Last Friday my brother, Silke, Jenifur and myself did a little snowshoe outing above Timberline lodge on Mt. Hood. We were also out to test how well our pro shell jackets and pants would hold up in the harsh late evening conditions. Much to my delight everything worked out great. We went out again two days later and tried out our gear in even worse whiteout conditions and everything still worked flawlessly. So the test is complete and the training in progress; I can hardly wait to climb up to the summit next month.
The wild flowers near its summit make Dog Mountain highly sought after in the spring months, and thus crowded, but while hiking the other day we encountered only three climbers. During the winter season it is a lot quieter and allows one time to reflect on the scenery, even if it isn’t as vibrant, and there is a lot of mood in the surrounding skies. In these photos my old friend Jaron Griffin studies the green moss covered oak and douglas fir trees.
About one year ago I quite possibly had the best job to date. I was first assistant and associate photographer primarily shooting Tommy Hilfiger product at Bulb Studio. At that time the crew consisted of owner Burk Jackson, photographer in chief/director Chad Boutin, two other assistants, Zac Goodwin and Robert Weller, and two stylists, Kevin Quirk and Ali Megan. Due to the nature of the business and, more so at fault, the economy I now no longer hold that position. I remain in contact with the owner, Burk Jackson, and photographer in chief, Chad Boutin and occasionally do a little side work assisting for them. Like I said, they were all the best and I miss being a part of that family that I continue to hold in the highest regard. Below is a behind the scenes look at one of our final productions as a team. The video was shot by friends of the studio, Darris Hurst and Cody Wheeler of 245 Media.
Lately I wish I could muster up the strength to get out with friends and capture some neat wilderness adventure photography, but to be honest Oregon’s winter weather is beginning to take it’s toll on me. My mountainous motivation is far from a lost cause, however, and I will certainly be out and photographing in the snow as soon as the rain stops. For now I leave you with a couple of “lazy” shots taken in my room of Jenifur Ross.
Dever-Conner’s been something in the making since last summer. We spent less than a day on both pre production and filming, but once it came time to focus on post production the project fell on the back burner. A lot of this was due to thinking I needed to film additional scenes in order to create a cohesive presentation. However, once I reopened the file a couple of days ago I soon realized that this short film had all the basic pieces, I simply needed to play around with the time line, smooth out the audio and record a little voice over. Dever-Conner is planned to become a monthly online series that will be hosted on it’s own site.
After breaking down the technology department at Imago Dei last Sunday I received a call from my friend Jenifur in regards to pursuing something adventurous. This almost always exclusively pertains to hiking the Columbia Gorge trails, but on that particular night we opted for the Coast Range. At six pm Jenifur, Silke and I arrived at the Saddle Mountain trail head and proceeded up the mountain in the dark. The night was extremely windy, but surprisingly warm, so we took our time reaching the top to focus on a couple of photo opportunities. Eventually we made the summit at around eleven pm and were back home by one pm, making it a long, tiring and rewarding Sunday for myself. Pictured above is Jenifur [left] and Silke [right] prior to heading up the trail and below an image of the saddle and summit from the false summit.
I’m sure there are photographers out there who would give me a hard time about not shooting more with my newly acquired 7D, but based on my experiences at work conversing with such a crowd I also find there are many who also relate toward not taking many photographs during this season. I blame it on the time of year as much as I do on my lack of free time. That said I know I should have a freshly photographed image for the POTW, but instead I’ll share my thoughts a little more.
With my down time during these cold winter months I read and research more than adventure, but the two do relate. I often study Oregon’s 100 highest peaks, based off the Mazama’s list of at least 500 feet of prominence, to gain an understanding of the challenges I’ll face and preparations to consider in costs, time, energy, equipment and the route’s general intensity. Lately Howlock Mountain of the Cascades has caught my attention. It rests only a couple of miles due north of Mt. Thielsen and is roughly a thousand feet lower in elevation. Not many summit Howlock primarily due to being overshadowed by Thielsen and secondarily because of its remote location. However these mountains, amongst others in the area, are also considered more accessible than several Oregon peaks when planning a winter ascent due to the trail heads proximity to the Cascade Lakes Highway. With this in mind I find myself looking back at my archive of Mt. Thielsen images in search of a few hidden photographic gems to help me prepare for my next summit.
The following images were taken on my D200 in the late spring of 2009. More on Howlock Mountain at SummitPost.org.
With the sales of most of my Nikon gear I finally opted to purchase a Canon 7D. Although the purchase had been greatly thought upon the decision to buy the camera was on somewhat of a whim, which made it fun. However, mostly due to crummy weather, it wasn’t until the other night that I got out to actually shoot a little. My friend, Darren Dyk, called me about meeting up for some skateboarding photography he had already organized, but unfortunately lighting didn’t go as planned and as a result I left the night chock full of unused sequence shots and a few portraits. The nice bit about our outing was being able to test the camera, which is really all I wanted to do anyway, and I am definitely excited to get back out and continue shooting with it. The photos shown here are the aforementioned portraits and are of skateboarder Jimmy Yan.
I drove out to the ice encrusted Gorge a few days ago, albeit a little behind schedule, to attempt some frozen photography. Of course I was too late for completely iced over water due to the warmer weather, but the ice did still linger about. Many of the smaller falls were still frozen with only a little trickle, but for convenience sake, and since nightfall had already come upon us along with heavy rains, we stuck with the easiest choice. Above is a 30 second timed exposure of Multnomah Falls and at the point of capture I could no longer feel my hands. I’m glad I chose the simple approach.
