Magical Places

Over the past couple of months I have been fortunate to visit two magical art and ecology institutions in Oregon.  In February I stopped for a return visit to PLAYA at Summer Lake (http://playasummerlake.org/) in the heart of Central Oregon at the edge of the Great Sandy Desert.  Today I stopped at the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology (www.sitkacenter.org)  located on the Central Oregon Coast just north of Lincoln City.  Two very different ecosystems  that share a magic that can best be described only by being there – peace infusion.

I have heard about the Sitka Center from friends here in Eugene who have conducted workshops over there and one who just returned from a 3 month residency.  I have been wanting to head that way for a some time – not sure what kept me from going.  Today was the day – windy and rainy – iconic Oregon Coast weather.  Along the way I stopped at Devil’s Punchbowl between Newport and Lincoln City near Otter Rock.  I had hoped for surf large enough to spout up thru the bowl for a dramatic image but the surf was just not big enough to get that to happen.  So consider this a scouting trip and I will be hawking the websites for a day when the surf comes round.  Still it is always great to be on the Oregon Coast.

The above image is just an overview of the area.  The next image is of the punch bowl.  Would love to see the surf come pounding thru that opening and erupting in the bowl.  Perhaps next time.

I drove on up to the Sitka Center and got a tour from a very gracious young woman named Kimberly.  Great location, studio space, quiet and creatively spacious.  On the way out I stopped to photograph a small stream that crossed the access road. The skunk cabbage is just coming into bloom – love the way they light up the green field.

I think the next trip up there calls for an overnight stay – evening and morning light.  Thanks for looking.

 

Advertisements

Hult Lake

I stopped for a short visit at Walt O’Brien’s studio the other day and there were some very nice images on the walls taken at a lake I had never heard of.  I asked Walt about the location and it turned out it was relatively close to Eugene – in the Coast Range.  I followed Hwy. 36 west – stopped at the Low Pass store for directions – pretty easy and accurate and drove on to the cutoff for the map dot of Horton – at least I think I went thru Horton – hard to tell.  At Horton  (not a Who in sight!) the road splits and I took the right fork and in a few miles came to Hult Lake which I found out is also called Horton Pond and is basically a reservoir.

This was a bit of scouting trip for future photo opportunities but I luckily found the lake shrouded in fog.  I shot my way along the shore and found some places that I think will be great come the autumn color.  The image below was taken after about an hour of shooting and was as the morning sun was just beginning to burn off the fog coating the lake.   If you click on the image to get a larger view I think it is better.  I welcome your comments here or on FB.

Another visit

Even while feeling pretty miserable for most of the past week I did notice that slowly I was starting to come around.  I watched the weather forecasts daily if not more frequently and noticed that changing weather was on the menu for Friday into Saturday for the Oregon Coast.  Sometimes that can mean that the dull thick cloudy sky that laid in all week continues but sometimes it can mean dissipating clouds making for a nice sunset.  Such was the case last night – a beautiful evening on the beach at Bandon, OR.

I went to Bandon last year about this same time so this felt like a good time to go plus I got to visit with friends Steve and Susan Dimock and hear all about their  recent trip to Ecuador – Susan has posted some great entries on her blog – especially one from the Galapagos Islands – such interesting animals and great photographs.  http://www.susandimock.com/blog/

Was hoping that either Steven or Susan could join me in an evening shoot on the beach but Steve was busy with motel chores and Susan seemed to be coming down with this crud that is making the rounds.  Hope it passed her by.

I got to the beach a bit early and just wandered around looking for what I hoped would be interesting compositions.  Found the one below and the shadow line pointed me to a Black and White composition.

As the sunset time came on I found a place to set up and wait for what the light had to offer.  Was quickly joined by 3 other photographers but we call seemed to coexist for the evening.  As you can see from the image below I thought for a bit that I was going to lose the light as the sun sank into that cloud mass but I held my ground and crossed my fingers.

I waited about 20 minutes all the while convinced that the light would show up in that strand of red light on the horizon.  Yes!!

I kept shooting and moved a bit but the evening was so great I was just transfixed.  The shot below is just about the last of the images and as you can see I moved around a bit to be sure I had the Wizards Hat full in the frame.  Hiked back to the car, drove to town and found dinner and a beer at the Bandon Brewing Company.

The next morning I went over to the banks of the Coquille River – the prediction was for fog and I was hoping to photograph the lighthouse in the fog but it did not materialize.  Instead I concentrated of a row of rocks just out in the flow.  A nice morning view and a friend on the rocks.

Be sure to click on the images for a larger view and I welcome your comments.  It was a great trip – renewed both my spirit and my health.  Hardly a sniffle or a cough today.

 

LensWork…

… is a high quality thrice yearly magazine that displays the work of established and accomplished photographic artists.    The current issue highlights the work of Chuck Kimmerle who lives in Casper, WY.  The monograph, #10 in the series,  is in Black and White (which Chuck currently shoots almost exclusively)  – beautifully composed simple images of interior west landscapes.    It is certainly an inspiration and a motivation to me.  (http://www.lenswork.com)

On the way to the Oregon Coast yesterday I passed an abandoned warehouse situated between the highway and the Siuslaw River near the map dot of Cushman.  I had to drive a bit down the road, turn around and come back to find a place to park that was somewhat safe and off the heavily traveled highway.  The access road was blocked with some serious sized rocks so I just walked in.  I love looking for abstract images in old and decaying buildings and this one presented me with lots of subjects.  I opted for Black and White image processing and really had that setting in mind when I took them.   There are 4 images below.  I wish I could say they even came close to the images in LensWork but I am grateful for inspiration.

The first image was a separated wall on one end of building that was brightly lit against the darkness of the interior of the warehouse.

The next image is of the struts holding the ceiling etc.  I was attracted to the pattern.

That roof does have a few holes – sort of decaying skylights.

Finally as I wandered about the building I just noticed a simple pipe against a corrugated steel wall that sort of stood out for me due to its simplicity.  You can click on any of the images for a larger view which I recommend and as always I welcome your comments. Thanks for looking.

 

Weather calling…

I have been in a bit of a creative slump and I am sure the dull blue sky we have had for days and days here in the Valley has added to that feeling.  The weather report was for clouds and possible rain on the Coast so after my workout I headed for Yachats and then up to Seal Rock.  Not expecting much but it was sure nice to get out and turn on the windshield wipers for a bit and focus the camera on a landscape.  As the day moved forward the front passed and while it was not great light – sort of flat – it was good enough to get me down to beach at Seal Rocks.  As I said the light was rather flat but a circular polarizing filter helped to bring out some detail and improve this image a bit.  This is a much different view of Seal Rocks than I have shot in the past.  Always experimenting.

One of the things I like a lot in this new era of photography is the abundance and variety of photographic papers that can be used on a good home printer.  I learned yesterday in some reading, about a paper called Awagami Kozo Select Natural Fine Art Inkjet Paper made by Epson.  According to the article it is a a hand made Japanese paper that will work in modern printers.  I am always up to try a new paper so I went on-line to B&H to see if I could find it and order a small amount for testing.  It has been back ordered. Drat! The article recommended simple not color rich images so I thought I would see what I could come up with while over at the Coast.  I will try the image below when I get the paper.

Hope you are all enjoying summer and as always Comments are welcome.

Sweet Wednesday

With rain in the forecast for the next few days I talked Dave in to going with me for a morning shoot on Sweet Creek which is just 10 miles southeast of Mapleton, OR.  It is one of my favorite places to shoot in the Oregon Coast Range and is a short drive from Eugene.  I have photographed this stream in the winter, autumn and spring and they all have their charms.  Autumn is so colorful with painted  big maple leaves scattered along the stream edges.  Spring is a season of lush green and winter means high flows and stark vegetation. Today was lush.

Foot access is easy with a well maintained trail and some offshoots that lead down to the stream banks which in many places are bedrock and can be quite slick as we both found out, taking a tumble.  The flow today was about the best I have experienced in years of shooting these waterfalls.  Dave and I  stopped by last winter but the flow was extreme and was very difficult to photograph.

Leaving the parking lot you walk upstream and are met with a series of falls, pools and cascades all of which make for interesting shots.  The one below is the first one you come to and the succeeding ones were taken as we made our way upstream. (These images were all taken with a Canon 5D4 fitted with a 16-35mm wide angle lens equipped with a circular polarizer filter in order to cut the glare on the water.)

Just a short walk uphill and around a couple of curves you come to a streambank access trail that leads down to the channel bedrock.  Just doing that little bit of off trail walking allows for framing interesting shots.  IMHO

Up the trail we went to another small gnarly access trail and while you would think some embryo of discretion or simple common sense would have served us well but NO! – down the hill we went to again frame up what we hoped would be interesting shots.  The bedrock was steep, wet and slick in spots and we both took a spill.  I landed on my well padded butt which I am sure will be quite colorful tomorrow morning.  Dave went down also and I think damaged some camera gear, adding to the pain.

The image below is another in this series and is as far up the stream as we went.  There is a waterfall at the top that I do not find very interesting so with rising sunlight in a blue sky we headed downhill.

If you are looking for a beautiful and relatively easy walk I sure do recommend Sweet Creek and if you are in the mood it is an additional easy drive to Florence and the Coast.

As usual if you click on an image you can get a larger view.  I am grateful for any comment you wish to pass along.

 

Coastal Dunes

It  doesn’t have to be a great vista, though those are my favorites.
It can be a simple leaf or flower.
But when I allow myself to find peace in a landscape,
I begin to find it in myself as well.  

– Dewitt Jones

(These images are best viewed larger – click on the image)

Standing on top of a large dune in the Oregon Dunes Recreation area just south of Florence, OR I felt that peace that Dewitt found come over me – manifested by quiet and a certain intensity and concentration.

As I looked down at an expanse of sand punctuated with clumps of grass and tracked by previous visitors I began to compose images that turned out to be what I have come to call Natural Abstracts.  The morning light was soft still  enough to cast pastel colors on the sand and I spent time framing up shots that I hope present that soft gentle morning.

The movement of the sand and the play of the light sure do create visual interest and that is what I was going for in the above image.

The sun began to climb in the almost clear blue sky and I began to think in Black and White.   I think the texture, pattern and line found in the dunes can be really accentuated in B&W.  There is stand of wind blown trees along the top of the dunes that really help to set off the images and give one an idea of the scale of the dunes.  In their own way I love the simple direct manner of Black and White images.

After an hour or so the sound of motorcycle/dirt bikes was beginning to increase and it seemed that it was time to leave.  It was a much needed excursion after so much rain and cold weather.  Standing under clear blue sky, albeit a bit chilly, with wonderful dune patterns all around made my Sunday.

Bandon visit

From time to time I have come across comments by other photographers saying that Bandon is their favorite place to shoot on the Oregon Coast and I have to agree.  Shooting in a wonderful place is great but sharing it with my friend and fellow photographer, Susan Dimock made for a fun evening.  She and her husband Steve, another great photographer, own a delightful boutique motel, the La Kris Inn, (http://www.lakrisinn.com/) in Bandon.  If you are the area I highly recommend you stay with them.

We arranged to meet at 4 PM and head out to Face Rock Wayside for an evening on the beach shooting the sunset.  What a treat for me.  There was a very low tide and some interesting clouds forming all of which, to me, indicated a good evening ahead.  We started at what is known as the Wizard’s Hat with about 40 minutes left before official sunset.

There were a number of other photographers on the beach and it was interesting to watch as we all jockeyed around looking for ‘The Shot’.  Watched one fellow, who had a Pentax medium format DSLR camera with a big lens on his tripod, lose that rig to the ocean – just a dunking not  a whole loss but it was painful to even watch.

After shooting all along the beach – heading north, we came to a spot where it seemed the evening light and the official sunset would come together with the sand and rocks on the beach.  Below is my attempt to capture that evening light on the wet rocks and sand.  Click for a larger view.

The following morning found me in the parking lot above the beach from the night before.  It was overcast so not much drama from the morning light, instead nice pastel colors.  This is a long exposure of 25 seconds at f10 and ISO of 800 – 16 mm lens. Yes it was pretty dark when I took this shot.  Love to hear the booming of the ocean against the rocks on a quiet, still morning.

Hope to get back to Bandon again soon – not that long a drive from Eugene.  If you want to see some of Steve and Susan’s work they both have pages on FB – Steve Dimock and Susan Dimock.  I recommend a viewing.

Comments are always welcome and while I have quit asking for travel companions please know that the door is always open.

Coast Range autumn

The plan for the morning was to return to an area in the Coast Range that Dave and I had seen last summer and commented at the time that it held good potential for an autumn color shoot.  We headed out there this morning.  The leaf color has been coming on strong here in the Valley and we were sure that it carried into the hills.  Not to mention that there was morning fog in the weather forecast and that can always add interest to images.

We took Highway 36 toward the town of Deadwood and the first stop we came to was a crossing of a stream that ran along and across the highway.  Neither of us knew the name when we pulled over and geared up but a quick look at the ODOT signpost on the bridge told us it was the Long Tom river.  What I previously knew of the Long Tom was a slow moving and rather muddy stream that wandered through the farmlands west of Eugene and so to see this portion of it actually looking like a mountain stream was a bit of an eye opener.

We shot above and below the bridge and even bushwhacked down through the brush in a few spots.  It was a wonderful way to start a morning of shooting.  I have many more images to process but just thought I would share a few of the river and as always they look better if you give them a click to enlarge them on your screen.

The one above was taken along the stream bank after some brush pounding.  I did not place any of those leaves on the log just in case you were wondering.

The image below is looking upstream and to me is simply peaceful which I think I needed in these turbulent times. The last image is looking downstream from along the bridge crossing and will give you an idea of how this stream does have a bit of a mountain stream character.  Pools and riffles.

Comments are always welcome.

Coastal Dunes

“Taking a photograph is an act of possession, a way of making something visible while simultaneously freezing it in place, locked in time”

Olivia Laing

Five-thirty on Thursday morning found Dave Hill and I on Highway 126 headed west for a set of coastal dunes south of the beach town of Florence.  The highway is normally busy even at 0530 but with an on-going overnight re-paving project conditions were a bit tight and at times slow.  The highway intersects a portion of Fern Ridge reservoir and is a turnpike at that point – really only one place to safely pull over, mount up a camera and shoot the sunrise.  Just happened to look in the mirrors as we sped along and said “Oh that is really nice”  The turnout was perfectly placed for a stop.  Serendipity!! This is what I captured.  Precursor to a hot day.

On the Way West

The dunes I had in mind are about ten miles south of Florence – a boardwalk, trails and a nice visitor facility.  When one envisions going to the beach, images of people frolicking on the sand come to mind.  Such is not the case with these dunes.  They are very steep and while they may firm up at various times in the year right now the sand is deep and loose and as a result makes for very difficult hikin loaded down with camera gear.  We did not frolic — we floundered – 1 step forward and 2 steps back!!

Despite hiking conditions the sand was un-tracked, lined and contoured from the ocean winds and I think very interesting.  We went our separate ways open to what presented itself to us.  At times like this I try to think in terms of abstract images – made up of texture and line and the three below are what came from this ‘seeing”  exercise.  It was very foggy and the first image I think portrays those conditions.

Subtle color blocks in the sand

Unbroken intersecting lines.

Interrupting the flow

After some time spent wandering I started back up a very steep and unstable dune with my head down — looking at the sand — and what should present itself to me but a natural sand painting.

Circles in the Sand

(if you click on any of these images you can get a larger on-screen view)

We headed back to Florence for a bit of coffee and a morning breakfast treat and then on to home via Highway 34 which wends its way through the east side of the Coast Range thru such little towns as Deadwood and Triangle Lake.  I think we may have found a place to shoot autumn color as the streams were lined with deciduous trees – alder and maple – and the streambed was punctuated with large boulders.

Comments are always welcome.