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Posting this shot is worth the story alone. This was taken in Oneonta Gorge last month during a particularly chilly bout of cold weather which froze many of the area's waterfalls. For those not familiar with this gorge, it is a popular spot during the hot summer months. The gorge itself is an extremely narrow canyon that is only about 1/4 of a mile long but requires wading, sometimes up to one's chest through pools of water to reach. It is quite impossible to hike up this canyon without wading.
During the summer this is great, the canyon is shaded and always about 15 degrees cooler and the cold water is quite refreshing. Crowds of people churn up this canyon on weekends, making photography frustrating but cooling off quite enjoyable.
About once a year we get a cold snap that is cold enough and long enough to turn the many waterfalls of the Columbia River Gorge into winter wonderlands. It is one of my favorite times of year. It is hard to imagine enjoying as much discomfort as this weather brings. Painfully chilled faces and hands, pants and fleeces coated in ice to the point that you crack when you walk. Spray from the waterfalls coating your cameras and freezing solid. Hurried trips back to the car to regain feeling in your extremities before venturing out for "just a few more pictures".
In other words, bliss.
I make a point of getting out here every year. So I have spent a fair amount of time at most of the main waterfalls over the past few winters. But this one had always seemed a little to crazy to attempt. Afterall, it requires wading, and during this time of year, getting wet for that long would result in frostbite at the least and even hypothermia. Probably hypothermia. I will go through a lot in pursuit of amazing scenes like this, but I think I draw the line at hypothermia. Just sounds overrated if you ask me.
The idea of making it up this gorge somehow to see this falls was awfully tempting still. A few of us talked about it and brainstormed ideas. The most popular was to buy an inflatable raft and pump it up and use it to cross the pools. The big problem with this is that there is a giant logjam at the mouth of this gorge that one has to climb over in order to enter the gorge itself. So any raft would have to be inflated on site, and it ruled out bringing in a canoe or kayak.
Then a stroke of inspiration was lent to me on a comment to a photo I posted some time ago, to rent a drysuit. A ha. Even more fortunate, I did not have to rent one, a friend likes to surf and scuba dive and owns a drysuit. Even better, we are almost the same size. So the cold snap hit, I got a day off work, naturally I called him right away and got my hands on a drysuit. All that stood before me then was a giant frozen logjam and a quarter mile of ice cold water.
The fun begins.
My first task was wading across the shallow stream to reach the logjam, which required me donning the drysuit. I had to repeatedly take it on and off as needed because I did not want to trip, or snag it on a log and tear it. But as an additional wrinkle I did not have waterproof boots to put over the feet of the drysuit. Even though the entire suit is waterproof, I did not want to walk across rocks in just the suit and risk damaging the feet. So I pulled on an old pair of my hiking boots to protect the feet. They worked well to that extent but of course got soaked the moment I stepped in the water. Which basically made them like little freezers on my feet.
The suit kept out the water, not the cold.
By the time I got across the first stream, which only took 2-3 minutes, and was never deeper than mid-calf, I could not feel my toes. So I had to sit down, take off the suit, pack it up, and hold my toes until I was certain they were still going to talk to me. Then on to the logjam. Unfortunately I hit another unexpected snag here too. Right before the logjam are two giant boulders that sit right in the middle of the stream. There are two basic choices, you can go left around them, in the tight space between them and the cliff walls. You just wedge yourself in, back to the wall and hands and feet on the nearest boulder and crab walk along, suspended over a deep little pool of water. Or you go right, which requires wading through a fairly deep pool of water and pulling yourself up on a chest-high shelf of rock onto the second boulder. Well a small waterfall had turned the left hand cliff into a sheet of ice, there was no way I would get any traction on it, even with Yaktrax on my feet. The pool on the right was doable with the drysuit, but I did not want to have to climb the jagged shelf of rock in it, again afraid I would puncture or damage the suit. So I had to climb the first boulder and jump the four foot gap down to the second boulder, with all my gear attached. I did not think too much on how I was going to get out on my return trip...
This mini-adventure brought me to the logjam, which really was the easiest part of the whole ordeal. The logs were all dry, and lacked any ice. The water level under them was high, so all I had to do was be careful not to fall. It was a slightly eerie experience to hear all the water gurgling and splashing inches away but not be able to see any of it. I am not used to the water being so high.
And then I realized that I would never have been able to do this with a raft. Normally during the summer, the water level is low enough that the majority of this short hike is dry, with the exception of two or three stomach to chest deep pools which require wading. But the rest can usually be done on the dry edges of the stream bed.
Not so this time of year. The stream came right up to the log jam and I could see no dry patches of note the whole rest of the way. So balancing on a log, I pulled on the drysuit yet again and taking a bit of a deep breath, gently slid myself into the water, which at that point was only about hip deep and began wading.
Pretty quickly the cold suffocated the protestations of my toes.
But by this point pretty much nothing was going to deter me from seeing this falls. I reached the first pool, which is the shallower of the two that has to be crossed, it came up to about my waist. It was again, an eerie experience to feel the extremely cold weight of the water pressing in on my legs, a bit like being squeezed by an extremely cold giant fist.
The second pool was a bit more nerve-wracking. For one, the stream had a good current to it, which I was wading against. The current made the surface choppy enough that I could not see where I was putting my feet, I had to go a step at a time by feel. Plus the pool came up to my chest, so I had to remove my backpack with my tripod attached and balance it all on my head to keep it dry, meaning I had to hold it up there with one hand, giving me just one other for balance. A slow and painstaking little stretch that was. I was very aware of the cantaloupe sized icebergs floating by me in the water.
But then I was through, and that was the hardest part of the whole little trek. I reached this spot and found a small stretch of dry rocks to peel off the drysuit and massage my frozen toes back to some semblance of life. (Note to self, next time take thermal socks, at least two pairs). I saw another very small stretch of dry rocks just barely poking above the surface of the stream just 15 feet upriver. So laying out the drysuit I pulled on my bag, and climbed along the cliff wall to reach that little outcropping of rock, where I was able to balance myself and everything else on a couple of rocks just above the surface of the stream and take this shot. Phew.
Yeah it was crazy I know. But fun too. And that was my adventure up Oneonta Gorge ... almost. The trip back was pretty much a repeat of the trip up, except when I reached the boulders, which I was unable to climb back up, so I had to slip the drysuit back on and navigate the pool I mentioned earlier to the right of the boulders to finally escape the gorge.
I came stumbling back up to the historic highway about three hours after initially left, still dripping water, with my wet boots starting to encase themselves in a shell of ice and probably the craziest grin I have had in a long time.
I am not sure if this means photography is my passion or my madness. I guess there is not always that big a difference between the two.
If you are interested in pricing for my images, or just plain curious, more info can be found at my website: www.zebandrews.com
* Fröhliche Weihnachten! *
* Merry Christmas! *
* Zalig Kerstfeest! *
* Feliz Navidad! *
* Buon Natale! *
* Joyeux Noël! *
* God Jul! *
St John's wort / Echtes Johanniskraut (Hypericum perforatum)
Botanical Garden, Frankfurt
This is for Elias, a friend and a great photographer.
I'm very lucky to have you as a contact!
Thank you so much for your beautiful testimonial :-)
I can't believe I carried this to the most remote spot on earth for you...along with your tennis shoes to throw over an electrical line, which I just couldn't bring myself to do...funny as it would have been.
Making a smallish messenger bag for S. She'll need one for mini travel fund, a note book with contact information { Always have a little note book with her name and contact number, just in case}.
Based on the scene from Return of the King . I'm not entirely satisfied with the result, so I may post a better version later.
For sale in a row of ancient cottages in the town of Steyning, Sussex, England. Behind and to the right of the ivy covered building, you can just make out the South Downs. The town of Steyning is nestled in the South Downs National Park.
Click to view in Lightbox.
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Here's wishing you a speedy recovery, Pam!
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You can visit her creative photostream here: www.flickr.com/photos/ramparts54/
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Thanks for visiting and have a pleasant evening.
A little bird from Britain tells me that it's your birthday today! Many happy returns of the day, dear friend. (I learned that from Winnie the Pooh - ha!) Thank you for all of the inspiration!
I have recently become an administrator for Lulu and Chromophile groups. In looking through many groups for work to add, I have been completely humbled by the imagination and beauty that I have found. Thanks to all of you who inspire me so much every single day. Makes me want to reevaluate my own work. Thanks so much like being in art school again YIPPIE!!
*The population's already begun offing themselves. I must continue to search for a way to stop the outbreak*
~Negative. You must push on. Continue to the objective and don't turn back. We've lost too many reinforcements as it is. Comply. Out~
Another of my Prototype-half mods, this time an AK-47. I didn't add much of a paintjob, just some gunmetal.
Fun Fact: the other side is undermolded.
Awesome titan pilot head by Brickultra and painted up a bit by me.
Who could refuse a request for more photos from this set when its the partner of the very glamorous insanely pretty Zoe.
This is a right old hicledi miss mash of stuff I had squirreled away. The boots are my favourite tranny boots! only a tranny would wear these or my daughter. Have to say they are really comfortable shouldn't be but they are.
The skirt is an old item I was given by a friend and is way to big being a size 20 its worn over a net petticoat. the jacket is an old river island number from way back when I was a size 14 it does up the front by hook and eyes. I thought that added to the look nicely. Over the skirt and jacket and under the corset is one of those modern corset things that shapes the waist.
In all truth its this that gives me the nice waistline in the last photo because the actual corset is just a fashion one and doesn't really hold much in by itself.
So as you can see its well worth keeping stuff if you have room even if its just for messing around with.
Forgot to mention the Highlighter by revolution available from superdrug and perfect for enhancing ones assets :-)
A couple of weeks ago I had a pretty fruitless trip to Norfolk Involving a 3.30am start and a 3 hour round trip. A quick trip down to Pin Mill on the Orwell 15 minutes from home on Saturday afternoon did produce a few keepers though... sometimes there's a lot to be said for shooting what's on your doorstep!
Canon 5D MkII
Canon 24-105mm f4L @ 45mm
134 sec @ f/16.0
ISO 50
Lee big stopper & 0.6 GND filters
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White Egret couple preparing for a family. He is gathering twigs and presenting them for her approval. She seems pleased.
Can birds really smile?
Most of you probably know, but if not, Japan was hit by an 8.9 Magnitude Earthquake Friday March 11, 2011 at 2:46 pm Japan Time. After the quake there was an ensuing Tsunami wave that devastated many coastal communities in Japan, destroying homes cars and lives.
This hits close to home for me since I have friends and family residing in Japan so I urge you all to please donate towards the relief efforts that are being set into motion.
You can text REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation to the Red Cross who will see that your donations are put to good use.
I'VE TEXTED THIS 1 TIME.
Thank You if you do it would mean a lot to me, my family, my friends and all those that have been effected by this disaster.
If you have facebook then follow this link and like Their goal is to reach 100K likes and they'll send $100K to Japan for the relief efforts. But only if that goal is reached in 10 days. If you can't donate money then this could be your way of helping!:
Lady GaGa is also offering these wristbands in support for Japan. Here you can buy a wristband for $5 and add-on anything else that you want to donate:
ladygaga.shop.bravadousa.com/Product.aspx?cp=14781_42444&...
I'VE ORDERED 1 OF THESE.
UCSD's Japanese Student Association has setup a site for collecting donations. They are hoping to send the money directly to the Miyagi Prefectural Government so that they can allocate the money directly to what is most needed:
www.wepay.com/donate/helpjapan
You can go directly to the Red Cross and donate. Remember your donations at the Red Cross can be made a tax deductible! Support the relief efforts AND get a tax break, sounds like a win-win situation:
You can buy cool graphic design t-shirts. They're $20 and $10 of that is donated.
Donate directly to google:
www.google.com/crisisresponse/japanquake2011.html
If you play any Zynga games (CityVille, FrontierVille, FarmVille, Zynga Poker etc.) on Facebook many of them are offering VIP packages for a $5 donation towards Japan's relief efforts!
Cool stickers for $5, proceeds go to the Red Cross!:
I'VE ORDERED 4 OF THESE.
These cool prints are kind of pricy but it would probably look great in your room if you're passionate about Japan:
fullbleed.imagekind.com/store/imagedetail.aspx/a8eff957-6...
Remember the Racist UCLA student Alexandra Wallace? We can thank her for one thing... A T-shirt Parody has been made of her comments you can buy it for $12 and the profits goes to Japan:
Facebook Causes has added a donation site. You can complete offers that donate a small amount of money at no cost to you or you can donate the regular amounts ($10, $25, $50 etc):
www.causes.com/campaigns/154523
UCI is selling T-Shirts. All proceeds go to Operation Compassion:
japanrelieffunds.weebly.com/non-uci-buyers.html
Cool minimalist design graphic T-Shirt with proceeds going to Japan:
Taken for Macro Monday - support and generosity
I was sitting outside and noticed this tiny weed; no bigger than a thumb tack. It was being blown side to side. With each gust of wind it was losing more of it's tiny white seeds. So fragile and small. Just like we are in the grand scheme of things.
We get easily caught up in the mundane and meaningless of our daily lives. Why does it take a tragedy to ground us and put things back into perspective? Natural disasters, illness, suffering, death...just like that tiny little weed we are vulnerable to so much we can't control.
A reminder to take in each moment and give gratitude for what we have and to continue to be generous to those in need.
Sitara,
Happy (Belated) Birthday, my dear! Have a birthday cupcake. :)
Thank-you for being such an inspiration to me in my photography. And, just for being the great friend that you are. I really hope that you have a lovely year. <3
-Abbey
for Laura L. Ruth...so sorry this is so long in coming....thank you so much for the beautiful testimonial, I am truly touched. Please drop by and see some of Laura's amazing work!!
Due to certain factors and the updates to my templates, I have put these figures up for sale. If you are interested, here are the prices:
Dogma- $23
Hardcase- $24
Fives- $27 (reserved)
Kix- $25 (Sold)
Jesse- $25
The prices for these clones are slightly raised because they use the Lego helmet, which is was not too easy to acquire back when these were made (got them for about $3.50 each).
Please note, if you're interested in Hardcase, there may be a slight delay; the helmet is damaged, and I'll have to make a new one if any of you want to buy this fig.
PayPal only please, I don't wish to trade for these figs. Any leftovers that are not purchased within a week will be posted on ebay.
I just love this shot. not a bad effort considering its taken on my phone camera.
Just has that vintage feel. an image of a woman out for the day having a rest from house work.
Although I am no longer taking commissions, I couldn't turn down the chance for a custom dolly trade with my talented friend, Amy (Zaloa). So, here is the girl that I created for her.
Amy did the reroot using that beautiful pink mohair shown in the photo... She will reveal this girl as a whole once she is home. Can't wait to see her all put together! :)
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Thanks for stopping by and view this photo. The reason for posting this photo on Flickr is to learn so if you have constructive feedback regarding what I could do better and / or what should I try, drop me a note I would love to hear your input.
View on Black the way it should be seen!
-- Let the sound of the shutter always guide you to new ventures.
© 2017 Winkler
Remember to follow me on Twitter @BjarneWinkler and @NewTeamSoftware
IAPP Member: US#12002
On occasion these birds will pose for a couple of seconds.
Member of Nature’s Spirit
Good Stewards of Nature
© 2017 - All Rights Reserved
Maddie has brought a special pumpkin home as a gift for Aunt Tess! Maybe Tess will turn it into pies or carve a Jack o Lantern!