2011, Day 304 - Bright blades

I took this photograph along the trail by Dutchman Flat, part of the Cascade Lakes Scenic Highway.  It was still early in the morning, our first stop of the day, and I liked the way the morning light hit the grasses and colors, the blue sky, the green trees, the vibrant orange of the tips of the grass transitioning into a yellowed green as the nights get colder.  We knew at the time that we were fortunate, the weather was perfect during our long weekend in Bend.  The nights were chilly but the days were ideal in their coolness because it made hiking that much more invigorating!

Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
17mm, f4, 1/640 sec @ 320 ISO

2011, Day 303 - Twilight portrait

Every few weeks from friends and I make a meal at one of the local homeless shelters.  The one we volunteer at requires all residents to be sober and they get job training and employment assistance.  On an average night there are about eighty men (it is an all-male shelter) and tonight was our night to cook. Not only do we make the meal but we plan it as well and with fall here it was homemade split-pea soup with ham, grilled cheese sandwiches, apples and homemade cookies.  I am a fiend on the griddle :)

Afterwards I went down to the waterfront.  I've been meaning to go back for weeks because the spiders have made their webs right along the lights that are under the guardrail.  It attracts all kinds of insects so these guys eat exceptionally well.  And with Halloween being tomorrow I thought they would make ideal subjects!

Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 100/f2.8L IS
100mm, f8, 1/40 sec @ 640 ISO

2011, Day 302 - Towering

Sometimes we are so busy looking where we're going that we fail to see what is around us.  Even photographers, that strange breed of person, whose success depends of observation and perspective can be guilty of this failing.  This is one of my favorite perspectives, we walk through woods and around trees, we're used to seeing them from a distance but the most spectacular vantage point may be laying in the sweet smelling litter of pine needles with the cool refreshing air of the shade and our heads cradled in the roots of a giant that watches over us benevolently.

Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
16mm, f4, 1/125 sec @ 320 ISO

2011, Day 301 - Oly

Today I had the pleasure of visiting my friend Karen and playing with her gorgeous five week old puppies.  I feel like I've been assaulted by cute and my favorite in the litter is Oly.  He reminds me of my greyhound Johann who is a terrible slut.  When new people come over he falls to the ground and rolls on his back for a belly run and Oly is much the same.  I was holding him in my lap and he rolled onto his back and lay for quite a while happy to have his belly rubbed.  I actually had to deposit him on the ground to get rid of him!

I told Karen that I would bring my gear and we would take puppy photos for her to share and this is one of them, by far my favorite, but I think I'm biased :)

Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 24-70/f2.8L
34mm, f11, 1/160 sec @ 200 ISO

2011, Day 300 - Dwindling

Some days come and go with little fanfare, especially here in Oregon.  The think blanket of clouds hides the arrival of the sun except for the gradual lightening of the day and it departs with the same anonymity but some days the clouds and the sun work together to give you a little treat, to remind you to slow down and take note.  This was taken at the end of our hike and is rather underexposed, we were in the home stretch and I was racing back to the car to get a better view of the sunset from a field just across the highway.  In the end we made it and it concluded and exciting and exhausting day.

Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
16mm, f6.3, 0.4 sec @ 320 ISO

2011, Day 299 - Morning fog

I love the color of the light that you can see peaking out from behind the trees.  The truth is that this photo was taken in the evening on our hike back from Green Lake outside of Bend and the fog was a little addition in post but I like how it looks especially given that the past few days I've awaken to find Portland blanketed in misty fog.

Canon 1D Mark IV, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
23mm, f16, merged layers of 2.5, 10, and 20 sec @ 125 ISO

2011, Day 298 - Scorched

On our way to Bend one of the numerous stops I requested was alongside the highway where there were obvious signs of a fire.  We passed sections of burnt shrubs and grasses, even some stands of long-dead trees that were burn to twisted wrecks reaching for the sky.  Unfortunately most of the land surrounding the highway is either private property or part of a reservation and being a law-abiding person I decided not to tempt fate.  This poor little bush lost its life to the flames but is now immortalized on digital film.

I played with the saturation of the sky, I wanted to show the contrast between the heavy orange clay earth and the richness of the skies.

Canon 1Ds Mark II, Canon 16-35/f2.8L Mark II
29mm, f5.6, 1/2000 sec @ 200 ISO