nature – Page 2 – Deanne Dements Photography

Morning light, Tumalo State Park Bend Oregon

Tumalo St. park is only 25 minutes from my home but again it is one of those places that I have not taken the time to explore. I even bought a state park pass so I could park there and other parks in the state but never used it until now.
Robin, one of the pool/ hiking pals said “where do you want to hike this week, Tuesday?” I said I have never hiked Reily Ranch preserve or Tumalo St Park. So the plan was put together. Unfortunately, only 2 of the 4 of us could make it Tuesday, but it was the best day for the upcoming weather forecast. The plan was we would meet at Tumalo St. Park, leave my car and then continue up to Reily Ranch Preserve where we would start the hike. I went a little early because I didn’t want to be late and I knew that I could spend the time taking photos. There is something about the morning sunlight on the rocks along the Deschutes river.

And this morning was fantastic. Now that we are in fall there was the red willow branches, the yellow of the dried grasses, the green of the junipers and ponderosa pines, the deep blue of the river water against the pink pumice rocks, and the reflections of the rocks on the water.

No matter which way you looked. Down river or upriver.

Those of you who have followed me on Facebook know that over the years I have spent a lot of time photographing the rocks in the canyon I call Sage Ranch rd. Canyon. I see a lot of similarities between these rocks and those except that the river that probably shaped them is gone. The Deschutes is still here.

To me there is a timelessness about the rocks…. They have withstood a lot from weather, winds, and water for thousands of years. Yes, parts of them crumble and land in the river but still they stand a show of earth’s history.

As an armchair geologist who reads every book she can find on Oregon geology, I know the violent forces that created this scene and am at peace with it though I still have questions that no one can answer. Mother nature does not give up her secrets easily, and she is not going to write a book for me to read.

So I turn my camera away from the rocks and the river and look for other delights to photograph.

Thank you, Mother nature, for giving me the morning sun shining through an oak leaf. You are always giving me the hint that there is more to come in this life. Nothing is finite always changing.
Robin is here now, and it is time to explore more of your beauty.

Shevlin Park and Tumalo Creek. A beautiful place to hike

I first learned about Shevlin park more than 30 years ago when I would go to Bend on the back roads. But I never stopped. I always meant to. It was the site of a major fire the year we were building our log house here, and always on my radar to go. However, like many close destinations I will go later. Now being a member of the Bend Parks and Rec. system, I am looking at these parks close to home and saying why not? They are close, they are easy to get to, and I have friends through the park system who also like to hike. We all need a little exercise in nature that doesn’t require a major hiking plan with permits and large backpacks filled with food, bedding. and tents. A simple way to enjoy what Mother Nature has given us and the parks and rec. has preserved.

I had shared a post about Shevlin park on Facebook and said I wanted to go hike there one day… Thank You Robin for saying ” Why not Friday or Saturday?”
Saturday dawned bright and sunny a perfect day for a little hike. Three of the four of us met at the parking lot where the Aspen Hall is, and we started out. I admit I kind of forgot to take my camera out of the backpack, I as enjoying it so much. but the sight of the yellow Tamarack /Larch tree against the green evergreens and the red willow stems was too much to pass by without the photos. I let my hiking partners get ahead and sure enough they walked through the photo (in the center of the top photo). Then I concentrated on that bright yellow tamarack.

Because I dawdled on this shot, I had to hustle to catch up with both Robin and Susan. Not that difficult for me, but unusual since I usually am ahead.
I found them both waiting for me and checking the maps downloaded on their phones.

I couldn’t resist this shot. The hiker in the back actually stopped and asked if we needed any help. We were ok they were just trying to figure out where we were in relation to the end of the trail and a couple other parks that are adjacent to Shevlin but on the other side of Tumalo ck.

A few feet further down we came to this little bridge and Robin said “Photo time” we continued on to the weir.

there was a lot of interesting things to photograph along the way

looking upstream from the dam. There is a nice picnic area there to stop and eat. We sat and rested then decided to continue on to see where the trail ends.

At about this point we were about a mile and a half out and should be thinking about the return trip. This portion of the trail was a bit rougher than the trail below the weir, and we knew that the trail ended a few more feet ahead of us so we turned around.

Susan took this shot of Robin and me, because we all know the photographer never gets in the photos and wasn’t really there….

we crossed several of these little bridges along the trail

I so loved the bright yellow colors against the darker evergreen trees.

As we were coming around the corner towards the weir I spotted this bank of yellow Aspens, I didn’t notice it as we were going up the trail

We stopped and had a little lunch/ snack, chatted and just enjoyed the sun along the creek. then headed back to the Aspen Hall and parking area.

As usual I was stopping and taking photos so got behind a bit.
I soon caught up to Susan and Robin who were sitting at one of the picnic tables outside the hall chatting and watching the families fishing on the small pond.

we sat, chatted some more and enjoyed the nice sunny day. All the while making more plans for hiking the parks of Bend Parks and Recreation.
I am ready to go again… any time.

Hiking Discovery Park Bend parks and rec.

Yesterdays hike was at Discovery Park. It was just three of us gals this time.

We hiked the Outback trail and then the Manzanita trail. This shot of the park is from the manzanita trail slightly above the park. In total we hiked a bit over 3 miles. Then we stopped off at the covered picnic area and had a lunch.
I admit I didn’t really do this park any photographic justice. To me it seemed separate from the hike we were looking at doing. But it really wasn’t and I think I realized that later when I processed the photos.

And you know when you are the photographer you have to come up with some creative ways to be in the picture.

We were enthralled with this sculpture about the coyote and the crow legend.

and this time Susan offered to take a photo so I could be in the shot.
A lot of the Outback trail is within several new and emerging neighborhoods, so I didn’t think to take photos. The hike is really about getting out and walking so not always do we have great views.
The part of the hike that I feel I really didn’t do justice to, was the mural about Women of Discovery. I tried to capture it with this collage but… Well I have to go back and try again.

It wasn’t really my focus, I thought it was pretty cool and loved the artwork. It wasn’t until we sat down in the covered picnic area and had our lunches, just talking about hiking, walking, getting out together, talking about health issues related to a sedentary lifestyle and aging. How we have overcome some of those issues because of the pool class we take, changing our diet or modifying how much we eat…. You know Women Stuff…. Aging Stuff… Social Stuff… Inclusion Stuff…. People Stuff…
At this point I kind of had an idea of how I thought I should take this blog as I started looking at the photos. Realizing that my mind set included this mural and I had not been able to do justice to it the way I felt is should have been photographed. I was all ready to hop back into the car and try and photograph it again, I had to stop and say Not today it is too late in the afternoon… Stop rushing around, do it tomorrow after the current pool class….

Fall colors along the Deschutes River Bend Oregon

I have lived in Central Oregon for just over 30 years and for some reason I have not taken the time to photograph the parks along the Deschutes river. There is an incredible series of parks along the river that are all connected by easy to moderate walking trails. Fall is probably the best time to enjoy those trails with the fall colors reflecting in the water. I figured that this Sunday would be the best day to hike along the trails in town. Bend Parks and Rec and the city of Bend have spent the last several years working on the trails that runs along the river and through the city of Bend. It is a series of trails that run from South Bend down river to north Bend running about 25 miles. I wanted to walk and photograph the Drake park area and along the river going down river with no set stopping point. Of the 4 pool pals, two were unavailable and that left just Robin and myself. Since Robin lived a couple blocks away from Drake Park, she was an excellent guide, and I would not have seen as much beautiful scenery as we did. I admit I would have simply done a quick photo shoot around Drake Park and then walked as far down stream as the Newport bridge then turned around.

We did a loop around Drake Park, and I took photographs and more photographs gathering impressions as I went.

I looked up, I looked forward, I looked down.

There were reflections everywhere along the river

We made our way down river towards the Newport bridge on the new trail

towards the first street area and on to pioneer park.

We continued till we ran out of pavement and turned around, the trail continued on north but we really didn’t need to go further. Save that for another day.
I was fascinated by the kayakers navigating under the bridge and thought of my niece Sarah, wondering if she had kayaked this section of the river, thinking yes, she would have.

on our way back to Drake Park we went through the old down neighborhood and enjoyed even more vibrant colored foliage.

Along the way there were always places to stop and reflect, places to sit and even a bit of whimsy with cookies for your pooch

I am so glad that Robin and I took this hike and hope that we can share it with the other two gals in a different season. I also hope that you enjoyed my impressions of this hike.

In search of Fall colors along the Metolius River

I love tracking down the reds and yellows of the fall leaves, one of my favorite places to go is the Metolius River. I found a spot down river from Camp Sherman that never disappoints.

Candle Creek Campground is at the end of a dirt and gravel forest service road. It is a quiet campground and this time of year not usually filled with campers.

I really love to concentrate on the leaves and plants on the ground

My other goal was to find the trail I had spotted the last time I was at this campground I wanted to know if it went to Bridge 99/ Lower bridge campground. However, the best color was the opposite way…. So I concentrated on that, then worked my way upriver finding the trail head. My house mate Susan and I had decided that it would be a good idea to move the car closer to the trailhead. We found a spot that was a boat ramp and parked there. The trail I was looking for was the West Metolius River Trail 4018 and the furthest down river leading up to the bridge.

The goal was to see how good the trail was and to see if there was good color.

The trail was good where we hiked, a few logs that had fallen and were chopped away but easy to navigate. Soon we came to a small log bridge crossing a creek

I have to admit I had no issues with the bridge. Susan was not as agile as I am, so she came across much slower than I did.

We went a few feet further and then decided to turn around and head back to the car. Neither of us have been doing much hiking lately and there was no need to go to the end of the trail. I had an idea where it was at the bridge.

This is the look you get from your hiking partner when you continue to dawdle taking photos on the way back to the car ….

back at the lower bridge campground and bridge we stopped to take more photos.

I also did find the bridge end of the trailhead. Planning on trying it another time.

It was a good and beautiful day and I enjoyed it immensely

A Hiking trip with friends at Fall River Lapine Oregon

Four Friends with a love of hiking, have decided to get back into the outdoors, It is fall and maybe a little bit drippy or maybe just a bit chilly and cloudy. No matter because it is not too hot and there are no mosquitoes. The photographer never ends up in the photo but that is ok we will find a way to make it happen.

The trolls thought it was a great idea to get out and go hiking, their lizards not so much, in the end the trolls stayed in the nice warm backpack and the lizards stayed at home.

We started at the bridge where a lot of fly fishermen were fishing. the plan was to go down stream for a mile or so then come back. Unfortunately for me, the photographer, I quickly realized that I had not packed the backup batteries, and the camera battery was low, so photos would be limited. My hiking partners Susan, Geri, and Robin, would be my focus with a few shots of the river thrown in and a prayer that the battery lasted.

Yes !!! We did manage to get the photographer in a picture…. Thanks Geri for taking the shot….
While it was gray and we did get a raindrop or two on us it was bright and light so there were a lot of squinty eyes in the photos….

A little waterfall coming over the logs that had fallen into the river provided lots of good hiding places for the fish to hide.

There were a lot of little details and nature that begged to be photographed but I chose to catch them another day. This mushroom put on top of a stump by a critter was just too much to resist. I knew that we were nearly back to the parking lot so I could use up some of the battery without fear of missing the best photo ever….

After about an hour and a half we ended up back at the bridge where we started…
It was another Great Hike Where to Next Gals?

Self-Assignment Challenge: Gather from the yard use the vintage Roseville vase.

I have been working hard on refinishing a vintage cabinet that my grandmother had in her pantry for her summer harvest canning. It has been 2 months of painting, stripping paint, cussing, sanding and repainting, in the cooler mornings, before the day heats up or I had to go to my favorite class in the pool. I will save that story for another time when I can look at the photographs and not cringe with frustration. My vision for that cabinet was to store my growing collection of vases and vintage canning jars, that I like to use in my photographs. Yesterday the vases and jars went into the cabinet and I was free to think about photographing some of the flowers growing in my yard.

I have been reading a couple of books by a floral designer named Ariella Chezar, she suggested walking in nature and collecting for your flower arrangements. I have frequently done that with some of the dried barley heads, poppy seed pods and gnarly sticks from the local juniper trees. But I never thought of using the greenery with the juniper berries. As I went on my morning wandering in the yard, I noticed some plants that had heart shaped seeds. I usually pull those plants because they are weeds but, working on the cabinet meant that somethings got to grow. My win.
So my photo Challenge was to take a Roseville vase I bought last fall in a thrift store combine the juniper clippings, the seed heads, with some of the oriental and tiger lilies that have been blooming. The first photograph was the result of that challenge. I like it. But is that it ??? Well No… I had also collected yarrow, bee balm, daises and I had been photographing for a little over 3 hours with all of the different flowers and various containers. The challenge was saved for last and when I got the shot I envisioned, I then started adding the other flowers to the mix. I really don’t know how Mylo the fluffy cow, got into the photo

He does seem to like flowers though

Behind the photograph scenes Challenge for 3 years

My early spring flowers.
This shot was made last week for the 52 wk challenge Behind the scenes. The theory behind this challenge is to show what actually goes on during a photo shoot. Ideally you might include the photographer in the scene shooting the shot and then include the shot. But lately I have been just showing my inspiration for the shot. So while this was the shot I was going for

This was the shot that was posted on the challenge. It shows the main photograph which was the idea. The small inset photograph on the right, are the dandelions in my front yard flowerbeds the inset on the left is my garage photo studio and several of the containers I thought might look good with the dandelions.
Last year for this challenge I had a much harder time getting inspired. I had my photo area set up on my back deck which is protected in the winter.

My inspiration for the 2024 was simply what can trigger an inspired idea. I decided to photograph what had been set onto the photo table, where I kept my photo props and the lights I had purchased to make lighting the scenes easier. In the center photo you can see my feet propped up on a footstool to show that I was sitting in my favorite chair trying to come up with an idea for that years challenge.
My most favorite year was 2023 I had so many ideas

2023 was much chillier most of my flowering plants were way behind schedule. We were still dealing with COVID limitations, I think it was my most creative year and many of the other photographers in the challenge that year were inspiring me.
This shot I had pulled out my bracelets that I had worn for work before I retired. What better way to show them off than to put them on some of the natural rock features in my lower yard. I even used the rock that the bracelets are sitting on as the background for the collage. The shot with me in it was taken using my tripod and self timer while I held one of my other camera bodies…. Did I mention that I have worn out 3 cameras during the 4+ years of this challenge.

2023 was also the year I had given myself a secondary challenge, for each challenge I did one submission in Black and White and the others in my usual color. This was my B&W submission, again, on my back deck photo studio. The subject was an odd shaped vase some juniper sticks, and the few daffodils that had just started blooming, but my idea was to photograph the chair that had so many uses behind the scenes.
The day I shot the B&W collage I also shot the color photos and made them into a collage for the challenge too.

In this collage I used the same daffodils, juniper sticks, stems of dried Flax seed heads, various vases and some toile inside a diffusing light box. All of these were with natural light. I also used Pinx as my photo assistant. I put the different photos on a background that was a piece of sample glass I had photographed to use for collages.

I find I enjoy playing with this type of challenge and hope to continue to play with my camera my ideas and the ideas of my friends.
And the first shot? with the dandelions…. Well that wasn’t my favorite shot it was this shot. I needed one more flower, went out to pick another dandelion and came back with this tulip instead.