We woke up early the next morning refreshed from a good, cool, night’s sleep (Gee, it's amazing what a couple thousand feet of elevation can do to cool things off!).  After coffee and a light breakfast, we broke camp and headed down river to continue our exploration into these parts unknown.  What excited me the most was that I was going to get my first glimpse into Hell along our way to the day’s ultimate destination - the Painted Hills!

Since this trip was to be part business, part pleasure, and we wanted to maximize the latter, Ann took a half-day off on Wednesday and we drove like bats out of hell (let’s see how many hell analogies I can use in this series of posts) and drove from home to Spokane, Washington in a single afternoon/evening.  Actually, we stayed in Spokane Valley, but given the distances, Spokane is close enough.

Well, at least not if you’re there first thing in the morning.  

Ann and I just returned from our July adventure and what a trip it was!  Part business, part pleasure, more road trip than photo trip, but with a little bit of everything to keep things lively.  Hotter than hell, and not as hot as we thought it would be, we got to see gracefully sculpted rolling hills created by one of the most destructive events in earth’s history and deeply etched barren landscapes where not one, but two peoples once thrived.  It was an exploration of the unknown (for us at least) and a homecoming before coming home.  Just what an adventure should be!

Last weekend we were back to printing images.  This time I’m going to include the image that we were most focused on - Ann’s photograph of Bryce Canyon!

The other morning I decided to dig through my photographs from Bryce Canyon to see if I had any images that might compare to the one Ann printed in black and white.  Nope.  I did however find an image that I’d forgotten I wanted to work on.  Fortunately I finally have the skills to do it right.

Today’s answer: to find words.

Ann has a saying that she frequently uses with me, only half in jest:  “You have words.  I have no words.”  I would disagree, saying that, while she sometimes hunts for how to say exactly what she’s thinking, she usually gets her point across very well.  However, she’s right.  I tend to be able to rattle off my thoughts without thinking too much about it, and writing, while difficult, isn’t as much of a hurdle since I’ve been doing so much writing as a lawyer.  So, as usual, Ann’s right.  I have words.  Well, that is, until I don’t.

Ann and I decided to take advantage of having the Fourth of July off.  Given that it came on a Wednesday this year, we had to keep our trip short, so after work on Tuesday we headed up to Brice Creek.  It turned into a nice little excursion!

As we approached the Coquille River on the way to Bandon we turned off at Bullards Beach State Park, where we spent Christmas, hoping there would be a vacancy.  As we drove into the park we passed a truck towing an Airstream on its way out.  It was either a good sign (someone just checked out) or a bad sign (someone was hoping to get lucky like us and didn’t).  We drove up to the check in station the ranger there said, “You folks are in luck, that is if you only need a spot for one night.  Two campers just left so you even have a choice of spots!”  We got lucky!

Ann and I needed to get out again (and how) for a June Adventure; the question was, “Where?”  As we thought of different possibilities, one look at the tide charts showed us that we’d see some of the lowest tides we’ve ever encountered so that meant only one place - the coast!  Which brought us back to the same question, “But where?”  As luck would have it, we wound up at a couple of different places under very different conditions - both of them fantastic for photography!

It’s been awhile since we’ve printed images, almost too long for both printer (though fortunately no printer head clogging issues) and us.  Since our plan is to head back to southern Utah in the fall, I decided to dig into my archives and find a few prints from our previous trips there.  Ann printed an image from Bryce Canyon, in black and white, and it glows.  We’re planning a printing session soon to try hers again, but larger!  For now, you’re stuck with my images.

Today’s answer:  To realize how you were photographing.

That answer may sound a bit odd, but bear with me.  During our trip earlier this year to Yosemite, Ann and I spent the latter part of our last morning along the trail to Mirror Lake (though we barely made it down the trail).  It was where I took my spill (the damage to body and camera body still lingers on) and where I thought I was in photographic heaven - until I looked at my images at home.  I was resoundingly disappointed.  That was until this morning when, while studying Quiet Light,  one of John Sexton’s images made me realized that I had actually been photographing in black and white, not color, that morning.  So I set the book down and headed over to my computer. 

At the risk of spilling the beans about our June adventure, I decided to post a shooting-the-shooter segment from the story because each of the images I made at the time Ann photographed me carry on the theme about compositions that I discussed in a recent post. 

I’m definitely getting my money’s worth studying John Sexton this month.  As I’ve mentioned, he’s a master of black and white photography.  Perhaps it is more apt to say that he is a master of the millions of shades of grey between black and white.  So it should come as no surprise that as I was studying one of his images and his use of subtle tonal controls, I thought of a particular image of mine that I had never been satisfied with, and I knew what direction I had to take it to improve it.

Ann and I went on our June adventure last weekend.  We had an incredible couple of mornings photographing and, as happens when that happens, it’s taking me some time to process the images and get the blog story together about the trip.  In the meantime, I’ll tease you a bit by drawing from some of the images I made and discussing an aspect of potential “compositions” that I hadn’t really thought about much before, but came front and center in my thinking about some of the images I made.  That’s the notion of doing a still life.