The goal of your photography?

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Splintercat
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Re: The goal of your photography?

Post by Splintercat » August 28th, 2015, 9:08 pm

Great thread and gorgeous photos, everyone -- thanks for bumping this up, Jamie!

I'm like most who have posted in that I take photos to try to capture the experience (and I do process them with Photoshop with that in mind -- and I use a polarizer filter most of the time). But I'm also an activist at heart, and like to use photos to spotlight our public lands for those who don't get out there like I do, and perhaps don't realize just how at risk they are. My main focus is on Mount Hood and the Gorge on that front, and what I like to do is try to get really beautiful images that hide a bit of a secret or tell a story about how our public lands are managed. Here are a few favorites from over the years, and the story behind the photo...

...like this one, taken from a nondescript pull-out along Highway 30, under a powerline. All of the visible area in this photo, save for the mountain itself, is in private ownership and could be logged and cleared for development at any time:

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I'm guessing that most who pass by this spot imagine it to be in public ownership and managed for its scenic value. Nope.

The main point of a photo like this one is to show people who've never ventured beyond the south side and Timberline Lodge the rugged alter-egos that Mount Hood presents on its west, north and east sides -- and to put a detailed face they never imagined on the side of the mountain that faces Portland:

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This one should be familiar to those who've belonged to the forum for awhile -- Owl Point on the north side of the mountain (with our own Jaimito posing):

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...I took this photo when the Forest Service was considering a plan to convert the Owl Point/Old Vista Ridge trail into a dirt bike and ATV play area, and used photos of this (then) lesser-known area to make the case against that ill-conceived plan (it was eventually dropped). It also illustrates another reason for taking photos, as it captures the north side before the Dollar Fire swept through a couple years after this was taken.

Here's another sneaky one: it looks to be deep in wilderness, but of course, it's right along the shoulder of the Vista Ridge spur road (which is visible near the left edge of the photo):

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The story behind it goes beyond the proximity of the road, as the young trees beyond the vine maple actually mark a recovering clearcut. The large trees on the right were spared at the time, but now may be cut as part of the very large Lava timber sale. This sort of background stuns people who take our mountain for granted, and don't spend much time up there -- but care deeply about it being protected for future generations.

Another example of a "posterity" shot -- the forest in this photo near Cairn Basin were burned in the Dollar Fire. I won't be around long enough to ever see it look like this again, but I can look back at my photos:

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Took this photo just a few weeks ago:

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...and in this case, it's both a story of forest recovery and renewal after a fire, but also part of my own acceptance of what the fires have done to the east and north sides of Mount Hood in recent years. Taking photos helps me see the recovery as well as the beauty that fires bring -- and accept their completely natural and inevitable role.

A photo like this one is my favorite, as it not only surprises people whose mental image of Mount Hood is of the gentle south side, but also that I took this while standing under one of four BPA transmission lines that have devastated a huge swath of Forest at Lolo Pass:

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This last photo is a favorite because it shows off Mount Hood's unique beauty, but is taken from the middle of a road crossing through an old clearcut, with the BPA powerlines behind the camera:

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...another image that draws disbelief when I describe what isn't seen in the photo!

I've also got a lot of photojournalism shots that accompany the postcard images -- e.g., "the rest of the story" -- but thought I'd leave those off this thread, since we're focusing on beauty here..!

Tom :-)

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archematic
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Re: The goal of your photography?

Post by archematic » December 23rd, 2015, 11:28 am

How'd you like another person's two cents? :D

I started taking photographs deliberately three or four years ago, during my life transitioning period between graduating college, returning to America, and beginning my career. I had just returned home after years of new experiences, travel, introspection and excitement. After all of this, returning home I felt a strong desire to continue to search for the things that I had come to value in my formative academic years constantly traipsing four continents. It was very difficult.

I bought piece by piece and assembled my first system camera, and learned about film. My photos were by no one's yardstick anywhere near good, but I loved them endlessly, and still do, because I was doing something that was completely new to me -- playing with light -- and in the process, because our perceived world is itself light, began to see the world I had known most of my life in new ways. "Seeing" a photograph in the moment provided me an opportunity to see the life around me in new ways.

To present, I still feel this way. And as the world around me is again new, I find that taking a picture not only affords me an aid in memory and a tangible way to share a moment, but makes me want to see the world around me in elemental ways, and comparatively, offers me perspective to emotions and memories I have felt in moments of personal identity. Like a song taking us back to a marked emotional moment in our lives, photographs have expanded in me a new sensory connection to memory.

Archie
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TJ_T
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Re: The goal of your photography?

Post by TJ_T » December 23rd, 2015, 12:54 pm

I have had a long interest in photography. From my younger years of slaving away in kitchens and taking photos of our plates, to shots of my friends and I snowboarding, to punk shows. Having grown up in a rural area with a forest as my back yard, I was inevitably drawn into nature/landscape photography several years back when I moved back to Portland (I live here from 2001-2005).

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The first time I lived here I did some hiking but I didn't really appreciate the diversity and accessibility and I didn't get that fully until I had to battle some personal demons. I found solace in the gorge. When I wasn't comfortable.. I went hiking. I took my camera when I did so and started to have conflicts on the reason for my outing. Was I there to get photos or was I there to get EG and miles? Even when I would decide that it was a hike for hiking's sake I still spent too much time taking photos and not being able to make my destination in the time I had.

This process kept going on and it started to be that every time I went it.. it became more and more about the photos. I live a fast life. I walk fast, talk fast, etc. Photography slows me down and puts me in the moment. I become aware of my senses and through those I become more in tune with my environment and find my center. I can still get that when I hike... but photography does it on a different level.

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So I have kept following that draw. It has taught me what true living really is. It's that centered feeling.. it's doing what you love the way you want to do it. For me.. it's not punching the clock, sitting in traffic, waiting in line, or paying bills. That's
life. Life gets in the way of living.

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I eventually decided that the path I was on was wrong. I stepped out of a high pressure role at the company I work for and poured myself into the photography scene. I decided that THIS is what I wanted to do for a living. I gave myself a five year goal and have had to change MANY things in my life in order to chase this dream.. but it has all been for the better. I have learned more about myself, what I want, what is important, and what needs to be let go. Most recently I have sold my house so that I can simplify, work towards needing less money to live, and focus on photography.

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Three years after making my goal I have a photography business that is growing. I have been through a lot of challenges this year so I haven't been able to put the amount of attention that I want on it, but I have made significant progress in my knowledge, connections, skill level, and everything else related to photography (including the business side). I run workshops with very talented photographers, teach people how to maybe find what I found through photography, show people the beauty of my back yard, and have a blast doing it.

That whole saying about if you love what you do for a living then it never feels like work... Yeah.. I feel like that 100% of the time with photography.

Thanks for the question. :-)

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I take pictures sometimes. And sometimes I post them here:
http://www.tjthornephotography.com
and
http://500px.com/TjThorne
and
https://www.facebook.com/tjthornephotography

Tom of the Woods
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Re: The goal of your photography?

Post by Tom of the Woods » February 20th, 2017, 9:28 am

Why?

I take pictures of the places to go to share with friends and family who can't, for whatever reason, go, too.

I'm also trying to get a picture of bigfoot. No, not joking in the slightest. I'll probably delete them when I'm done. So why? Because those no good dirty rotten so-and-so-s :) have counted coup on me and I'm going to return the favor. It doesn't mean I wish them harm, I just want to score a point so it's 50-1 instead of 50-0 at the end of the game. It's about .. respect.
- Tom

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