As the morning sun broke through the clouds, and the wind stopped stripping the bark from trees (it was making such a racket that I thought I heard thunder), I ventured out into the wiles of the eastern Columbia Gorge hinterlands to get some pictures, and find a specialized CFL bulb.  Gaia and I set off toward The Dalles, and into the rain shadow.  Hood River seems to be the end of the eastward road for all but the most determined clouds, so we drove along I-84 with a rainbow to our rear, and a cloudless sky in the windshield.  The morning had possibilities.

We first stopped at Rowena, which is a small berg adjacent to Mayer State Park along the Columbia River, and headed up the Old Gorge Highway toward Rowena Crest.  I have enough pictures from that spot, so I was interested in finding a new angle.  There is a turn-off near the famed Rowena Loops (named for that loopy, dizzy feeling you get when spinning in a circle for a long time…  No not really, but it has a grain of truth).  The picture below is of one of the series of loops at that location.

I turned off the road, and set up my tripod to look across the Columbia toward the town of Lyle, Washington.  And, the view that morning would have knocked the socks off of most people in this world, but I found it a bit less than stellar.  That’s what happens whel you live in the Columbia Gorge.  The extrordinary becomes ordinary.

So now, with the prospect of moving back to a more formal version of civilization in a short while, I am faced with the fact that my opportunities for photography of the type I have been producing as of late will diminish.  I keep a camera in my car at all times.  During that part of the year in which my daily commute is lit by the sun, I take pictures to and from work.  I head out every weekend to spots around the area for photographs, and have the luxury to feel my way through an image over time, and learn how to capture the essence of what I want.  There are so many photographical opportunities in this area that I compared it this morning to shooting fish in a barrel.  To quote a friend from back east (who served in, and adopted the language of, the military) when I showed him the gorge, “It’s a target-rich environment.”  He was speaking about the photography, of course.

My great regret is that I haven’t spent much time in Eastern Oregon while I have lived here.  It’s a area that I have truly wanted to explore.  It will be farther away after the move.

The potential landscape styles available from a home base in the Portland area will be enhanced due to its centralized location.  I can go to Silver Falls, which is toward Salem and the Willamette Valley, or to the Oregon Coast with greater ease.  A trip to Seattle will be an hour shorter.  The Portland waterfront will be much closer.

To begin to understand where to go to from the Portland area, one has to remember that Oregon has four distinct climate regions:

• The Coast, and northwestern Oregon (including Portland) has an oceananic climate, and is dominated by dense clouds, evergreen trees, slugs the size of Volkswagons, mushrooms that double as houses, and Seasonal Affective Disorder.
• Southwestern Oregon has a Medeteranian climate, which is condusive to sunshine, hippies, and Shakespearian plays as long as it’s not on fire.
• Northeastern Oregon has what is known as a Steppe Climate.  The Cascade Mountain range forms the dividing line between the soggy west, and sun-baked east.  It is semi-arid, with low volumes of rainfall, and high volumes of cow manure.  Eastern Oregon Wheat is prized worldwide, and is shipped just about everywhere.
• Finally, Southeastern Oregon has a an arid climate. Parts of it are sometimes referred to as the Oregon High Desert, but we have yet to figure out what it’s high on.  It attracts thousands of birdwatchers each year to the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.  They just have to watch out for the occasional Pistolbeaked Bundy Didus Solitarius Armato.  An invasive species, they tend to occupy an area, and push all of the resident populations out.  Thankfully, their call of snacks snacks snacks is heard less about those parts due to Federal intervention.

So, there are pictures to be had of a wider variety, but it is the daily photographic opportunities that I will miss after moving back to the Portland area.  I will have to return to being much more methodical, and at the mercy of the weather on my days off.

And…  I will have a darkroom (I hope).

I didn’t find the bulb.

–Gary L. Quay