I live in a beautiful city, Portland, OR. I also live in a beautiful spot in Portland. Mt. Tabor is a dormant volcano that rises about 600 feet above Portland (much of Portland is close to sea level). Fro the east side of Mt. Tabor you can enjoy glorious sunrises over Mt. Hood the 11,000 foot snowcapped mountain on the horizon. This image is an HDR (High Dynamic Range) photo, merging 3 exposure into one image. I don’t love it, but it is pretty exciting, as it represents some pretty cool possibilities.

I recently returned from a vacation in Fiji. We stayed on the island of Tavarua, where we have stayed before for a surfing vacation. I had planned for a photo orgy, hauling lots of gear with us, but it didn’t work out.

My primary purpose for going to this particular spot is to surf the reefs around the island, including the real feature break of the spot . . . Cloudbreak. So after a few days of bad weather I focused my time and energy on getting in the water to surf. This limited the about of time behind the camera and I came home with a precious few photos.

Yesterday I was showing a friend my experiments in Water Drop Photography and she reminded me of Harold Edgerton, the man who is largely credited with popularizing strobe and “stop motion” photography.

She had just purchased a print of this amazing photo called Milk Drop Coronet.

So I was inspired to reproduce (using the term loosely here) this amazing photo. Mr. Edgerton’s photo is a milk drop on a red surface. Mine is a water drop in some milky red dyed liquid. His has a black background and is shot from a different angle . . . you get the point. His is iconic. Mine is just kinda cool.

On this New Years Eve I raise a glass to the pioneers who invented the tools and techniques that we often take for granted. They left us with iconic imagery that is often imitated but can never be replaced.

Thanks Harold!

My mind is churning thinking of new photo projects and adventures, but the weather rarely cooperates. There is that little issue of a day job as well . . . sigh.

Here is a photo I took with my friend Andrew at Rooster Rock State Park on the Columbia Gorge back in November, grey long exposure.

A gorgeous view of Portland’s Fremont Bridge at night.