I first posted some photos of this trip up highway 242 to the Dee Wright observatory, to capture the Aurora Borealis, in October of 2024. That was before I purchased this new Luminar Neo Photo processing program. I didn’t like the quality of the photos and couldn’t wait to see if I could make them better with this new program and the Digital Neutral RAW files. They came out much better than I expected, but the files were huge, and I could not download them onto my Facebook page. Time to learn how to lower the size of the photos, without losing the quality. In other words how to make a photo that is 20 mbs into one that is 6 mbs or 3 mbs… This photo just happened to be the smallest of the photos I picked to share. I liked the look of the moon rising over the main structure of the observatory, with North and Middle Sister mountains on the left side. It was about 9 in the evening and everything was dark except for the moon. I was packing that sort of fixed tripod, that had broken, and hoping I didn’t run into anybody since the legs were extended. My housemate Susan and I climbed to the top and got set up before the larger crowd of people showed up.
I loved the look of the cars coming up to the parking lot and the reflection onto the blue coats of the two people coming up the lower steps.
The light show started of gently with a light blush of color and you really couldn’t see it unless you had a camera.
Then the color took off.
I loved that I could see the stars behind the light show and even headlights coming up Highway 242 from the east and passing Black crater.
Within an hour of arriving at the observatory the light show was pretty much over and the moonlight was again reflecting off of the clouds with North and Middle Sisters silhouette at the horizon. I hope I can see the Auroras again and maybe next time I will have new tripod legs.
Winter has finally decided to arrive. We have awakened to fresh snow on the ground, several mornings, the most we have seen all season. Cloudy breezy days, clear crisp warm afternoons, then the snow is gone by evening only to return the next morning. it feels like late winter and early spring here.
I think I have mentioned that my favorite laptop is dying. In anticipation of this a year ago, I bought a computer tower to replace the laptop. I hated the new windows 11 program and had it removed. So, the tower sat for a year+ unused. Now, things have gotten so bad with the laptop that I finally decided it was time to switch my photos and processing programs to the new tower. It has not been easy. The tower refused to recognize my external hard drive and everything I use. The final straw was that my favorite photo processing program that I used daily would not transfer over. I then found myself downloading my photos onto the laptop and processing them then transferring them to a flash drive and uploading them to the computer tower. The laptop crashed several times during this process; I then decided to download the photos onto the tower and then pick the ones I wanted to process and transfer them to the flash drive and ultimately to the laptop process them and then transfer them back to the tower. That worked ok but if I had another idea and went out to photograph it the whole process had to be started over again. Photos were getting lost or left behind. The computer tower program was different, photos were getting lost, files were getting lost. The computer has a different idea of how I should organize my photos, and I couldn’t find them by their date. In order to get the photo processing program, I had been using onto the computer tower I would have to buy the program again. The thing is, the program I was using was limited, it did what I wanted with the photos I had, I knew that there was more that could be done with my photos. I had been photographing with the basic JPG photo program and with the RAW digital neutral program. That means I could go deeper with my photographs but only if I had a program that could work in the RAW and then convert the photo to the JPG program for showing. I decided that if I was going to have to use the new computer for my photo processing it was time to upgrade my processing program. I had an idea of what program I wanted to purchase but I could not remember the name, So I asked my friend Neil Schmottlach, a fellow photo enthusiast what program he was using. He said he was using Luminar Neo. I checked it out found that it was indeed the program I wanted and purchased it. I Love IT !!!! So much easier and faster than my old program. Now to start practicing using it. What to start with ?…. I am so ready for spring, I decided to go back to last year’s April photographs. There were spring flowers on the west side of the mountains and I had photographed them. The waterfalls were flowing at full force and I had photographed them…. On this gray day where the skies are threatening snow but not actually delivering, I will enjoy last year’s spring flowers.
I will admit these photos are from two different weeks last April, but I just wanted to enjoy them and am putting them in one post.
Sahalie Falls on the McKenzie falls is one of my favorite falls and in the morning, you can photograph a rainbow. This was early in April. I headed down towards the valley and stopped off at my favorite resting spot where I can get out stretch my legs walk down to the river.
because it was early in the spring there were few leaves on the maple trees. I took this shot with the plan to process it from the RAW file. Otherwise the shot is impossible to get a good photo, too much light too much shadow….
This shot was the same idea the only thing lit up were these leaves against the dark Douglas fir tree.
On my return trip home a few hours later I stopped off at Sahalie falls again. The sun had moved further west, and this area is in shadow. It would have been harder to see in those shadows with the regular program, and I am always trying to capture the turquoise color that seems to move through the water as it falls down to the base. Success. after this shot I backtracked about a mile or so and stopped at Koosah Falls which is below Sahalie.
Again the late afternoon light was not the best but did enrich the turquoise of the water. I have shot this in the mornings as well and sometimes the sun blows out the details of the falling water. I ended that day’s photo shoot with a shot of this little sword fern in growing in the moss.
It was kind of dark for photos but I always try to get the shot…. with the new program another success. The next group of photos were taken about two weeks later when I knew there would be my favorite calypso orchids.
This trillium was just past its prime, when the white petals change to magenta. The trail down to the river was very shady, perfect for trilliums orchids and wood violets
Because it was April and we were in the shade of the Maple and Douglas fir trees, a warm spot in the sunlight was a good reason to stop and enjoy. Which my housemate did.
It wasn’t long before she had her sweatshirt on though. I admit I am having a lot of fun with this new processing program and well I did go back into my files two years ago to 2024 and the Aurora Borealis shots I took in the spring and fall. Tomorrows post.
This morning a friend and I both shared a post on Facebook about mother earth being a church. I have always thought of the forest as a church and a place to rejuvenate. A place to talk to the trees work through issues and in general calm my restless soul. Plus, the trees never tell your secrets. When I came to Central Oregon, I lived near a place I could hike in the pines. And those pines heard a lot. A few years later I moved a few miles east and my hiking place was in the Junipers. Honestly it took me a few years to find the right place that calmed my soul.
This area is big an open it has canyons and buttes I can climb up or go down. I hike the area so much I am not likely to get lost because I have many visual landmarks that guide me. I call this area Sage Ranch rd. butte and canyon, I also refer to it as my church of the Junipers and sagebrush.
This area has ancient history, it holds secrets since the beginning of time in Central Oregon.
Today’s hike was not to calm my soul or to vanquish things that anger me. It was simply a good winters day to get out and enjoy the old beings that have lived here for 500 -1000 years or more. My original plan was to hike down into the canyon climb up the canyon wall close to where the Sage Ranch canyon, Deep canyon, and Fryrear canyon seem to meet. Those plans changed when I noticed someone parked in the parking area for the main trail. I drove a few yards further and parked across from the butte, deciding to climb it instead. It doesn’t matter to me which direction I go in this area it is so big we can all enjoy it. I can let my German Shepherds run without bothering anybody.
You will notice in most of these photos large piles of cut juniper. For many years we have let this land go natural except that we put out all the fires. So natural wasn’t natural and the area is overgrown with dead sagebrush, tall bitterbrush, and young flammable juniper trees. At one time I had found a plan for this area that BLM had been working on. It involved making a new trail head closer to Fryrear road and adding more horse trails. It wasn’t specific enough for me to determine but I had hoped that it included this area. Because lets face it My Church of the Junipers really needed a make over. A rejuvenation. This year is the year for that to start, and I hope next year these piles are burned.
in the mean time I am enjoying all of the views opening up that I couldn’t enjoy because there was a tree in the way…
After an hour up on the butte it was time to work my way down into the lower area and the main trail.
Time to go back to my car feeling refreshed by a good hike in the Junipers
For the last three days the Troll family tribe has been on exploring trips. Poppa T, Pinx, and Aqua have been taking Lime, Pumpkin, Gemma, Blew and Pinky on tours of a couple of their favorite places to hike. Monday it was Reilly Ranch Preserve.
They enjoyed the views towards the mountains over the meadow.
The different views from the overlook.
and the lizards wanted to see the views too
There were views of the Deschutes river below,
Pinky and Blew were assigned to make sure Aqua didn’t decide to go swimming again. After their tour of Reily Ranch they decided to explore the area closer to home. So Tuesday it was Sage Ranch Canyon and Butte. they decided to warm up with a little rock climbing in the parking area.
Soon we were on our way down into the canyon a bit so we could do some more rock climbing up
Poppa T chose this route because he likes the view of the mountains as they climb the rocks to the top of the canyon. Because this area has coyotes, he also hired a couple of guards…
Well truth is that Nova and Aurora insisted that we were not going hiking without them. After we got to the top of the canyon we headed south up to the top of Sage Ranch Butte.
There were a lot of trees to climb, and every snarly snag had to be checked out, soon though we were at the top of the butte.
After they climbed some rocks and checked out the flat areas it was time to head home. We chose the path that took us down the easy slope and overlooked the canyon wall we climbed up earlier.
For today Wednesday, Poppa T wanted to go to the mountains…. Yeah Right…. I simply explained that I had other plans and was going to the pool…. They thought that would be a good trip, but I said that they didn’t have swim passes and couldn’t go… Plus we had to clean up the photo area so we could start the new year with a fresh blank slate…..
So Good Bye 20…. Hey wait What are you all doing???
What do you mean we are not done photographing???
All right one last portrait session for 2025 Good by 2025…. Time to make photo plans for 2026
For those of you who read my post a couple weeks ago, and those of you who didn’t, this story is Aqua’s big adventure story. For some reason Aqua decided to jump off the bridge at lower bridge campground across the Metolius River. He very quickly floated down river and out of sight around the corner.
Now he is back safe and sound.
Nobody is happier to see him then Poppa T. Except maybe me. And what an adventure story he has to tell.
It all started with a handwritten note.
and a delivery from Fed Ex.
Apparently Aqua is the sibling finder and Blew had come from Texas with a message…
On the day Blew arrived we had a trip planned for the Metolius and just before we left for our hiking trip, he whispered the message to Aqua. There were more siblings lost in Florida…. and they too were trying to come back home. So Aqua dove into the river in hopes of finding them.
I don’t know how he thought he would make it to Florida from Oregon, but he did.
According to his story he hopped a ride on a swan, that took him down river to lake Billy Chinook. He was ever so grateful for the swan coming along because that water in the Metolius was freezing cold.
At Lake Billy Chinook he managed to catch a ride on the Canada Goose Express heading south. He said it was quite a ride across the United States and was glad that the geese had charted a course south through Texas and Louisiana. They had heard that there were some lost trolls in Florida, it would be no problem to find them.
and there they were hiding in the ferns.
They were so glad to see Aqua that they came running out to surround him. He told them that his plan was to book them all on a one-way flight through Fed Ex and that they would all be back home with Poppa T soon.
So, Poppa T’s Tribe is growing and while he knows there are other kids out there, he can be patient because they will find their way home. Meet our new cast of Troll kids
Aqua with formally introduced Blew (on the left.)
Pinky (Pinx twin) And Lime
Pumpkin or Kin for short and Gema. Looking forward to what adventures we can all get into this next year.
I had wanted to hike the trail from Tumalo State Park upriver to the Reily Ranch park. So when Robin asked me where did I want to hike? I said ” Uh… that park above the Shevlin park trail… You know that uh… Ranch….” Ok a little bit of brain fog there. Lucky for me she knew where I wanted to go. So, the plan was we would meet at Tumalo St. park leave my car there, she would drive us up to the Reily Ranch Park and we would start the trail there, hiking along the Deschutes River down to Tumalo St. Park.
It was a beautiful sunny morning with no wind and Reily Ranch Nature Preserve Park is beautiful. The mountains were playing hide and seek in the clouds. We started on the juniper loop then went on the Sage flat loop, where we stopped and checked out the Canyon Overlook
Moving on we walked to the Robins Run trail head and went down towards the river
It is a bit steep compared to the rest of the trail but not unreasonable.
the views of the river were incredible
Robin and I took our time and enjoyed the conversations, the views and the weather. We came to the confluence of the Tumalo Creek with the Deschutes River and commented on how beautiful it was.
Soon we came to a bridge that went over the boulders along the bank of the river allowing hikers to continue on easily
Robin and I both wondered what it took to build this bridge so that it held. against possible floods or shifting boulders…. After the bridge we stopped and had a lunch, the pace was easy and I had been stopping a lot along the way to take photos.
The one thing about this trail is it does cross private properties, and they have allowed hikers to cross as long as they stay on the trail. So, when hiking along the trails be respectful of their property. Because these views are just too beautiful to miss.
Too soon we ended our hike at Tumalo St park and when we were done, we had hiked 3.1 miles. I had taken 175 photos, and we did it in a little over 2 hours.
Robin asked if I wanted to do it again only maybe hike from Tumelo St. park back up to Richardson Ranch Park? Absolutely!!! Because every view changes when you look at them from a different direction…. and hopefully we can pick a time when the other two members of the hiking group won’t have prior appointments.
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.
My Studio is the victim of many different projects, because well at one time it was an unfinished 2 car garage. It really could use a ceiling. But that is another project for a later date. My housemate and I had bought some of those interlocking mats for the floor and while they were nice there were not enough for the room. Then we found a really good deal on Marketplace and bought 20 more. They were slightly different but went together with the original ones, okay. Still though there were not enough. This if a 500 sq ft room, and the hard cement floor is cold…
This summer I had several things I wanted painted or stained including some boards for my photography to use as props and stands and when finished everything got shoved back into the studio in the unused area. Eventually some of the painted blocks 2×4’s and 2×6’s made their way to the actual photo area, and I have used them. They work great for elevation changes. Last month we found on Marketplace 20 more of those interlocking mats. When we got them home, we realized that they were thicker than the original mats. That meant reorganizing all of the mats in front of the photo area so that the thicker mats were there and the others were covering more of the high use areas of the floor. I began pulling up the thinner mats in the photo area and piling them around. I moved my rolling rack that was mostly filled with photo props and fabric backgrounds and tried to put some of the thinner mats there against the large garage door. They were too big. So after a day of trying to organize the floor I quit and moved on to more projects. With all of these projects and others inside the house that meant moving stuff from in the house out to the studio, things are starting to pile up in the studio. There are little trails to the photo area, the freezers and to the door. Another find last week on Marketplace we got 20 more of the interlocking mats only these were 1ft X 1ft. I decided that those would work under the rolling rack but hadn’t gotten to it. A friend had asked if I would photograph a couple of her gnomes and I jumped at the chance it sounded like a lot of fun. I got them last night went out to my photo area and well couldn’t get to it. There are stacks of various different sized interlocking mats there are painted 2x4s and 2x6s there is a cabinet I removed from the house, there are new bins that needed filling with some of the stuff I had collected to photo, and there are other cube units that never found a home. For my photo project I wanted hanging snowflakes but in order to get that I had to move a light above the photo table. So the organizing began. the rolling rack got moved and the new small tiles installed, the empty bins were filled up and labeled with subject matter and put back in the rolling rack that was back in its home. The cabinet was now in a corner and a cube shelf unit was also with it. More of the thinner mats were pulled up and the thicker mats were put down. The light above the photo table found a new home lighting up the area around the rolling rack and I have a 8 ft long 1×2 board hung from the ceiling with cup hooks so I can hang snowflakes
and I got the background changed moved the white down and tracked down my snowballs.
I will start shooting the gnomes Tuesday, I need to find some ski’s
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….
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.
Deanne Dements Photography 