Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Oregon Odyssey #1: Lines In The Desert

They say time flies when you're having fun. Turns out they're right. I ended up having so much fun in Oregon with Marc that I never made it to Yosemite National Park as planned. Instead, we ended up criss-crossing Oregon to the tune of 1,700 miles in just nine days. Rainforests, deserts, mountains, sand dunes, lakebeds, cities -- you name it, we traversed it. The roads varied from smooth pavement to very rough dirt axle-breakers. My minivan damn near mutinied on me.

At one point, I stupidly left my very expensive tripod on top of my vehicle and forgot about it. So, guess what? Yep: we had to backtrack 150 miles looking for a proverbial needle in a haystack. I think it was my minivan's way of exacting its revenge. But, I had the last laugh, because, against all odds, we found my tripod laying on the side of the road. It was a high-five moment, to be sure.

Below are two of my favorite images from the trip. They are from the Alvord Desert region of Oregon. It's one of Marc's favorite places on Earth, and I can see why. It offers things you just don't see anywhere else. The lines you see in the photos are salt deposits left from lakeshores that evaporated. These photos are from the very last 24 hours of our trip. The Alvord can be very rewarding if you are willing to make the journey.

I will be back soon with more images from my Oregon Odyssey. 'Till then, take care. And be nice to your car. ^_^

Alvord Desert Sunrise (Large version here.)

Meandering Salt Line (Large version here.)

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Three for the road!

Prepare yourself for some crippling disappointment: I'm not going to pontificate much today. I know, it's hard to accept, but after you've finished bawling your eyes out, read on.

My reason for being to the point is this: it's late, and early tomorrow morning, I leave for a three-week road trip to the Pacific Northwest. I will be shooting in a place I've always wanted to, but never been: Yosemite National Park. Even better, I will once again be rendezvousing in Oregon with world renowned landscape photographer Marc Adamus. Last year, he and I really hit it off, and I expect this year will be no different. He's going to take me to some rarely seen places, and I couldn't be more thrilled.

For now, I have three images to show you from my recent trip to Olympic National Park. I was caught off guard by how diverse and beautiful the park is. This was primarily a scouting expedition, as the main reason I was in the area was to visit an old friend in Seattle. Thus, I only had a day and a half in the park, along with only my camera, two lenses and a tabletop tripod.

I will definitely be back in the future for a proper photography trip, one where I can really give the park its due.


Autumn Rainforest

This is from the Hoh Rainforest area of the park. This is an image I've always wanted to make, yet have never been able to, because A) I just don't get to the Pacific NW very often, and B) forest images are notoriously difficult to shoot. Finding a spot that has the right light and room to make a good composition is not easy.

Old and New

I was surprised to find such vibrant fall color. The juxtaposition of the young and old tree along with the vivid colors was what persuaded me to make this image.

Second Beach Sunset

This was taken at Second Beach, which is one of the many spectacular beaches in the coastal section of the park. I visited about ten different beaches in the area, and this was the one that was the most visually stunning to me.

Well, that about does it. As usual, you can see larger versions of these photos in my Best Of Gallery. Thanks for looking and take care!