The view from Bonesteele

I went over to Bonesteel County Park this morning to get some shadow pictures, but wound up getting a picture of the Turner countryside that was blanketed in fog. The golden sunrise made for a golden-colored landscape...

Golden Hour

McKay Falls and the Scotts Mills Fireman Statue

I have been wanting to revisit McKay Falls ever since I discovered it last year when I went to explore the Scotts Mills County Park that it is located at. As the Autumn colors have yet to burst onto the scene, I will be coming back in the morning later in the month for a better picture, but for now, I had to deal with a bad lighting angle which led be to wade into the cold water to get a better picture...

After that little photoshoot, I stopped at the Fire Station in town on my way out because I noticed a fireman statue. I photographed it from two angles and have yet to decide which one is my favorite--in one, you can see the flag pole behind the statue but the axe isn't shown that well; in the other, you can see the axe, but it looks like the statue has only three fingers on his left hand...

Santiam Canyon Bridges

I decided to visit two bridges along the lower Santiam Canyon--one in Mill City and one in Stayton. Once up in Mill City, I hiked around to find the best site to photograph the Mill City Rail Bridge (now used as a pedestrian bridge that makes one end of a rails-to trails system that only goes about a mile or two since the Mill City Log Mill is still in opperation) Unfortunately, what would have been my best shot composition-wise, turned out to be slightly out of focus, which means I will return to the bridge later in October when the trees are more colorful...

The other bridge, known as the Stayton-Jordan Covered Bridge, resides in a complex of four parks in south Stayton. to get the picture below, I waded out in cold water and discovered the stream was much deeper when my foot sank through 15 inches of mud and leaves. As with the bridge above, I will also be returning to this bridge later in the month for another shot...

October 5th Barn Drive

I have decided to try to get one good picture of an old barn each week so I can, in essence, document the ones that remain here in Oregon. As I live in Marion County, I have decided to start within the borders of the county and then expand into the rest of the Willamette Valley once I have gotten every barn within this county that has good character and isn't blocked by other buildings. After the Willamette Valley, then I will expand my search into other parts of Oregon. Here is today's barn picture, and so far one of my favorites due to its unique character...

Marion County Barn Drive

Earlier, I went out in search of a barn I saw about a year ago, only to settle on taking a picture of another barn I could not locate the one I was searching for. The only thing I don't like about the image is the road in the bottom left corner...

Photowalk at Minto Brown Island Park with the Salem Audubon Society

As a way to learn more about the birds that I take pictures of, I decided to meet up with members of the Salem Audubon Society at Minto Brown Island Park in Salem. The upside, I got to see some birds I may have not noticed--the downside, the other people (all retired) walked a little too slow when they wanted to count birds and then walked a little too fast when I wanted to get pictures. Basically it means the photographers and Audubon Society members don't mix well on outings. At any rate, here is the only good picture I took while hiking...

Canadian Geese at the local wildlife refuge.

This morning, I decided to go out to Ankeny National Wildlife Refuge to get some pictures of the waterfowl there. Aside from raptors like the Bald Eagle and shorebirds like the various seagulls that call the Oregon Coast their home, I love to photograph waterfowl for two reasons. First, they are easy to locate due to their large size in relation to songbirds; and secondly, they tend to move slow and don't scare as easily. I was in luck as two of my pictures of the Canadian Geese came out pretty good. Another picture, this one of a blue-winged teal, also came out good, though I wish it had sharper focus--oh well...