The Blaine Franger Photography Blog: April 2009

Mt. Hood aerial... a little preview!

Sorry I'm falling behind on my blog again! I've been pulling some long hours at the office trying to get caught up (is that ever going to happen?) after all the traveling the last couple months.
Good news is that I've been able to shoot a ton too! I have so much to post here and no time to do it!

Here is a little preview of some photos I can't wait to work on. Our friend Ken took Bethany and I flying on a gorgeous spring day last week. I shot many great images of the mountains... more coming later! :)

Hanging my 5D mark2 and fisheye out the window while going about 150MPH... brrrr.

3 of us having a great time putting around in the sky!

Many more images coming later!

woohooo!

My blog isn't hacked anymore! When all this started about a week ago I was pretty frustrated at Google, just assuming that they were totally wrong about my site having malware and being hacked... but they were totally right! It was indeed hacked and contained malicious files. It amazes me that they are able to detect that, and prevent as many computers from getting it as possible.
When I cleaned up the files, I had to "request a review" from Google so that they could verify there wasn't malicious files anymore, and they actually did the review and removed the warning the same day. Pretty amazing if you ask me. Thanks Google!

To celebrate here is the one and only shot from the Kilauea Volcano that I've done so far. Hopefully I can get to the rest sometime this decade...

Malware fixed.... waiting on Google now

Turns out my website files indeed were hacked by some crazy Ukrainian hackers! I was up from 1AM-7AM this morning working to fix it all. I was able to delete every single website file on my web server, then re-upload them from a backup that was 2 months old. A little tedious getting everything synced up and running right, but it's all good now. No more malware files! So if you're reading this now, no worries about any damage to your computer even though the message is still on there.
Now it's just a waiting game for Google to review my website and lift the warning message that everyone is seeing. Hopefully that happens sooner than later!!!

Freakin malware

Sorry everyone if you're seeing a message on my blog/website about Malware and harmful this harmful that...
I don't know what happened but apparently it's some type of virus in my website files. I'm trying to fix it! This is sooo LAME! Why are some people so stupid!? Don't you have ANYTHING better to do with your time than hack people's websites!?!? GET A LIFE!

Hood River, Columbia River Gorge, and Mt. Hood photos galore!

This is a very random blog post with hundreds and hundreds of images from Hood River, Columbia Gorge, Mt. Hood, Mt. Adams, Mt. St Helens, Mt Rainier and just the Pacific Northwest in general. All these images have appeared on my blog at sometime or another, but here they all are in one place!

I recommend letting this page load for a minute or two, then just scrolling through the photos. Enjoy!
Columbia River and Syncline, Washington

Columbia River and Syncline, Washington

Tractor Sign-

Trees-

Oak tree and cloud-

Cloud reflections on a pond-

Mt Adams-

Latourell Falls Horizontal Panorama-

Latourell Falls Vertical Panorama-

Rainbow over Columbia River Gorge-

Mt. Hood with frozen Trillium Lake in the foreground-

I'm not much into the color pink, but in this case, I can deal with pink!

Last minute of pink sunlight on the mountain-

All the direct sunlight is done and the colors dramatically change-

Long exposure, see the star trails? You can also see a light and the lifts from Timberline Lodge-

Moon rising over Trillium Lake and Mt. Hood-

One more-

Incredible un-enhanced colors at sunrise-

Mt. Hood, Oregon at sunrise-

Oak trees-

Mt. Adams, Washington at sunset, check out that color!

Mt Adams Washington-

Sunset colors-

Mt. Hood Oregon, with the White Salmon bridge in foreground-

My Favorite Panorama of the Gorge, click to see larger!

I think those are "lenticular" clouds over Mt. Hood, which means super high winds! We didn't even get really close to Mt. Hood but still experienced 45 knot winds!

We buzzed away from the Mt. and cruised over the Columbia River for a bit. Here is a freight train heading east in Washington.

Every mountain bikers favorite spot... Syncline! See the trail zigzagging up?

This is also shot from our deck.

Bethany came out shooting with me for a bit and it was windy and cold... hence the face here. She's adorable though. :)

Light on a hill just near White Salmon, Washington. Columbia River in the foreground.

Heart shaped light!

Streak of light looking west down the Columbia River, from "the Hook".

This is shot from Mt. Underwood in Washington. Clouds were blocking most of the light on Mt. Hood except on the top. Of course a glowing red maple tree helps in the foreground too! And see the weird streaks on the left? That is a big flock of birds flying through the frame!

Snagged this sunrise shot of the Hood River toll bridge and a barge while driving home on Highway 14.

We did a hike to "Falls Creek Falls" in Washington... beautiful!

It was a 4.6 mile round trip hike with 2 huge waterfalls as the main attraction.

Fall color!

Loved the fall color reflecting off the creek water.

Slow shutter speed to blur the water. And I gotta admit... I placed those two leaves on that rock! Couldn't resist! :)

Sunset shot of Mt. Hood towering above the city of Hood River and the Columbia River. Love it here!

Beautiful Indian Paintbrush wildflowers with Mt. Hood in the background-

A gorgeous spring fed stream in the morning hours, Mt. Hood in the background of course-

Mt. Hood-

Mt. Hood and wildflowers-

Can't remember the name of this canyon, but it was huge!

Some nice waterfalls down there too-

Ramona Falls-

Glacier melt off Mt. Hood-

A different angle view of Hood that I had never seen, doesn't even look like the same mountain!

This was a gorgeous viewpoint after a very steep climb up from the canyon-

Colin and Kristin-

Last light on Mt. Hood, there was two deer in the field in front of me... such a beautiful sight!

Another gorgeous sunset-

Stars-

Long exposure of the stars-

OK.... Lindsey and I are both so confused about what this is... because we saw the thing moving quite rapidly before I took this photo. It could have been our eyes playing tricks on us... but still. It's sooo bright and I've never seen a star or planet that bright. It's not a plane either. UFO???

We woke in the morning and these amazing clouds were swirling around Mt. Hood's edge-

Our first view of Hood River Valley... home!

Coe Glacier viewed from Elk Cove-

Indian Paintbrush wildflower-

Western Pasque flower, aka "Old Man of the Mountains" or "Hippy on a stick"

One of the more difficult gnarley river crossings-

Lindsey didn't end up walking across those wet slippery logs. If she did, this would definitely be the last living photo of her-

I walked through it really slowly and hoped I didn't loose my footing-

Little side trip off the main trail led to this view of Hood and glacier melt-

It also led to this awesome huge chunk of glacier snow with a waterfall emptying into it, and water flowing in a cave underneath the snow.

Of course I couldn't just settle for seeing the outside, so I found an opening to crawl though and go inside. Super sweet!!! I brought my tripod so I could do some longer exposures. This one is looking out of the cave-

And looking into the cave, bottom of the waterfall is at that opening-

Cloud Cap Inn-

Dinnertime and campfire-

Colin concentrating on his "sticky fire" on the top so his calzone cooked on both sides-

This is Mt. Saint Helens about an hour after sunset. The sky was basically dark and this is ISO 100, f/4 @ 5 minutes to get enough exposure! Love the whispy clouds and vibrant twilight colors! One of my favorite photos of the trip.

Another long exposure of stars and clouds. Mt Saint Helens and Mt. Adams are visible-

20 minute exposure of Mt. Hood and stars-

First glimpse of wildflowers (lupine)-

I took a few self portraits on top of this sweet ridge, I was happy to be outside finally!

Not sure what this plant is, but it's everywhere!

Hiking with a view! The remainder of these photos are taken in the "Paradise Park" area and it turned out to be my favorite area of the entire trip... just 5 miles in from Timberline Lodge.

Look at those WILDFLOWERS!

Last light on Mt. Hood

Mt. Jefferson, looking south

Amazing colors at sunset

Check out all those stars!!! Has to be millions upon millions.... fascinating.

Longer exposure of the stars-

We then flew around Mt. Adams in Washington, which is incredible! So much open country out there. I'd see dirt roads and trails everywhere and wonder how I could get to them on my dirtbike.

Mt. Rainer was even out on this super clear day. Mt. Adams in the foreground, Rainer in the back-

Rolling hills and a lake in Washington-

View into a convex mirror on the plane-

Columbia river at Cascade Locks, and Bridge of the Gods towards the bottom-

Mt. Hood in all it's glory! We flew around it 4 times I think... so lots of different angles! I LOVE LOVE LOVE this mountain!!! 11,239 feet tall!

Gorgeous sunset-

Mt Adams to the North-

Mt. Saint Helens to the North West-

Mount Hood to the South East-

I really enjoyed these UFO like clouds-

I stayed till it was dark and did this 30 minute exposure on my Canon 5DMark2-

Takeoff! Columbia river looking east towards Mosier-

Hood River looks a lot larger from the air!

Mt. Saint Helens in the distance-

Mt. Hood in the foreground and lots of beautiful hazy mountains ridges-

Mt. Hood and the plane wing-

A very windy ridge on Mt. Hood-

The peak of Mt. Hood-

Another windy ridge-

Peak of Mt. Hood-

Peak of Mt. Hood with Mt. Saint Helens in the background-

Peak of Mt. Hood with Mt. Adams in the background-

Crazy ridgeline of Mt. Hood-

Wide angle views of the west-side of Mt. Hood (the side that faces Portland)-

Peak of of Mt. Hood-

Another crazy ridgeline of Mt. Hood-

Windy ridge on Mt. Hood-

The Dalles Damn and Bridge:

Hills in Washington across from Rowena-

The small town of Lyle, Washington and the Klickitat river-

Highway 14 detail-

Looking West, Hood River Toll Bridge-

Highway 14 and the infamous Syncline-

White Salmon River, Washington-

Looking west on the Columbia River. Interstate 84 in Oregon (left), and Highway 14 in Washington (right)-

Looking West over Hood River-

Waiting in line for the first chair to open up. Those tracks are from ski patrol! They always get the first lines down!

Jake getting fresh tracks!

My track on the left, Jakes on the right-

Riding up Mt. Hood Express-

Upper Elevator & Mt. Hood-

This is when I couldn't decide between shooting & riding, so I did both at the same time. 15mm fisheye lens makes it all possible! Sorry there are so many, I couldn't decide on any favorites. :)

I'm actually in the air over a little jump on this one... hard to tell though.

Slashin!

Dropping off a cornice, love the shadow-

Heather canyon lift viewed from Shooting Star-

This is an area I haven't been to before, but have always wondered how to get there. Thanks to Jake for showing me. I guess it's called "God's Wall".

Jake planning his line down the steeps-

At the top of the cliff I ran into a bunch of new & old friends, some that I haven't seen for years!
Luke Hil from New Zealand, and Miley from Hood River-

Phineas England (Finny!) from Hood River-

Mt. Hood at sunrise. Canon 5D Mark ll, Canon 100-400mm lens

Mt. Hood at sunrise detail. Canon 5D Mark ll, Canon 100-400mm lens

Mt. Hood at sunrise. Canon 5D Mark ll, Canon 24-70mm lens

Snowy trees. Canon 5D Mark ll, Canon 100-400mm lens

Columbia River Gorge, looking west at sunset. Canon 5D Mark ll, Canon 100-400mm lens

Beautiful Mt. Hood towering out of the clouds-

Mt. Saint Helens with it's flat top from it's eruption on May 18, 1980-

Mt. Adams-

Mt. Rainier in the distance-

Even a section of the Columbia River was viewable through the clouds!

This is a long exposure shot (20 seconds) of the clouds rolling though, with Mt. Saint Helens in the background.

These 4 I took today down on "the hook"-

If I had an extra million bucks laying around, I'd buy one of these houses on the bluff in a heartbeat. Just for the view alone!

Self portrait on the way up. It was a total whiteout with crazy winds... I loved it!

These are a bunch of tree shots on the way up. This area of the mountain (Cooper Spur) had a really bad fire (Gnarl Ridge Fire) this summer that burned for months on end. It left all these trees looking like black toothpicks. Very cool looking for photos with the snow and black trees.

I saw a snapshot photo of the hut before I went up there, and instantly knew I wanted to take a twilight photo of the outside. I turned out exactly as I imagined it to! :)

This one I walked through a few times with a headlamp on, resulting in the light streaking.

Dinnertime... everyone huttling around the fire.

The next morning before our descent, group photos with my fisheye lens!

On the way down everyone either telemark skied or snowboarded... Bethany chose to sled down but it didn't work all that well, so she ended up snowshoeing most of the way!

30 minutes later and the color temperature totally changes!

A backed out view of the gorgeous valley and Mount Hood.

Few moments later it came out a bit more-

A 2 minute exposure looking out over the Hood River Valley-

Wide angle view of the Columbia Gorge River looking east. Washington on the left and Oregon on the right. :)

Zoomed into the taillights on Interstate 84.

Mt. Adams with a fresh layer of snow:

Jumbo rock-

Mt Adams in the distance-

My mom loves this photo except for the dirtbike-

Rob cruising around so I could grab a few photos-

Mt Adams poking out of the clouds at Sunset-

Mt Hood and the west side of Hood River

This last pic shows a boat pulling a water skier, it was so quiet up there I could hear the boat cruising on by. Paradise! It's a new personal goal to own a piece of property up there before I die... Just if I had a million or two burning a hole in my pocket, haha. :)