens that I have.  The cold and frost does impart a totally unique view to familiar areas and I think makes for some interesting shots.    I just thought I would share with you a couple of early morning very frosty views of the ponds near my house.  Hope you enjoy them.

Hope you are staying warm as I heard that the temps are headed for the teens over the next couple of days.  Yikes!!

Frosty night…

As I made my way out to the garage last evening for more wood for the fire I noticed a full moon or very close to it, just coming over the peak of the neighbor’s house and it was a clear night!!  I grabbed camera gear and some warm clothes and headed for the wetlands.   The following 2 images were take very close to 7 PM and were long, 30 second exposures at f2.8.  Not sure these images do justice to the detail in the PSD files – you can certainly see the stars.  Another amazing thing out there is the number of ducks and geese that I managed to disturb even with my little bit of walking around.  There must be thousands of them in those wetlands if the noise from their aerial departure is any indication.

This is not quite the last shot but close as I was very cold at this point and headed for the car.

It was 30 degrees when I got back to the car and it took me a few miles to warm back up – especially my hands but it is such a treat to be out and about on clear cold nights like this one.

Foggy Morning

It was 28 degrees here this morning and the fog came in over night so I went out to my favorite ‘watering hole’ and managed to get a few shots that I thought I would share with y’all.  Still no Wood Duck but the rumors persist!!  Watched this guy have a frog breakfast!!

The fog creates so many interesting views – very different than on a clear morning.

Now off to finish a cup of tea and read the morning paper.

Vineyard Friday…

A lot of people around the Eugene area take the Friday after Thanksgiving to visit the local wineries and do some tasting.  In fact there are a couple of local wineries that are only open a few days a year, one of them being the Friday after Thanksgiving.  Nancy and I did a tour of some wineries on this day a few years back and managed to find our way back to Eugene in reasonable sobriety – great outing.   A friend told me about a viewing deck at LaVelle winery out near Elmira so I headed out there about mid-morning – mostly just to scout out the place.  Ended up getting some nice wine and a good lead on a potential shoot for next autumn.   The view is not much right now but I think with the vines fully leafed out in some nice autumn color and the sunset lighting the hillside this could be a lovely area.  Hopefully it won’t be as muddy walking up the hill.  I checked with the manager and she seemed willing to explore the idea of me coming near sundown and staying a bit late next autumn.  Looking forward to that one.

They have a nice tasting room at the winery and great paths and gardens around the buildings.  As I was walking along I noticed these leaves in a small pond next to the path.  I think this is one of my favorite recent images.   Your comments are welcome.  (Probably not to everyone’s taste)  Hope  you all had a nice holiday.

Morning in the canyon

It was such a nice morning here – and an even better afternoon – that I just could not stay in town – the mountains were calling.  I would normally have headed up the McKenzie River drainage to some familiar spots that I have shot many times but this morning – for some reason – I went up the North Fork of the Middle Fork of the Willamette drainage.  It has been a while since I was there so in some regards this was a bit of a scouting trip for future shoots.  The river sits in a pretty deep canyon and with the sun tracing a rather low arch across the sky I did not need to be there at the crack of dawn to experience the light coming on to the water.   Actually made it to my morning spin class.    About 5 miles upriver from Westfir I came across a delightful little waterfall/riffle and spent the first bit of my time watching the sunlight play on the smooth water above the turbulence.

This was one of those times when you get reminded by the spirits to take a look behind you and in doing so I was treated to the sun brightening a small side channel of the river.  The colors were amazingly rich – almost surreal.

I drove upriver for another few miles to the Canyon Stretch.  A cliff on one side of the river and the road on the other.  The channel is very constricted through this area and it makes for some dramatic shots but also some dramatic access.  I have to admit to having to capitalize on my assets to get down to the river.  There are so many shots to take and I did a lot of shooting but will just leave you with this rather close up one.

Friends told me earlier this autumn that the Middle Fork was ablaze in color and that I should go up there – should have listened to you David.  Instead I opted for the McKenzie which was also nice.  However, I could tell just from looking around at all the bare hardwood trees along the river that it must have been spectacular at its height and it will certainly go on the list of places to shoot next autumn.

I just wanted also to take a line to give Thanks to all of you for visiting, reading and commenting on my blog.  It is a gift that I am very grateful for.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Morning reflections…

We had a very blustery night here as most people on the west side of Oregon and Washington probably did but it was just a bit windy and not raining this morning and I headed out very early – 6:15 AM.   It was still dark when I got to the local ponds and while I have about given up my Wood Duck search I was still hoping but alas – No Luck.   However there are certainly large flocks of geese and ducks out there and they are very noisy early in the morning.

One of my favorite things to shoot is the reflection of the land and vegetation on the water and that is what I concentrated on this morning.  Long exposures with a long lens and certainly mounted on a tripod.  I forgot to change the ISO setting so the exposures were probably longer than they needed to be.  I managed to get a couple of nice reflection images and as the light came up the colors seemed to deepen.  It was a fun morning but it was not long before I made a bee-line for Starbucks and my daily drug of caffeine.

Bird hunting…

There is a really nice set of ponds and associated wetlands just a few miles from my front door and I have been going down there on a weekly basis to see if I can find and photograph some Wood Ducks.  So far they are mythical in nature – at least for me.  This is one of those things where you run into folks while wandering around and they look like serious birders so for me the question always comes up about Wood Ducks and where to find them.  Invariably I get the “Oh you should have been here yesterday!! I had 25 lined up to lick my shoe laces!!” Right!!  No luck for me so far with the Wood Ducks but I did manage to get relatively close to some Canada geese this morning and that was sure fun.

This next big one was certainly on the lookout for any untoward actions on my part but I managed to behave myself and get one nice shot.  I have a feeling there is a Wood Duck in my future – perhaps just wishful thinking.

The Last Leaves

As I was driving and walking around yesterday it became very clear that the glorious reds, yellows, and golds that have highlighted the forest for the last month or so are just about gone and I would think with the storm that came in over last few days that the end is in sight.  However, I did notice this set of hardwoods against a stand of dark green conifers and they just seemed to stand out and say “We are still here and still lovely”.  Won’t be long and the branches will be bare.

Finally I got one shot yesterday that seems like it should be filled with hobbits or elves and I just wanted to share it with you.  There may be one or two  in there so if you find  them let me know.

It was a fun day.

Snow on the way…

The morning weather forecast was for snow above 2,500 feet and more on the way for tomorrow.  I headed out early.  Up the McKenzie River with the idea of spending some time in the Delta Campground area.  There is a very nice ‘nature walk’ trail that loupes around the delta area and includes three bridge crossings of the river.  Today it was like being in a rainforest but the colors became more vibrant with all the moisture.  It was pretty dark underneath the canopy and the exposure times were long but the forest was just lovely.

As I walked along the path - I had the place pretty much to myself - I came to an old rotten log with an abundance of mushrooms growing from it.  I have no idea what these mushrooms are called and I certainly did not take any home to eat but I loved the row of them that I was able to capture in a 4 shot landscape oriented panorama.   The real image is 66 x 12 inches.  I must admit to being a bit taken back when I looked at my watch and realized that I had been out for over 2 hours – no wonder I was cold and wet – have to remember those dry socks the next time.

Morning in the Park

We had a real ripper of a storm last evening and as I was doing my morning run I noticed that the trees were pretty well stripped of their leaves.  Following my morning coffee and bagel I headed for a local park that I knew had many hardwoods.  I was not disappointed – piles of multi-colored leaves everywhere.  I know that I am a bit of a sucker for the colors this time of year but finding patterns amid all the color is the trick I think.

I could not pick one single image that displayed all the glorious color in the leaf piles so decided to just make a little poster of some of the better ones.