Tag: travel

Photographing with your dominate brain.

I have been loving the New Central Library in Bend Oregon. I am not surprised about the vast array of books they have but simply that I figured out how to justify going when it is the furthest library from my home. Since I am already going to the Larkspur pool and park 3 days a week, the library is much closer to the park than the closest library is to my home. I am always looking for something that inspires me to take photos and I thought this book might do that…. I was right.
One of the projects was to find a box, a small box. Set the box on the table at an angle from you so that you can see 3 sides of the box. Using your cell phone take a photo of the box…… WHAT ????? NO, no cell phone…. I have a real camera….
I am sitting on my back deck in my glider chair. It is nice and warm I lay my head down on the back of the chair and ponder this project….. it seems simple enough….
I have a Box

But photographing this box is kind of boring…. And the Dominate Brain has taken over… What If I add the Trolls to this nice box

Poppa T thinks the box is a nice box.

Kind of roomy inside the perfect box for a troll fort… He knows if he leaves the box alone the Troll kids won’t be able to resist this perfectly nice box.

It doesn’t take long and here they come Pinx, Blue, Lime, Kin, Gemma, and Aqua. They squeal with delight, and soon start crawling into the box

there is nothing better than a Troll Fort

And So, this simple box became a Fort just for troll games. But Wait…. I hear something… Hide…..

Nobody will find us in our box fort….

“Alright Kids…. I see you found the Box I left for you…..” says Poppa T

Poppa T…. this is the Best Box Ever….. We love our new box…..

So a book on Drawing on the Dominate Eye, with creative projects to do inspires a quick photo shoot that truly activates the dominate brain…. filled with silly ideas…..
This was kind of fun and since I was just playing around, I really didn’t take my best shots, and the box needed a little cleaning up, dusting off…. I truly don’t like the background, so I will probably need to re shoot this Someday….

Hiking to Clear Lake with a Friend.

My friend Robin and I decided to hike to Clear Lake, for the Colors…… We decided last year… but things didn’t work out. This year we decided to try it again. Schedules worked out for the two of us, the other two were not available. I had a vision in my mind of a photograph I had taken in 2016 and then had printed into a notecard in 2018.

In order to get this photo we had to start at the old Santiam road trail and the McKenzie river trail.


At the beginning of the trail we cross over Fish lake Creek which is actually dry most of the year, or the water runs below the surface of the creek.


The color was fantastic as expected

the trail is well maintained and wide

It is nice and shady with lots of color

Pretty soon we came to the second bridge that crosses Fish lake creek. This is where the McKenzie River trail intersects with the trail that goes around Clear Lake.

My goal was to go to the fingers of Clear Lake to get the shot of the lodge and the 3 Sisters Mountains. So, we didn’t cross this bridge even though my secondary goal was to go to the Great springs. I remembered the bright turquoise blue where the spring hits the lake.

Here on the main trail, I was getting all the color I wanted. and I was enjoying the challenge of photographing the bright trees in the shade of the Douglas fir trees.

Pretty soon we accessed clear lake, and there was the shot I wanted but… Well not exactly what I had photographed before. It was a nice summer day we were in the cool shade watching kayakers making their way along the lake shores

The color of the lake was intense, and I was enjoying the different angles of shots.

The Colors, of the leaves and the lake were mesmerizing….

I came to an old log that many people had climbed on over the years and there was the shot I wanted. We rested a bit on the bench placed just for this view had a bit of lunch then continued on around the bend because the Colors of the water ….

3,000 years ago, the McKenzie River was dammed by the lava flows from Sand Mountain. The trees that were in the valley were trapped underneath the water and have never surfaced. Standing as a ghost forest underwater. You can see some of the underwater trees in this photo.

I knew that these paddlers were working their way into Great Spring, then working their way over to the cove we were in.

The colors were so intense, I couldn’t resist taking more and more photos.

Soon it is time to head back to the car, Slowly.

Enjoying the colors of the lake and the forest. Watching the paddlers

Soon we are at the bridge where the trails intersect.

Robin suggested we go this way and I am glad we did at least for a few feet.

Robin wanted to know if I could photograph the green moss along the trail…. Sure…..

Eventually we made it back to the trail head where we started.
We talked about going into the clear lake parking area at the lodge…. but I was unclear on the parking situation and why we would need to pay the county to park. We decided to go a bit further down highway 126, to Sahalie Falls which is the first water fall down the McKenzie river from Clear lake.

This is one of my Favorite falls to photograph. simply because it is easy to get too.
The first shot is photographed with a fast shutter speed capturing the water instantly. The second shot I slowed down to about an eighth of a second allowing more water to flow through the photo. Not my best work, but a good reminder to not always shoot things the same way every time….
Thank You, Robin, for going along with me on this Fall adventure. Maybe next year Geri and Susan will be able to come with us….










The Power of Friendship: Hiking The Upper Deschutes River Lava Island.

When I moved to Central Oregon 30+ years ago, I had big dreams… I wanted to be a photographer like Ray Atkinson or Erskine Wood. Both Oregon photographers I have admired. I even worked for Erskine and Nancy; in the early 80’s. I had participated in the County fair photo competitions and never won better than honorable mention…. but still I had the drive to do better. I had this high standard that I wanted to achieve, and I knew I could do it with work…. But time, finances, different interests, and different technology in photography, got in the way. Maybe the most important was my own fear of what the unknown would be and that I didn’t have friends to guide me into that unknown. In the past I have always had a big dog to go with me on these hikes that I wanted to do, but the rules have changed on that… I also fell victim to the thought ” Oh that hike is close to home so I will do it later…” Later never gets here.

I joined the Bend Parks and Rec after COVID because I felt I needed to be more active. I have met a lot of fantastic people there and made friends with some ladies who all have different lifestyles, experiences, and interests than I do. Three of the ladies also wanted to get out and hike and a few of those hikes have been featured in this blog.
This hike is another one that was thrown together when a stray comment resulted in plans that had to be changed at the last minute. It was organically thrown together on a Facebook post and the two of us went out to the upper Deschutes River. Close to home but I had never taken the time to do it. what better time than when the fall colors are just popping,

We started at Lava Island Falls and because I took over 180 photos that I whittled down to about 75 to process, I am breaking this into several posts….

Thank You Robin for Saying Let’s Go

Friendship is Team work

and it all works when we engage and support those who can’t make it,

and to be willing to be flexible when things change.
Because the Power of Friendship is the strongest when we all engage and are willing to work through the fear of what is unknown…. and are willing to support those people who want to be there but can’t just yet.
Thank You, Robin for making suggestions….

Sparks Lake First day of fall / Last day of summer

I hadn’t been to Sparks Lake in a couple of years and decided that yesterday the last day of summer and the first afternoon of Fall would be a perfect time to go. The road into the boat ramp was much rougher than I remembered and I was glad that I had a car with a higher clearance. The forest service is responsible for this road and they have not maintained it at all in the last several years.

This photo is of a sign that represents the lake when it is full. It is quite huge and shallow which makes it popular for kayakers and paddleboarders early in the season.
Sparks lake was formed when Mt Bachelor erupted 10,000 years ago and the lava created a natural dam which began collecting rain and snow forming the lake. As the summer goes on the yearly captured water trickles down through the lava and runs underground until it comes back up at the surface for several streams and Little Lava Lake.

By late September the lake has usually drained enough that there is a large meadow with several channels running through it.

These last two shots overlook where the boat ramp is South Sister Mountain is in the background

I decided to go back to my car and then access the lake just beyond these trees. I didn’t get to that exact spot but I got close anyway.

From the other side of the trees, I was able to get a close up shot of South Sister, by using just my favorite 90 mm macro lens.

And a close up shot of Broken Top with the same lens. Both of these mountains I can see from my house on the north side, but they are so different from this angle.
I am hoping I can remember to go back to this lake in July or early August of next year…. Assuming I don’t get busy….

The Importance of Friends and achieving creative goals

For years I had always wanted to enter the Oregon State Fair photo contest. I had been entering the Lane County Fair photo contest for several years and the competition was STIFF !!! I think the best I ever got was honorable mention. I figured that you had to win at the county fair level to enter the State fair level. Before I achieved any coveted awards I moved to Central Oregon and Deschutes County. My first summer I went to the county fair and …. was disappointed at the quality of the photo displays. I could not say I was disappointed at the photos because all I saw was a jumble of poorly displayed 4×6 photos on construction paper with an occasional 5×7 and 8×10 photos thrown in the mix. I didn’t enter my photos in the next years photo contest…. Truthfully my photography had also taken a hit with lack of funds, a new hobby Quilting, and a new interest Volunteer fire fighter…. Photography was not on my radar anymore. Several years later I had moved into Fire Prevention and volunteered at the county fair at the new Fair Grounds…. One of the forest service Fire Prevention officers and my friend Karla, said lets go look at the displays. We wandered around and eventually came to the photo displays. My impression of them was similar to my first impression. Very jumbled, but slightly better at least the 4×6 on construction paper were gone…. Later that year our prevention co-op worked at the state fair and again Karla said let’s go look at the displays. What a Big Difference everything was neat and organized and while I don’t remember much, I remember looking at the photographs and enjoying walking around the room looking at them. One photograph still stands out to this day almost 30 years later…. A simple Black and White of a Calla Lily on a black background and framed with a black mat. Karla always said you can do that….. I will always miss her, but I still hear her encouraging me with that little chuckle she had…. You can do it!!!!
Several years later the Volunteer Firefighter Fire Prevention officer is no longer, and the quilting has been put on the backburner (maybe) but the Photography has come back strong with new equipment that achieves my photo desires. I had joined a group of photographers online and we participated in a 52-week photo challenge…. by year 3 I had made many photographer friends, and each challenge was a contest to see how I could do better than the year before or even improve on another photographer’s idea….

This was one of my favorite photos. It was a layering technique that I had planned out. I knew that this prescribed burn was going to happen, near my home and when they lit up the fire, I was able to take a photo of the smoke column rising over North Sister, from the front of my house. Later in the day I went down to the fire and photographed it from the road while the wildland firefighters were working on the mop up… I used the photos for two different weekly competitions. I was encouraged by Neil, Maryanne, Nicole, Jim, David….. and many other people in the group… While I was active in the photo challenge, I looked up what it would take to enter the Deschutes Co. Fair and the Oregon State Fair. I found the county fair was a jumble but easy to understand, with many different categories. Way too many categories…. The State fair I saw 4 categories and one special category. I really didn’t understand what they wanted….. So I did nothing. My printer had run out of ink during the covid pandemic and when I did get new ink it would not work with my laptop or my new desktop computer. They were not communicating.
Over time my interest in the 52 week contest had waned and many of my biggest supporters had also lost interest. I looked for a different social atmosphere and a way to get exercise…. I joined a swimming pool class that looked fun and after about a year was invited to join a group of ladies called the Pool Pals. A variety of ladies with a wide variety of experiences. Also, we all had similar political interest…. When the current president was elected there was a lot of shock and disbelief…. There are many different levels of activism within this group of ladies, and I admit I am one of the lowest …. I really don’t like to go to rallies…. I chose to use my camera as my protest…. I also like to go hiking or even walking, so 4 of us gelled and started hiking at least when we could… Thanks for those hikes, Susan H, Robin, and Geri…. for me those hikes are a support that say, “You can do this”…. A quiet affirmation that getting out and taking photos, walking and talking with friends is a powerful thing…

I bought a Constitution of the United States booklet and the parchment paper style printed documents that included The Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights….
Adding a faded flag that I had hung during COVID pandemic. I photographed them, I even had notecards made from them. I wanted to submit that original photograph to one of the fairs but for the county fair I needed to get my photo printer working, for the State fair I needed to decide on what I was going to submit and it had to be done in by July 20th. Then I had to make sure I could print them. I missed the deadline for the county because I hit a snag with the printer. I had it working a couple days later. I did get the 3 photographs that I had chosen to enter the State Fair in. I waited until the last day and just before I was ready to submit I rephotographed the flag constitution photo without the booklet.
In my mind I could hear the encouragement of the many friends, saying ” You can do this”,” Just Do It”,” I dare Ya…..” I think the last phrase is my Friend Lynne, I don’t think she actually said it, but she has that twinkle in her persona that could have…
This is a long post, and you will notice there are only 3 photos. These are the photos I submitted to the Oregon State Fair in my first ever entry…. The first photo did not get accepted; I knew that the competition for that entry would be stiff… But it represents to me the values of my friendships and that each of my friends, have provided me with the words on those glass beads.
The other two, the layered wildland fire fighters, and the constitution flag shots were accepted but did not win any awards. They do say to me that I can do it… and that I can “Up my game” in the photography genre.
It is to all of my friends I send up a special THANK YOU for all the positive you provide me and the inspiration you provide in my journey to be creative.
Thanks to the ladies of Cinco’s who have been friends for more than 20 years, Lynne, Marcia, Yetta and Susan T. always look forward to our morning posts on FB.
Thanks to Susan T who has been willing to go with me to Salem several trips in just a few weeks (still have one more to go). I only got lost a few times each trip.
Special thanks to Maureen and Vicky for making an effort to go to the state fair on the day that Susan and I went and met up with us in the photo area also the rest stop….. You really made my day on that rainy day….. I am not sure the photo section could recover from some of the current pool class hijinks…. at least we didn’t hold up the flow…
And Robin I am still working on that Question ” What if I ???? for Next years Entries….

Gardening challenges, The Gnomes have a plan

Jeramiah and George Gnome have been looking over the back yard. Making plans and discarding ideas. It has been a challenging year for gardening. Starting with the fact that Hector the garden gnome has not been able to break free from his other garden responsibilities. They have had to depend on their cousins the Troll family

Keeping the troll family on task is quite the challenge.
And then there is the weather, most uncooperative….

Not enough rain or snow this winter and spring…. Lots of wind, and the cheat grass is blooming….. spreading it’s seeds with the wind….
The challenge for gardening this year is Daunting. The human person (Me) has already had to start the water for the flowerbeds two months early. Many losses of plants that should have survived but didn’t because of the lack of rain or snow this winter…..

With all of these challenges George and Jeramiah decided it was time to hatch a plan to get the gardening done this summer. They gathered the troll family and had a meeting….
They decided that it was a perfect time to invite more of the Gnome family to come live here, I was given a letter.


Dear Gnomes, Family and Friends. Come live with us.
We have the perfect place for you to come live and garden

Lots of room for your whole family to play and garden

The Troll family is excited to meet more of their cousins and would welcome you go come live here in this wild paradise… There is some wildlife native to the area.

But the Desert Lizards, and


the pet Dinosaurs are quite harmless. Though we are not sure about the Dragon… He does seem to get along with everyone….
There will be a pool set up this year, but you might have to negotiate with the German Shephard who owns it….
Can’t wait to see you all again….
George, Jeramiah, Poppa T, Pinx, Aqua, Pinkie, Lime, Pumpkin, Genta and Blue

Revisiting my 20234 Aurora Borealis photos Dee Wright Observatory

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.

Is it spring or winter, a good time to learn about my new photo processing program

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.

Attending the church of the Juniper and Sagebrush

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

The End of 2025 Making plans for 2026

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