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Today I met Ty Gillian, a very kind man, and Syracuse born native. Though he hasn't traveled much, Ty has also lived in Atlanta, Boston and Tennessee. Ty sells used and lightly worn clothing to make his living in the now sunny but soon frigid city. I didn't get a chance to talk with him for that long before my class, but he was nice enough to share some of his story with me, and he happily obliged when I asked him if I could take a few pictures of him.
I just recently decided to go through a few extremely old shoots that I had found on an SD card from one of my old Panasonic point and shoot cameras. The pictures were from an old family vacation to Washington State, along with the beautiful island of Maui. I wasn't that strong of a photographer four or 5 years back, and I only selected the strongest images to throw up here. Going through the pictures really brought back some great memories for me, and I hope I can continue traveling the world as I grow older, and improving as a person and photographer.
My experiences at Crater Lake are definitely some of the most memorable I have ever had. Aside from it being one of the most EPIC places I have ever visited, the views and hikes alone can hardly be described with words. I had an incredible time with my family, and it truly felt like it had been way too long since we were last able to spend such an enjoyable amount of time together. I will cherish my moments at Crater Lake for the rest of my life, and here are my favorite pics from some of our adventures!
After staying in Mitchell for the night, we made our way to the painted sands, and then on to Crater Lake National Park, which must have been one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. On our way to Crater Lake, we were able to see the peaks of some of the larger mountains in the Cascades from hundreds of miles away as they towered into the sky. We actually had to drive through Crater Lake National Park to get to Fort Klamath, a town even smaller than Mitchell, where we would be staying for the next 3 nights at a place called Jo's Motel. Fort Klamath was located about 22 miles from the park entrance, and was surrounded by beautiful farmland full of grazing cattle, and mountains beyond the farmland.
We then left Walla Walla to make our way towards the extremely tiny town of Mitchell, Oregon. Mitchell is in fact, so small, that the 2010 census reported a population of 130. On our way to Mitchell we caught the end of another pretty spectacular sunset.
Ahh yes, the little ol' town of Mitchell. While the rest of my family was getting some hard earned rest, I decided to go out and play with some long exposures of the almost pitch black town that lay at the canyon floor.
At last. I finally finished going through my vacation pics from my recent trip out west. I've been thinking a lot about how exactly I would share all of these pictures, and it seems like it would be best if I just put the trip in chronological order of images.
We began our trip by flying into Spokane, Washington, and first driving to Palouse Falls. I feel like when most people think of giant waterfalls, they think of luscious green areas, like forests and jungles. Palouse Falls was located in the most barren environment I would ever imagine a waterfall to be in, and I was amazed that something so majestic existed in such a desolate place.
Next, we moved on to Walla Walla, WA where my sister was checking out Whitman University. We did a bunch of awesome stuff in the area, and my dad and I were lucky enough to catch an incredible sunset just over the border of Oregon which was only a few miles from Walla Walla.
I haven't been shooting at all recently, and I am ashamed to admit it. After shooting a wedding proposal, I realized my camera was having problems with its auto focus and shutter release, so I sent it in to Nikon to get repaired. During this time, I was figuring out how to best upgrade my arsenal, and I am happy to say that after getting my camera back from Nikon in perfect condition, I have sold my d7000 and 18-200 mm lens to my dad and purchased a d610!
I have been working two different non-photography related jobs this summer, and I am thrilled to have made the move to full frame. I was able to finally go out and take some pictures this evening for the first time with the d610 for around 30 minutes or so as it got dark (work and a number of other commitments restricted my time today), but I am thrilled to start shooting again, and hopefully posting much more to the blog.
