Elana's Practice Photography

March '02 to July 02 (The First 5 Rolls)

Not knowing this was going anywhere, I had mixed up my first shots and negs on one mixed-up, unsortable, general pile. These are the first 30 shots from this initial effort.

We will begin with a vanity shot of my 6-wheeled friend, no big gallery-art thing... except there's a reason I pointed an arrow at that tree:

Hmmm... if you are a fancy art photographer, you are supposed to name your art, right? Might as well call this first attempt at real photography "Tree Surprise 1" because it surprised the heck outta me... disposable camera + shopping mall parking lot = NOT-normally-THIS-cool.

Tree Surprise 2

Rolling the 'home around on the farmland west of Gaston OR gave us a "Sepia Sunset"

We folks in the Pacific NW are spoiled rotten when it comes to beautiful landscapes. We have the incredible Columbia Gorge (look it up on a search engine, it's worth it) we have an incredible coastline, we have volcanos, and we have WATERFALLS! Just the thing to make a beginning photographer feel OK about just being just a beginner. From the historic Columbia Highway, here are is a shot of not-too-famous Latourell Falls titled "Latourell 1".

"Latourell 2"

Multnomah Falls out in the Gorge is too over-photographed and too popular. The classic road bridges on the old Historic Highway, on the other hand, are understated beauties. "Multfallsbridge" gives you a hint of where this picture was taken.

Recently I found and scanned this shot from my trip to The Netherlands some years ago. My friend Erik, who lives in The Hague ("Den Haag" in the local language) took me to a large park near his city. For a country which has more population per square mile than almost anywhere else in the world, Netherlanders CARE about maintaining large, beautiful spaces for nature. I truly love that country. Anyway, this one is titled "Den Haag Tree" until I can find out how to say it correctly in their language.

Skyline Blvd, NW of Portland, runs along the spine of hills which partially divide east and west in this city. If you want great beauty for not much driving effort, "Skyline Blvd Sunset" shows you what I mean.

South and west of Portland via a 2-hour drive is Lincoln County. There, a local family found out that the oldest covered bridge in Oregon was being demolished. They picked up the pieces of the broken bridge off the banks of the creek, then spent several months figuring out how to put it together again on their own property. They pulled off a miracle, methinks. Check out the "Drift Creek Bridge".

On that same Lincoln County journey, I landed on the coast just north of the town of the same name. I found a lovely river flowing accross the beach. Spent a LOT of time freezing my feet, walking around in that water, trying to capture the visual special effect which resulted in the sand. The first shot, "River on Shoreline" actually accomplished that goal.

I then pursuaded a flock of seagulls to move into the flow, following some tossed pieces of bread. The resulting "Gulls, River, Shoreline" didn't turn out too bad, either. A friend of mine just asked me to make her a poster version of this piece so she could actually FRAME it! For her living room! Oooookay, THAT idea put me in shock...

Speaking of seagulls, here is another one where I found out how handy a loaf of bread is to get a gull to pose where you want it to. I took advantage of this cool fact and this gawdawfully huge log to create "Logbirds" one overcast day in Seaside, Oregon.

On another day in Seaside, I found this interesting circle of stones at sunset as the tide was coming in. Took me several minutes of getting my feet wet again to get a good shot as a wave retreated, leaving a reflection of the sunset on the sand and the water. "StoneCircle on Sand" was the shot that convinced me that maybe I should start taking this photography thing seriously.

There is a very large hill in the east part of Portland called Rocky Butte. Sometime in history, local citizens built what looked like a stone fort on top of it. The side of it has stone arch windows, and the inside contains a monument to it's builders and planners. I saw the sunset light hitting the monument through an arch in the stone wall and wondered: what would happen if I added a flash to the equation? Result: "Arch And Monument" came out looking like a special effect.

After I was done with the arch, I wondered what I could do with some of the wildflowers on that same butte... and then "Sunset Flowers" happened.

Silver Falls State Park (southeast of Portland just beyond Silverton, Oregon) is a place of wonder and beauty. Go there on a day hike in the late spring and your gasted will be completely flabbered with the beauty and power of 10 different waterfalls in a beautiful forest, all on one trail. This is "North Falls, June 2002" which was taken you-guess-when. If you want to see more shots of the same falls from the same roll, click here.

This is not an artshot, just a snapshot to share. The kind of shot you would show to your friends for a laugh. Next time I am in Oregon's Silver Falls State Park, I plan to get an actually artistic shot of good ol' "Stumpface" (if it is still there) and replace this version with a professional-looking one. Enjoy this amateur version bit while it lasts...

Turn south on Highway 26 just before you hit Elsie, Oregon and you end up on a road that runs along the Nehalem River. It flows along the Coast range to the Pacific Ocean. Aim a camera at an Oregon river which is just a few steps above being a creek and cool stuff just might happen. "Keyhole Shadows on the Nehalem" proves the point.

Aim away from horizon on the same river, look straight down at the stones in the water, get beauty. It's "Stones, Water, Leaf" for now unless I think of a more creative title.

Same thing, except you might as well be taking a shot underneath an ocean. "Nehalem Rocks In the Flow" works as a title because it can be taken as a humorous double meaning.

Elsewhere on the Nehalem, I found some leafy, overhanging branches being reflected in the water. This is how I learned that if you do it right, you can make your landscape photography resemble abstract paintings or Photoshop special effects. With a disposable camera for @#@%'s sake! "Reflection of Leaves and Sky" begins to tell the tale...

"Sometimes You Must Look Down To See The Sky"

Simlar shot, same roll, flip the photo sideways, swear on a stack of various religious books that one was never, ever NEAR using Photoshop's special effects features... and be telling the truth in the process. Just aim that camera and find something unusual to see. "Dreams of Sky and Water" speaks for itself (though if you have any idea what it is saying, please let me know).

This next series of shots felt a bit frustrating to me. I was on the beach in Seaside one overcast day, and thinking about the famed 'environmental sculptor' and photographer Andy Goldsworthy . So I found a neat-looking branch and acted on inspiration. After the film developed, I felt just a BIT ambiguous about the results. Tell me what YOU think of "Worthy Attempt". At least "coppersworthy", perhaps? :)
Went to Lincoln City only twice this summer, but it seem like I sure have a lot of pics from that place! Here is 'L-City Rocky Shore"

Wandering back to the Nehalem again, this time north of Hy 26 heading to Jewell. From the 'well, can YOU think of a better name??' department, here's "Nehalem North To Jewell"

Same deal, different shot. "Son Of Nehalem North To Jewell"

We will begin with a vanity shot of my 6-wheeled friend, no big gallery-art thing... except there's a reason I pointed an arrow at that tree:
Hmmm... if you are a fancy art photographer, you are supposed to name your art, right? Might as well call this first attempt at real photography "Tree Surprise 1" because it surprised the heck outta me... disposable camera + shopping mall parking lot = NOT-normally-THIS-cool.
Tree Surprise 2
Rolling the 'home around on the farmland west of Gaston OR gave us a "Sepia Sunset"
We folks in the Pacific NW are spoiled rotten when it comes to beautiful landscapes. We have the incredible Columbia Gorge (look it up on a search engine, it's worth it) we have an incredible coastline, we have volcanos, and we have WATERFALLS! Just the thing to make a beginning photographer feel OK about just being just a beginner. From the historic Columbia Highway, here are is a shot of not-too-famous Latourell Falls titled "Latourell 1".
"Latourell 2"
Multnomah Falls out in the Gorge is too over-photographed and too popular. The classic road bridges on the old Historic Highway, on the other hand, are understated beauties. "Multfallsbridge" gives you a hint of where this picture was taken.
Recently I found and scanned this shot from my trip to The Netherlands some years ago. My friend Erik, who lives in The Hague ("Den Haag" in the local language) took me to a large park near his city. For a country which has more population per square mile than almost anywhere else in the world, Netherlanders CARE about maintaining large, beautiful spaces for nature. I truly love that country. Anyway, this one is titled "Den Haag Tree" until I can find out how to say it correctly in their language.
Skyline Blvd, NW of Portland, runs along the spine of hills which partially divide east and west in this city. If you want great beauty for not much driving effort, "Skyline Blvd Sunset" shows you what I mean.
South and west of Portland via a 2-hour drive is Lincoln County. There, a local family found out that the oldest covered bridge in Oregon was being demolished. They picked up the pieces of the broken bridge off the banks of the creek, then spent several months figuring out how to put it together again on their own property. They pulled off a miracle, methinks. Check out the "Drift Creek Bridge".
On that same Lincoln County journey, I landed on the coast just north of the town of the same name. I found a lovely river flowing accross the beach. Spent a LOT of time freezing my feet, walking around in that water, trying to capture the visual special effect which resulted in the sand. The first shot, "River on Shoreline" actually accomplished that goal.
I then pursuaded a flock of seagulls to move into the flow, following some tossed pieces of bread. The resulting "Gulls, River, Shoreline" didn't turn out too bad, either. A friend of mine just asked me to make her a poster version of this piece so she could actually FRAME it! For her living room! Oooookay, THAT idea put me in shock...
Speaking of seagulls, here is another one where I found out how handy a loaf of bread is to get a gull to pose where you want it to. I took advantage of this cool fact and this gawdawfully huge log to create "Logbirds" one overcast day in Seaside, Oregon.
On another day in Seaside, I found this interesting circle of stones at sunset as the tide was coming in. Took me several minutes of getting my feet wet again to get a good shot as a wave retreated, leaving a reflection of the sunset on the sand and the water. "StoneCircle on Sand" was the shot that convinced me that maybe I should start taking this photography thing seriously.
There is a very large hill in the east part of Portland called Rocky Butte. Sometime in history, local citizens built what looked like a stone fort on top of it. The side of it has stone arch windows, and the inside contains a monument to it's builders and planners. I saw the sunset light hitting the monument through an arch in the stone wall and wondered: what would happen if I added a flash to the equation? Result: "Arch And Monument" came out looking like a special effect.
After I was done with the arch, I wondered what I could do with some of the wildflowers on that same butte... and then "Sunset Flowers" happened.
Silver Falls State Park (southeast of Portland just beyond Silverton, Oregon) is a place of wonder and beauty. Go there on a day hike in the late spring and your gasted will be completely flabbered with the beauty and power of 10 different waterfalls in a beautiful forest, all on one trail. This is "North Falls, June 2002" which was taken you-guess-when. If you want to see more shots of the same falls from the same roll, click here.
This is not an artshot, just a snapshot to share. The kind of shot you would show to your friends for a laugh. Next time I am in Oregon's Silver Falls State Park, I plan to get an actually artistic shot of good ol' "Stumpface" (if it is still there) and replace this version with a professional-looking one. Enjoy this amateur version bit while it lasts...
Turn south on Highway 26 just before you hit Elsie, Oregon and you end up on a road that runs along the Nehalem River. It flows along the Coast range to the Pacific Ocean. Aim a camera at an Oregon river which is just a few steps above being a creek and cool stuff just might happen. "Keyhole Shadows on the Nehalem" proves the point.
Aim away from horizon on the same river, look straight down at the stones in the water, get beauty. It's "Stones, Water, Leaf" for now unless I think of a more creative title.
Same thing, except you might as well be taking a shot underneath an ocean. "Nehalem Rocks In the Flow" works as a title because it can be taken as a humorous double meaning.
Elsewhere on the Nehalem, I found some leafy, overhanging branches being reflected in the water. This is how I learned that if you do it right, you can make your landscape photography resemble abstract paintings or Photoshop special effects. With a disposable camera for @#@%'s sake! "Reflection of Leaves and Sky" begins to tell the tale...
"Sometimes You Must Look Down To See The Sky"
Simlar shot, same roll, flip the photo sideways, swear on a stack of various religious books that one was never, ever NEAR using Photoshop's special effects features... and be telling the truth in the process. Just aim that camera and find something unusual to see. "Dreams of Sky and Water" speaks for itself (though if you have any idea what it is saying, please let me know).
This next series of shots felt a bit frustrating to me. I was on the beach in Seaside one overcast day, and thinking about the famed 'environmental sculptor' and photographer Andy Goldsworthy . So I found a neat-looking branch and acted on inspiration. After the film developed, I felt just a BIT ambiguous about the results. Tell me what YOU think of "Worthy Attempt". At least "coppersworthy", perhaps? :)
Went to Lincoln City only twice this summer, but it seem like I sure have a lot of pics from that place! Here is 'L-City Rocky Shore"
Wandering back to the Nehalem again, this time north of Hy 26 heading to Jewell. From the 'well, can YOU think of a better name??' department, here's "Nehalem North To Jewell"
Same deal, different shot. "Son Of Nehalem North To Jewell"