Tag Archives: river

Island in the Columbia River

Posted on April 27th, 2015 by

Foggy Island

I sat in a car, riding through the fog. I would have preferred to fly…I always prefer to fly, but my colleague insisted. It was a long trek, but in the end I got to see part of the country I had never knew existed. The diverse landscape of Washington and Oregon is vast, it changes abruptly and in surprising ways. This stretch along the Columbia River was enshrouded in dense wisps of fog…not completely obstructing your view, only adding mystery.

Fog
By Carl Sandburg
The fog comes
on little cat feet.

It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.

Island in the Columbia River
Island in the Columbia River

Photo Technical Info

Bâtiment des Forces Motrices Geneva, Switzerland

Posted on December 15th, 2014 by

It was freezing cold and the snow had begun to fall again. I guess you don’t have much to complain about when you go to Geneva Switzerland in January. It was my last night and my last opportunity on this trip to get a photo of Bâtiment des Forces Motrices … I had to go, despite the weather.

The former hydroelectric power plant on Le Rhone caught my attention when I first arrived. It has a stately sort of appearance, one from those bygone eras I love so. It’s now a concert venue and this very night while I was pelted with sleet and show, shivering outside, The Chamber Orchestra of Geneva played Mozart to warm music lovers.

Outside I struggled to keep the water off my lens and a bevy of drunken Swiss youth loitered all to close for my liking given how dark it was on the bridge where I took this photo. I feared what I captured this night was unusable and it took me almost two years to revisit what I had done that night in January 2013, but like I learn again and again with travel…leave your expectations behind and embrace what comes.

Bâtiment des Forces Motrices Geneva, Switzerland
Bâtiment des Forces Motrices Geneva, Switzerland

Photo Technical Info

  • Aperture: ƒ/8
  • Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
  • Taken: 20 January, 2013
  • Focal length: 23mm
  • ISO: 100
  • Location: 46° 12.262′ 0″ N 6° 8.3207′ 0″ E
  • Shutter speed: 25s
  • Title: Bâtiment des Forces Motrices Geneva, Switzerland

The Dry Sierra Nevada Mountains, July 2014

Posted on July 21st, 2014 by

California Drought

I was really surprised by just how bad the drought is in California. During our visit to Fresno we took a picnic with some of Pamela’s family up to Grant’s Grove in King’s Canyon. It and the Sequoia National Monument are some of my favorite places on the planet. There is something powerful about those giant trees, something about their eternity. We are born, and we die, but it’s only a moment for them. They are ever living.

All things though, have weakness and as we drove towards King’s Canyon (away from Grant’s Grove and into the Sierra Nevada), it became apparent the rampant danger California faces with the years long drought (since nearly 2010). The entire landscape of California seemed scorched, ravaged by the unrelenting sun and the lack of precious water. Much of the produce we enjoy around the country is kept alive on irrigation and water rights. I worry for the farmers who make their living in California. I am sad and disgusted by the pollution we have created. Mostly I fear for my trees, if our wanton greed and destruction should damage the Sequoia Groves we not only lose one of our greatest National treasures, we lose part of eternity.

The Dry Sierra Nevada Mountains, July 2014
The Dry Sierra Nevada Mountains, July 2014

Photo Technical Info

Parisian Seine

Posted on November 20th, 2011 by

The Seine

On our first day in Paris, right after we dropped our things off at our wonderful AirBNB apartment, we headed down to Notre Dame. The cathedral is overwhelming and deserves its own post (probably several) but one of the first pictures I took was on the Seine. Just an average day, with the river flowing along as it always does. The river has a sort of elegance that is hard to describe. There are thousands of tourists milling about, but even with the hustle and bustle and snap of cameras, the river swallows it all up and washes it away.

HDR Photography
Parisian Seine by W. Brian Duncan