Hood River

Hood River

I lived in Hood River, Oregon from 2015 to 2019.  Photographically, it was the high water mark for me, simply due to the sheer volume of opportunities to take astounding pictures.  In this gallery, I will display pictures taken in and around Hood River, and the river that gives the town its name.  Some of the places of special note are the communities of Dee, Parkdale, Odell, Pine Grove, and Oak Grove.  The natural wonders there include Ruthton Point, the Hood River, Dead Point Falls, (the other) Punchbowl Falls, Mount Hood, the Hood River Valley, Lost Lake, Starvation Creek Falls, and the Columbia Gorge as it passes from from the wet west side to the dry east side, otherwise known as the “Rainshadow.”

Images from before and after my time there are included here as well.  Enjoy!

©2015 Gary L. Quay

I shot this with my (then) new 40mm Carl Zeiss lens. It’s so wide that a lens shade only removes flare from light sources that are well out of the field of view. So, I use the flare as part of the picture.

Film shot!

Camera: Hasselblad 500 CM.
Film: Kodak Portra 400.
Lens: 40mm Carl Zeiss.

©2015 Gary L. Quay

I took this with my 40mm Carl Zeiss lens. It’s so wide that a lens shade only removes flare from light sources that are well out of the field of view. So, I sometimes use the flare as part of the picture.

Film Shot!

Camera: Hasselblad 500 CM.
Film: Kodak Portra 400.
Lens: 40mm Carl Zeiss.

©2018 Gary L. Quay

This is Dead Point Falls near Hood River, Oregon. I took this picture in 2018 when I lived in the area. I would like to go back there this summer if at all possible.

Camera: Nikon D810
Lens: 70-210mm Nikon

©2017 Gary L. Quay

Ruthton Point in Hood River, taken in some interesting light.  This one is for sale at Ye Olde Photography Shoppe, on Etsy, or when I’m at the Portland Saturday Market.

Camera: Nikon D810
Lens: 24-120mm Nikon VR

©2020 Gary L. Quay

I had the Lensbabies out for an afternoon on the town in Hood River on Christmas Eve. I was looking for interesting compositions while we stopped at one of the downtown shops, and then got something to eat in the Heights. The downtown restaurants were mostly closed. I thought that it may have been due to the pandemic, but I found out later that there was a gas outage the affected a major portion of town. I didn’t spend a lot of time out with the camera, so I only got this one image in town. I got a few more near Rowena later on.

Camera: Nikon D810
Lens: Lensbaby Double Glass with the f5.6 aperture disk.

©2018 Gary L. Quay

A winter orchard near Parkdale, Oregon.

Camera: Nikon D810
Lens: Vinatge 35mm Nikkor

©2017 Gary L. Quay

This is from a few years ago. It’s a different angle on the famous red barn in Pine Grove, Oregon, near Hood River.

I’ve never been able to get the classic picture of this barn. You have to trespass to get it, and I tend to respect the property owners’ wishes.

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

©2016 Gary L. Quay

April 2016 in the Hood River Valley, home of the Fruit Loop, which is a series of roads that all connect back to Hood River, and sports about 25 orchards and lavender farms. Most of them have farm stands that one can stop at and support local farmers.

Camera: Hasselblad 500CM
Lens: 50mm Zeiss Distagon
Film: Ilford Delta 400

©2019 Gary L. Quay

This is the Mount Hood Railroad with its namesake mountain in the background. It was a warm day in June, and the horn sounded in the distance. 20 minutes later, the train arrived, and I had a camera ready.

Camera: Nikon D810
Lens: 24-85mm Nikon

©2011 Gary L. Quay

This was one of my last “Night Shift” pictures. I had taken to venturing farther afield in the latter days of the project, and Hood River fit the bill. This is just outside of Hood River, in a little town called Pine Grove.

Camera: Deardorff 8×10
Lens: 300mm Nikkor-W
Film: Ilford HP5+ developed in PMK Pyro

©2022 Gary L. Quay

Trees with new springtime growth are backlit in the Hood River Valley.

Camera: Nikon D810
Lens: 150-600mm Tamron

©2017 Gary L. Quay

I lived in Hood River during the Eagle Creek Fire, when the Columbia Gorge blazed for over 2 months. I didn’t take pictures of the fire. Lots of local photographers did, but it felt like a close friend was dying, so I stayed out of the way of the firefighters. I did, however, point my cameras elsewhere.

I came across this garage in Oak Grove, which is a very small village near Hood River. There is an awesome antique store there, and this garage.

Camera: Hasselblad 500CM
Lens: 50mm Zeiss Distagon
film: Kodak T-Max 400 developed in Clayton F76+

©2020 Gary L. Quay

Hood River, Oregon lies in the heart of the Columbia Gorge, and boasts some of the best scenery in Oregon. This is the litle marina on the Columbia River, and in the background is the Hood River Bridge that crosses to Washington.

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

©2018 Gary L. Quay

Union Pacific 2726 and about a mile of train crossing the trestle over the Hood River on the eastern edge of (you guessed it) Hood River, in the Columbia Gorge, Oregon.

Camera: Nikon D810
Lens: 300mm Tamron with a 2x teleconverter

©2024 Gary L. Quay

I call this Earth zit “The Little Butte That Could” for reasons that I have long forgotten. It is along Rt 35 in the tiny village of Pine Grove (one of two by that name in Oregon), and is surrounded by vineyards and orchards.

Camera: Nikon D810
Lens: 24-85mm Nikon

@2018 Gary L. Quay

A break in the storm as it approached the Hood River Valley. Autumn was on its way.

One of the many things I liked about living in Hood River was the abundance of exhuberant weather.  Being on the tipping point between Oregon’s wet and dry sides, sun and clouds often offer up the astounding.

Camera: Nikon D810
Lens: 28-105mm Nikon D