Crater Lake National Park, Oregon

This blog is going to be very difficult for me to make photo selections since I spend quite a lot of time there during the summer months.  I might have to make severl blogs to incorporate all the images I want to include.

This image of the Pinnacles was taken on my very first trip to Crater Lake in the summer of 2003.  I was using a Sony Mavica CD500 digital camera at the time.



This image of the Crater Lake Lodge was taken in March 2005, just a month or so after we moved to our home in Oregon.

Having just moved to our Oregon home in February 2005, I was able to visit Crater Lake three times that year.  In March and August with my granddaughter and then again in October 2005 before the snow started to fly.  The day I made my trip there was not a cloud in the sky.  So I made "panoramic" images of the ones I like.  The above image was actually taken in Fort Klamath which is just a few miles from the park.  There are a lot of Aspen in the area and the colors were at their peak.  So took several images around the area before heading into the park.  All the following images were taken in October 2005.

Fort Klamath area, October 2005

This image was taken at the Rim looking at the eastside of the caldara.  As you can see, there is a forest fire north of the lake.

Wizard Island and Phantom Ship (which is a rock island) are the islands in the lake.  You can get off the tour boat and hike Wizard Island.  Hiking is either 3 or 6 hours before the boat will pick you up again.  Wizard Island sits to the west side of the lake close to the Rim.

Heading back home, I had to stop again in the Fort Klamath area and take some photos of the cattle.  There are several large cattle ranches in the area.

This was my parting shot of the Fort Klamath area.  Next stop was home.

In July 2006, my best friend came to visit for the second time.  One of our side trips was a visit to Crater Lake.  We took our bicycles as well to ride the 14 mile round trip from the Phantom Ship vista parking to the Pinnacles.  This is Vidae Falls with Alicia decending the hill.  The bicycle ride was grueling coming back up the hill.  Took us 15 minutes for the first half of the ride and 2 1/2 hours to return!

Roadside weeds.

Morning view of the Pinnacles.  This location at the park is off the beaten path.  As I mentioned earlier, you have to make a 14 mile round trip to see them.  If you are a photographer, you need to visit this location twice during the day.  Once in the morning for this view and then later in the afternoon or early evening for the view from where you park.  Image taken July 2006.

This is the vista for the Pumice Castle and the Face on the Wall!  The Pumice Castle is the pumpkin orange rock just above the trees.  If you look hard, you can see the face.  Image taken July 2006.

Behind the Headquarters Building are several things to see.  First is the "Lady of the Woods" which is a carved rock with the side profile of a lady covering her face.  There is also an interpretive trail through the woods and along the creek.  This is the creek.  Taken July 2006.

This is the Headquarters Building that is located at the bottom of the caldera and about 3 miles from the rim.  There is a Ranger's Station and a gift shop in a seperate building here.  Image taken July 2006.  This was the end of Alicia's first trip to Crater Lake.

In April 2007, I decided to make another "winter trip" to the Lake.  This image was my Christmas card for that year.



The road is always plowed to the Rim even during the winter months.  This is a wall of plowed snow at the Rim parking area.  Image taken April 2007.

Montana ~ Big Sky Country

All my Montana images were taken "pre-digital," meaning with my Nikon F-100 film camera.  I purchased that camera about 3 weeks prior to moving there in December 2000 and was still not familiar with the camera.  Thus, a lot of my images are sub-standard, but the only ones I have from the time I lived there.  I hope you enjoy them never the less.

The above images was taken at Nevada City, Montana in October 2001.

Here is a wider view of the same buildings.

Virginia City, Montana, October 2001.

Traveling home from Great Falls Montana to Missoula, you pass through a small town called Lincoln.  Upon leaving Lincoln, I decided to take some of the backroads and see if I could find some photo opportunties as I traveled.  This image was taken off a side road in 2001.

This is the Yellowstone River just north of Gardiner.  Image was taken in 2001.

One afternoon in the Summer 2002, I decided to take a drive down Hwy 93 to the Bitterroot Valley.  This little stream was along one of the hiking trails.

Lookout Pass Montana.  At one of the pull off areas, I decided to wade through the brush to see what was behind it.  I could hear water but couldn't see it.  This a beautiful creek coming down from the hill came into view.  This is just part of the creek.  Taken in 2002.

In the fall of 2001, my brother and sister in law came up to visit.  During their stay, we drove them to many areas in the Rocky Mountains of Montana.  One day we made a trip to the Flathead Lake area.  As the day was drawing to a close, I spotted this beautiful reflection along Hwy 35 and had to stop for a "shoot."  This was the outcome.

The next several images are "Montana Skies" taken from our home in Missoula between December 2000 to December 2002.

This next image was taken in the Flathead Lake area in the fall of 2002.

Living in Montana affords so many wonderful photo opportunties.  At the time, my equipment was not up to the standard of what I have today.  I would love to make another trip to some of the same areas and try again.

During one of my travels to Billings, I would stop at the rest stops along the way, coming and going.  These trees were at one of those stops.  Photo taken 2001.

A Salty Outlook

This is a Tealia Anemone.  I took this shot in Monterey, California between 1999 and 2004.

41st Annual International Photo Competition SEA2004 - 3rd Place Open Macro
Monterey California 11/2004

This is Brown Cup Coral and approximately 3/4 to 1 inch in size.  You are only seeing a portion of the coral in this image.  The image itself was taken in 2000 in Monterey California.

This image was taken at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  The Aggregating Anemone is approximately 6 inches across.



Another Tealia Anemone taken in 1999 in Monterey California.

Several years ago, my son and daughter-in-law built a saltwater coral reef tank.  This beauty was in their tank for a couple of years.  Image taken in Chico, California approximately 2007.

19th Annual Beach Photo Competition - 3rd Place Novice Macro
Monterey California 6/2000

Not much is know about this marine life.  We call it a "Radar Dish Worm."  The worm creates the structure you see here by using its siliva and sand.  The worm lives inside the tube.  To eat, the worm "spins a web" around the "fingers" so it will catch debris in the water.  Later the worm comes out and "sucks" up the "web" to eat.  Very interesting process.

19th Annual Beach Photo Competition - 2nd Place Novice Macro

Monterey California 6/2000

This little fish is a sculpin.  The "pumpkin seeds" that he is laying across are actually Whelk eggs.  A Whelk is a are snail.

Monterey Shootout Photo Competition - 2nd Place Novice Macro

Monterey California 8/2000

This is a hermit crab with his house covered in barnacles!

Monterey Shootout Photo Competition - 2nd Place Novice Mystery Photo "Camera in Hand"

Monterey California 8/2000

This is Alicia by best friend and dive partner in all photo competitions.  She is shooting a Sand Anemone which can get up to 24 inches across.  This one is only about 12-18 inches.  You can see several of our friends tagging along on this shoot.



20th Annual Beach Competition - 3rd Place Novice Marine Life Cagetory

Monterey California  6/2001

I started shooting underwater in 1997 to shot my husband that sharks were not going to eat me!  The "snapshot" photography turned into upgrading my camera equipment and entering into photo competititions with others in the Monterey Bay area.  The first year I entered was 1999 and didn't even place, but it gave me the feel of what I was up against for the later years.

With the exception of the SEA2004 image, the other competition images are very small in pixels.  My slides are packed away, so this is the best I can do at the moment.

I miss the days of competition and diving.  But as you will see in this blog, my passion as turned towards Landscape Photography.