Hi, all! I just returned from a quick road trip to the Northwest, to teach at Pacific Northwest Arts School, and took a week to drive back. The trip was fraught with ‘photo-misses’. I arrived at Mt. Rainier to do night sky photography reflecting in a lake, only to have a breeze obliterate the lake reflection, and then clouds moved in obliterating the stars. But after a few hours sleep, I checked the skies again, and managed to make a nice image of stars and the mountain, but without the lake – still too breezy.  I then drove to Trillium Lake, in Oregon, that has a wonderful reflection of Mount Hood, and was planning on sunset photography and stars. Afternoon thermals, and kayaks and canoes had stirred the waters, but as people packed up and left, the lake calmed down. Suddenly a huge cloud rolled in and obliterated the mountain right at the best light of sunset! I couldn’t believe my eyes. I waited until 8 PM hoping it would clear and I could then do my night photography at least, but it was hanging in there. I went back to bed, and at 3 AM was out there hoping to have calm waters, and clear skies. And I had both! However, Mt. Hood ski area had decided it was cold enough to begin making snow, so instead of this tranquil scene, I had huge bright white lights on the side of the mountain, all beautifully reflected in the calm water!! grrrr.

Finally, I headed for the Northern Umpqua river drainage, and Toketee Falls, and was not disappointed, by the blog image you see here. The falls pour through a break in a wall of columnar basalt, dropping into a lovely and inviting pool of water below. The late afternoon light was bouncing off clouds, filling the basin with some nice even lighting. I used my Singh-Ray Vario ND to get an 8 second exposure, as I wanted the water to be soft, yet with some texture. I finally managed a photograph that made me happy!

The next morning I headed for home, and was coming through the Mount Shasta area at sunset. It was a hazy and windy afternoon, but the light was promising, and the wind began to back off a bit, so I made a quick stop to capture the light. In the end, these blog pics are my two favorite pictures from the road trip  – they are actually the ONLY pictures that I were successful, lol. But then Ansel was happy with one picture after three weeks on the road, so I guess I shouldn’t complain!

Thanks for visiting!