Mt. Hood, a winter wonder

Mt. Hood as seen from Trillium Lake

I've been shooting a series on Mt. Hood for some time now. My goal is to capture the mountain in all its moods throughout the seasons. Friday turned out to be as beautiful as predicted, a perfectly clear morning near zero degrees. Snowshoeing in just before sunrise was fairly easy since all but the last 1/4 mile was on groomed trail.

The snow in this area is about 5-7ft deep, about 14" of that being fresh dry snow. So while the going was good on the groomed trail, it was moderately difficult in the untracked snow. Need a good workout? try 4.5 miles on snowshoes over mixed terrain and snowpack. Oh, and don't forget the 30 or so pounds of gear in the ol backpack ;-)

I headed out to the west side of the mountain later in the afternoon. The photo below was taken late day and at a spot I haven't been to before. It's an interesting area, I'm looking forward to exploring more.

Mt. Hood

Fire Light

Sunset at Cannon Beach

No, it really didn't look like that but sometimes it's just fun to apply a little artisic touch. I brought up the fill light a little and drastically changed the white balance to flood the scene with red. Otherwise, it's exactly as shot. In all I spent less than one minute on this photo. Less time than it took to upload it and write this!

Hope you enjoy :-)

JB

Just Ducky

Mirror mirror on the pond...

What can I say, been working way too much lately so I ended up with a day off during the week. Considering I'm on-call I couldn't really travel to any of my favorite spots so I made do with the local wildlife. The ducks are courting now so they put on a pretty good show throughout the morning.

The photo to the right isn't anything to write home about, but I thought the water drops looked cool.

After a rather serious courting session she decided a good bath was in order. Not having a towel handy, she just shook vigorously (like your dog does, except ducks aren't all wet and smelly afterwards ;-)

Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge

The weather was dark and nasty last saturday so I decided to use the afternoon as an opportunity to check out the refuge. It's really important to know the layout of an area before coming with the idea of shooting wildlife. Well, I mean in the serious sense.

It's an interesting place, there's an auto drive tour where you must stay in your vehicle (except in designated places, at the entrance booth and a blind about half way around the loop).

The wildlife is used to the cars so it becomes like a moving blind and some wildlife will stand right next to your car (like the hawk shown below). This was on the south end of the refuge, on the north end there's a two mile hiking loop. I haven't tried that yet but looking forward to it.

The photos shown here are from that visit and they aren't very good quality, but then they were shot at about ISO 2500 in an attempt to get good clear photos. Like I said it was a dark day, dark grey, with rain and spitting snow. Can't wait to go back in nice light, should make for some fantastic photos.

If you go be sure to leave the pets at home, they aren't allowed in the refuge. Be sure to bring your field glasses and/or spotting scopes and cameras.

http://www.fws.gov/ridgefieldrefuges/ridgefield/visit.html

Why you should visit the Oregon Coast this week.

Sunset -- Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach, Oregon

In a nutshell, because when there's an off-shore airflow like now its clear and warm! Actually the weather is forecast good the next couple days, Thursday it'll start clouding up and the balance of the week is rain.

Portland was cold and windy, basically not much fun to be out and about. Contrasting that, the coast was about 65 degrees and only a light breeze, a light sweater was perfect. Consider this, much of August was actually colder!

Not sure what more there is to say, ate at Moe's, went to Ecola State Park, and back to the beach for sunset. It was my first time at Ecola, a nice place and the views are wonderful (see below). There's Elk droppings all over the grass near the parking area so watch for them if you're there at sunrise or sunset. Could make for a nice photo op!

Snow and Ice

Mt. Hood as seen from Trillium Lake

Last Monday and Tuesday were my first real opportunities to get out and play in the snow. I started Monday snowshoeing around Trillium lake about sunrise. That morning it was about 4 degrees and -16 with the wind chill, cold for sure but a nice day to be out. The shot above was pretty much the only time I saw the mountain that morning. I hadn't ever been around the backside of the lake, let alone on snowshoes. At 14" the snow was a bit shallow for my taste in winter photo ops but certainly deep enough to provide a nice workout. I couldn't really tell how thick the ice was, clearly thick in some places and looking thin in others so I wasn't about to venture out on it. Besides, I was the only person there that morning, making safety a primary concern. On the way out I did pass a couple cross-country skiers going into the lake and someone snowshoeing into the cabins nearby.

Following a much needed brunch in Government Camp I snowshoed about a mile into Sahale Falls which is near Mt. Hood Meadows. It was actually so froze over that the photos really didn't show anything. The snow was about 2 1/2 feet deep with no broke trail, hard going for sure but I'm sure everyone that comes after will appreciate me breaking trail for them.

Late that afternoon and the next day were spent in the Columbia Gorge. The waterfalls and icefall were spectacular even though there wasn't much snow. If you've never seen it iced up then I'd suggest making the trip, photos really don't do it justice. The roads can be a bit difficult (like now), but when I was there they were nearly clear so driving was a non-event. Unfortunately I'm on-call through 12/26 so chances are I won't get back to see the gorge with all this fresh snow in the wintery mix but I'm sure January will bring more opportunities to see the Gorge in all its winter glory. I'll try to get my web page updated with the balance of the set. In addition to some documentary style ones I took in Oneonta Gorge of various ice formations, there's a couple other nice ones from the Women's overlook and from Vista House looking east just after sunset.

Below are Multnomah Falls (with walk bridge) and Horsetail Falls.

Last weekend and next

Racing into the warmth of late day sun.

Last weekend I shot USGP Cyclocross racing at PIR (see website). It was my first time shooting bicycles and an interesting experience. The turnout for this event was huge, both in contestants and spectators.

You're probably wondering why I would do that and it's a fair question. I found shooting sports really helps hone my skills for catching the action. Comes in quite handy when trying to capture wildlife, especially the skiddish ones. I only shot Saturday although originally there were plans to shoot Sunday too.

Sunday started out at sunrise with a couple hours at work, but not wanting to spend all day at the track shooting cyclists I headed off to Smith and Bybee Lakes nature area for what proved to a an uneventful and increasingly wet morning. Clearly shooting at the track that afternoon would be wet and miserable so I finally gave it up for the day after a couple hours of pouring rain and elusive subjects.

Fast forward...

If you hadn't noticed the weather report for this weekend is calling for some rather cold and nasty conditions, especially in the Columbia Gorge. Up high there should be fresh snow Friday-Sunday, with some clearing Monday and sunshine expected Tuesday. Exactly the kind of weather I've been waiting for so I booked some vacation time and plan to spend Saturday-Tuesday in the Gorge and up high too, around Mt. Hood or Jefferson. I'm hoping for some snow or maybe even waterfall ice in the gorge and lots of deep fresh show up high. Perfect for some snowshoeing with the ol camera in tow. Should make for a fun time :-)

So... I might have some nice winter photos to post later next week!