A lot has happened in 2019, but much of it hasn’t been photography related. I haven’t even purchased any new photography gear in an entire calendar year! In my personal life I have gotten married, moved, and earned a promotion. We got married in Hawaii, which is a great photography location, but the trip was not meant for taking landscape images. So, while I haven’t really done anything major in photography in 2019 it doesn’t mean I wasn’t able to capture some really nice images!

This first image was taken in the spring on the coast in Cannon Beach. The location doesn’t really matter though because of the simplicity of the composition. A simple red rock in the cool blue shadow of an approaching wave just as the sun is dipping below the horizon. The concept was simple, but the execution was not so easy.

Each wave would move and cover rocks that I would attempt to capture. This meant that I would have to move the tripod and adjust the camera every time before waiting for another wave. The time window was limited as well with only 5-10 minutes of light that would work well enough for the concept. I was very pleased with the abstract nature of the final image!

The second image in my batch of top imagery from the year was one from back in January. On a trip to Newport with my then fiancee, I woke up early to drive south to a small forest in the coast range. Not far from the parking lot is where I found this tree with beautiful white moss covering the trunk and branches. The fiery red bushes in the bottom of the image add nicely to the smokey effect of the white moss covered tree. Lastly, the mood of the fog brings the image together softening the background and rounding out the effect of smoke which I can almost smell.

A more recent image captured on an adventure to the Oregon coast with the Photog Adventures listener group, I love the details in “Splish Splash”. The frozen foamy water droplets leading out from the powerful wave is fascinating. On this stormy day, the waves were 8-13 feet high with some of the splashes reaching up 100+ feet when crashing against the shoreline. Shore Acres on the coast is well known for its big wave days, but I wanted to capture something different that is a more intimate display of the action.

This short and scraggly looking tree with moss covered branches has captured my attention a couple of times. I first captured it on this day in the fog, but I had noticed it scouting the location during a clear blue summer day last year. This was in January that I got out to Forest Park near Portland to capture the image with the chaotic branches reaching out through the edges of the frame as if it were pulling the viewer in. The spider-like lines worked well in another image I captured of the same tree during a snowy day which didn’t make my top ten list for 2019.

Another image from Forest Park, but a different area of the trails. This section of forest was uniquely uniform in nature, and the place where I captured it from was high enough for me to be shooting down into the area. This allows for no sky to be creating hot-spots that would be distractions. It is very simple composition otherwise with a panoramic shot of verticals stitched together. The resolution is incredible as I could print it for a large wall without worrying about losing quality.

This image was a combination of luck, panic, and a bit of ingenuity. I was rushing from dropping off a group in town for the bachelorette party before getting to this location. I was rushing before sunset which I thought I had left enough time for, but it seems as the sun sets faster in paradise. (this makes sense as it is basically on the equator) I was stuck in traffic for almost a half hour before getting to the location for my first landscape photography shoot in Hawaii and realizing I had lost a critical piece of my tripod.

The piece I lost was a screw meant for tightening the camera onto the top plate of the bullhead. I am lucky that the ball-head has a spring-release that loosely keeps the camera in place because I was able to use that as a backup for the short time it took to get this image. I feel as though this image is a triumph over adversity I faced on the first couple days of the Hawaii trip where it felt as though there were a number of obstacles to overcome on the island of Maui before escaping to our honeymoon on Kauai.

A couple of days into our trip to Kauai and over halfway through the ‘vacation’ in Hawaii the rain was finally lifting after being constant for almost two full days. We were at the rainbow eucalyptus trees on the island and were about to leave when I spotted this composition. I pulled the Mustang GT over on the gravel trail and shot this on the shoulder. The clouds were beginning to clear out revealing the mountains in the center of the island behind the Albezia tree (considered an invasive species in Hawaii) introduced to Hawaii in 1917 for reforestation efforts. I love the mood of the image and Jurassic feeling of the image overall!

Although the only dinosaurs we saw were the chickens that run wild like rats on the island of Kauai, it lived up to the views one would expect to see after watching 1993’s ‘Jurassic Park’. In fact, the movie had many scenes filmed on the island of Kauai including the park gate that was actually left there from the filming for a little while (it is gone now and is just a part of an old jeep trail now). The Na Pali coast was also a part of the scenes filmed from and of the helicopter in the movie as well similar to what you see in this image.

I captured this from a boat tour at sunset I took with my wife. We were on our honeymoon at this point, and there wasn’t much time for photography, but in-between courses of dinner I caught this scene! The light was nearly perfect and the haze from spray and rain in the air was manageable enough.

I got out to a small local forest in October during a foggy morning and was content capturing images of the trees in abstract shapes. I got several images I really enjoy on the morning, but nothing compares to the magic of this one. I saw a deer in the clearing and watched for a minute wondering if I should make the effort to get my camera out. I decided to do so slowly as not to disturb their peace causing the deer to flee. By the time I had the kit put together the second doe had appeared next to the first. I framed the composition and fired off one image before they looked up simultaneously to camera-right. This is the image you see here as they stand sentry with a magical misty background of slightly soft forest in the distance. Magic.

The last image is also the most recent image I have captured. I went out this morning in December with another photographer. This local forest is one I had scouted out in early November to have plenty of potential. I had spent the morning capturing a handful of scenes that I liked enough, but nothing that was truly exciting me.

I was walking around a pond when I saw this bent tree which immediately grabbed my interest. I started walking around to find a composition when I saw these two elements align. The interaction of these two trees as if they were dancers is exactly what I look for in my forest images giving life to the image. This is what I love so much about going into local little forests and capturing unique landscape photographs.

Closing Thoughts on 2019

It has been a great year for many reasons! I think, looking back, it may not have been my most active year in photography, but the images I have on display here and other various images I have captured this year show growth and a maturing of my photography. I enjoy the more intimate landscapes and have become more refined with my eye and compositional techniques.

Going forward, in 2020, I would like more of the same along with perhaps a bigger trip mixed in somewhere. I enjoy watching the weather and taking mini trips to the coast and Mt Hood. I also quite like going out on morning hikes in small local forests with my camera. I would like to plan out and do a trip to somewhere in the American Southwest sometime this year to either Death Valley, Zion, or White Sands. Whatever happens in the new year and new decade, I hope to be able to share more great images here with you!