Location

“Good inner guidance can avoid a lot of common excesses that tend to stymie creative development, such as relying too much on standard practice or becoming too dependent on limiting habits. One common habit that can be especially limiting in landscape photography is putting too much emphasis on locations and not enough on our relationships with them.”   Erin Babnik

I read a blog posting from Erin Babnik, a member of the PhotoCascadia group, yesterday over morning coffee and I certainly do agree with her above comment. Actually the whole article is worth reading — https://www.photocascadia.com/looking-beyond-locations-in-landscape-photography/

I think it is one of the main reasons I have avoided photography workshops –  “Place your tripod here and point your camera with these predetermined settings in that direction and you will get a great image of this iconic landscape”  Perhaps but…!!

With the weather changing last night after a few days of clear blue sky I headed for one of my favorite locations near Fern Ridge reservoir.  Windy and nice clouds coming along.  A harbinger of change coming over the Valley.  Also sort of like visiting an old friend.  My relationship with this area!  Home Ground!

The weather front was on its way and rain is even predicted for this afternoon.

Thanks for looking and I welcome your comments.

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Small pond landscape

I hope this is the expressive image of serenity and quiet I was hoping to capture. Taken in a small pond along my route to the Oregon Outback. Certainly not the Grand Landscape, more of an intimate landscape — to find them you have to slow down and really look.  It was a nice way to start that trip. It is better as a larger view so click on the image if you care to.

Sparks Lake View

I took this image a couple of years ago, 2017, in mid-August.  It was the summer of smoke and haze from all the wildfires that ran thru the forests of Oregon.  Sometimes odd conditions can make for interesting images.  The little yellow flowers on the islands were in bloom again this year but well past their prime – they were full on in the image below and added a lot to the image.

Click for a larger view.  Let me know what you think – comments welcome

The Oregon Outback

The aim of a recent trip thru the Oregon Outback mostly on Highway 31 – the Fremont Highway – was to find places where “No Service” registered on my phone.  While there were not great long stretches with no cell phone service I did find quite a few and took the time to just settle and enjoy being there.  One such place was Fremont Point on the old Fremont National Forest.  Great open views and wonderful canyons and plateaus.   Many images to still work up from this portion of the drive.

I spent the night in Lakeview – the Tallest Town in Oregon at 4,799 feet elevation.  Spent the evening hours exploring the roads to Adel and Plush looking for aspen stands in the Warner Mountains – found a few but not what I wanted.  Still was a fun drive.  Did find some interesting compositions but they will take time to work up.

The next morning found me headed north toward Lake Abert which is the 3rd largest saline body of water in North America.  I was looking for morning light.

I think when the cell phone service is non-existent and there is a Red Tail Hawk on a fence post along the dirt road I turned on to and a coyote turd laying in the road beside the car where I parked one has found some solitude.  With the morning light across the water and the hills across the lake just starting to glow I knew I had found what I went for.  Headed back to Bend to meet my niece and her family – always a joy to spend time with them – but the hectic nature of Bend did come home.

I call the image below – Greetings. 

Be sure to click on the image to get a larger view – trust me it is worth it.  As always I welcome your comments.

 

 

Quartz Creek

Took an early morning ramble up the Quartz Creek drainage.  The road parallels the stream and is a more or less a tie thru road from Mckenzie Pass, Hwy 126 to Willamette Pass, Hwy. 58 (Finn Rock to Westfir).  Since Forest Road 19 has been closed since last year due to the fires in the Terwilliger area and the adjacent rock slides it is nice to have an option.  I had never driven the Quartz Creek road so this was initially meant to be just a scouting trip.  It turned into a terrific Tuesday morning (that one was for you Cecelia) There are great locations for a sunrise or sunset shot from the top, a.k.a. the grand landscape.

The lower north side of the trip is punctuated with small tributaries to the main stem and form little intimate landscape images.  The first image below of of the main channel and the remaining two are of tribs.

With all the hardwood trees lining the stream banks I think a color season trip is now on the agenda.   Anybody want to go?

Click for larger views and I welcome your comments.

Proxy Falls

Went up to Proxy Falls on the Mckenzie River Ranger District this morning early.  Just me on the Old Mckenzie Highway and the trail in.  Nice gentle morning with a touch of moisture from overnight rain.  I had skipped my morning gym workout but hiking in to the base of the falls and then back up that steep hill substituted nicely.

It has been a while since I went in for a visit to this often photographed waterfall  — it never seems to disappoint.    Today was no exception and the light overcast sky helped tone down the overall lighting.

Two images from two different orientations.  Such a lovely spot to start the morning.  Click for a larger view.

This last image is a really wide angle view of the basin.  Shot with a 14mm wide angle lens

Yes – as usual I managed to get wet – shoes, socks and pants and I did not melt.

Comments are welcome

 

Pastel Morning colors

“Frogs discovered their national anthem again”  William Stafford

Full throated frog tunes accompanied me on my walk out in the wetlands this morning and I remembered the above line from some recent reading and it seemed to really work for this posting.  The small side channel next to where I set up was like a concert hall.  Sort of.

The moon was full this morning and setting right over Fern Ridge reservoir west of town.  I left the house about 0415 and got out there and set up in time to capture some nice soft pastel light over the water with the moon angling toward its’ setting.

The sun came up shortly after I took the above image and basically blew out the nice colors.  I headed for home and some coffee.

Loving Waterfalls

Last winter I was browsing the Waterfall Lover’s Guide – Pacific Northwest and noticed that there were a couple of new-to-me waterfalls on Brice Creek along FS Road 22 on the Umpqua NF.  I went up there the following day or so but at that time the road was blocked due to snow damaged trees.  I took a chance that it was open now and sure enough I got up there and as my friend Tim said “Brice Creek never disappoints” and that was certainly true this morning.  The first image is of Evergreen Falls – I don’t think that is an official name but it is the one that shows up in the guide.  It is a very lovely stair step waterfall cascading down a moss covered bank and then feeding Brice Creek.

Just upstream and across the road is an unmarked fisherman’s trail that heads down a steep rather loose rock trail to Blue Hole Falls.  This waterfall is described in the guide thusly: “This is one  of the prettiest punchbowls in the Northwest.”  I would certainly agree and while access is not easy it is worth the scramble.

I took a spill going back up the hill and ended up with some nasty cuts on my arms but I will heal and getting the images was worth the blood.  Luckily I had packed the camera away in my bag and all is well.

Click for a larger view – worth doing – and as always I welcome your comments.

 

Sweet Creek Falls

There is something very intimate about walking in a Pacific NW Old Growth forest on a rainy day.  Such was this morning as I hiked along the trail leading to Sweet Creek Falls.  Pouring rain, alder and vine maple bursting bud, the first of the year trillium blooms and a wonderful stream dancing its way to join the Siuslaw River all quieted my mind and made me glad for where I was.

I parked at the upper trail head which made for an easier walk to the falls but I was soaked when I got there.  Luckily I had a rain shield for my camera which while rather clumsy to use it kept the rain off while walking.

I think this waterfall is one of my favorites and the soft morning light and moderate flows help to set it off in its little grotto.

Comments are always welcome and appreciated.  Click for a larger view

 

 

Back to the Row

There was a bit of mental tug-o-war going on for me this morning – head to the mountains or the gym.  The mountains won.  I was perusing The Waterfall Lovers Guide book the other night and realized that there was a complete set of waterfalls up the Row River that I had never seen let alone photographed.  With those in mind I left early hoping for morning light.

The recent snow storms caused a lot of damage to the timber stands along the road and Brice Creek itself.  The Forest Service has done an admirable job in clearing the road but only got as far as Champion Creek and where I wanted to go was well beyond the barricade set up at the bridge.

I had noticed a number of interesting cascades and chutes on the way up so decided to make the most of what was available to me and set about shooting my way down stream

First stop (above) was below Hobo Camp.  Nice little cascade.

Went to the next big pullout/access point and found two images.  One was of a still bare bit of brush standing against the turmoil of the flow….

… and the second was looking downstream – as you can see the spring flows are filling the channel.  Click for larger views.

Had a great morning in a wonderful watershed.