The winter that wasn't...

Here in the Inland Northwest, as we like to call Eastern Washington and parts of North Idaho, the landscape has been dreary and disappointing, for the most part! I was hoping to take endless pictures of rural landscape with snow &/or fog this winter. Not workin' out that way.

Well, you have to go with what you've got. Since landscape and still life haven't provided opportunities, I'll do the best I can with a construction site! Clouds are a favorite subject so here's another one. One lesson to take from this one is "perspective"- the guys on the crew are focused on the building, some detail that needs to be corrected. Sure, we have to do our work well but look at the sky above. While the mundane is tended to, perhaps God's creation around us will provide some inspiration or a sense of the larger picture-

A step back in time...

Teresa pointed out that my blog isn't very colorful so far! Well, that's true. Left to my own devices I can linger in a monochrome world for a while. I'm not into true black & white photography. I like monochrome- either full sepia or some hint of color.

In the meantime, here's something more colorful- a shot of Deception Pass from several years ago when I was shooting film. In the early 2000's while the transition from film to digital was still accelerating I was shooting on a Canon Elan 7 35mm. I had all my good rolls scanned to digital and started learning Photoshop. This picture is one of my early efforts. Occasionally I'm tempted to go back and re-edit using my current workflow. Usually I just don't have time for it!

So- to add some color, here's a splash-

Eagles in Coeur d'Alene

Teresa and I went to Higgens Point near Coeur d'Alene Idaho on New Year's Day to view the bald eagles. They stop there for a couple weeks to fuel up on salmon during their migration to parts south.

A silhouette often captures the mood better than full color with details. Out of a couple dozen shots this is one of my favorites so far-

Fog also a favorite subject...

Yesterday on my drive to Spokane from Plummer, Idaho (project site for my day-job as public works inspector) I ran into a nice stretch of fog!

Now, maybe some people don't think of fog as "nice" while driving, but I enjoy driving through fog with a few hundred yards of visibility. Not the slow-down-I-can't-see-anything dense fog, but the misty fog that allows trees and barns to appear gradually as you approach.

I have been "watching" this one tree for 6 months, waiting for a good opportunity to capture it and the space around it. This is the "original" version, I have some more comments then I will show an alternate version-



I have been in a mood to find and develop some images, especially those exploring empty space around the apparent subject. (I've seen it referred to as "negative" space but I am not an art student and I've seen definitions that do not fit the reason I want empty space in my composition.) This is a theme I have explored on and off over the past 4 or 5 years.

For me the object in the picture is only half the story, or the anchor for the space. Empty space to me represents the passage of time, the embodiment of curiosity, roads not traveled, any number of things.

Here is the second version of the same shot. At some point I would love to hear feedback from some visitors to the blog- which one do you prefer? At the same time I realize "art" is personal and different people enjoy different images. There are some image I do not connect with. Images that create a sense of proportion or significance for an object, I can relate to-

Sucker for good clouds...

I have always enjoyed capturing images of clouds that depict movement. We frequently have two cloud types in Eastern Washington- cotton-ball type massive formations that involve a linear pattern of motion, and then simple, stretched thin cirrus-looking clouds which appear in radial fashion when you use a wide-angle lens.

Here is a shot from two days ago on the construction site I am inspecting-

Construction Photography

It's not always easy to find an "artistic" image on a construction site. Or at least one that involves the actual work being done. Here are a couple recent shots from my daily inspection work in Plummer, Idaho-

The first one shows rebar being cut with a composite blade. Every so often someone is cutting rebar with a torch or grinder tool. I've experimented with different ways to capture the visual result. This is one of my favorites so far-



This shot depicts an adjustment to a concrete vault. The hole wasn't wide enough and had to be notched out further. Photography is all about the light so I used some artistic license in Photoshop, altering the quality of light and bringing more focus onto the worker-

First post!

My wife Teresa and I are running parallel blogs based on the "Northwest POV" idea. Given our geographic location (Spokane, Washington) most of the images we offer as photographic art will be based on landscapes and scenery unique to the Pacific Northwest.

We are running two blogs because within the Northwest Point of View we also bring individuals points of view. In some ways...ok, many ways! ...we are very different. In the most important way, though, we are the same in our Christian faith.

Our goal is to share the journey of establishing a home-based business in photographic arts. We will travel periodically to capture images based on seasons or themes and share those travels with you. Over time we will develop a website with galleries of our travels and eventually a way to purchase prints and posters.

Just today I was reviewing some images and realized one theme that I like is the solitary building or tree in a rural landscape. I have driven so many miles through Washington and Idaho over the past 20 years, seeing empty landscapes interrupted by evidence of past lives- abandoned homes, barns, even roads that have been bypassed, now leading nowhere in particular. I'll explore this more through photography in the coming years, along with other themes, and share the images that capture certain moods rather than just a scene.

Here is a recent example, one that I have not posted in a previous blog. Also below the Barn picture is a recent effort with the "Bowl and Pitcher" rock formation in Spokane's Riverside State Park. I used substantial photoshop on the Bowl & Pitcher so it is "photographic art". Hmm, more on that concept later!