Treasure at Home

I don’t have a big bucket list. If I have to make choices among many things I want to do, travel is probably my priority.  I have seen a lot and still lots more to see. As I grow older, I feel my purpose of traveling has been changed. It is no longer a mindset of ‘I have been here’. It is more about my desire to see what I have missed and feel what I have seen.  It is the same as my photography journey and findings that make my heart leap.

We seem to have a tendency to look up, look further and look beyond in our life. While there are places and resources are available right in our fingertips, we are reaching out somewhere else to find them.  At least, I am that person.

Some time ago, I blogged about ‘Humble Avenue’ in Silicon Valley, California where I found my favorite classy quality homes that I did not think them available in Eugene. On a solo photo walk one day, I discovered the similar homes in University Avenue here in Eugene.

In the last two years, I have been going to the gardens in Salem and Portland area thinking there is nothing worthy in Eugene, then, I changed my perspective immediately one day when I decided to stop by Owen’s Rose Garden. There are surely many kinds of roses, so as other flowers, quite a variety. I am embarrassed to say that I have lived here for almost 20 years.

Oregon has gorgeous coastline and nice beaches. I have never really hang out in the beaches in Washington State till last weekend. I was very surprised to discover that Washington has only rock beaches. The beaches are mostly narrow and rough.  I was expecting to take some pictures with my grandchildren running on the beaches in front of white waves and bluish green water under sunrise and sunset, but rock beaches there have completely thrown out my pre-visualized ideas.

Treasure is right at home, but I kept looking afar.

Friends just toured Lake Louise in Canadian Rockies. The backdrop of Lake Louise is the glacier and that makes it a dramatic setting and stunning view. 

But, I wonder if there are other lakes as unique and sacred like Crater Lake. I have been Crater Lake at least 8 times and I am still going.  I have taken pictures from different angles of the rim, in different time of the day and different season of the year, but the results have not been the same.

My most favorite thing to do is to stand on the highest viewpoint and look down the calm and serene water. The ripples stirred up by the boat created patterns but there was no sound of engine. The reflection on water is almost like tonal etched glass.

This picture was taken as is, no cropping or post-processing. It was an utterly beautiful day. The sky was blue; The cloud was pure white;  Water is looking like glass. The reflection of the rim and cloud is absolutely stunning. I found it interesting to have the cloud reflected the second time on the sunroof of our car. 

Isn't the coloration breath-taking? I even left the rock on the right because I want the addition of its color. It is so pure and yet so dramatic. Does it need more?

I only drive when I travel alone. Whenever I am a passenger, I usually have camera on my laptop and look for dramatic sky.  I snapped some sky shots while the car is moving, but have not come up anything that would give me a wow.

We had our alarm clock set at 3:00am, headed out of the door about 3:40am, and we were at Crater Lake half hour before sunrise (should be 5:45am). 

These two pictures were taken about one hour after sunrise. I first noticed the large patch of the cloud. Sun was behind. Backlighting makes white cloud dark. Just because the cloud is dark, I was immediately drawn to the sunray behind. And, God's Glory came to my mind.

I have used this 18-200 zoom lens for at least 5 years. It is my utility lens. Convenient is the main reason that I carry it around, but it does not take tack sharp pictures.  I don't have problem to get up at 3:00am, but I am not willing to carry a camera bag with multi lens. I want to  use one lens for all and that is not a good photography practice. I told myself not to use this lens for these shoot, but I did it again. 

Phantom Ship is one of the attractions at Crater Lake. Whoever named it phantom must be inspired with that spiritual and surreal outlook of the scene. Someone thought that it looks like a ship. I personally may name it a Lost Castle.

The reflection of the rim and blue sky have created a false landscape. Does the ship sit on water or land? Is the lighter blue sky or the darker blue, or, vis versa?

In an environment like this, illusion may take over reality. It is a solid island standing on water, but our imagination and surroundings have led us to a more spiritual realm. 

I have said earlier that this lake give me spiritual and sacred feeling and it is being proved here as well. If not for the orientation of the island (ship), I may not be able to distinguish the sky from the lake. 

On the Road

Down in bay area California to visit my siblings and run some errands.  Bright sun was shining on me the moment when I stepped out of the airport.  Instead of fog, it was sun ray, bright and cheerful. I had lived here for almost 8 years before I moved to Oregon. It is a familiar environment and all that warm and fuzzy feeling immediately came back to me. I sucked in toasty air and exhaled hoping the chill from home was being neutralized and get out of my system. I love fog, but I have had enough cold weather.

It was a nice change that I did not need a heavy jacket for a morning walk.  There were certainly more houses than trees down the streets, but backlit sunlight has cast beautiful tree shadows on rooftops. Trees are not timberline high, but they provide nice backdrops for rows of contemporary houses. Day was just about to break, these trees showcased a dramatic sky. The blue strip is the blue sky and it also resembles a coast line now I am looking at it. Nature is magical.

It has been above 65 most of the time since I got here.  Should not be a surprise, but it still was when I saw colorful pansy and poppy in full bloom. I expected to see some greens, certainly not full bloom flowers.  My urge was to take some close-up shots, but I did not bring my Macro lens, no polarizer either. Weight concerns, I often did not bring extra lens... When will I learn the lesson?

Just a few days before I left Oregon, I had a little photo tour myself shooting frosted plants. Except that most of the plants were distressed by the snow storm in December. The environment was as bare as it could be.  I was not too successful coming up something resembles what I did last year.  But I need to bring home something.  So I pick up a frosted leave and placed it on the pointed leaves of a dead tropical plant .  We tend to praise and portrait the beauty and the best, but I think reality ought to be addressed as well.

  

It is dead, dry and lifeless. I need to inject a bit of life to it and I thought about Orton effect. It is the Orton sandwiching technic that I used to make the image looking creaming and softer. Now desolation and bleakness are replaced with a hint of dream and a flare of art. And, The image starts to grow on me.

A yellow leaf is the first article that I had to write in a summer camp writing class back in middle school. I did not have any experience writing prior and had no clue what I can write about one yellow leaf.  We were given 45 minutes to write, but I simply could not write anything till the instructor announced, "20 minutes left". I then jumped off and wrote three pages. In the end, I was in tears because I had mourned for the dead leaf for 20 minutes. How many silly things I have done in my life? I just began to count.

Taking enough winter images, I had intention to bring home something green, sunny or colorful.  Though there are some flowers, most of the vegetation is just gradually on its way out of winter. Evergreens are always there but they tend to be a mono green tone.

Light was beautiful. Though in multi colors, this massive grass plant has created distraction from all directions. I could not find myself a good angle of view.  So I decided to practice vertical panning and the result looked so orderly and not flexible that bored me to death.

I approached the same plant three times and took at least 50-60 shots from different angles and pan it from various orientation. I was determined to come out something. And this one finally caught my eyes. The white lines are the transformation of sunlight shooting through. All colors of the plant mingled and intertwined. I cannot paint bare-handed and my camera has given me a color paint brush to paint. Fun.

 

If I take this image at home in Oregon this time of the year, it won’t have the same effect, not enough colors.  But Oregon has the beauty of its own.  I could not get a decent thistle pictures for a long time and I managed to shoot this one that I like OK. I should have done some post processing to clean up the background, but I did not. I know I need to work on my DOF and focal point. While trying to get exposure right first, I often overlooked depth of field and lost track of my focal point. Practice, practice and practice.

I am ready for some warm weather.  I pray that we will be getting an early spring like we had last year. 

Casual Friday - Painted Hills

TGIF. I don’t have work pressure any more, but Friday seems always to be the day, I feel, it is the beginning of a short vacation.  Just for the mindset, freedom and relaxation come to play. I am still aiming one blog a week. If I add something on Friday, I like it to be something casual, random, and light weight.  Let’s start with a cup of tea and breathe in the aroma of the flower.

When I lived in California, I came to Oregon for a short vacation and I fell in love with this place.  I still do after 19 years. Initially my girls complained that there were not enough sunshine, not enough shopping malls and the boys here all looked pale (lack of suntan), and there is only one luggage carousel at the airport etc.  But now we are so used to it and we love all the outdoor activities that Oregon can offer. There are not many tourist destinations in Oregon, but we have continued to discover places that are truly natural, beautiful but not crowded with tourists.

Most people know Crater Lake, Multnomah Falls, Columbia River and wind surfers know Hood River, but I am not sure if non-Oregonians know much about Painted Hills. It is not a historical landmark, not a tourist destination, but it is certainly worth a visit. I felt that I was encompassed by large scrolls of paintings when I was walking down the road.  We were there twice, one time under bright sunlight and other time in a cloudy day. The coloration seems to vary with the change of the temperature. It is deeper in the morning and lighter after bathed in the sun all day. If it rains, I won't doubt that colors will be even more stronger.

These ‘paintings’ are all different from one section to the other. You can walk to different spots of the road looking forward or backwards and you will know what I meant about scenery is changed. The area is big, but you can drive your car through the whole region and only walked a little to find your favorite viewpoints.  

This is a desert area and gets really hot in summer time. It is now a good time to visit. If you don't want to sweat, avoid July and August. However, extreme heat can 'steam' the hills and re-trouch the colors.  It may be even more interesting. Above pictures were taken in September, and I think, moderate colors.