Long planted rows of poplars in peak autumn brilliance appear to form a perfect passage toward the distant light of cleared fields under clouded skies, while the trees to each side appear almost to wall off all else in the world including the sad recognition that these trees would soon be no more, near Boardman, Oregon.

As you might imagine, I couldn't help but think of Frost's beloved work as I strolled through this yellow wood, rustling freshly fallen leaves with each step. From this perspective, no paths diverge, but take a few steps any which way and similar geometries repeat in different directions to reveal almost innumerable apparent paths--most with no obvious indication of which would be best. So I chose this path, illusion though it may be, and in "ages hence" I may well even try to convince myself it was "the one less traveled by". Either way, it is one of my favorite simple images from a trip a couple of years ago to see the Boardman Tree Farm at its autumn best before the last of these glorious trees were felled.

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Tags:   Boardman Oregon Tree Farm Autumn Fall Gold Golden Color Poplar Aspen Nikon Nikkor Landscape photobenedict Geometry Rows Alignment Sunrise Morning Dawn Yellow Aspens Poplars Hermiston Forest Trees Tree Farm Beautiful Gilded Passage Geometries Leaves Planted Lost Mysterious Mood Nature Dappled Light Peaceful Wood Quiet Autumnal Serene

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The lush ferns, trees and moss enveloping volcanic rocks at the base of Bridal Veil Falls inspire imagination of what the world might have been like when dinosaurs roamed in ancient geologic eras, in the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, Oregon.

The sort of ghostly emanations visible to the right of the falls in this long exposure image are the result of mists and sprays rising up over the mossy rocks from the falling water's impact with the pool at its base. I thought that effect, along with a touch of motion blur in a few fronds and leaves, added to the mysterious and ancient atmosphere of the image (and looked better in this long exposure than this mist did in some of the shots I took with much faster shutter speeds).

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Tags:   Bridal Veil Falls Columbia River Gorge Oregon Nikon Landscape Perspective Canyon Verdant Green Lush Moss Ferns Rain Forest photobenedict Stream Creek River Waterfall Hike

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The whims of summer winds scatter the smoke of many forest fires, sometimes thickening the air like noxious fog and other times, like this, bringing only an indistinct haze that ever so slightly shrouded the prominent volcanic peaks and scattered the dawn's warm light, at Sparks Lake, Oregon.

My wife and I were able to take a wonderful trip this summer with both her parents and my own. Appreciating just being together, we weaved around the fire-struck areas, and enjoyed as much time in nature as we could from the coast to the high Cascades. I treasure time with loved ones more than ever these days.

Sparks Lake sits in sort of a high-elevation "valley"--which we could perhaps call a "hollow" in the parlance of some from the eastern mountains--between the many surrounding dormant volcanic peaks of the Sisters, Broken Top and Mt. Bachelor. A revered place to be sure, and rightly so.

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Tags:   Sparks Lake Oregon Three Sisters Bachelor Cascade Lakes Bend Sunrise Dawn Morning NIkon photobenedict Fire Smoke Haze Clear Forest Fire Lake Water Reflections Mountain Volcano Dormant Mountains Beautiful

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In the midst of several days of gray skies and persistent rain, a glimpse under the canopy of this wondrous and famous little tree was like transporting to a sunnier, more colorful world, even early as it was in its progression of autumn hues, at the Japanese Garden, Portland, Oregon.

This was my first time in Portland during autumn, and going to see this famous maple seemed almost mandatory notwithstanding the unrelenting rains. A favorite tree of both urban gardeners and suburban landscapes far and wide, there are beautiful Japanese maples by the millions around the world, but this particular tree's fame is well earned. There is just something about the form of this tree that truly resonates.

This tree is much smaller than one might expect from seeing so many pictures from similar perspectives over the years, and you could almost walk by it without appreciating its full glory if it wasn't so popular that seemingly every visitor knows to crouch or kneel down and appreciate it from a perspective closer to the ground--or should I say from a more grounded perspective. Perhaps that is the lesson.

This shot was taken during a brief lull in the rain, but a few scattered drops kept falling and an occasional light breeze still made for a bit of a challenging shot since the low dull light of these somber morning skies required more than a half second exposure to reveal the tree's richly brilliant colors at their best. All the shots I post are single exposures, and I don't mind a touch of slight motion blur in a nature or landscape image--in fact I sometimes rather prefer a touch of such natural dynamism to a static image--but how much looks right and how much is too much is often a very close question, to my eye at least. I thought this image struck a good balance, focusing on the more still and serene other-world beneath the brilliant canopy while hinting at the more active broader world that persisted beyond this sheltered respite.

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Tags:   Japanese Maple Portland Oregon Autumn Fall Color Morning Dawn Rain Clouds Nikon Landscape Nature photobenedict Tree Maple Acer Palmatum Form Trunk Branches Twisting Beautiful Yellow Gold Red Pond Garden Cloudy Rainy Colorful Vibrant Canopy Leaves Japanese Garden

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Ragged and overhanging portions of the canyon walls conspire with a fallen tree to create the illusion of an archway entering the verdant confines of Oneonta Gorge, in the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, Oregon.

Oneonta Gorge is another of those places that rose higher and higher on the must-see list as my passion for photography has grown over the years, so it was awesome to finally get there while on a fantastic photography outing with Sky Matthews last month. We got into the gorge a little late, as the morning light had already gotten quite harsh on the higher portions of the canyon walls, and quite a crowd of people had already begun working their way up the gorge toward the waterfall, the cold water being little impediment in the unseasonably hot and sunny weather. Since we were planning to stay in the gorge to see how the light would change throughout the day, we had plenty of time to contemplate different compositions that might work with the conditions of the day and that could possibly be photographed during brief lulls in the steady stream of visitors.

For a good while I found myself focusing too much on always looking deeper into the gorge and rarely looking back toward the entrance. When I finally did turn around and pay attention, I noticed that the shape of the gorge walls appeared to close in above from certain perspectives--which looked particularly cool with the golden sunlight visible back near the "logjam" at the entrance to the main portion of the gorge--and so the search began for a place where an illusion like this could be captured. Needless to say, it took a little while, but I did finally find this location which I think communicates the effect fairly well.

If you look closely, you can see the next group of visitors surmounting the log jam under the "archway" in the distance. While the large number of people moving in and out of the gorge did not make landscape photography easy that day, a place as beautiful as Oneonta Gorge is a place to be shared happily with all comers.

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Tags:   Oneonta Gorge Columbia River Gorge Oregon Nikon Landscape Perspective Illusion Arch Slot Canyon Canyon Verdant Green Lush Rain Forest photobenedict Stream Creek River Waterfall Logjam Hike

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