“Oregon Wine Country”
Dundee Hills, Oregon
It was a hot 90 degree day as we traveled around the Dundee Hills above the Willamette Valley. As we drove between wineries we enjoyed the beautiful scenes in the wine country. The sky was bright without a cloud. Rows and rows of grape vines spread across the hills. We saw this huge live oak on a crest of a hill and just had to stop and enjoy the bucolic countryside. And, the wine was wonderful!!!
“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
Boat Graveyard & Repair Facility – Charleston, Oregon
I spent a couple of hours exploring an old boat graveyard in Charleston, Oregon, I was fascinated with all the chipped paint on the old boats from a by-gone era. They had seen a much better time. I can just imagine the stories these old boats could tell. I picked an image at random and played with it in Topaz Impression. I applied a Van Gogh painting style as an overlay. Today I needed a break from reality
Portland Japanese Gardens
Today is an overcast dark day. I need a little brightness!
Yesterday I visited the Portland Japanese Gardens. Even though the day was overcast and a bit drizzly, the bright fall colors of this Japanese maple brightened the surroundings and captured my eye. The fall color was past its prime. But, there was still quite a bit of color patches. I thought the gardens were beautiful and can just imagine what they were like during their prime color. Next fall I will return during the peak.
P.S. I was practicing working with light and found this brilliant reflection.
“The Face in the Mist”
On one of our workshop days we went down to Bandon beach early in the morning. The fog covered many of the sea stacks. Gradually the fog lifted and I was able to get this exposure. My intent was to create a mood of a misty morning filled with gentle soft light, an awakening of the Indian maiden in the sea.
“Struggling for Life”
These two trees struggling for life caught my attention while I was doing some long exposure photography. My interest quickly focused on them. I walked around to get the best perspective I could find. I focused on keeping the angle of the trees leaning to the center, maintaining a separation between the small sea stack and the cliff, and eliminating some distracting rocks and dirt on the right edge. I blended two images together to achieve a tonal range between the sky and the cliff. I did a little dodging on the tree trunks and a little burning in the sky to get the contrast I was looking for.
I am getting better at taking my time to look around before becoming engrossed in shooting.
Cape Perpetua – Central Oregon Coast
I just finished a workshop on the Oregon Coast with John Barclay and Cole Thompson. I walked away with a new set of tools: Long exposure photography and B&W processing. But what was more important, I reconfirmed why I photograph. I do it for myself. I do not do it for others. If someone happens to like an image I create, I will give it to them as a gift. That satisfies me.
I feel the same way about my website posts. I do it for myself. I record some of my thoughts at the time. If someone is interested in what I do, I share the site with them. I do not expect comments.
The above image was one of the last ones I took before heading back home. I made a side trip to Cape Perpetua and Thor’s Well. I finished taking images on the shore and packed up my gear. Right before I got to the top of the hill, I Iooked up and saw fog coming in. I stopped in my tracks and got my camera back out. This was the first long exposure I took. The wind picked up quickly and the fog started coming in rapidly. Below is my next image. How quickly things change! These images were taken 3 minutes apart, both with 2 minute exposures.
Face Rock – Bandon, Oregon
I looked and looked and looked. I could not see the face that this rock was named after. It was a dark, cloudy morning. The sun broke through for a moment and lit up the side of the rock. There was the face.
Can you see it. Hint, it is looking up at the right corner of the image.
Bandon Beach
I just got a new B&W conversion SW plug-in (Macphun Tonality). I picked out some photos of the beach near Bandon, Oregon to work on. I played around to explore some of the secondary features. After converting to B&W I added a “misty/dreamy” look. I then added a paper texture and a vignette. Sometimes I just need to play to get my creative juices flowing.
Fuji X-T1, XF 18-135mm @ 37mm, f/22, 1/180 sec, ISO 400
I have heard many people comment on the beauty of the Painted Hills of NE Oregon. Being from central Washington, I had never taken the 2-3 hour drive to see them. So on a recent trip to central Oregon, I thought I would go exploring. My purpose was more of a scouting trip than specifically to take images. I was there mid day on a very bright warm summer day. Even in this bright light, the colors of the hills radiated out. I look forward to coming back during the late afternoon sunlight.
Painted Hills is one of the three units of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, located in Wheeler County, Oregon.[1] It totals 3,132 acres (1,267 ha) and is located 9 miles (14 km) northwest of Mitchell, Oregon. The Painted Hills are listed as one of the Seven Wonders of Oregon.[2] Painted Hills is named after the colorful layers of its hills corresponding to various geological eras, formed when the area was an ancient river floodplain.
The black soil is lignite that was vegetative matter that grew along the floodplain. The grey coloring is mudstone, siltstone, and shale.[3] The red coloring is laterite soil that formed by floodplain deposits when the area was warm and humid.[