Looking forward to heading down to the Columbia River Gorge next week for my spring workshop as wildflowers are in bloom and water is flowing! Last week I was down on vacation scouting some new locations and found some great new spots and hidden gems I had no idea were there. Once you get off the beaten path, the Gorge reveals some amazing geography and beautiful falls. While I was down there I also had a lot of fun with Canon’s new 11-24mm which has been perfect for waterfalls and landscapes around the Gorge. The extra wide angle of view is still a little challenging to get used to and definitely requires a lot more thought when approaching certain subjects and scenes. But when you get it right, 11mm is pretty spectacular and can make for some pretty in-your-face foregrounds! I look forward to using it more on next week’s workshop. As for now, I’m back in Montana enjoying spring in the Rockies with our days alternating between 70 degrees and snow:) I hope to have some updates from my trips here soon while over in the Pacific Northwest. If you didn’t get a chance to get in on this year’s workshops, all of my 2016 workshops will be up and available later this week.
Columbia River Gorge Workshop
Just returned from a great trip out to the west coast doing some more scouting for an upcoming workshop in the Columbia River Gorge I will be doing this next spring. A wet day in Portland made for some great photography at the Portland Japanese Gardens working with some beautiful fall colors and Japanese maple trees. The Garden offers a special annual photographer’s membership that is definitely worth getting if you are going to be visiting on multiple occasions and want to take advantage of photographers only hours each morning. There are many other benefits that come with it as well. www.japanesegarden.com
Afterwards, I made my way to the Gorge for some waterfall photography and exploring the surrounding areas. I bundled up my cameras and gear in their rain jackets and photographed some great end of fall locations and classic gorge scenes.
The Columbia River Gorge is not only spectacular in itself, but offers a ton of locations not too far away giving the area a lot of options to explore for photographers, including the pacific albus tree farms located east of the gorge.