The Columbia Gorge

©2018 Gary L. Quay

Vista House in the Columbia Gorge, Oregon.

Camera: Nikon D810
Lens: Vintage 200mm Nikkor

©2014 Gary L. Quay

I took this picture on my way home from The Dalles as February 2014’s Snowmageddon was melting. It’s the first picture I took with the camera I picked up in an antique store in The Dalles a few days earlier. I found a mostly pristine 1954 Speed Graphic 4×5 camera with two good lenses (in sticky shutters). There was a 127mm Kodak Ektar, and a 90mm Schneider Angulon with the camera in a press kit case with all of the original equipment still present.

I took a chance and souped this with a developer that I’ve never used before. I used David Vestal’s Divided D76. The negative looked a bit flat coming out of the fixer, but this is the uncorrected scan. Not bad.

Camera: Speed Graphic 4×5.
Lens: 90mm Schneider Angulon.
Film: Kodak T-Max 400 developed in Divided D76.

©2006 Gary L. Quay

I would have hoped for a wider angle lens, but the 150mm was all I had for Large Format at the time. I came away with this slice out of the midsection of the falls, which showed off the ice nicely.

Camera: Linhof Technica
Lens: 150mm Linhof
Film: Ilford FP4+ developed in Clayton F76+ and printed on Kentmere VC Select FB
Coat: Columbia Sportsware with a sweatshirt underneath.
Gloves: U.S. Army issue, 1982
Teeth: Chattering.

©2016 Gary L.Quay

This is from early October, before the leaves started to change.

Since my wounded knee was beginning to feel more stable, I was getting out with my film cameras more. Resuming large format would wait until the following May, but I was healing.  As of 2021, though, my left knee is still not 100%, and may never be.

Camera: Hasselblad 500 CM
Lens: 40mm Carl Zeiss
Film: Kodak Portra 160

©2008 Gary L. Quay

One of the natural phenomina that you can set your watch to is the arrival of a wall of water at Vista House.

Camera: Calumet 45.
Lens: 210mm Schneider-Kreuznach
Film: Efke PL 50 Developed in W2D2+ Pyro.

©2000 Gary L. Quay

This image is a shining example of what the Hasselblad is capable of.  Although, I wish I had used a 100 speed film instead of 400.  I have moved away from high speed films, especially for medium format.  I adore resolution.  High speed films reduce resolution.

Camera: Hasselblad 500CM
Lens: 80mm Carl Zeiss
Film: Fuji NPC

©2019 Gary L. Quay

This is from April 2019. We were out in the Columbia Gorge for some pictures. The clouds were dense, but there was clearing on the horizon. It was one of those rare days when the river was still, mirror-like, except for the occasion bird landing, or salmon jumping. I do miss living in the Gorge.

Camera: Nikon D810
Lens: Vintage 35mm Nikkor

©1997 Gary L. Quay

This is from the first roll of black & white film I ever ran through my Hasselblad. I was new to handheld metering, and to medium format in general. I wasn’t sure if I liked it, so I let the negative sit in its sleeve in a 3-ring binder for over a decade until I saw a Chinese painting on the wall of a restaurant that reminded me of it. I decided to give it a shot.  This is the result.

Camera: Hasselblad 500 CM
Lens: 80 mm Carl Zeiss
Film: Ilford XP2.
Printed on J&C Polywarmtone (Forte) FB Museum Weight, toned in Selenium 1:10 for 6 minutes.

©1999 Gary L. Quay

Hiking through the Columbia Gorge has always been a favorite pasttime for me. Carrying a hundred pounds of camera gear along makes it a workout. I’ve carried my gear for hours without taking a single shot, and sometimes I can’t walk ten feet at a time without planting my tripod int he dirt. When the scenery, the light, and the inspiration meet, the results astound me. My Hasselblad camera with its compliment of Carl Zeiss lenses (I only had the 80mm until 2005) have been my best tool for years. I used to hike far into the wilderness with it, and never had to replace a battery.

Camera: Hasselblad 500 CM
Lens: 80mm Carl Zeiss
Film: Fuji Reala

©2020 Gary L. Quay

This was my first attempt at landscape photography since the shelter in place order was given due to the pandemic. Truth be told, I’m going a little nuts being cooped up in the house all of the time, but it’s better than catching the virus. Luckily, we don’t have to go very far to take pictures here.

Camera: Nikon D810
Lens: 28mm Zeiss Distagon F2.

©2003 Gary L. Quay

The middle of the road is no place to be. But, on a fall Sunday morning on the Historic Columbia Gorge Highway, I set up my tripod there while listening for cars approaching from the rear.

Camera: Pentax 67
Lens: 90mm Pentax
Film: Fuji 160 NPC

©2016 Gary L. Quay

This is Horsetail Falls in September, 2016, a year before the Eagle Creek Fire changed the landscape so dramatically.

Camera: Nikon D300
Lens: 24-120mm Nikon VR

©2011 Gary L. Quay

I was looking for a way to photograph this waterfall, and get as much of it into the picture as possible, while not having it be too busy. I think I achieved it with this one. I went there two weeks in a row, and shot 8 8×10 negatives, and a few 5×7’s as well.

Camera: Deardorff 8×10
Lens: 165mm Schneider Super-Angulon
Film: Ilford HP5+ developed in PMK Pyro
Contact Printed on Ilford MGIV RC developed in E72

©2012 Gary L. Quay

I took this in 2012 with a 5X7 view camera that I purchased recently at Blue Moon Camera & Machine in St. Johns, Oregon. The camera is of the same vintage as my Cooke lens: around 1906. This was a light tightness test for the adapter board that I made. It passed the first test.

The wind was blowing so hard that I had to pile equipment up around the tripod to keep it stable. I was left with the choice of whether to keep my shutter speed up, and accept some unwanted bokeh, or to attempt to get the entire image sharp, and add the risk of an entirely blurred negative. I split the difference. I opted for a little motion blur, and a little less Bokeh.

Camera: Camera City View (by the Seneca Camera Co. of Rochester, NY.)
Lens: 180mm Caltar II, no filter.
Film: Arista.edu 100, stand developed in Agfa Rodinal 1:00 for 1 hour.

©2019 Gary L. Quay

Multnomah Falls was dressed in a golden gown last fall.

Camera: Nikon D810
Lens: 24-85mm Nikon

©2019 Gary L. Quay

Catching the brief fall foliage season can be a challenge for someone with a day job. Peak color comes and goes within about 2 weeks, sometimes less. We got lucky this year that we didn’t have the annual wind storm that brings down all of the leaves way too soon.

This is the Columbia Gorge as seen from the overlook at Cape Horn on the Washington side.

Camera: Nikon D810
Lens: 24-85mm Nikon

©2009 Gary L. Quay

This is the mid portion of Starvation Creek Falls in the Columbia Gorge. You can see some of the top part of the falls in the upper center. It’s one of my favorite locations for photography.

I could have put this into the “Infrared” page, but I like it better here.

Camera: Hasselblad 500CM
Lens: 50mm Carl Zeiss
Film: Maco 850 IR developed in Kodak D76.

©2011 Gary L. Quay

This is right next to the Columbia River. My guess is that these steps were built by the WPA during the Great Depression, back when we knew how to really give jobless people jobs. It was an almost idylic spring afternoon. Gaia and I were traveling east toward Hood River, and we stopped here at the advice of a co-worker. I was drawn by the dappled light on these stairs.

Camera: Sinar Alpina 4×5.
Lens: 90mm Nikkor with a green filter.
Film: Ilford Ortho + (rated 40 ASA) developed in PMK Pyro.

©2021 Gary L. Quay

This is Multnomah Falls in the Columbia Gorge. It’s Oregon’s highest year-round waterfall.

Camera: Hasselblad 500CM
Lens: 40mm Zeiss Distagon
Film: Kodak Portra 160