I am a Children’s Librarian living in the Portland, Oregon area. When I am not Children’s Librianing I like to play with cameras and film. I also like playing the ukulele, knitting, sketching, and hiking.
I fell in love with the desert when I visited my dad last month. It’s beautiful. I was trying to put my finger on what I loved about it. I think what I loved is that it reminded me of home. Spokane lives on the edge of the high desert of Eastern Washington. For most of my life we drove through it to get to Portland and other destinations on the Western side of the state. Each time (even now), after passing through the lush, wet, greenery of the Westside, the dry, stark Eastside seemed like nothing. It’s home, though. And the climate feels like home, too.
The California/Arizona high desert is equally as stark, but there is a quiet, peaceful beauty to it.
Someday I will post more photos from my trip (if I ever develop the film). Today, I give you a photo of an abandoned mine from the ghost town, Oatman Arizona.
I have been remiss this month! It is National Poetry Month and I haven’t even mentioned it. I am going to remedy that right now. Here is wonderful poem that my colleague and I are performing tomorrow night at a poetry reading. It’s called “Reply To The Question: ‘How Can You Become A Poet.’” Written by Eve Merriam. You can read it in its entirety here.
Here is a pinhole photo I took last Christmas at the Oregon Coast. I really like the photos from this particular roll of film. They have caused me to play more with my Zero 2000 this year.
Have you heard the expression “thin place?” I first heard of this 4 years ago when a Buddhist friend told me about them. Described as places where you can reach out and touch Heaven (whatever that is to you).
The Salmon River is my thin place. I first encountered this place a month after I moved to Oregon. As I hiked along the river I became mesmerized by the salmon spawning. Through the clearest of alpine waters I could see salmon laying on the bottom of the riverbed and I was touched when I thought about what it took for them to get all the way up here on the mountain so they could spawn. What a life they lived. There was something beautiful and also tragic about their story. I come back every year to this spot to watch them spawn and it never ceases to amaze me.
Zero 2000 + Ektar 100 @ 12 seconds
One day in the summer, A year after we’d been coming here regularly, we were hiking along the trail and a woman we ran into said, “Have you been to the secret island? You should go to the secret island! Turn right at the hollowed out tree.” So we went in search of a hollowed out tree and we found it! And we turned right. And there was, indeed, a secret island where, if you are lucky, you will have the best campground on Mt Hood with your own beach for fly fishing. It quickly became my my most favorite spot on the planet. Everytime we hike here I have to visit the Secret Island.
Zero 4×5 + Portra 160 @ 5 seconds
Here are some other photos from along the trail, taken with various cameras at various times of the year.
Zero 4×5, 25 mm (graflex 23 roll back) + tri-x film @ 38 seconds
Zero 4×5, 25 mm (graflex 23 roll back) + tri-x film @ 38 seconds
Zero 2000 + Ektar 100 @ 6 seconds
This is my favorite place in the whole wide world. It is where I go when the craziness of life gets to me. This beautiful place slows me down and makes me see what is most important. Sometimes the river will tell me its secrets, if my mind is quiet enough.
I got some film back this past week! Here is a photo I took of an old run-down motel on Route 66. I’ll post more from this trip soon. I have a roll of Tri-x that I need to develop first. I had a a great trip and lots to say about it. I may even squeeze some Pinhole Obscura posts out of it.
Blatherskite 