Category: Landscape

Coastal Color

Splash3

I spent some time in Yachats this week trying to capture the quintessential waves crashing on rocks picture. I have others that do a better job of capturing the shear energy of the the crashing waves. But this one, shot close to sunset with a high powered neutral density filter to force a slow shutter speed, was one of my favorites for the colors and the water flowing over the rock at the end of the splash while some splashing is misting out in the background. This one I would hang on my wall, the high energy one, while a good enough picture, I would not.

Rogue River Bridge

RRBridge

I’m breaking with tradition this year and not posting the image of the year from 2018 as the first image of the week for 2019. For one thing I am still going through the images from last year and at last count there were about 10,000 before editing out the clunkers. For another, the one I would probably choose appeared here just a month ago. It was so overwhelming I decided not to use it as the sidebar image this year either but chose something simpler. But, perhaps most importantly I wanted to feature a  new project I am starting this year which requires me to visit the Oregon Coast for at least two days every month in 2019. I wanted to start it off right so scheduled a trip from Jan 2-5 with fingers crossed on the weather. I lucked out and had three beautiful days with rain starting just as I was ready to go home. I arrived in Gold Beach a little late due to circumstances beyond my control but had time to hustle on down to the Rogue River Bridge in time for sunset. Not sure why they need those tall metal poles in the river but otherwise not a bad shot. Handheld with then new EOS R mirrorless. Starting to really love that camera.

Death Valley

DeathValley1

I’m a couple of weeks behind on the image of the week. The trip kept me busy and a little burned out so now that I have recovered I can revisit some of the photos from the trip. I stopped in Death Valley for the first time on my way home and two things were immediately obvious. One, I didn’t allow enough time. I went in with the attitude that it was going to be boring desert and not my kind of photography at all. But I was struck with the stark landscapes and colorful rock formations. All of which lead me to number two, I need to go back and spend a week. This image was shot in late afternoon along the Artist’s Drive. Another thing to note about Death Valley is that it is a dark sky park so a good place to go and shoot starry skies. Yep, I think I will pencil it in for November of next year…. it was still pretty hot in October.

Old Car, Bodie, California

OldCar

I had a fun morning shooting the old cars and buildings in Bodie, California, a ghost town I have wanted to visit for some time. I’ve seen this car in my pictures of Bodie so I was on the lookout for it. Shot with the Canon M3 and an 18-150mm zoom. I was shooting most of the interiors with my Lensbaby Trio28 because it came with a polarizing filter which made it easier to shoot through the windows. You can see more of my Bodie shots on my travel blog at http://jeannehoadley.com/Travel. Enjoy.

Japanese Lantern

SnowLanternw

They called this a snow viewing lantern. I don’t know why. I have been neglecting my image of the week postings because I am still up to my ears in processing photos from Japan and creating a scrapbook of the trip. But when I came across this photo I thought it deserved special recognition. Of course I am always a sucker for Japanese Lanterns. This was one of 15 in a garden crammed into a site less than a half acre in area. Paradise.

Day 88 – Mount McLaughlin

MtMcL

The Snow-capped Mountains

I want to be where the Snow-Capped Mountains are- 
Where the white snow gleams in the sunlight, 
Where the crystal-like sparkles penetrate the body 
And relieve every dismal thought you’ve ever had. 

I yearn for those Snow-Capped Mountains- 
Where the thoughts of today and yesterday are obsolete, 
Where you tower over every normative thought, every routine action 
And where idealism is actually within reach. 

But my arms are not long enough, 
To transcend these limits 
And my fingertips cannot grasp 
Those Snow-Capped Mountains gleaming on the horizon. 

-Cate Gooch

This was the view at Touvelle State Park yesterday. As a native Oregonian snow capped volcanic peaks mean home to me. They just do. And Mt McLaughlin is the most homiest of them all. It’s easy to forget it’s there. You have to be in the right place, somewhere north of Medford to get the best views. But every time I see it it takes my breath away. And I have been know to cry on spotting it from an airplane returning home from some exile far away.

Day 85 – Applegate Valley

AValley

But I, Too, Want to be a Poet

But I, too, want to be a poet
to erase from my days
confusion & poverty
fiction & a sharp tongue

To sing again
with the tones of adolescence
demanding vengeance
against my enemies, with words
clear & austere

To end this tumultuous quest
for reasonable solutions
to situations mysterious & sore

To have the height to view
myself as I view others
with lenience & love

To be free of the need
to make a waste of money
when my passion,
first and last,
is for the ecstatic lash
of the poetic line

and no visible recompense

-Fanny Howe

So, the fog finally cleared, only because it is so windy it blew away and so it’s still impossible to do any outdoor photography. I’m not feeling too inspired for the studio either so I started backward through the files and got to November 17 before I found something I liked. A nice scene from the Applegate Valley. There used to be a huge white barn on this site but sometime in the past two years it just vanished. At least they left some of the old farm equipment. I got a couple of new poetry books today so instead of looking for something to fit the photo I just paged through until I found one I liked.

Day 84 – Fog

Fog

Fog

The fog comes 
on little cat feet. 


It sits looking 
over harbor and city 
on silent haunches 
and then moves on.


 -Carl Sandburg

I’ve been cursing the fog lately because it has been keeping everything cold and dark. But when I saw this scene as I was going out to get the mail yesterday I had to go back and get the camera. Of course I had to zoom in to cut out all the buildings and cars but it was the wispyness of the fog in the valley and the colors of the clouds that drew me in. This poem by Carl Sandburg is one of the first ones I was ever introduced to by a teacher in grade school. I have always loved the imagery of the cat sneaking in and looking around. Though our fog tends to stick around for days on end. Happily it finally cleared this afternoon.

 

 

Day 80 – Bare Poplars

Poplars

Desespoir

The seasons send their ruin as they go,
For in the spring the narciss shows its head
Nor withers till the rose has flamed to red,
And in the autumn purple violets blow,
And the slim crocus stirs the winter snow;
Wherefore yon leafless trees will bloom again
And this grey land grow green with summer rain
And send up cowslips for some boy to mow.

But what of life whose bitter hungry sea
Flows at our heels, and gloom of sunless night
Covers the days which never more return?
Ambition, love and all the thoughts that burn
We lose too soon, and only find delight
In withered husks of some dead memory.

-Oscar Wilde

Who knew Oscar Wilde could be so dark. Well, it does fit the picture and the gloominess brought on by persistent fog in the valley. I was inspired this morning by a photographer I follow who blogged about how she loves to photograph the shapes of the trees as autumn fades into winter. So I decided what better way to put the fog to good use and drove out into the orchards to see what I could find. It’s hard to beat bare poplars for drama against the sky but the colors were so flat it seemed to cry out for a black and white treatment.

Day 79 – Fallen Fence

Fencew

No!

No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease,
No comfortable feel in any member –
No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds –
November!

-Thomas Hood

It wasn’t raining today but it was just gloomy. I kept expecting thing to brighten up but they never did. So I went back to my fallen down fence from yesterday and worked on  it a little more. You wouldn’t guess there is a self storage facility just beyond the next pasture would you? And Farewell to November with 21 one days to go before Autumn officially ends.