It begins with an idea. What does it look like from up there? Can I make it beautiful? What story will it tell?
Whenever I approach this scene during my daily commute I think, “Maybe this time conditions will be perfect for an amazing photo”.
A scene that I pass through almost daily on my way to grab a cup of coffee. I rarely pause to notice how lovely it is. I’m stopped in my tracks on this late Winter day when I remind myself to look up and not at my feet when I walk. Often I am caught in a moment of wonderment at the landscape that surrounds me in the place I get to call home.
The beauty and dignity of this bridge never cease to amaze me. Can I do it any justice through a single photograph? Oh, how I hope that I can.
Outfitted with my first quality lens, a tripod, filters, and an official looking camera bag, people watch me while I take photos of Beard’s Hollow. As I take this shot I finally feel like a real photographer.
This barge awaiting the rising tide to bring in another harvest tells a story about the oyster farmers of Willapa Bay that runs generations deep.
The sky over the mouth of the Columbia River changes rapidly in the Spring. Knowing this, I can sit for hours waiting for just the right shot, while a million new scenes pass before me.
The Columbia River. She feeds us, moves our commerce, and connects us to the world through a vast global trade network. Always changing as she flows into the sea, as her tides ebb and grow, she is never the same from one moment to the next. Yet some things never change. Buildings like this have lined her shores for over a century. The occupants come and go, but they remain the same, holding space as collectors of the history of this mighty river.
The sun has only just come up over the horizon as these brave souls prepare to make the most dangerous river crossing in the world. The Columbia River Bar. Rest assured that the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse will guide them safely home.
The sunrise is still fresh, like wet paint, yet the work at Port of Peninsula on Willapa Bay has long been underway.
My first real photograph, taken with my first real camera. Coming home one evening I could see how spectacular the sunset was going to be. I pulled my vehicle off the road, and rushed to find a place to set my tripod and camera. Kneeling without looking, I set my right knee down into a pile of dog poo. “It’s too late to worry about that now” I thought as I rushed to find a filter for the lens. Hands shaking and heart racing I rush to set up my camera for the chance to take the shot before it is gone forever.
Driving along the river, I spotted this ship resting in the water of the Columbia River. It reminded me of the Fall leaves that had long since fallen as Winter was well established. I turned around, skipped lunch, and instead found a place to compose this shot.
All day I drove through the muddy logging roads along the Columbia River looking for photo opportunities. Unexpectedly, I hit the pavement of a narrow and winding road that led me to stumble upon this scene. The sun peaked, just for a moment and just for me I think, to let me get this one shot in a long day of searching.