What should the one-page statement address?

Is the answer:
The statement should address the “why” more than the “what”. For example, address why you decided to photograph the subject and what your photographs are meant to convey. You should also indicate the process and medium used. Your artist statement should also address where the project is headed and how you would use the award funds.

As I look over what I have already written for the project, I realize It’s a pretty good rundown of what the project is about, but doesn’t really contain much of the “why’s” of the project. So it seems it is time for a rewrite. I always dread doing this as writing is so difficult for me. But over time, I have come to realize how important it is toward advancing the project. My projects usually start with a vague idea and slowly evolve until something more concrete begins to take shape. I will jot ideas down as they come to me, look at them as a whole, and eventually am able to put together something more cohesive. That is the easy part.

Later on as the work progresses, I usually find what I have written becomes less than adequate. I still like much of what I have written, but trying to add to it is nearly impossible without wholesale changes. It requires me to focus my attention for long periods – not easy for an ADD dyslexic person I consider myself to be. I cannot have any distractions around me – no music, no talking, even background noise will pull me away. In the case of rewriting for the Center competitions, it requires a whole different way of thinking about the work. Here is my statement as it exists before the rewrite:

Life on Wheels: The New American Nomads is the working title of my latest project that looks at those Americans who have consciously traded traditional lifestyles of home and property for a nomadic existence of full-time life on the road in recreational vehicles. These “full-timers” roam the continent – often traveling in caravans – meeting and socializing in predetermined places while staying connected to loved ones through the use of modern technologies. The project is primarily a look at the people, but also the vehicles they travel in and places they visit are brought into view.

 As the Baby Boom generation begins to reach retirement age, this lifestyle becomes a valid alternative to porch and rocking chair. Advances in solar technologies, energy storage and modes of communication have enabled full-timers to live largely off the grid and led to rather unexpected gatherings in remote areas of the landscape.

 While most are retired, many still live and work from their RV’s – using the advantage of mobility to increase flexibility and improve prospects. Along the way we discover that many of those motorhomes and trailers we see traveling down the road are not at all simply vacationers, but an entire subculture of wanderers looking to the next adventure.

One of the stipulations for the Center statement is that it is limited to 1 double-spaced page (approx. 250 words). Well as it exists, my current statement is already over 200 words. With everything I have to include, there will be a lot I have to remove or reword somehow. The first sentence needs to be a project summary, then the statement itself.

I began by trying to think what I wanted to convey as a whole through the photographs. Including not just what the project was about, but how I felt about it – that is the people and what they were doing. As strange as it might seem, this was something I hadn’t really given a lot of conscious thought to. I was photographing toward this, I just hadn’t really been able to voice the ideas. Going through this rewrite process has been important in making me see the project more clearly and going forward, can only help as I continue.

I started writing a first draft of the rewrite. I did a very rough total statement, not paying attention to how many words I’d used – then rewrote that about three different times, changing and rearranging sentences and paragraphs until I had the basic content and structure the way I liked it. At this point, I was at about 500 words. I then went paragraph by paragraph, condensing thoughts and culling out repetitive ideas.

So now I had an opening sentence and three main paragraphs. This totaled about 250 words. I still needed to address where the project was going, talk about what I would do with the prize should I win and include a bit about the process. Well that is just not going to happen in 250 words, so I’ve abandoned that idea. It was only a suggestion after all. I have managed to keep it at 1 page, but spaced at 1.5 instead of 2, and some creative use of margins. So far this rewrite has happened over about 7 days. I would write a bit, get blocked, then walk away, come back and do some more, then walk away again – on and on. Each time I would get a fresh perspective and this helped keep me going.

I think it’s pretty strong now. I still have a few days before the deadline, so I will continue to revisit and revise this statement until near that time.

Here is the new statement as it exists now:

My project looks at those Americans who have willfully traded traditional lifestyles of home and property for a nomadic existence of full-time life on the road in recreational vehicles.

For much of any given year, I can be found traveling cross-county in my motorhome photographing the landscape. Over time, I have become aware of a certain group of fellow travelers who seem somehow different from the typical vacationer. Known as “full-timers”, they are most often retired, but some do still work from their RV’s – using the advantage of mobility to increase flexibility and improve prospects.

Full-timers are often found in out-of-the-way BLM campgrounds, stay in the same spot for extended periods and are acquainted with many other campers in a particular area. Living largely off the grid, they have embraced modern technologies such as SCYPE and WiFi to stay connected to loved ones. They use advanced solar technologies and energy storage systems to power their rigs. Using GPS devices to coordinate meeting places, they tend to gather in unexpected and remote areas of the landscape all across the country.

I began approaching them, asking into their doings and found their fierce independence and positivity toward life a compelling argument to the porch and rocking chair. Photographing them in the environment with their rigs, affords me a unique look into a lifestyle that breaks down traditional notions of home and retirement. I am curious as to how this sea change in attitude affects perceptions of familial roots.

The journey thus far has brought me to unexpected realizations of how the older generation has adapted to the Golden Years. Along the way I’ve discovered that many of the motorhomes, trailers, 5th wheels and toy haulers seen traveling down the road are not at all simply vacationers, but an entire subculture of wanderers looking to the next adventure.

 To date, I have photographed full-timers in the southwestern and northwestern United States. I hope to be able to continue the project in the east and south and look to the Project Launch competition to aid in funding these trips. The project is digitally photographed and personally printed using an archival inkjet process.

Comments on the new statement are welcome. Let me know what you think.

Gated Mobilhome Community. Palm Desert, CA 2010. ©David Gardner

I learned over the weekend that my entry, Gated Mobilhome Community, has been accepted into the iWorld juried exhibit sponsored by The Colorado Photographic Arts Center in Denver, CO. The exhibit was juried by Chuck Mobley, Associate Director, San Francisco Camerawork, and Brian Paul Clamp, owner and director of ClampArt Gallery in New York City. Entries were judged for one of two separate show to be held at CPAC and the Denver Library. My print is included in the CPAC show from January 10 – February 10, 2012. The Library show happens from January – March 2012.

The theme for this show:
It’s official – technological innovations like the iPhone have revolutionized visual communications, spurred uprisings, and sustained occupations in a new world inundated with instruments of invention, intrusion, and instant gratification. Digital media have changed the ways in which we interact with our environment, our governments, and ourselves. Photographers and bystanders alike record events that sustain, fascinate, inspire, and intimidate us. iWorld invites you to respond to the “i-zation” of our culture by sharing your best interpretation, inspiration, innovation, or illustration of the world that your see.

Artists: CPAC Show:
Kevin Hoth, Stefka Trusz, George Beggs, Mary Norbury-Glaser, David Sharpe, Dave Barry, Mykelle Tieman, Sasha Dorje Meyerowitz, Mike Whiteley,  Erika Leppmann, Angelic Jeanne Davila, J.A. Folks, Eileen Keator, Gloria Chung, Jennifer Laffoon, Paul Soulellis, Sita Mae, David Gardner, Kim Allen,  Vivian Keulards, Lynne Scholfield, Sara Armijo, Becky Brice, Bethany April DeFelice,  Emily Heller, Tammy McKenzie, Melanie Walker, Arleen McGlade,  Francisca Morgan, Karen Divine. Solo Show: Charles Ludeke.

Artists: DPL Show:
Dave Defourneaux, Roddy MacInnes,  Paul Sisson, Josseline Van Nuffel, Siobhan Keleher, Michael Ellis, Maureen Ruddy Burkhart, Rian Hall, James Clark, Vernie Croghan, Kim Allen,  Vivian Keulards, Lynne Scholfield, Sara Armijo, Becky Brice, Bethany April DeFelice,  Emily Heller, Tammy McKenzie, Melanie Walker, Arleen McGlade,  Francisca Morgan, Karen Divine.

I only just recently learned about the CPAC. They are one of only a couple of organizations in Colorado that provide a comprehensive program of exhibitions, classes, and related events dedicated solely to photography. In late August of this year, CPAC merged with another organization (Working With Artist), and have been working to create new opportunities for photographers. Rupert Jenkins has been named Executive Director and will lead the organization going forward. I knew Rupert in San Francisco when we exhibited together at the now defunt Eye Gallery back int the 80′s. He went on to positions at San Francisco Camerawork, but I eventually lost track of him and his work. I stumbled upon his Facebook page one day a few months ago and began to once again follow him. He is a great guy and I hope CPAC does well under his leadership.

Dinette at the campsite

This entry is very late in arriving on the blog. We are actually home now. I didn’t realize this one didn’t get posted until today, so all of the following occurred between October 25 and 31, the day we arrived home.

Heading south from Bend, we made it as far as Mt. Lassen National Park – very nearly where we started out 10 weeks ago. We were tired and not finding many open campgrounds and were extremely happy to discover we could dry camp in the Lassen Visitor Center parking lot. At this time of year, there are very few people coming through and I guess the park relaxes regulations a little. Anyway, it turned out to be one of the nicest evenings we’ve spent. It was very quiet and very dark with no moon. The stars were just amazing with the milky way in all it’s glory. After dinner, we star gazed for awhile before turning in.

Plumas area

From reading all the fall color blogs one can find on the web, Plumas County was sounding like a great place to see good fall displays. Welllll – not so much. At least not where we were looking. Oh there was color here and there. In towns tended to be better than in the hills around the towns. In towns, people plant trees that turn, but in the open country around here, it just doesn’t seem to occur. It is largely evergreen. We did find some decent displays along a river that wound along the highway, but it was a very busy highway and the road was up pretty high from the river. Not a good combination. We took a couple of drives over two days, but not much was compelling. We met up with a former work friend of Marys who treated us to a fine meal at the Grizzly Grill.

The next day we drove till we reached Bridgeport, CA. If there was going to be fall color anywhere, the eastern Sierra’s was going to be it. We already knew the trees would be past prime, but we hoped for some remaining pockets here and there. We took an afternoon drive to nearby Twin Lakes where we did find a few isolated nice spots to photograph.

View of Twin Lakes near Bridgeport, CA.

Aspen Trunks at Twin Lakes.

Next morning, we headed up highway 395 on the way to Conway summit. I found a little used gravel road just off the highway that seemed to lead to a really nice stand of Aspens. This turned out to be one of the best spots for fall color we found. A little stream meandered through a protected stand of aspens and made for a winning combination. We spent a couple of hours tromping around the area before moving on. There is an amazing view of Mono Lake from the summit overlook so we stopped here for lunch and a brief warmup. On the way back to Bridgeport, we chose to take another longer dirt road route, but didn’t find any stands of trees with leaves.

Aspen Leaves in Frozen Stream.

A Beaver bit off a bit more than he could chew.

Frost fringed aspen leaves.

Ice ornaments dangling on the bank.

The morning of October 27th, we headed over the pass to Lee Vining. We’ve been here so many times before and it is a perfect place to home base for day trips for the June Lake loop and Lundy Lake – both places we have always found good color displays. We dry camped at our old standby place – the Panim Crater parking lot. Used to be no problem camping there, but this time a “No Camping” sign greeted us as we approached. We camped anyway. This time of year, few people are around and we decided to chance it. It is a spectacular spot to be. Parked at the base of an old cinder cone that is packed with obsidian, it has a commanding view of the eastern Sierra range and is a great place to view sunrise on the peaks.

Indian Head at Lundy Lake.

After a little nap, we headed out to Lundy Lake and Canyon. There is a wonderful little stream that runs down from the lake and we always find nice places to photograph. Lundy Lake is also one of my locations for my Marking Our Place in the World project. It was a little too early in the afternoon, and too much direct sunlight was still on the stream making for some contrasty conditions, but we managed a few nice shots.

Lundy Lake, CA.

Mossy Stump in the Stream.

Friday morning was time for the June Lake loop. This road does what it says; loops around the two June Lakes. It is another wonderful drive with lots of places to get off the road to photograph. We came upon a nice closed campground with prayer flags and birdhouses and some nice color in the trees.

Prayer Flags in the Campground. June Lake Loop.

A bit more into the canyon, we picked up the river and followed it a while. The fishermen were still doing well and were in abundance along the riversides all along the stream.

Fishing from the banks.

Later in the afternoon, we went back to Lundy Canyon to photograph the stream again. It was a little later this time and made for better conditions to photograph. Yep, more moving water shots.

Back into Lundy Canyon.

But this time, I found a few places where the sun was creating some weak shadows on the moving water. It really wasn’t visible when just looking at the rushing water, but once time lapsed, the shadows became more evident.

Shadows on the stream.

Molten surface.

Well the fun had to end sometime, and for us it was pretty much this day. But before heading home, we were fortunate enough to get a final meal at the Whoa Nellie Deli before it closed for the winter. This is the most unlikely place imageable for a fine dining experience. It is essentially the connivence store at the Mobil gas station at the junction of 395 and 120. But the food here is well known to travelers in this area. Mary had the Lobster Taquitos and I got the last of the evening specials, Rack of Lamb with mint sauce. We split a very decent $12 bottle of zin, got a seat with a view of the Mono Basin and watched the sun go down over the Lake. Yes, we do know how to live.

In the morning, we said goodbye to Mono and headed over Tioga Pass through Tuolumne and down to the Mariposa Fairgrounds where we found camping for the night. We did manage a couple of stops up in Tuolumne and found some nice ice to photograph.

Sunday morning we drove the short distance to our friends place in Merced for an overnight visit. Jeff and Betty did it up nice for us and we had a terrific brunch and a nice visit. In the late afternoon, we all drove out to the Merced wildlife refuge for some early season bird watching. There was an amazing array of birds out there. We saw hundreds of Sandhill Cranes, Snow Geese, two kinds of Egrets, Ibis and tons of Redwing Blackbirds. We found a nice spot, pulled out the chairs and the wine and cheese, and had a lovely evening till the sun went down.

Sandhill Cranes just hangin' around.

Sandhills inflight.

Flocks of early Snow Geese.

Redwing Blackbirds in abundance.

Redwings peppering the sky at the Merced Refuge.

A flyover of Ibis.

As I said at the start, we are home again and running around trying to get caught up on too many things. I will be writing about upcoming events and happenings as they arise. It was a wonderful trip – one of the best of the past 6 years. Thanks all who followed along, and keep coming back for news of our next excursion! And a special thanks to Jeff and Betty for making our homecoming a warm one.

Two of three Sisters. Cascade Mountains, OR

Pulling into Bend, there were several choices for places to camp. All of the RV parks seemed unusually expensive, ranging from $35-$50 per night. There was, however, Tumalo State Park. At $25 a night with full hook-ups or $20 without, this was the best deal around. Not all of the sites had hook-ups, but we managed to get one with. We could only reserve two days at a time as they were all reservation only spaces, but this was not a problem since there were enough spaces available that we could move to another if ours was reserved out from under us. The day was gorgeous, so we hung around in the campground, reading and noshing on a smoked almond/tortillas concoction Mary came up with – washed down with some truly outstanding homemade lemoncello we’d squirreled away before leaving in August, provided to us by friends Jeff & Betty. In the evening we enjoyed our second campfire of the trip. We stayed four days overall and explored the eastern Cascades.

Smokey layers.

Mt. Washington and Lava Flows

Dee Observatory.

Sisters reflecting in lake.

It was a bit of a disappointment as we took a couple of 100 mile drive trips looking for fall color. This area of the Cascades is mostly evergreen and lava. We stopped first at the Dee Wright Observatory. This place was constructed entirely out of the abundant lava rock in the area. It was actually pretty cool to walk the area, and pretty much as far as the eye could see was old lave flows. It is always amazing to me how little grows in these beds. The old flows are at least 400 years old and still, after all that time of heavy snowfalls and pounding rains, very little grows through the hard surfaces and cracks.It looks like it could have been deposited there only last year. There is a commanding view all around, and the makers went to great lengths to highlight the surrounding points of interest. It was really cold up there though. The sun shone, but to wind bit like icy teeth. We spent a little time walking a few of the paths, but soon continued on our search for leaf color.

Mossy rocks near Proxy Falls.

Once we came around to the near side of the Cascades, we began seeing some color change and we stopped several times to explore. We found a nice little hike to a waterfall called Proxy Falls, and enjoyed a short hike through nicely colored foliage, mossy rocks and pine forest. We spent a good hour photographing the falls and steam before continuing on to another set of falls. These were called Sahalie Falls. They were big and booming and the river flowed fast and frothy. The light was very harsh, so it was difficult to effectively photograph, but half the fun is just being in the presence of such powerful water flows.

Proxy Falls

Fungus and Maple Leaf

Sahalie Falls

Next day we took care of chores and avoided any long driving, but Mary had another drive planned the following day. This one took us by several lakes, but most all of the foliage was evergreen, so we made a change and decided to checkout another volcanic area. This was the Newberry National Volcanic Monument. We found another waterfall and later discovered a really cool obsidian deposit. The Obsidian Flow Trail was pretty short, but it took us up and around the flow and really was impressive. We photographed a small lake adjacent to the flow, which resulted in a few interesting abstracts.

Grasses in Obsidian Lake

Obsidian Flow in Newberry National Volcanic Monument

Obsidian Detail

We are now returning to California. It is looking like our best chance to catch fall color will be the eastern Sierra’s, so we will be traveling down the eastern side before heading back west through Yosemite and home.

Blue Basin at Sheep Rock Unite of Fossil Beds National Monument, OR.

We had a very pleasant drive thru eastern Washington down to the town of Dayville in Oregon. As we drove, the landscape slowly  flattened out from the rolling hills of the Palouse to much a much flatter desert-like terrain. We were a little concerned about finding a place to camp. There is virtually nothing listed in our many camp guides. The option of just pulling over to the side of the road is always there, but I just feel better about being in an established camp of some sort. In Dayville we found an RV park that had a total of eight spaces with two that were available. The park was very pretty and peaceful and would be a nice place to be while we explored the John Day Fossil Beds. We pulled in late in the afternoon and planned on visiting the first of the Beds the next day. There are actually three separate sections to the Fossil Beds. We wanted to check out two of them. First was Sheep Rock. This unit contains an area called Blue Basin. It is know for the massive turquoise formations called Claystone. Other formations are made up of red Basalt, Ignimbrite and Tuff.

The morning dawned overcast. It rained lightly much of the night and I worried the light would be a dull all day. We decided to hang out in camp until it began to break up. In early afternoon, it cleared enough to go for it. The Beds were just a few miles from the RV park and after an easy drive, we arrived. It was still cloudy, but much thinner and provided a nice filtered light that would really help accentuate the hills. We hiked a couple of shot walks into the bluffs and got some nice views. It was very quiet along the trail and when we heard the croak of sandhill cranes overhead, we had trouble locating where the sound came from. Eventually, looking way, way up in the sky, we saw several large V’s of migrating cranes. It is truly amazing how high they were and how well we could hear them.

Wide view of the Painted Hill formation, OR

Next morning, we decided to leave the very pretty RV park and head 30 miles further west to where the Painted Hills unit was located. Again we were unsure of where we could camp, but when we entered the very tiny town of Mitchell, we managed to find a county park that had a total of three spaces for RV. It also had 30 amp electric hook-up. We were set for the night.

We got there early enough to travel the short distance to the Painted Hills section. Again, it was cloudy, but looked like it would break up soon. We got there just as the sun was beginning to shine over the badlands like hills. To say the place was spectacular would be a spectacular understatement. I’ve seen hill like this at places like Painted Desert and Petrified Forest in Arizona, but this was more impressive to me. The formations are very large and the viewpoints make photographing them a breeze. We stopped often and hiked the several short walks looking for the best vantage points. Photographing in the afternoon was also the right move, as the western exposure of the hills gave us full late afternoon sun. Another wonderful day.

We are moving on again. It would be nice to stick around here a little more, but we are getting toward the end of our 2 1/2 month trip and there are still a few places we want to get to. We are headed to Bend, and plan on taking a few drives into the Cascades looking for fall color.

Morning broke with lots of clouds overhead. They are now down to 62 days of sunless days. I could see way off on the horizon a small sliver of clear sky, but it would be a couple of hours before it cleared enough to make a drive around worth while. It just meant a morning of reading and sipping coffee in the Lazy Daze. We were pretty worn out after our 100+ miles of driving and getting out and photographing. We just kept finding roads going off to interesting places, so we kept stopping and going.

We did go out again around 10 AM. By then, the sun had managed to break through intermittently and we thought it would be worthwhile looking around again. The forecast called for cloudy morning, clearing mid-day, clouding up in the afternoon. In reality, we got about 3 hours of usable sunlight. It stayed intermittent, but it would come out often and long enough to make it interesting.

Although this place holds so many more photographic possibilities, we’ve decided to move on once again. The forecasts for the next few days are calling for overcast skies through Saturday. Overcast isn’t really that bad, but it really flattens out the light and makes for duller photographs. Sometimes this is good. Not here though. We are heading down to the John Day Fossil Beds. We will visit Blue Basin and the Painted Hills. These are badlands-like places and I’m looking forward to photographing there. From there, we are headed back to the Cascades in hopes of finding mountain fall color. The word is it is at peak color up there and Mary is dying to check it out. But it means cutting short our stay in the Palouse. We’ll just have to come back again. Probably we will choose a spring period to return. Everything brown in the above images would be green in spring and that would also be something to see.

Winter Wheat sprouting in the Palouse.

The origin of the name Palouse is somewhat unclear. Some think the name is derived from the tribal name Palus and converted by French-Canadian fur traders to the more familiar French word palouse meaning, “land with short and thick grass”. Another theory is that the name was in the first place a French word, describing the area which was then applied to the indigenous people inhabiting it. In any event, it is a lovely place. Wheat and legumes are the primary products produced here, and the way the hills are planted and tended, create some unbelievably wonderful scenes.

After getting setup at the fairgrounds, we headed out for an evening drive. Our destination was a place called Steptoe Butte. It is a quartzite island jutting 1000′ out of the surrounding countryside. From the top, amazing panoramic views made for a busy afternoon for us. The road to the top wound around and around the butte providing different views from various levels on the way up. From the top, it was simply amazing. The patchwork aspect of the ploughed and planted fields, combined with the somewhat cloudy skies created ever changing moments to photograph. The high, cold steady winds presented a challenge, but I still burned through the major part of a 2 gig data card.

Harvested wheat fields seen from Steptoe Butte, WA

Mary at the summit of Steptoe Butte on a cold windy morning.

After coming off the butte, we continued on around the various roads that spiderweb the countryside. We try to pick loop routes to drive and photograph, but it is so tempting to simple head off down a side road to see what is there. Most times this has worked well. It gets us deeper into the landscape, away from the busier main roads. It’s not that the main road are really all that busy, but the cars and large trucks still tend to zoom by on the narrowish roads making for some nervous moments. Most drivers are very curteous about slowing down and giving wide berth to us pedestrians, but it is just so much more relaxing to not worry about getting hit.

Cold wet mist blows over the summit of Steptoe Butte.

Next morning, we got up predawn to go back to Steptoe. We wanted to see sunrise from this vantage point with hopefully less windy conditions. Up that high, it was still dam cold and only a little less windy. But we stuck it out for some really wonderful views. There was a light mist-like fog blowing first this way, then that way. We were dressed for the conditions, but jumping back into the car for a coffee warmup was still a regular necessity.

Side roads lead to new surprises in the Palouse.

The Palouse chamber of commerce boasts 300 sunny days per year for this area. That means 65 days of rain and or clouds. The past two days means they are down to 63. The skies have been largely overcast both days we have been here. There are lots of moments of sun breaking through – and this does make for some dramatic lighting conditions, but it has also interrupted our sunrise and limited our photo ops all day. Tomorrow is supposed to be much less cloudy and we are hoping for better conditions. More to come.

Steve & Mairleen

As we feared but expected, Mount St. Helens was a no show. The rain, although light, descended on the mountain the day we got there and we knew we would miss out on the prize. Oh but we tried though. We started off toward the summit under cloudy but dry skies. About 30 miles into the drive to the top, we entered a fog bank that was thick as mud. Visibility was down to maybe 5 ft. and we decided there wasn’t much point in continuing, so we turned back.

So since I was stuck back in camp (Uh, our RV park), I got to know our nearest neighbors a little. I started talking with Steve and Mairleen and learned they have been traveling and living in their 5th wheel for the past 2 years. The difference with them is that they are not retired. Steve decided rather than stay in California where there is no work and lose everything, he would travel to where there was work. As an iron worker and millwright, he has enough skills to fit many needs. But it is a tough life living and working on the road. He had to leave his young daughter at home with his ex-wife. I could see the separation caused him pain. His RV was giving him constant grief and work was not plentiful despite the constant travel. He was doing what he had to in order to provide. He was clearly down, but still upbeat – not willing to give in. I wanted him and Mairleen in the project and he was happy to be a part of it. It is difficult to see people struggle, but important to show what they must do to get by. I have noticed in most RV parks, quite a few folks like this, but have been reluctant to photograph them. Seemed like an intrusion to me. In some parks, the majority of those staying there were working people. It is an aspect I know I need to include more of, so I will have to get past these feelings.

But it was time to get back to Portland. The Newspace Center for Photography show opened on Friday, October 7th, so we left the RV in the park and drove the Rav 50 miles into Portland. A night in a motel and an evening out would make a nice change of pace and getting to actually see a show I’m in would be fun.

Me & my Print at the Newspace Opening.

Newspace Center for Photography.

And it was fun. Overall the show was quite good. It’s got to be tough for the jurors to pick a cohisive show from so many different styles and genre’s of photography. But they did it and it was fun to attend. I got to connect with both Chris Bennett, Executive Director, and Laura Valenti, Program Director. I’ve had portfolio reviews with each of them and both were very supportive of the work I was doing. I was hoping to meet up with Mary Ann and Deborah, two ladies we met at the Lazy Daze get together, but somehow we missed each other in the gallery. A real bummer because they are a fun and lively couple. This was a fund raising event for Newspace as well. There was a raffle and a membership dirve. Mary and I didn’t win any of the raffle prizes, but since we were leaving town the next day, it didn’t really matter. Afterwards, we found dinner at an Italian resutrant called Denicolas. The first clue that this was good traditional Italian was the enormous fellow that was coming out of the resturant as we entered.I could not have squeezed in sideways to get by him. Inside there were probably 8-10 other couples at various booths. With each couple, one or both were also enormous. This tells you the food is not only good, but also plentiful. And it was! After dinner we were asked if we wanted to bring our leftover bread home with us as well as the leftovers. How many restaurants do that? On the way out, I noticed a photo of the owner and his wife – yes, both also enormous.

Mt. Adams from the Larch Mountain lookout.

In the morning, we resisted another visit to Voodoo Doughnuts and settled for a rather mundane Continental breakfast at the Days Inn. It was a beautiful day – the only one for the entire week – and we decided to do a little sightseeing tour before heading back to St. Helens. We were hoping for some fall color along the Columbia River, but it is late here. But the day was so nice, we decided on a drive up to Larch Mountain. We had no expectations, but did hope for color at the higher elevations. What we got was an amazing panoramic view from a viewpoint at the top. It was still somewhat cloudy, but clear enough to see Mt. Adams above the clouds. On a clearer day, we should have also been able to see St. Helens, Rainier, and Jefferson. The clouds obscured the others on this day though.

The Columbia River from Larch Mountain Lookout.

Columbia River from the south side.

After the mountain, we drove the road along the Columbia river down one side, stopping for lunch at Multnomah Falls Lodge, before crossing the river and driving up the other side, then headed back to our RV home at Mount St. Helens.

View of the Columbia from the north side.

The wet weather has finally caught up with us. We wanted to spend a few days around Mt. Rainier, but seeing how the conditions are at St. Helens, and seeing the amount of rain forecast for the next week, we decided to skip Rainier and head to the eastern side of the state. East of the Cascades is more desert than rain forest. We are headed for the Palouse area of southern Washington. This area is all farmland with rolling hills of wheat as far as the eye can see. I’ve seen photos of the area and have been wanting to visit the area for several years.

We headed out on another rainy morning and hoped to get past Rainier before it got too hairy. We managed to stay ahead of the rain most of the way, even having time to stop to photograph at a small lake and park before heading over the mountain. As we approached a pass near Rainier, Mary yelped me to a stop. At a large viewpoint just east of Rainier, we got a glimpse of the mountain before it was enveloped in clouds again. It was something to see, even if it was brief.

Lake view.

A Tree at the Lake.

Mt. Rainier for a moment.

We made it to Colfax by 3 P.M. and searched around for a campground. There wasn’t much. We drove past a camper sign at one point, but it led only to the waste treatment plant. In town, the only RV park we found was a real dump next to an even dumpier motel. Our last choice was at the fairgrounds about five miles back outside of town the way we came. We missed the turnoff on our way in to town, so had to drive back there to find out if it would be suitable. Turns out it’s pretty nice. We are the only one’s here. The water was being turned off for the season while we were there, but the workers said we were welcomed to stay and showed us where to fill our tanks. We do have 30 amp power and a pretty nice location to boot. For $10 bucks a night, how could we go wrong?

Gates of Graceland. Memphis, TN. 2008

Opening tonight at the Newspace Center for Photography is this year’s Members Showcase exhibit. I was lucky enough to get a print in the show this year and will also be attending the opening. I’m looking forward to seeing lots of great work. It is also the members appreciation party from 6 pm – 9 pm. If you are in Portland, OR, come on by to see the work and perhaps win a raffle prize from local restaurants and businesses!

Newspace is located at: 1632 SE 10th Ave. Portland, OR 97214

See you there!

Some of our beach combing booty.

So the past week or so was devoted to hanging out in Tacoma and Seattle, and visiting friends and relatives. We hunkered down in Gig Harbor, near Tacoma to wait out and incoming storm. It was nice, but nothing really special. The park managers were kind enough to pose for me, and I like a couple of the images I did of them. They may make it into my Nomadsproject. A good place to hang for a few days.

Richard and Sherrie with their rig.

Visited states.

The bad weather never really got that bad though. It has been raining, but not that much and mostly at night. We keep expecting it to be pouring down, but other than some occasional heavy showers, there hasn’t been much. Most days have been dry enough to do everything we wanted, so it’s worked out pretty well. In Tacoma, we visited the Glass Museum and walked around town some.

Venting stack for the Hot Shop at the Glass Museum.

View of the Bridge of Glass near the Glass Museum.

I was kind of dreading the museum a little. Since Tacoma is the home a Dale Chihuly, I expected the the museum to be loaded with his gaudy, florid creations. But not so. It turned out it was a really interesting place with several intriguing exhibits, including a really amazing installation by by Ingalena Klenell and Beth Lipman. One gallery consisted entirely of sheets of formed glass suspended by wires from the ceiling in segments to create an amazing landscape complete with trees, waterfalls, mist and mountains – all using colorless glass. The entire museum is built around “The Hot Shop”. This is a workshop where there are constant glass working demonstrations presented. The workshop is a three or four story conical shaped structure, the interior bottom of which is the work area. The construction of the conical shape is in order to allow venting through the top opening, of the high intensity furnaces used to fire the glass. A quite impressive building.

The stack at night.

Outside, crossing the rail tracks and highway, was the Bridge of Glass. This is where the Chihuly’s were located. The bridge wasn’t actually made of glass, but on the bridge structure itself, display cases full of Chihuly glass were housed. Also, in the roof of the structure were more sculptures – almost like they were dumped in there. It was pretty cool. A good presentation of his work.

Chihuly's up the wazooly.

More Chihuly's.

Ceiling of Chihuly's.

More Chihuly's.

Dinner time view at the Murano Hotel. Tacoma, WA

It was also my birthday in Tacoma, so we found the Murano Hotel restaurant in which to celebrate. Since it had been so overcast, we were really surprised when, as we drove into town on the one clear afternoon, Mt Rainier put in an appearance. It was actually a shock to see it loom so large over the city.During dinner, we had a terrific view of the mountain as the sun went down. A very nice way to turn 57.

Skyline view from the Space Needle. Seattle, WA

In the Seattle area, we visited friends in Redmond, and later, Mary’s last living 90 year old uncle Stan. We had a nice dinner out together with Stan, her cousin Kim and friend Ed. We really played tourist for several days. We checked out the Space Needle, Pike Place Market, the Experience Music Project (EMP) which also housed the Science Fiction Museum. We also walked around Washington Park, browsed the Olympic Sculpture Park, visited the Frye Museum and the Photo Center Northwest. And of course, made plenty of room for cafe’s and coffee – it is the home of Starbucks after all.

Tornado of musical instruments at EMP.

Japanese Maples at Washington Park. WA

Playing with foliage.

Exterior of the EMP building. Seattle, WA

One of the entrances to EMP.

More of the EMP exterior.

Olympia Sculpture Park. Seattle, WA

Pike Place Market. Seattle, WA

Interior of Seattle's public library.

Ahhhh, time for a coffee break.

A nice week. Now it’s back to Portland for a day to catch the opening of the Members Showcase show at Newspace Center for Photography. I have a print in the show and for a change, I get to see a show my work is in. We are camping in the Mt, Saint Helens area for a few days and are hoping to actually see the mountain at some point. Doesn’t look good at this point with all the rain the past few days.