I have been at this for a long time. While not wishing to bathe in nostalgia, I wanted to go back and find earlier versions of recent photographs, and see how I have changed as a photographer, and how the landscape has changed.
Time is not rudderless. It meanders through the world leaving its mark in many different ways. Both the landscape and the photographer may be changed.
This post’s featured image “Wahkeena Falls, October 2000 is over 21 years old at this writing. Since the, two major changes have occurred to this waterfall: The first is that the state implemented a vegetation restoration project. Now, less of the waterfall is visible. Underbrush is encroaching from the right side of the lower cascade. The second is the addition of a larger viewing platform, which partly hides the waterfall from this angle. A lesser hinderance is the color of the bridge has changed drastically. It is now old and weather worn.
©2022 Gary L. Quay
Since there is no point in showing ugly pictures, I will show only picture that look good. For Wahkeena Falls, I now have to move to the southern edge of the new viewing platform to get the picture. There is no point in taking a picture from the road anymore. The bridge looks horrible, and underbrush has taken over in front of it.
In the picture above, you can also see how, in the summer, the right side of the cascade is obscured by the brush that overhangs. Left to its own devices, nature will assume its living chaos. As a photographer, this means that I see a picture that I cannot take anymore. In the 21 years since the earlier, I became a much better photographer, so it’s a lost opportunity to correct some past mistakes. As a conservationist, and environmentalist, I am happy to see that the trampling is less apparent, and that nature has been given the reins to an extent.
Another change in this picture is the type of camera, and the processing. Up until 2015, I was against the idea of buying, much less using, a digital camera. I also used some Photoshop tricks to bump up the color.
Camera: Nikon D810
Lens: 28mm Zeiss Distagon
For the next two images, I will only post the ‘then’ picture. What remains once the scene has changed is sometimes not of value to me as a photographer. The next one is a bit of an enigma. I ran across a barn one morning, and then never found it again. I was past where I believed it to be just a few weeks ago, and it was an empty lot.
©2000 Gary L. Quay
The location was somewhere in, or near, the Powell Valley, just west of Gresham, Oregon. The lighting was intense, as a storm was brewing, and for a few minutes, a bright beam of light from the sunset lit up the barn in gold.
Camera: Hasselblad 500 CM
Lens: 80mm Carl Zeiss
Film: Fuji NPS
The house below burned down 4 months after I took the picture. This will also have only the “Then” picture.
©2018 Gary L. Quay
The Charles Nelson House burned down in July of 2018 in the Substation Fire near The Dalles, Oregon.
Camera: Nikon D810
Lens: Vintage 35mm Nikkor
For the next Then and Now, we go to the Bull Run River in the Powell Valley, Oregon
©1998 Gary L. Quay
After almost 24 years in a negative binder, I got this one out in January 2022. I wanted to see what I could do with the negative. It turned out to be the picture that gave me the idea for this post. I like the way that old hydroelectric plant looks against the backdrop of trees and mist.
Camera: Hasselblad 500CM
Lens: 80mm Zeiss Planar
Film: Kodak Technical Pan developed in Kodak Technidol
I went back to retry the picture with a more modern camera, and most of the scene is intact.
©2022 Gary L. Quay
I took this one at the same location as the film version, only 24 years later. I like the film version better. I will have to try again on a foggy morning. The power plant was decommissioned about 15 years ago.
It looks like they removed the bottom part of the front of the building to get the turbines out. It’s a shame, because it was a nice building. It will be impossible to recreate the previous version.
Camera: Nikon D810
Lens: 70-210mm Nikon
I like old, decaying buildings. I don’t know why. This one is in the Columbia Gorge.
©2001 Gary L. Quay
This old gas station used to serve motorists along the Historic Columbia River highway, before the word “historic” was added. It’s been in steady decline since the 1960’s.
Camera: Pentax 67
Lens: 55mm Pentax
Film: Fuji NPC 160
©2020 Gary L. Quay
I have been photographing this old gas station since it still had a roof. I don’t do it often, but somedays I just can’t help it. A partly cloudy day with temperatures in the 70’s is about perfect for infrared.
As you can see, there is not quite as much left intact as there was in 2001. It’s slowly being subsumed by nature.
Camera: Nikon D300 (infrared conversion)
Lens: Vintage 20mm Nikkor.
More on the theme of old buildings, but this time only 10 years apart, and a slightly different outcome.
©2010 Gary L. Quay
Bats are the only life forms that take communion here, but it was fun the kneel in the dirt with a 1970s era Minolta, shooting 1950s era film. The film isn’t that old, but it’s an old-school thick emulsion film that relies on none of the dye processes like modern films employ. That said, the grain is so thick you could feed a horse with it.
Camera: Minolta XE-5.
Lens: 28mm Minolta MD with a red filter.
Film: Efke KB100 developed in Clayton F76+.
©2020 Gary L. Quay
The Ghost Town of Locust Grove lies along Rt 206 in Sherman County, Oregon, and consiss of this church, a few farms, and a house or three. They put a new roof on it a few years ago to preserve it. We’ll see what else is in store for it as time rolls on.
They also put up a fence to keep people like me from taking closeups.
I used a little “Fun with Pixels” for this one in the form of the Orton Effect.
Camera: Nikon D810
Lens: 24-85mm Nikon
Sometimes, things don’t change all that much. Case in Point:
©2000 Gary L. Quay
I should correct the title. It’s actually nearer to Lincoln City, but them’s the breaks.
This is just off of Hwy 101 on the Oregon coast. One of the telltale aspects of classic film shots is the silhouette.
Camera: Hasselblad 500 CM
Lens: 80mm Carl Zeiss
Film: Fuji Velvia.
©2022 Gary L. Quay
This one is more appropriately titled. I also took it with a modern camera using a vintage lens. I honestly think the earlier version is better. It could be that the clouds are fluffier, or that the sun is directly behind the rock formation.
Camera: Nikon D810
Lens: Vintage 35mm Nikkor
Returning to waterfalls, Starvation Creek Falls in the Columbia Gorge, Oregon has been a favorite of mind for many years.
©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 was in the habit of printing a little to dark back then, but it is a dark place.
Camera: Deardorff 8×10
Lens: 165mm Schneider Super-Angulon
Film: Ilford HP5+ developed in PMK Pyro
©2022 Gary L. Quay
Starvation Creek Falls is an easy target. Luckily, it’s also photogenic.
11 years later, it’s still a dark place.
Camera: Nikon D810
Lens: 24-85mm Nikon
That’s it for this edition of “Then and Now”.
Thanks for looking!
–Gary L. Quay
