Springtime yet?

Spring weather seems to come and go this season. I sat in my office, seeing the sunshine outside all week. Now it looks to be clouding up for the weekend. Let's all have thoughts of clear skies and maybe we'll get lucky.

Going up ... and coming down

These are three photos from three different jumps this biker took at the The Bike Pit celebration in Pilot Rock last weekend.

For reference, he was just warming up. I didn't get to stay for the competition.

It was hard to show the height he was gaining, as I was too afraid to plant myself under the jump. Instead I stood on a hill nearby, and used the zoom lens.

Of these three, I like the one of the guy landing best. It's a moment in time before the full weight of his jump comes down on him.

Yoga bodhisattva

This post and the following two are additional photos I took at the springtime yoga retreat, a compliment to the Yoga Round-Up happening this summer. I wrote a story about it and took photos for Sunday's paper.
Of course, as it often happens, I took far more photos than the couple I needed for the print edition, so my editor suggested posting some additional shots on my blog.
So here they are.
This first shot has been cropped and heavily (at least in my mind) doctored -- which is another thing you can't get away with in a newspaper's constraints. Though the woman was already silhouetted well against the morning light, I increased the shadows setting in Photoshop, then enhanced the red in the color scheme. That's why the tree behind her looks so crazy red. Even though it looks like a fall afternoon, this was taken on a spring morning. But I liked the effect and the way it warms up the photo.

Bend

I liked these two photos for showing the different yoga poses. I didn't submit them for the printed paper because neither showed the teacher's face.
I especially like the top photo because it shows such wonderful lines in the way all the women are bending in the same direction. It made me think of reeds, or grass, or (here in Pendleton at least) wheat, bending in the wind.

Led by a silhouette

Because of the great light from the window facing the morning sun, I was able to get some wonderful shots with the teacher in silhouette.
In these shots I tried to get so symmetry with the pillars, the windows and the yoga participants. I tried especially hard in the bottom photo, first while shooting it and trying to get a woman centered between the two women in the back, then in Photoshop, appropraitely cropping and rotating to make the lights even, and the space on either side of the pillars as even as possible.

Guardian

While at an interview, someone noticed this statue, still holding an egg from Easter. I tried a Photoshop trick (with guidance from my husband) on how to turn the photo black and white, then turn the egg back to color.

Signs of the past

Last Friday I went to the Buck Creek Cabin (also known as the Kiwanis Cabin) near the North Forks Umatilla campground, where teachers were cleaning in preparation for outdoor school this spring.

I've covered outdoor school for Helix and Pilot Rock schools, but not Hermiston or Pendleton, which are the schools that go to this cabin. The teachers were painting the inside walls of the kitchen/dining room and had taken down all the boards students had signed over the years, commemorating their time at outdoor school. The signs sat stacked on one picnic table, and I took several shots of them.

It was very interesting to see all the years stacked up, and all the signatures of those once-kids who had come to the cabin to learn about outdoors, community and life. I had to wonder how many of them, when spring arrives, think of their time at that cabin, and their signatures still sitting on the walls there.

Zen of archery

I had the privilege of writing a lifestyle on archery, and in doing so, visited with the AW Archers in Athena. Though I used a lot of the photos for the story, I held this one back for several reasons. Mostly because, while it's a cool shot, it didn't give the whole picture of archery. Plus, I had several other good photos of this girl aiming with great form, which I used for the story.

So here it is on my blog. Of course, one thing I like are the coordination in color between her sweater and the American flag. Another is the look of concentration on her face. She had this look with every shot she took. It was amazing example of consistency and skill.