A helping hand

Mervin Swearingen let me take his photo at the Helix Booster Club Crab Feed Thursday afternoon. I used another photo of him dumping steaming shrimp into a pan Friday's paper. I also liked this photo, but couldn't use it for the paper because it's not readily obvious what he's doing (dumping a bag of frozen shrimp into the steamer).

However, I really liked the perspective on this one, with his hands up close. I also liked the way the afternoon sunshine lit up his face. It's always nice to see volunteers helping out, and willing to have their picture in the paper.

Flight

A photo I took just before this appeared in Sunday's East Oregonian. Again, this is from my drive around Weston and Helix. As I came back toward Highway 11 from Helix, I pulled over near a grain silo to get a photo of the cloud shadows on the wheat stubble (see Monday's entry) and birds flew up nearby, darting behind the silo. When they reappeared I got two shots, this one being the latter. Before cropping, the silo was at the far left of the photo. I cropped this one down to emphasize the birds (so they didn't look like little specks) and the Blue Mountains in the background.

A little greenery ...

No, this isn't a photo from a previous summer. Yes, it is one from last weekend when I went to Eugene.

My mom took me on a little trail at the edge of town. Though we didn't make it far (deep mud and tennis shoes do not mix) I grabbed a bunch of photos in the late afternoon light.

It's easy to see the big difference in greenery between the east and west sides of the state.

Contrasts

This is another photo from my drive between Weston and Helix last Friday. I love the contrast in light on the grain silos.

Bright skies

Last Friday it felt like spring as I drove back from trips to Weston and Helix. I took advantage of the beautiful weather to pull over, climb out of my car, and grab snapshots along the way.

The wheat stubble seems to be sprouting already (seems like it was well into March when this happened last year). The semi-cloudy skies allowed sunlight to brighten up the green in spots, while adding contrast with the shade.

In this top photo I tried to capture the blue skies in a puddle. In the bottom one I tried to show contrast between shade and sun, earth and sky.

Shadow of a giant

The tallest building in town is the Pendleton Flour Mills. I took this photo a year or so ago (didn't keep track of the date) and it's one of my favorite sunset photos because of the stark shadow of the grain elevator against the evening light. It's also one of the few photos where I didn't have to edit by cropping or adjusting color. It's great as it is.

More fun with old photos

Since its dreary and dark outside, it seems a great time for me to go back through old photos. Most of my posts this month have been older shots. This one is no exception.

Again, this is from the train ride I took to Portland. This was as we came into the gorge and saw windmills lining the ridge. Unlike the other train photo, I didn't turn this one sepia. The colors are as they were during that December sunrise.

I took this photo while hiking in spring 2008 in the North Fork Umatilla Wilderness in the Umatilla National Forest. I think it was on the Ninemile Ridge trail.

Though it's not summer or even spring yet, all the warm temperatures and mild winter weather has me thinking of outdoor activities.

Train ride

This photo's from a train ride I took to Portland a few months ago. The tint of the glass and blur from the movement made me think of an old-time photo, so I turned the colors to sepia to add to the effect.

Misty morning

I was driving back from Helix this morning and had to stop to take a photo. It had been a pretty grey, wet morning, but around 10:30 the sun came out and warmed everything up — including the ground. The heat made the moisture steam right out of the ground. Add to the eerie mist the green of stubble, and it almost looked like Ireland or Scotland! In the background, you can just see the Blue Mountains covered in snow.

Dodgeball

I got to cover the Pendleton city dodgeball tournament this weekend. As you'd imagine, it was fun. I did struggle a bit with my camera. Either I had bright photos on the "automatic" setting, and everything was blurry, or I had sharp photos on my "sports" setting and things were dark. But I managed to get a few that worked. Above, I tried to use the blur to my advantage, showing everyone rushing for the center line of dodgeballs at the beginning of a game. I guess it didn't work too well because I submitted a similar photo for the paper and the editor said, "gee, it looks a bit blurry."

Here was a shot I liked of the Portland team's tactic. They'd all get a ball, then barrage it at a single player on the opposing team. The guy in red in the foreground, I think, was the target in this case. But I liked how all three of them were on one leg, leaning forward, having just released a yellow ball like a firing squad.