Mordor

On our camping trip in Eastern Oregon, we went rock hounding in a place called Succor Creek. With the storm starting to move in that would later threaten our camp site with high winds, the sides of the canyon reminded me of the fictional Mordor from Lord of the Rings.

Chalk Art

I shot some photos at the Corvallis Farmer's Market last weekend. Da Vinci Days had a presence there, promoting the upcoming festival in July and I was asked to cover it. A talented chalk artist drew a geisha to go with this years' transformation theme. I was very impressed as I watched her start with a blank sidewalk and apply all the color and shading you see in the finished image below. The artist's name is Cora Crabtree. You can find more pictures of the artwork taking shape and other shots from the farmer's market on my Flickr photostream.

Sunset on Lake Owyhee

I believe this was the first night of our camping stay on the Owyhee Reservoir. I took several shots of the sunset across the lake and far edge of the canyon. One had a piece of driftwood in the foreground, but the cleaner look of the rocky shore won out. This is an HDR composite of several exposures in Photomatix, but I ended up masking back in the sky and the water from the original shots so much of the merging process was done manually in the end. There is a version of this photo available as a free wallpaper here as well.

The Painted Hills

On our way back from camping at Lake Owyhee last week, we stopped off at the painted hills. They are located in Eastern Oregon near the small town of Mitchell. We were lucky to get a quick break from the rain to enjoy the scenery... for only about 10 minutes. I was climbing up the half mile trail to the main overlook at the top, snapping pictures along the way, when it began hailing and I had to tuck the camera in my jacket and run back to the Jeep. Fortunately it didn't come down too hard and it was actually letting up a little by the time I was able to get inside. I think this might be the last shot I got off before it hit. I didn't venture back out for another attempt.

Teepee at Sunset

This is one of the teepees at the campground we stayed at on the Owyhee reservoir. This was taken the day after the big wind storm hit with 50-60 MPH sustained winds. As you can see, the teepee was still standing and only a little worse for wear. The trees in the picture are quite blurry because it was still windy at this point and this is an HDR composite which includes 3 exposures. I kind of like the blurry trees though since it helps tell the story.