While it might not make my tight definition of a Chicken Run*, my photo buddy Ken Wilson and I decided to exploit the less traveled sections of eastern Oregon plains in search of elusive photo gems. We covered a lot of ground while traveling at high velocities in my Nissan Maxima. Painted Hills was one of the last locations we hit on this weekend trip. The beautiful thing about these hills is the variety of color they can produce under different environmental conditions. Just after a little rain shower holes of light peaking through overcast sky can make things stunning. I chose a telephoto lens to feature the layers of color, juxtaposing foliage in the foreground for contrast. Let’s schedule another one Ken! - Painted Hills is one of the three units of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, located in Wheeler County, Oregon. It totals 3,132 acres (1,267 ha) and is located 9 miles (14 km) northwest of Mitchell, Oregon and 75 miles (121 km) east of Bend. Painted Hills is named after the colorful layers of its hills corresponding to various geological eras, formed when the area was an ancient river floodplain. The black soil is lignite that was vegetative matter that grew along the floodplain. The grey coloring is mudstone, siltstone, and shale. The red coloring is laterite soil that formed by floodplain deposits when the area was warm and humid. An abundance of fossil remains of early horses, camels, and rhinoceroses in the Painted Hills unit makes the area particularly important to vertebrate paleontologists. -Wikipedia *I’m not actually sure if it was Ken or I that coined the term Chicken Run but my definition might be: Driving like a mad chicken to get a shot in the margins of the day while still maintaining a regular work schedule at our days jobs. In certain areas the proximity of both locations actually makes this a viable option. Which is helpful because you usually have to visit a location repeated times to find the right conditions for a shot.
This waterfall can be viewed in the Natural Garden section of Portland’s Japanese Garden which is situated near Washington Park and the famed International Rose Test Garden. I selected a slow shutter speed to achieve a surreal look on the water’s flow. No notes were taken detailing the exact speed for this exposure but it had to be at least one second. The hardest part about longer shutter speeds on waterfalls is to avoid catching movement of the foliage around the falls. - The 5.5 acre Portland Japanese Garden is composed of five distinct garden styles. The garden was designed by Professor Takuma Tono, one of the most important Japanese landscape architects of his time. The garden was dedicated and design began in 1963, though the garden opened to the public in 1967. In a study conducted in 2004 by the Journal of Japanese Gardening, it was ranked a very close second place out of 300 public Japanese gardens outside of Japan for highest quality. The Japanese ambassador to the U.S., Nobuo Matsunaga, said “I believe this garden to be the most authentic Japanese garden, including those in Japan.” -Wikipedia
EXIF Data: f/8, 1/640 sec, 200mm Patagonia is a region located at the southern end of South America, territory shared by Argentina and Chile, boasting some of the most dramatic landscapes on Earth. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes mountains to the southwest towards the Pacific ocean and from the east of the mountain range to the valleys it follows south through Colorado River towards Carmen de Patagones in the Atlantic Ocean. To the west, it includes the territory of Valdivia through Tierra del Fuego archipelago. Santa Cruz’s most visited destination is Los Glaciares National Park and a number of glaciers of which the Perito Moreno Glacier is the most famous. Nearby El Calafate has an airport that connects the area with Buenos Aires and Trelew. Some 200 kilometres north of El Calafate is the village of El Chaltén at the feet of the Cerro Torre and Mount Fitz Roy. Still not very developed, El Chaltén serves as a hub for various trekking routes including walks on the Viedma Glacier. -Wikipedia
