Sometimes you hike up a mountain, get both feet soaked crossing a river, get lost, and then find that one waterfalll you had been looking for, only to get home and find that all your photos were terrible. You got skunked. Then other times, you are in just the right place, at just the right time, the batteries are full and the memory card is ready, and you get magic. There are some shoots when you come home with so many keepers that you feel spoiled! That was this shoot. I live in Oregon. I love the State, but I have to say, we are not the best when it comes to Christmas lights. Sorry, it's true. So, to get the full experience and we drove all the way out to Idaho, where they seem to get it right. This is Caldwell. This was actually about 3 years ago in Caldwell, but I got so many great images that I keep going back to that well for Christmas images.

In fact, I tried to shoot a different Christmas light image this year, but Oregon got me again. There is a covered bridge about an hour and half form where I live that gets a full Christmas decorating every year. I called the City to see when they would be up, she told me, so we headed out to shoot it. Well, I guess I got the info wrong, because there were no lights. So tried again the next weekend, only to find that the official lighting of the bridge was the next day. Oh Oregon. So about $150 in gas and 6 hours of my life would never get back, I still have no image of that bridge. If you want Christmas, go to Idaho.

Tags:   caldwel christmas lights colors river night idaho stream

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This image was from a cold hike to Silver Falls State Park. The season had not yet given us any snow, but it was certainly cold enough for some decent ice.

The hike down into the canyon is tricky because everything is frozen. The mist from the falls freezes the trail and so without ice-cleats its almost impossible to get here. This was shot on a tripod to get the water blur. It looked like some kind of comedy show getting the tripod set up. See, the tripod slides just like we do when its on ice. What good is a tripod that moves all over? So, the location of the camera was not really a choice, it was dictated by where the legs had something to lean against! Also, sadly, you had to shoot the image where idiots could not get to the ice. All icicles within reach were broken off. :(

Tags:   ice water waterfall fall river stream icicle cold oregon state park silver falls

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Another image from the Fall trip to New York. The gorge was so breathtaking and there was this intense need to use the wide angle, so I went the other way. I tried to force myself to leave the zoom on for a while. Came up with some interesting images. Let me know what you think.

Tags:   water stream river gorge fall new york finger lakes landscape color cat tripod

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This image is from last winter, my brother and I visited the Ice Castles in Utah. We came away with a several interesting images. This one reminded me of Hoth, I can almost see Luke suspended in ice. I also liked the two paths at the end of the cave, it presents the feeling of choice.

The real challenge here was getting a frame without someone in it. This place was packed! Good news is they did not mind tripods. That always helps.

Let me know what you think.

Tags:   ice cave utah castles cold winter blue

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When you are a little past the peak leaf-peeping time slot, you gave to start getting creating to get any decent images. My wife could not go to the Finger Lakes district until it was a little late in the season. So I had to work with that window. Here at the base of the Falls I found 1 bush that still had some semblance of color. Now, it was just a matter of finding a comp that worked. This is what I came up with.

Tags:   water waterfall fall autumn yellow leaves new york finger lakes finger lakes

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