Artists and Dreamers

I drove out to Hood River last week to begin work on the 2017 calendar printing, and I wasn't planning on doing any photography because I was tired.  But on the way back, the river turned calm and reflective, and it did this right in front of the vista point turnout, so of course I pulled over.  Usually this turnout is pretty empty, just a semi or two with the driver napping in the back.  But on this day the lot was full, and everyone out with their cameras and iphones.  I started to feel a kindred spirit with these fellow travelers who had also chosen to pause their journey and enjoy the scene with me; and started to think about all the vehicles whizzing by behind me, their occupants either in too much of a rush or too distracted to notice what we were taking in. Glad I had the opportunity to pause and enjoy.

Linking to Weekend Reflections

Class Assignment

Josef Sudek

Well, I'm taking another photography class this spring.  This week our assignment was black and white, particularly looking at photographs by Josef Sudek.  He's got some pretty moody images; things I'd love to work on if we were in our foggy season, and he's also got lots of still life images.  My absolute favorite is the one I've included to the right side of this post: the drinking glass and egg reflection.  I have no idea how he got it looking like this! I tried, but couldn't even come close.  So I ended up working on another of his subject matter with water bubbles on the side of a vase.  He gets a lot more detail without making the lighting quite so harsh as I did.  My heart wasn't in this one.  Maybe if I were house-bound for a while, it would be something to experiment with more.  Anyway, class is tomorrow, so I'll have a new assignment for next week.

Hood River Valley

Ah, spring!  Beautiful view of Mt. Hood

 from one of the orchards in the Hood River Valley.

Path to the Goose Pen

Fabulous view down on of the orchard rows at Draper Girls in Hood River Valley. Peaches or plum? I'm not sure, but I think maybe peaches. I read an online article on telling the difference, but after my visit, and I didn't take any close up shots so I can't get a good look at the blossoms. Either way, lucky geese to have such a lovely and fragrant spring view!

Elowah

I'm in love with this off-the-beaten-path waterfall, just down the road from Multnomah! We discovered it this week, and pretty much had the entire falls all to ourselves. We hiked in, under a mile, easy trail but a bit rocky. The trail enters a steep canyon from the top, and descends to the bottom of the gorge through a series of steep switchbacks. It's hard to take the scene in visually, and I found it impossible to capture in a single photo. Even this shot, taken after a scramble down to the water's edge, uses my wide angle lens but to me it looks like I've zoomed in. The falls, visible in the background, drop over 200 ft, and the trail with small footbridge crosses just below them, so you feel the enormity of them, and get pretty wet from all the spray. 

Tulip Town

I feel like I've gotten to know most of the tulip fields around La Connor and Mt Vernon in the past few years, so I was surprised to stumble upon this large commercial viewing field called Tulip Town. It rivals Roozengarde in size, and like Roozenbarge it charges admission. But Tulip Town fields seem really to be planted for show, with tight rows and alternating bands of colors, and no signs warning visitors to stay out of the fields. The large farms have a carnival atmosphere. Along the horizon line you can see trolley car pulled by a tractor, taking visitors through the fields. I wanted to come back to this field later in the day when the sun wasn't so bright, but unfortunately they close at 5pm and have a big gate they can lock up. Oh well. Also one thing that neither of my Skagit Valley photos really shows is how muddy the fields are this year after all our rain. I was so glad that I keep my rain boots stored in my trunk because they were really necessary for wandering around the fields!

Linking to Skywatch Friday