Monthly Archives: July 2018

When Something Catches Your Eye

A.E. Larson Building Entry Foyer, Yakima, WA

I gave myself a photographic assignment to search out contrasts. The contrast could be in relation to many different aspects/perspectives: color, shapes, patterns, light/dark, old/new, etc., or simply an item that does not belong in a specific setting. I decided to walk the streets in downtown Yakima, WA for my search.  

My first stop was the A.E. Larson Building.  The Larson Building is itself a contrast to its surroundings.  With its eleven stories, it towers above adjacent structures.  Its Art Deco design stands out from the simpler buildings of downtown Yakima.  The interior first floor lobby is heavily decorated with stone and elaborate bronze in the Art Deco style; pretty fancy for a farming-based community.

The above image is from the main lobby entryway.  What caught my eye is the contrasting adjacent design.  One is horizontal, the other is vertical. One is light, the other dark.  The simple spirals tie the designs together.

 

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Desert Walk

Spent Flower on Desert Walk

The beauty in the desert is everywhere. As I walk along, I see volcanic rock outcroppings, struggling junipers, cragged old trees, blue-grey sagebrush, patches of colorful wildflowers, beautiful blue sky with billowing white clouds.  I look down at my feet, magic appears.

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Crater Lake Chieftain

“Chieftain of the Lake”

Looking vs Seeing?  My friend and I stopped to look at a nice view of Crater Lake.  Almost simultaneously we saw an Indian chieftain calmly looking over the lake.  My friend wrote this poem highlighting her experience.

              Crater Lake

The first peoples first gazed upon
the deepest blue, and 
their hearts were moved.
 
The rocks understood their respect
and formed a bond between 
humankind and nature.
 
The natural world honored
the chief who presided, wise enough
to know he was only bits of dust.
 
And it is all dust that through the
Creator exists, waiting for the
great merging of beauty and love.
 
– Mary Dahlin

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Crack in the Ground

“Crack in the Ground”, Lake County, Oregon

Above, a lone sagebrush and sun appear.
The sagebrush peers over the edge watching me.
The sun’s bright fire lights my way.

I have always been fascinated by the unusual geological formations in the eastern Washington/Oregon landscape.  A few weeks ago, several college friends and I went exploring around Christmas Valley, Oregon.  Our first stop was “Crack in the Ground” (see excerpt from Wikipedia below}.  Most of the group scurried along the bottom of the fissure.  I, along  with a special friend, stopped, gazed around in wonderment, and photographed whatever jumped out at me.  By the time the group had walked to the end, walked back to the start, and then walked back to fine us, we had only covered about one half of the distance.  My mind and eyes wondered at every turn.  I am a wondering explorer, not a hiker.

From Wikipedia:

Crack in the Ground is a volcanic fissure about 2 miles (3.2 km) long with depths measuring nearly 30 feet (9 m) below ground level in Central Oregon, United States. The eruptions from the Four Craters Lava Field were accompanied by a slight sinking of the older rock surface, forming a shallow, graben-like structure about 2 miles (3.2 km) wide and extending to the south into an old lake basin. Crack in the Ground marks the western edge of this small, volcano-tectonic depression. The crack is the result of a tension fracture along a hingeline produced by the draping of Green Mountain lava flows over the edge of upthrown side of the concealed fault zone. The fissure is located at the southwest corner of Four Craters Lava Field in the Deschutes National Forest.

Crack in the Ground is estimated to have been created around 1,000 years ago.

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Milky Way Over Ft. Rock

Milky Way over Ft. Rock Crater, Central Oregon

A few weeks ago, a few of my college friends and I drove out to a remote area in Central Oregon to photograph the Milky Way.  We had scouted the area on the previous day and thought it would be interesting to photograph the Milky Way rising out of Ft. Rock Crater.  The bright object in the lower left is Mars.  The bright object in the lower right is Jupiter.  We were blessed with this interesting symmetry.

Mary Dahlin wrote this following poem about her experience observing the beautiful sight

                                            The Milky Way over Ft. Rock, Oregon

Our galaxy plots a path from a crater in central Oregon.

Fort Rock, a grand and lonely crater,
looms coolly over flat ground, showing remnants
of what spewed forth a hundred thousand years ago,
short in geologic time but long in human time.

The Milky Way seems to jump out from the center of the crater, 
billions of years the product of our Creator, and we look at it

with Mars on the left and Jupiter on the right.  Much of this is a mystery.
We know it is a galaxy, but it is too great to fully understand.

The colors are green, blue, and bright yellowish white,
all colors of life, like the ocean, the plants, and the sun.

What is time, and how all-important are we, really?

These are questions too difficult to answer, but for a moment
we can accept the complexity of the universe and our own
and be filled with wonder.

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Hoar Frost in June

Road to Hurricane Ridge, Olympic National Park, WA

I wasn’t expecting to see Hoar Frost in mid-June.  The conditions were just right as we were driving up to Hurricane Ridge, moist fog and cold temperature.  As soon as I saw the light mist, the frost covered trees, and the contrasting  rock outcroppings, I thought of B&W.  Magic happens!

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