2018 August Adventure - Family Time

Our August adventure was somewhat different than our others this year, it was more about family than about photography.  And though there was still some of that, it was still an adventure and well worth documenting.

Brandon flew out on a Wednesday and left on a Wednesday, which meant we only had one weekend with him.  Given that Ann and I had work during the week, and I was finishing up several projects at the time Brandon came, he got to relax for a couple of days before we headed up to Portland to hang out with Devon and Erik, who drove down from Seattle.

When we met at the hotel, I explained to the guys that I had three things on my agenda, with one that had to be met.  First off - a trip to ProPhoto Supply to pick up my repaired X-Pro2.  It might not be an overstatement to say I am at harmony with the world again.  The other two were to hang out with everyone and eat . . . well, you know where.

After picking up the camera, we had an hour and a half to spare before you know where opened up so we headed to the Portland Japanese Gardens.  Despite my best efforts to make a serious photograph of my family, Brandon had to be Brandon, so I went with it.

It wasn’t a photography trip and I used my old X-100 I brought up to Portland just in case (which became a necessity when I realized that my X-Pro2 was reverted to factory setting, which meant I had to do the initial programming of buttons, which meant it stayed in the bag until I had the time to do it - kid time is too valuable to be playing with the camera).  So I wound up making some sketch images to practice the eye.

And did my best to make everyone believe that Brandon and Erik could, in fact, be in deep contemplation. . . . .  Nah!

I did try and make a close-up image, which wound up not too bad given it was hand-held.  At that point, I gave up trying to make serious images. 

After we were there awhile, Brandon is calm down enough to let me get a shot of him and Dev.  Maybe the gardens did have an effect on him.

We wound up having lunch at Piazza Italia which was, delicious.  The special was hand made gnocchi and was . . . delicious.  Dummy me though forgot to pull out the iPhone for a group shot.  Oops!

We had an afternoon to blow and Brandon suggested we head over to OMSI (the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry).  They had a robotics exhibit so I had to take another family shot.

And Ann insisted I partake in some of the fun. 

OMSI was pretty interesting and it was great seeing all the kids in the hands-on area doing different types of experiments.  By that point, we were all exhausted so we headed back to the hotel to relax a bit and get ready for (albeit a late) dinner.  Because I was smart enough to have made reservations at Piazza Italia.

As you can see, delicious!

So beautiful, the guys couldn’t figure out if they wanted to dig in or not!

Dinner was great! 

The next morning we all parted ways and Brandon, Ann and I headed south after breakfast at Mother’s.  

On Monday I managed to finish up two projects, which opened up a day for me.  I suggested an easy hike and Brandon agreed.  My first thought was Brice Creek, but the wind changed directions overnight and we woke up to the smell of forest-fire smoke.  So we changed plans and headed in the opposite direction.  Our first destination would be Sweet Creek and, if worst came to worst, the coast itself.

Fortunately, the fires have spared the Coast Range this year and the air was fresh and clear at Sweet Creek.  I’d configured my X-Pro2 and, while this was not a photography trip (we arrived way too late in the morning for that), I still wanted to put the camera through its paces before our big fall trip.  So out the camera came.

Some of the images were technically difficult, with me having to use multiple filters to reduce the bright glare of the sun.  Brandon would periodically ask me what I was doing and why.  Explaining things helped me think through problem solving and the results, while not stupendous, were technically proficient given the difficult conditions. 

As we worked our way up the creek, we hit a part of the falls where Ann and I usually spend most of our time when we’re here.  There was a nice bend in the creek where much of the creek itself was in shadow, but the water was reflecting the warm sunlight bouncing off the far side of the creek.  This was the image that initially drew me to focus on the play of light and water that was the image for the previous blog post.

I eventually made the images for the Brandon Edition post.  Unfortunately, I’d forgotten that he’d also commented about how the falls ran through the trunk of this downed log.  So, you could call the image below another of Brandon’s images. 

As we continued up the creek, the sun made its way up and doing any sort of landscape photography was out of the question.  But we did see one brilliantly lit pool that reminded me of the Santiam water-light images, so I tried my hand here as well. 

Although I tried to reposition myself several times, I couldn’t quite capture the same sense of brilliance that I did at the Santiam River.  Still, my efforts yielded one interesting image, which I can learn from and build upon in the future.

The next morning Brandon was on his way back home, which meant the end of our August Adventure.