Switchbacks May 2013

Covered an hour or so of the Switchbacks event this weekend and the photos are posted now. It was an abbreviated visit due to other family obligations, but Claire and I enjoyed what we were able to catch!

Raffle winner during Post Race Festivities of the 2012 P-Town Throwdown.

Spring has sprung and with it the first big event on the Portland skate calendar is just around the corner. Hosted by Robin “Robskey” McGuirk of Eastside Longboards, the P-Town Throwdown is held on Memorial Day Weekend each year. This week’s Image of the Week; Winning Joy, is from the 2012 event.

The event is a “push race”, a longboard skateboard endurance race running 8.5 miles from Mt. Tabor Park to Sellwood Park. McGuirk has won every event run on this course dating back eight years and will be trying to make it nine this year. Following the event there is a raffle for the participants held at Sellwood Park. Winning Joy was captured during this raffle at last year’s event. The young man in the photo had just won one of the top prizes, the board he’s holding over his head. Everyone enjoyed how excited he was with the possible exception of the young man over his left shoulder!

As always this year’s P-Town Throwdown is a benefit for the Oregon Food Bank. Come on out on Sunday, May 26th to join in the fun and help set a new record for food donations!

Technical Specs:

• JPEG image with Nikon D7000 @ 220 ISO
• Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR DX Zoom Nikkor Lens @ 18mm
• 1/200th of a Second @ ƒ/11
• Sunday, May 20, 2012 @ 11:05
• Sellwood Park, Portland, Oregon, USA

Motoring in on Lake Erie at sunset.

Greetings from Ohio. As I write this week’s post I am in Cleveland on business, as it posts I should just about be ready to start my journey home. On this trip I knew I wouldn’t have much mobility so I didn’t bring an SLR, but back in 2009 on another trip here I did. I’m proud to present Motoring Home as this week’s Image of the Week.

In my position at Portland State Bookstore I volunteer in our national trade organization which is headquartered near Cleveland. I have made several visits here over the years for various functions related to CCRA. Prior to my 2009 visit I made contact with the local camera club to inquire about some good places to shoot around downtown Cleveland. Not only did they help me with that, but two of the officers of the club invited me to join them for a photo tour of the city! How could I not take advantage of such wonderful midwest hospitiality?

After picking me up at my hotel we drove all around central Cleveland. We visited museums, college campuses, historic neighborhoods, and beautiful parks. After a break for me to treat them to dinner we went to the lakefront for sunset.

I captured Motoring Home in Voinovich Park along the the Lake Erie seawall. I was very fortunate that the sailboat passed by at nearly the perfect moment. The sky was more colorful a couple of minutes earlier, but the golden hues of the image frame the boat well.

Following the shooting on the waterfront we moved on to shoot night images of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and then back to the hotel. Motoring Home was my favorite image from the trek; it was exhibited in the Anchor’s Aweigh show presented by the Gresham Art Committee. All in all a very memorable trip to the Midwest!

Technical Specs:

• JPEG image with Nikon D300 @ 200 ISO
• Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR DX Zoom Nikkor Lens @ 20mm
• 1/320th of a Second @ ƒ/9
• Sunday, July 12, 2009 @ 20:56
• Near Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Cleveland, Ohio, USA

Aermotor Windmill near Maupin, Oregon.

Having spent part of my youth on ranches and farms east of the cascades I have a fascination with the pioneer past of the northwest. Today when you travel through the eastern gorge and Columbia plateau there are huge wind turbines at work. This week’s Image of the Week; Yesteryear Wind Power, is an example of simpler wind power.

Aermotor has been around since 1888 and still sells windmills today. In my travels around the northwest they are the units most commonly seen. I don’t know enough about them to make a true guess as to the age of this unit. I do know it is rare to see them in such good shape and clearly a number of years old. I found it located in a field near Maupin adjacent to an old homestead.

A simple image from a simpler time.

Technical Specs:

• JPEG image with Nikon D80 @ 200 ISO
• Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR DX Zoom Nikkor Lens @ 170mm
• 1/640th of a Second @ ƒ/10
• Friday, April 23, 2010 @ 11:05
• Near Maupin, Oregon, USA

The Alley of Oaks at the famous plantation in Louisiana.

This week’s entry is one from the early archives of Kroll Images. During a business trip to New Orleans in 2005 we made a side trip to visit a plantation outside of town. I’m pleased to present Oak Alley as this week’s Image of the Week.

The Oak Alley Plantation is located about an hour out for New Orleans on the Great River Road. The drive was very scenic, mostly following the river and crossing swampland. It was a comfortable, albeit cloudy, day to be out touring.

Oak Alley was captured from the deck on the upper level of the main house. Looking towards the river the famed alley of oaks is what gives the plantation it’s name. The people at the end of the are returning to their riverboat cruise ship just over the dike at the end of the alley.

The plantation was stunning and very educational. Neither knew very much about the history of the area and plantation life. The staff was very informative and the number of artifacts was astounding.

We spent the balance of the day visiting other historic sites in the area and learning about life on the great river. I hope to return in the future to see even more!

Technical Specs:

• JPEG image with Sony P100 @ 100 ISO
• Integrated Lens @ 7.9mm
• 1/80th of a Second @ ƒ/2.8
• Saturday, February 26, 2005 @ 15:46
• Oak Alley Plantation, Vacherie, Louisiana, USA

SCCA RallyCross presented by the Oregon Rally Group. Held at the English Gravel Pit in Vancouver, WA on April 7, 2013.

Earlier this month Todd of Alternative-shots arranged for us to shoot the Oregon Rally Group’s RallyCross event held in Vancouver. It was a wet and muddy day but we had fun and captured many images. I’m proud to present my favorite, Kickin’ It Up, as this week’s Image of the Week.

I must admit that going into the event I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I had covered Rally and other Motorsports, but never RallyCross and never an event held in a gravel pit! The weather was going to be another twist, rain makes mud and brings with it the expectation of some good mud-slinging photos! Rain also presents challenges with keeping the lens, the gear, and the photographer dry and functioning! Fortunately most of the rain was relatively light with just a few passing heavy showers that were short lived. I was pretty soaked leading into the lunch break but was able to take a short drive for food with the heat kicked up to do a reasonable job of drying out.

After tech, registration, the driver’s meeting, and a short orientation we were out on course and shooting the event. We got great access and while we were getting our feet wet (literally) we even had a volunteer spotter to keep us safe, point out some of the ins & outs, and of course make sure we were following the rules.

While I was getting acclimated I left the camera in Aperture Priority mode to best deal with the changing skies (and therefore light) so I could concentrate on finding good shooting angles and locations. I knew that would result in freezing all of the action with shutter speeds faster than ideal, but the pictures would still be good and cut down on the variables early in the day. Once things settled down I switched to Shutter Priority and ultimately settled on 1/60th of a second for a good compromise between showing a bit of motion blur but keeping the cars in sharp focus. That was still a bit faster than I would have ideally liked, but with the constantly changing light it was a choice that would work consistently. I shot throughout the day with the D300 with the battery pack for it’s rapid fire burst mode and the 70-300vr so I could bring the action close without having to be so close as to become part of the action!

Kickin’ It Up was my favorite shot of the day for a couple of reasons. I liked the way the gravel being kicked up by the right front obscured most of the background and brought the focus in on the car. I liked the sense of speed that the image conjures up. I also liked the bright colors in the frame and the fact that it wasn’t visibly raining. If the cone wasn’t between the car and I it would have been that much better, but with action shots it’s awfully difficult to control all of the aspects of the image.

While this was my image of choice yours might be different, I invite you to visit the galleries from the day and see what else I shot! Check out the super fast slide shows like the one at left. You’ll see every still image captured during the day shown for 1/10th second makes for the digital equivalent of an old flip book video!

Technical Specs:

• JPEG image with Nikon D300 @ 200 ISO
• Nikon 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G ED IF AF-S VR Nikkor Zoom Lens @ 170mm
• 1/60th of a Second @ ƒ/9
• Sunday, April 7, 2013 @ 15:46
• Vancouver, Washington, USA

Morning Images from April 7th RallyCross are posted

Images from the morning session of the RallyCross event produced by Oregon Rally Group at the English Gravel Pit on April 7th are posted. It was a wet and muddy day, but we had a lot of fun shooting it. Afternoon images will follow shortly.

Young Fawns near Goldendale, WA.

This week we brings another image related to our trips to the Maryhill Festival of Speed. This past year, on our way to the Saturday session, we stumbled upon two Curious Fawns. They became the subjects of this week’s Image of the Week.

For the 2012 event we had the good fortune to stay on property owned by family friends just north of Goldendale. The property is located a few miles off of the main highway on lightly travelled gravel roads; the area is rich with wildlife. We saw everything from wild turkeys to large deer.

After rounding a corner on Saturday morning we met our Curious Fawns. I always try to keep my camera within reach when I have it in the car. As it happened it was just out of reach this time, but Ethan could reach it and came to my rescue. I stopped the car, rolled down the window, and started taking photos.

As is often the case with wildlife, they were just a curious about us as we were about them. They stayed still for several minutes roughly 150 feet from us. Before long they lost interest in us and wandered into the sticks and out of sight, not in any particular hurry.

Keep your equipment handy, you never know when a moment like this will present itself!

Technical Specs:

• JPEG image with Nikon D7000 @ 400 ISO
• Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR DX Zoom Nikkor Lens @ 200mm
• 1/40th of a Second @ ƒ/13
• Saturday, June 30, 2012 @ 08:33
• Near Goldendale, Washington, USA

Thank you for your patience and understanding!

Constructed from 1909 to 1913 by Samuel Hill (1857–1931), Maryhill Loops Road is located off Washington Scenic Route 14 just east of U.S. 97.

This week warm weather and sun has me thinking about the summer to come! One of our favorite events is theMaryhill Festival of Speed and it’s scenic setting. I’m proud to present The Loops of Maryhill as this week’s Image of the Week.

There is an incredible amount of history about Maryhill Loops Road and the area surrounding it. It was built from 1910 – 1913 as the first paved road in Washington by Sam Hill with Samuel Lancaster. Hill was the champion of “Good Roads” in our region and funded the construction in an effort to convince the government of the viability of a paved road through the Columbia River Gorge. That would lead directly to what is now the Columbia River Gorge Historic Highway that was designed by Lancaster.

In 1998 the Maryhill Museum of Art repaved and refurbished 3.6 miles of the road. This steep and curvy section now serves as the course for the Maryhill Festival of Speed each summer. The Loops of Maryhill was shot from near the starting point for the downhill longboarders near the famous Maryhill Tree. Racers in full leathers and helmets navigate the multitude of hairpin turns and steep downhill grade reaching very high speeds during the world championship level event.

Technical Specs:

• RAW image with Nikon D300 @ 200 ISO
• Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 AT-X116 Pro DX Digital Zoom Lens @ 11mm
• 1/25 seconds @ ƒ/18
• Sunday, July 3, 2011 @ 09:32
• Maryhill Loops Road, Near Goldendale, Washington, USA

The Historic Columbia River Highway bridge over Multnomah Creek with Multnomah Falls in the background.

This week marks the one year anniversary of my Image of the Week posts. On March 29th of 2012 Column in Fogwas the first entry in the series. There are a few images that have come to represent my work that have been noticeable in their absence from this series. Gorge Serenity has become one of my signature images that I’ve been saving for a special post; I’m proud to present it as the One Year Anniversary Image of the Week.

Anyone who lives in the Portland area will remember the Arctic Blast of 2008. It was the biggest snow storm to hit our area in 40 years. In the early hours of Saturday, December 20th I decided to catch the Gorge blanketed in the snow that had already arrived before a major new storm hit. It was an adventure!

The big push of the storm was supposed to hit us in the early afternoon on Saturday. After checking the weather and road reports I loaded up at sunrise Saturday morning to visit my favorite place to play photographer, the Columbia River Gorge. The roads were pretty good on the way to the Dodson exit to access the Columbia River Historic Highway. Horsetail Falls was the fist stop where there was about 8 inches of new snow on the ground, it wasn’t as icy as I’ve seen it in the past but the snow really added to the scene. Multnomah (including the capture of Gorge Serenity) and Wahkeena falls were the next stops and were also blanketed in snow with more starting to fall and the wind picking up. My final stop was Latourell Falls where I spent quite a bit of time shooting different angles and trying to keep the mist from freezing on the lens.

It was passing eleven o’clock and time to head back for Portland before the weather got any worse. I headed back to the Escape and after knocking the ice off of the windshield wipers put my coat, gloves, and hat in the passenger seat to dry and my phone on the charger. That’s where the fun began!

Just after getting back on the historic highway I had to stop to knock another chunk of ice off of the driver’s side wiper that was causing a big blind spot. I picked a spot where I would be easily visible to any traffic that might come along and stopped in the road to hop out and knock off the ice. The problem is that I somehow locked the door, I still haven’t figured out how (the electric switch won’t lock the door with the engine running and in park so I somehow managed to hit the actual lock switch way up next to the door handle.) So, there I sat with the truck sitting in the middle of the road idling, doors locked, keys inside, phone inside, coat inside, and me outside. All I had was my light sweatshirt with a blizzard set to hit in the next few hours, in a deserted section of the gorge where the temperature was 19 degrees, and the wind and snow were picking up. Needless to say I was seriously kicking myself, I couldn’t believe I had managed to get myself into such a fix.

I started walking back towards the falls to see if I could find anyone at home in one of the homes down below. As I approached the parking lot I was very fortunate that a vehicle was approaching from the west. It was a Coast Guardsman and his visiting family and they very graciously called AAA for me and allowed me to warm up in their vehicle for a few minutes. While we waited for AAA to call back I saw a vehicle (it also happened to be an Escape) with state license plates approaching from the east and I flagged it down. Apparently my guardian angel was watching over me because the driver was the supervisor for the state parks in and around the Gorge. His name was Kevin and he went far above and beyond the call of duty to help me. After taking his family home he returned with coats for me to wear about the time AAA called back to say it would be at least two to three hours before help would arrive from Gresham. He let me use his phone to call Michelle so she could meet up with Todd who was in Troutdale and he could come rescue me. Kevin took me back to his house, fed me hot tea, and then took me back up to the Escape to wait for Todd. We had some nice conversation while we waited and he truly saved the day for me, before he arrived I was very close to deciding to break a window rather than waiting for AAA. Soon enough Todd arrived and we were back home eating brisket with the wives and kids before the brunt of the storm hit.

The trip produced a memorable story and one of my signature images. Kevin has a couple of framed 8x10s as a small thank you from a very grateful person! I hope you enjoy this series as much as I enjoy creating the images. Thanks for following year number one!

Historic Highway. Horsetail Falls was the fist stop where there was about 8 inches of new snow on the ground, it wasn’t as icy as I’ve seen it in the past but the snow really added to the scene. Multnomah (including the capture of Gorge Serenity) and Wahkeena falls were the next stops and were also blanketed in snow with more starting to fall and the wind picking up. My final stop was Latourell Falls where I spent quite a bit of time shooting different angles and trying to keep the mist from freezing on the lens.

It was passing eleven o’clock and time to head back for Portland before the weather got any worse. I headed back to the Escape and after knocking the ice off of the windshield wipers put my coat, gloves, and hat in the passenger seat to dry and my phone on the charger. That’s where the fun began!

Just after getting back on the historic highway I had to stop to knock another chunk of ice off of the driver’s side wiper that was causing a big blind spot. I picked a spot where I would be easily visible to any traffic that might come along and stopped in the road to hop out and knock off the ice. The problem is that I somehow locked the door, I still haven’t figured out how (the electric switch won’t lock the door with the engine running and in park so I somehow managed to hit the actual lock switch way up next to the door handle.) So, there I sat with the truck sitting in the middle of the road idling, doors locked, keys inside, phone inside, coat inside, and me outside. All I had was my light sweatshirt with a blizzard set to hit in the next few hours, in a deserted section of the gorge where the temperature was 19 degrees, and the wind and snow were picking up. Needless to say I was seriously kicking myself, I couldn’t believe I had managed to get myself into such a fix.

I started walking back towards the falls to see if I could find anyone at home in one of the homes down below. As I approached the parking lot I was very fortunate that a vehicle was approaching from the west. It was a Coast Guardsman and his visiting family and they very graciously called AAA for me and allowed me to warm up in their vehicle for a few minutes. While we waited for AAA to call back I saw a vehicle (it also happened to be an Escape) with state license plates approaching from the east and I flagged it down. Apparently my guardian angel was watching over me because the driver was the supervisor for the state parks in and around the Gorge. His name was Kevin and he went far above and beyond the call of duty to help me. After taking his family home he returned with coats for me to wear about the time AAA called back to say it would be at least two to three hours before help would arrive from Gresham. He let me use his phone to call Michelle so she could meet up with Todd who was in Troutdale and he could come rescue me. Kevin took me back to his house, fed me hot tea, and then took me back up to the Escape to wait for Todd. We had some nice conversation while we waited and he truly saved the day for me, before he arrived I was very close to deciding to break a window rather than waiting for AAA. Soon enough Todd arrived and we were back home eating brisket with the wives and kids before the brunt of the storm hit.

The trip produced a memorable story and one of my signature images. Kevin has a couple of framed 8x10s as a small thank you from a very grateful person! I hope you enjoy this series as much as I enjoy creating the images. Thanks for following year number one!

Technical Specs:

• RAW image with Nikon D300 @ 200 ISO
• Tokina AT-X 124 AF PRO DX – AF 12-24mm f/4 @ 12mm
• 1/15 seconds @ ƒ/16
• Saturday, December 20, 2008 @ 09:29
• Multnomah Falls, Columbia River Gorge, Oregon, USA

False Malachite Butterfly at the Oregon Zoo’s Winged Wonders display.

This week we go back into the archives for one of my early images from the Oregon Zoo. I’m pleased to present Brilliant Perch as this week’s Image of the Week.

The zoo has been a favorite subject over the years. We have a family membership so visit on a regular basis. There are, of course, challenges to getting good images of captive animals. I want them to look as if they could be out in the wild and therefore strive to avoid zoo structures and visitors in the images.

In 2006 they had a wonderful temporary display called Winged Wonders with butterflies from around the world. On a family visit we spent quite a bit of time looking for a good angle on one of the colorful, and very fast, little insects. This was my favorite of the day and spent some time featured on the Zoo’s web site.

The image was captured in JPEG and edited with Photoshop Elements. I was still early in my learning process with my new D50 and did limited work with RAW images. Even with those limitations it remains one of my favorite and most popular early images.

Technical Specs:

• JPEG image with Nikon D50 @ 200 ISO
• Tamron AF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 LD Macro 1:2 Lens @ 300mm
• 1/160 seconds @ ƒ/6
• Saturday, August 19, 2006 @ 10:16
• Oregon Zoo, Portland, Oregon, USA

Fireworks over the Willamette River.

This week’s Image of the Week is the fourth image that is currently hanging in the Gresham Visual Arts Gallery. Bursts of Color is a fireworks shot with a few different stories behind it.

The fireworks event was one of the last family events we shared with Robin before his passing. His company had a company picnic scheduled for Independence Day weekend of 2011 that featured a private fireworks show on the Willamette River. However, flood conditions swamped the island that the show was to be launched from and the event was rescheduled for Labor Day weekend. We all knew that Robin’s health was on the decline so were very pleased when we were all invited to share the event with him.

During the fireworks show I found a location near the water to shoot from without people in the field of view. This shot was captured in the later stages of the show, but was not the finale. I used a technique for long exposure to capture multiple bursts in the same frame. The capture is 14.8 seconds in length which would typically blow all of the highlights and make for an unusable result. In fact, I used a piece of thick black poster board to cover the lens element for the majority of the exposure (from a tripod). I moved it away in a few quick bursts as the various shells reached their most colorful points. The actual time exposed was probably closer to 1 or 1.5 seconds of the time the shutter was open. The final result is effectively a multiple exposure showing several bursts captured in one frame.

This shot, printed onto aluminum, is hanging in the home of the gentleman who owns the company and hosted the party. It was presented to him by Robin and some of his coworkers. It meant a great deal to Robin and therefore to my family. A framed print is featured in the Gresham Art Committee‘s Passport to Adventure show running through April 4th.

Technical Specs:

• RAW image with Nikon D300 @ 200 ISO
• Tokina AT-X 116 PRO DX AF 11-16mm f/2.8 Lens @ 14mm
• 14.8 seconds @ ƒ/8
• Sunday, September 4, 2011 @ 21:12
• Willamette River, Portland, Oregon, USA

Lone and lonely bird outside of historic Municipal Auditorium. Kansas City during Thursday’s super storm Q.

My trip to Kansas City last month was quite a winter adventure. One of my favorite moments was walking the downtown streets after the snow let up and finding a new friend. This week’s Image of the Week is that feathered friend whom I have named Q Bird after the name of the storm.

Super storm Q arrived Thursday morning dumping 13 inches of snow in 3 hours on downtown Kansas City. I had planned to travel on that day but after seeing the weather forecast I jumped on a plane a day early to beat the storm into town. The images above show what I saw out my window at midnight and then out the same window at 8:30am. I didn’t even know that thunder snow existed, but witnessed it out my window in whiteout conditions during the heart of the storm.

After the bulk of the snow had fallen I ventured out for a short walk around the convention district. It was a very light powdery snow and was not terribly difficult to walk through. You can see some of the images I captured (many with my iPhone), not especially artistic but they do tell a story! The image on the left made the rounds through the convention and I’m told also landed on a Kansas City television newscast.

After walking through the convention center I set off on my return trip to the hotel. As I crossed the street I saw this loan bird, the only wildlife I had seen all day, in a tree on the opposite corner. I moved in slowly to get a shot with the D7000 and grabbed a couple for facebook on the iPhone. He looked very cold and allowed me to get within just a few feet, it was actually a noise from across the street that finally caused him to flee.

I created several versions of the image but settled on this as my favorite. The HDR version (at right) feels a bit over processed and the others all have one bit or another that lead me to favor this one. You can see the various incarnations in the galleries.

Technical Specs:

• RAW image with Nikon D7000 @ 400 ISO
• Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR DX Zoom Nikkor Lens @ 70mm
• 1/1600th of a Second @ ƒ/5
• Thursday, February 21, 2013 @ 12:24
• Outside Kansas City Convention Center, Kansas City, Missouri, Oregon, USA

Multnomah County Fair thrill ride.

After a week of dealing with thunder snow and crippling storms in Kansas City I want to share an image from the warm days of summer. This week’s Image of the Week is Kiddie Thrills featuring two of my favorite little ones enjoying new experiences at the county fair.

The county fair was one of my favorite events of the year when I was young living in a small farming town in eastern Oregon. The big city almost swallowed up the Multnomah County Fair but it has been reborn and now takes place at the historic Oaks Amusement Park. We joined up with Nathan and the Frarys and spent a fun day with the kids at the fair.

The kid’s roller coaster is a permanent fixture at Oaks Park. Claire had ridden it for the first time earlier in the summer and was excited to share the experience with Nathan. The carefree joy and excitement on their faces serves to bring a smile to my face when I am half way across the country looking forward to being back home soon!

This image is featured in the Gresham Art Committee‘s current Passport to Adventure show!

Technical Specs:

• RAW image with Nikon D7000 @ 200 ISO
• Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED-IF AF-S VR DX Zoom Nikkor Lens @ 42mm
• 1/250th of a Second @ ƒ/10
• Saturday, May 26, 2012 @ 15:21
• Multnomah County Fair, Oaks Amusement Park, Portland, Oregon, USA