Chapman School, Portland, Oregon. The Vaux's Swifts pour into the chimney at Chapman School. For two weeks every fall, they provide an amazing spectacle. I highly recommend attending if you never have. Picture just don't do it justice.

Boxcar Rapids, on the Deschutes River.

This one really grew on me. It's been sitting around until I found it again tonight. It reminds me a lot of this photo from a while back.

A lucky evening encounter after some go and beer at the lab.

This one was taken a while back (the same trip as the other Columbia Gorge photos). Since getting my home server back online, I was going through the archives and found this one.

On the lack of new photos lately, I recently suffered the loss of both my home server and "darkroom", as well as my free time. Work has kept me plenty busy enough with computers that I hadn't until this weekend had the gumption to buy, install, wrestle, and invariably curse my way back to where my old server was. Thankfully, while the install didn't go as planned, I did end up managing to get my old root partition to simply (okay, that's a lie) boot up on an entirely new system. So, back in business. Now if I can only manage to find the time to take some pictures.

A quick trip to the Japanese Garden was a must with the trees changing. Always rewarding and frustrating. So many shots, and so few good ones!

I used a blured overlay layer for this shot.

Columbia River Gorge from Crown Point. A common shot, but the fall colors are really starting to make it worthwhile.

Took a drive around Sauvie Island hoping for some opportunities. Being midday, the light was too harsh, but I intend to return on a morning or evening if I can find a nice foggy day.

Indian fishing platforms at Sherar's Falls on the Deschutes River. I think you've gotta be nuts to get out on one of those things. I have not idea how they get built. Hopefully they are more stable than they look.

Goin' to Vegas today. Hope to bring home some postable shots, but who knows if I'll take the time away from poker, craps, free(ish) booze, and walking 5 miles to "go next door".

Another siesta train, from a similar spot.

In order of appearance, the Steel, Broadway, and Fremont Bridges. Similar to a long ago pic seen here.

Another view of Haystack Rock and environs from a viewpoint to the north. Really, I don't know why I like this one, I just do. For one thing, it's probably too cluttered and has no clear subject. On the other hand, here it is anyway.

The oft photographed haystack rock in Cannon Beach, OR. It's such a difficult thing to photograph since it's all been done, so I figured that making you scroll might make it more interesting.

Why ISO 800? Because I'm an idiot. Finally took that drive to the coast today hoping for some sunset images. Instead, there was a bank of fog moving in, and a stiff wind the entire afternoon. So rather than a bunch of sunsets, I ended up with coastal landscapes. Most bad. A few that I will post in the next few days. Even at ISO 800, I liked the resulting images.

UPDATE: I've updated this image with a less "jarring" sharpening applied. None at all! I like this version better too. You can still see the original image here. Thanks for the constructive criticism Alec! I could use more of it around here.

My view as I duck the midday heat on a shaded Deschutes canyon wall.

Site News Update: I created a new theme that is darker than the current grey. It is also the new default theme for newcomers.

Also new, is the addition of tags/categories to the thumbnail page. You can now restrict the thumbnails based on tags, and see larger thumbs of the selected photos.

The train stop on the banks of the Deschutes River in Maupin, Oregon.

A shot from a couple weeks back on a trip to the Deschutes. Here's Paul navigating a steep riprap bank in search of quiet little spots tucked in between the rocks that sometimes hold large difficult rainbows. More times than not, we just get a good work out on the shifting, rattlesnake filled banks, but sometimes, it pays off.

I made it back out to one of my favorite places to be. The Deschutes River at dusk. It was hot in the canyon today, and the welcome cool of the evening seems to bring the canyon to life. Critter time to be sure. I've seen huge porcupines, deer, a bobcat, rattlesnakes, and many other cool creatures at this magical hour.

And another.

At the same spot as yesterdays photo. I just turned a bit to the right.

Returning from the Deschutes river today I caught this nuclear sky.

As for spammers, they sure do suck. Please try to ignore it if you see it. I'm fine tuning the anti-spam stuff to hopefully have them squashed soon. If I can't get rid of them, I might have to consider more drastic actions. I hate to turn off posting on a photo, but some horrible spam-bot has the Mt. St. Helens shot in its sites and just keeps banging on me. We'll see if my latest mod takes care of it.

As a thunderhead moved in from the east today, this long grass seemed impossible to photograph, and was. This is the one I like the best of the batch.

Well, after many months of nothing since Mt. St. Helens reawoke, we finally got a pretty nice blow today around 5:15pm. I rushed home but was too late to get photos. Thankfully, Paul was diligent and got a few nice ones from the roof.

Since some have asked for more info, here you go. This was taken from the top of our 8 story building in downtown Portland, Oregon. We are located appoximately 50 miles from Mount St. Helens. The window of opportunity was small, as the upper level winds knocked the plume over in a very short time. This was taken probably 15 minutes after the initial eruption. There was no sound or appreciable earthquakes before or during the eruption. Supposedly there were some small tremors at the mountain preceding the event, but nothing significant enough to call a warning. It is true this could present a very dangerous situation in the case of a very large eruption. Winds carried the ash to the northeast, and there was some ashfall as far away as Spokane, WA. Most of the area nearest the mountain is not heavily populated, so ash is the most likely danger. Since most of the mountain blew away in 1980, there is little chance of another cataclysmic event on that scale.

Another guest today, my friend Mike. You can see more of his photos at http://swamiphoto.homeip.net. In his own words:

This is a garbage train with a smelly load of trash from Seattle heading through the Columbia River Gorge to the landfill at Roosevelt, WA. Photo taken near Bingen, WA, Feb 26, 2005.

Another guest shot today, due to a sad lack of my own shots. Luckily, my father sent me this from just another amazing morning in Baja from the backyard. Looks like the shrimp boaters are still asleep at this hour. Last time I was down there, only 2 years ago, these palms were no higher than my waist!

This was taken about the same time as the fog shots of late, looking down from the Hawthorne Bridge. This was a fortunate shot. I was just experimenting with faster shutter speeds and got lucky on the composition, which, I think, keeps this from being a boring shot of a bird. The pilings and rocks frame the gull nicely, and the vignetting helps as well.

Taken shortly after yesterday's photo. A busy morning commute over the Hawthorne bridge into downtown Portland. Bravo to the cold morning bicyclists! There may have been more bikes than cars while I was taking these.

This is the first shot in a long time that I'm really happy with. I really feel lucky to have caught this just in time. The morning fog was THICK, but was burning off quickly. I hopped in the car and went across to the riverfront esplanade. The fog was still too thick to take any city shots, but helped provide the background for these leafless weeping willows.

I did minimal curves adjustments and a crop to adjust framing.

Another from my trip down to the St. Johns bridge. I didn't really like this shot until I decided to crop it square. Again, I'm running out of old photos and need to get out and shoot some more. I guess that is the whole idea with this one-a-day process. Sometimes you can't put up something super. But forcing yourself to put one up is a great exercise, and you never know how others will react to photos that you just think are so-so.

Thanks for all the support and visits. I've been lax in getting around to all my favorite photo sites recently, but I'll be back soon.

Another 'spring thoughts' type of photo from the archives. Spring in the Deschutes canyon is overwhelmed by the smell of fresh desert sage.


NEWS: If you are so inclined, please help out photoblogs.org as they are currently experiencing some growing pains. I'm sure any donations would be appreciated! It's a great site that helps so many photoblogs get viewers from all over the world. A great service indeed!

Another shot of Tygh Valley taken while pointing and clicking on the drive home from the Deschutes River. Just another gorgeous day east of the Cascades.

Caught this on the same trip as the BN rail bridge shot from a couple days ago. Lots of great opportunities for good photos here. I may return and see if I can get a better version of this, as well as some other ideas.

Went for a short drive today down the Willamette River. Crossed the St. John's Bridge, and found this shot of the Burlington Northern bridge. Trains only! Too bad I accidentally took all these shots at ISO 800. Oh well, this one still turned out nice.

Sometimes on the drive home from the Deschutes, I like to just point the camera out the windows and see what happens. Tygh Valley (pronouced 'tie') is one of many tiny settlements out in the high desert on the east side of the Cascade mountains. Everyday they are treated to spectacular scenery.

Yes, more old stuff. There sure is lots of it! This is from the Portland Japanese Garden on a pretty spring afternoon, May 2003.

Looking out over the Sea of Cortez from my father's backyard, a unique scene like this unfolds every morning. No wonder they put up with the critters! This will probably be the last from the old Baja 'roll', but it has been fun going back through these old photos. There maybe more older scenic shots coming up though, since I haven't had much time to shoot new ones lately.

Thanks to everyone that keeps coming to visit and leave comments. I'm always looking for good criticism and comments, so keep it up.

My last two photos have me looking forward to spring on the Deschutes. After the dark winter, and before the scorching heat, it explodes with life. I believe this is arrowleaf balsamroot. This photo is from 4 years ago, again with the Olympus.

Given how much you guys (all two of you) liked that last one, here's another from the same 'roll'. When is it NOT spectacular out there in the great wide open?! Don't worry veg, I'll be heading out soon I'm sure. I can't stand it much longer :-).

I've been sifting through some older photos and finding some that I'd forgotten about. This is from December 2002, taken with my Olympus 2000-Z on a moody day on the magnificent Deschutes River. I really need to get back out there soon!

Thankfully I didn't actually have to be awake to take this shot. My neighbor Paul is todays guest photographer again. He caught this from our roof early yesterday morning.

After many years living in Portland, it is still hard for me to believe that I can find views like this a mere ten minutes from my downtown industrial abode. Forest Park is one of the largest city parks in the country, streching 7.5 miles by 1.5 miles (4800 acres) along the city's western hills. Portland is actually hiding down behind the fog and nearest hills in this photo, between my vantage point and Mount Hood in the background.

I really don't know what I was doing taking pictures of these swarming birds, but they were awesome to watch. Swifts perhaps? Anyway, they were bombing around in this large flock making impossible direction changes at high speeds. A marvel to watch. This photo, while not technically all that super, captures so many different poses that I just can't look away! I applied a duplicate as a overlay and found I liked the grittier, moodier sky.

Oregon's Deschutes River on a blustery day is full of life just thrilled to get a break from the high desert heat. One of my favorite places, it can be a harsh environment, but offers world class fly-fishing for trout and steelhead, as well as whitewater rafting, bird-watching, and even bighorn sheep sitings high on the cliffs if you're lucky. This is an older photo from my 2MP Olympus, but I've always loved this shot.

Indians fish for salmon on the Deschutes River the old fashioned way.

This one always reminds me of spring in the Deschutes Canyon. These guys are everywhere, munching away.