Illusive Arch
Ragged and overhanging portions of the canyon walls conspire with a fallen tree to create the illusion of an archway entering the verdant confines of Oneonta Gorge, in the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, Oregon.
Oneonta Gorge is another of those places that rose higher and higher on the must-see list as my passion for photography has grown over the years, so it was awesome to finally get there while on a fantastic photography outing with Sky Matthews last month. We got into the gorge a little late, as the morning light had already gotten quite harsh on the higher portions of the canyon walls, and quite a crowd of people had already begun working their way up the gorge toward the waterfall, the cold water being little impediment in the unseasonably hot and sunny weather. Since we were planning to stay in the gorge to see how the light would change throughout the day, we had plenty of time to contemplate different compositions that might work with the conditions of the day and that could possibly be photographed during brief lulls in the steady stream of visitors.
For a good while I found myself focusing too much on always looking deeper into the gorge and rarely looking back toward the entrance. When I finally did turn around and pay attention, I noticed that the shape of the gorge walls appeared to close in above from certain perspectives--which looked particularly cool with the golden sunlight visible back near the "logjam" at the entrance to the main portion of the gorge--and so the search began for a place where an illusion like this could be captured. Needless to say, it took a little while, but I did finally find this location which I think communicates the effect fairly well.
If you look closely, you can see the next group of visitors surmounting the log jam under the "archway" in the distance. While the large number of people moving in and out of the gorge did not make landscape photography easy that day, a place as beautiful as Oneonta Gorge is a place to be shared happily with all comers.
Thanks for visiting.
Illusive Arch
Ragged and overhanging portions of the canyon walls conspire with a fallen tree to create the illusion of an archway entering the verdant confines of Oneonta Gorge, in the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area, Oregon.
Oneonta Gorge is another of those places that rose higher and higher on the must-see list as my passion for photography has grown over the years, so it was awesome to finally get there while on a fantastic photography outing with Sky Matthews last month. We got into the gorge a little late, as the morning light had already gotten quite harsh on the higher portions of the canyon walls, and quite a crowd of people had already begun working their way up the gorge toward the waterfall, the cold water being little impediment in the unseasonably hot and sunny weather. Since we were planning to stay in the gorge to see how the light would change throughout the day, we had plenty of time to contemplate different compositions that might work with the conditions of the day and that could possibly be photographed during brief lulls in the steady stream of visitors.
For a good while I found myself focusing too much on always looking deeper into the gorge and rarely looking back toward the entrance. When I finally did turn around and pay attention, I noticed that the shape of the gorge walls appeared to close in above from certain perspectives--which looked particularly cool with the golden sunlight visible back near the "logjam" at the entrance to the main portion of the gorge--and so the search began for a place where an illusion like this could be captured. Needless to say, it took a little while, but I did finally find this location which I think communicates the effect fairly well.
If you look closely, you can see the next group of visitors surmounting the log jam under the "archway" in the distance. While the large number of people moving in and out of the gorge did not make landscape photography easy that day, a place as beautiful as Oneonta Gorge is a place to be shared happily with all comers.
Thanks for visiting.