I was on a hike yesterday in the Umpqua National Forest east of Cottage Grove, and came across a small pond full of salamanders and water skimmers. The salamanders were really interesting, but i decided the water skimmers would be better subjects so i focused on them. Here are a couple of the best shots:

Sony A900, Carl Zeiss 135mm f1.8 lens, 1/250 sec at f1.8, ISO 200


Sony A900, Carl Zeiss 135mm f1.8 lens, 1/500 sec at f1.8, ISO 200

I don’t think i would have tried shooting these little guys if i’d still been using film, because they move so quickly and i had to take so many shots and adjust according to the results. The reflected sky was a mixture of bright white clouds and clear blue.

Here’s a photo i took recently in the Columbia River Gorge. I was up there camping out during the coldest spell this winter when it was around 15 degrees for three nights in a row, which did some really interesting things to those huge waterfalls. But the real prize was this little one i found off-trail that had slowly built up ice around itself until there was a little fortress around the falls.

Minolta Maxxum 7, Minolta 17-35mm G lens, 2 sec at f/16, B+W circular polarizer, Fuji Velvia 50