Paulina Plunge Waterfall
Paulina Creek Falls (Bend, Oregon)
My random, desktop image of the day is this one from five years ago.
I cringe when I look at the EXIF data on photos I took back then. The good news is I’ve learned from my mistakes.
Ashland Daily Photo - A picture a day from beautiful Ashland, Southern Oregon USA in the Rogue Valley
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Muir Creek “trail”
Almost five months have passed since I began this story. I suppose I should write down a few more details before they fade from my mind.
I could not find a trail down to the water and the falls so I forged my own. It got a bit scary at times as it was fairly steep. I made it down with only a minor fall or two. I walked along Muir Creek for a while, realizing that I wasn’t going to be able to reach the waterfall without crossing the river. So I gave up on that idea and instead headed south along the east bank away from Muir Creek Falls. The views were beautiful without falls. I walked carefully as I was sinking in the snow, rather deeply, even with snowshoes. There was so much snow I was worried that it wasn’t all on solid ground, and I could plunge through the snow and into the water.
After today’s photo I turned around and began to retrace my steps. Walking was much easier stepping into my old prints than creating new ones as I’d only sink an inch or two with each step instead of many inches on my way down. I lost my fear and increased my pace. That was when my prior anxiety was realized. Although I stepped into my prior steps, this second time I went straight through the snow (more than four feet of snow) and into the water. My adrenaline kicked in like never before. It seemed to know that I was on my own, and if things didn’t quickly get better rather than worse I could be a dead man.
I think one of my snowshoes caught some wood at the bottom while my other was in water (with my foot still in it). My head and shoulders were above the snow (I’m 6’4″), my feet were in water, and my body was in snow. I couldn’t see my situation below the snow. I had no branches or other items on the surface to pull myself up with. As I struggled, snow around me disappeared into the water below. That wasn’t good as without the snow around me I had no way of getting out. Details are foggy at this point as everything happened so fast, but I think I was able to get one of my poles up and out and onto something more solid than the snow immediately around me. My right snowshoe on a log or branch or something also gave me a bit of leverage. Somehow I got myself up and out of there.
The rest of the walk back up the mountain and to my car was uneventful. My socks, boots, and pants below my knees were frozen solid as they had gone under water before reemerging into the below freezing temperatures.
TBT
Ashland sunrise (November 2010)
Lake of the Woods
Lake of the Woods (June 2009)
Trail Gulch Lake
11-photo photomerge
@TipSquirrel #photography #phototips #photomerge #photoshop
I wasn’t thinking when I grabbed my D500 (crop sensor) instead of my D750 (full frame) to go on a hike this past Sunday. The D750 with a 24-120mm f/4G lens is perfect for hiking. The D500 turns that lens into a 36-180mm lens. I don’t really need 180mm on a hike, but I do need 24mm. When that happens the solution is to photomerge. I did so with the photo above. However, I didn’t like how much of the water at my feet wouldn’t fit. So, for the first time, I tried a different technique.
Normally I photomerge by shooting vertical images from left to right and then merge them together as a horizontal panorama. For the image below I shot vertical images from left to right, but instead of shooting one and moving right I shot one and moved down to take a second before moving right. Something like this:
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22
I didn’t know if Photoshop would be able to merge them together, but there were no issues.
22-photo photomerge
Benham Falls
Benham Falls (Sunriver, Oregon)
A nice walk or bike ride from Sunriver, Benham Falls is an atypical waterfall.
Castle Boulders
My first photo with the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge which was shot in RAW. This is up Hitt Road in Ashland looking toward the Siskiyous from Acid Castles.
TBT
Wild and Scenic Rogue River
Throwing it back to last summer when we spent four days and three nights on the Rogue River.
Ashland’s Red Queen Trail
Red Queen Trail (approaching the intersection with Road 2060, AKA Ashland Loop Road)
There’s a new trail in town. The Red Queen has been built over the past few weeks and is now open and ready for foot traffic. The trail runs from a couple intersections with Bandersnatch or Jub Jub up to the intersection of Caterpillar crossing the Ashland Loop Road. There aren’t any significant view or overlook areas, but it is a nice trail in the watershed without any bikes.
One way to get there is to park near the water tank where Terrace and Ashland Loop intersect. Just past the water tank on Ashland Loop an unmarked trail begins going uphill. This turns into Red Queen (and is marked) for a bit, before becoming Bandersnatch, and then reverting to Red Queen (again marked as Red Queen). If you are on Caterpillar and want to go down Red Queen look for the unmarked trails heading toward Reeder Reservoir on the left side of Ashland Loop as you are heading down. The left one is for bikes (Jabberwocky) and the right one (not marked as Red Queen but with an indication that is only for walkers and horses) is Red Queen.
Red Queen flower
Lithia Park’s Upper Duck Pond
Cherry blossoms in Ashland on the last day of March