[fairweather friend]

Synopsis: Old-school photographer finally buys a modern camera, goes on a road trip, and enjoys being creative. The TL;DR version of this story appears after the photos.

For someone who has been “into” photography for over 45 years, I was inexplicably pig-headed about switching from film to digital. Except for a tiny 10 megapixel point-and-shoot that I used a lot from 2013 to 2020, I refused to make a bigger investment into digital photography. However, in 2020 I finally grew tired of the limitations of my point-and-shoot, so I bought a well-used DSLR on Craigslist for $300 and played around with it for six or seven months before I made the leap to a new mirrorless camera system. So while I am at least somewhat familiar with the basics of photography (composition, lighting, etc.), I began 2021 feeling like a complete noob photographer thanks to all this new technology. As for the Columbia River Gorge, it’s a place I have been THROUGH several times in my life, but it’s not a place I have ever really explored, which made it a good destination for this trip. All of the places shown in my photos are super popular and not that hard to find with a little online research and/or legwork. If I can find these places, anyone can! All of the images are pretty much self-explanatory except for the photos with people in them: Re: the shot of Mt. Hood. I spent the whole morning wandering around a tract of public land when I finally plopped down in the grass for a break. As I sat chewing on a PBJ, I noticed how a dip in the ridgeline seemed to cradle Mt. Hood… but I was hungry and in no rush to pick up my camera again. Then a young family of four appeared on the ridge off in the distance to the left and I thought, “Wouldn’t it be cool if they walked in front of the mountain?” So I switched to a telephoto lens, changed a few settings on my camera, composed the shot, manually pre-focused the lens, and then went back to eating lunch. Not long after that, the Mom and her youngest son started walking along the ridge and I picked up my camera for this shot. Re: Models. I went to Columbia Hills SP hoping to catch a lonesome image of the Dalles Mountain Car as the sun sank over the horizon, but I knew from the huge line of cars parked along the gravel road that the picture I wanted to take was going to be a longshot. So I took my time photographing the ranch and homestead before heading down the trail only to discover something I didn’t expect: Yes, there were quite a few people in the vicinity of the car, but the surprise to me was that many of the photographers present were professionals and every one of them had brought their own clients or models… including a Buddhist monk, no less! At first, I was a bit overwhelmed by the crowd and intimidated by the professionals, but then it dawned on me that these PEOPLE were my subject, not the car or the flowers. From that point on, I had a blast. In fact, I had so much fun, I came back again the next afternoon and the experience was much the same, though with a whole new cast of characters. It was more like street photography at a festival than landscape photography. Post-trip thoughts: I really didn’t think I’d last six days spending almost every waking minute on photography, but it was fun to be so fully immersed in the experience. Looking back, the main lesson of the trip wasn’t about mastering technical details, it was about being present in the moment and really seeing what was around me through the photographer’s eye. I spent the vast majority of the trip just wandering around and scouting out compositions which I’d return to later when the light was better. In the past, I would have said that I typically “shoot photos while I’m hiking,” but on this trip, I hiked so I could shoot photos. This might seem like a minor distinction to make, but a true “photo-trip” seems to require an entirely different mindset from a normal hiking-oriented road trip. Finally, in case you didn’t catch it in the title, this trip happened LAST year, in April, 2021. Unfortunately, it was pretty much the ONLY trip I did last year, but that’s how life goes sometimes.

[awilsondc]

Crazy good shots, fairweather friend! I can't believe your restraint on the falls creek falls shot (second photo) not showing the whole thing, but I think this photo really showcases your skills as a photographer...

[olderthanIusedtobe]

[fairweather friend]

Thanks for the kind words, and yes, I should have bought a DSLR ten or twelve years ago when 24 megapixel crop sensor cameras became common and affordable. Now, the trend is toward 50 to 100 megapixel full frame and medium format mirrorless cameras. Seems like I'm always at least a decade or two behind the latest technology! Oh well. It's not like I can afford to drop $12,000+ on a new camera body and a couple lenses. What I've got right now is more than enough for my needs. As for that shot of Falls Creek Falls, I spent the whole morning there and shot the falls from bottom to top, but the place that kept drawing my attention was that dramatic mid-level garden in the mist. And while I never would have guessed that a horizontal pano in the middle of a towering cascade could lead to a balanced composition, that one works for me. Re: the flowers. Yes, it cracked me up that Husky colors were flying so proudly on the Oregon side of the border! Finally, I was thinking the other day about all of the great photographers who no longer post on NWHikers... Jim Dockery, David Inscho, and Jim Oker all come to mind. I miss seeing their wonderful images. OTOH, new photographers pop up on this site every now and then, so that's good. I'm definitely looking forward to more TR's from Wyatt Mullin, for example. IMO, Instagram is a wasteland of meaningless eye candy.

[wyattmullen]

These are absolutely incredible! Every single one shows such control in composition and light and shutter speed. The waterfall ones play a perfect balance between giving motion to the water, but not going so far that the water loses all its characteristics.

[fairweather friend]

Thanks, Wyatt. I imagine there are more than a few members on NWHikers who keep track of who does the most impressive climbs or the most mileage and elevation gain in a single day. As for me, I keep track of who posts the most impressive photos! Aaron Wilson consistently posts some really exceptional work, but there are many, many others whose photos I admire including GallWalker, Kenji Kawai, Gil Aegeter, and BarbE, just to name a few off the top of my head. And I'm always blown away by the wildlife videos Bootpathguy posts from his trailcams. Great stuff! For me, it's just fun to see (mainly) local photos from (mainly) local photographers... often in the context of a trip report, which gives the photos much more meaning. As for shooting moving water, I think it was Nick Page (on YouTube) who said something like, "Just go home with options. Shoot a range of different shutter speeds and decide what you like best once you get home." That was some really useful advice for me to hear. I LOVE long exposure photography, but there are times when it works and times when it doesn't. This shot from the Grand Canyon took a LOT of tries before I finally got it right.