First Place – ‘Trio’ by Karen McClymonds
Second Place – ‘Rhododendron’ by Karen McClymonds
Then, we headed to Blue Sky Gallery on NW 8th. We started off by checking out the 2015 Photographic Viewing Drawers. What a neat way to see the work of a large number of photographers.
The ‘front room’ exhibit is Cheryle St. Onge’s Natural Findings. These are black-and-white images “of the natural world as one might first experience it as a child.” These were very solid images. But, we were even more impressed by Colleen Plumb’s exhibit in the ‘back room.’ Titled Animals are Outside Today, it “focuses on the complex relationship between humans and animals.”
In addition to some compelling images, Plumb’s eight-minute video entitled Thirty Times a Minute features elephants in zoos throughout the United States as they exhibit repetitive behavior directly related to their captivity. Clearly, Plumb has a passion about how wild animals are treated, and she’s created images that really express that passion.”
On Saturday we had a casual photo walk field trip. The weather was very pleasant and waterfront park was bustling with activity. As the attached pictures show, there was no shortage of photo opportunities. The lighting was somewhat challenging early on, but softened somewhat as the sun descended. Above are a few photos from some of the members who attended.
On Saturday March 21st, some PPS members went on a visit to Catherine Creek.
Our timing was good as there were lots of wildflowers in bloom. It appears that the bloom has not yet peaked. The blooming balsamroots were difficult to find, a tad too early I suppose. The weather was great, no rain, and occasionally the sun would make a brief appearance.
On Saturday, February 21st, a handful of PPS members visited the Lan Su Chinese Garden for Chinese New Year.
On Thursday, December 11th, a handful of PPS members visited the Oregon Rail Heritage Museum, which is always a fun location to explore. Here are some of the photos.
Starting December 1st, 2014 the new meeting location for the Portland Photographic Society will be St. Paul Lutheran Church, 3880 SE Brooklyn Street Portland, OR 97202 (Google maps link), about 1.5 miles North of our previous location, at the intersection of SE 39th and Brooklyn.
We are still meeting Monday nights at 7:00pm, and we now have the opportunity to meet any/every Monday night. We hope to use this time for more educational programs, taught by our members in addition to guests. Beginning in January 2015, we will have openings on the calendar for educational programs on the second and fourth Monday of the month.
On Sunday we walked around downtown Portland and took some pictures. A surprising diversity of photos always comes out of these walk-around field trips, and this time was no different. Here is a sampling of photos from some of the attendees.
On October 18, we traveled to Elbe, Washington to take a ride on the Mt. Rainier Scenic Railroad. This was one of their “Autumn Leaves” trips, so we were cautiously optimistic that we’d have some great foliage alongside a steam engine.
Late Saturday afternoon, we arrived in the Nisqually, WA area in time to head into Mt. Rainier National Park to take shots of the filmy clouds moving across the mountain while the sun was setting. It was a lovely sunset, and one of David’s images is attached.
On Sunday morning, we arrived early for our 10am train ride, and we were able to see some of the warm-up activities involved in getting this engine ready for the day. One of Marilyn’s shots shows steam coming from both sides of the train. Shortly after that, we were in a steam fog that made it impossible to see beyond a foot in any direction.
Although the fall colors weren’t great, we had a lovely ride up to Mineral, WA, where a logging train museum has been created. We had about a half-hour to explore the museum before our return trip to Elbe. David’s shot of an engine at the museum is attached.
With some locations for shooting in mind, we headed out to await the 12:45pm train. Sadly, it had technical difficulties, and they spent nearly an hour trying to fix things. The great news is that we stopped at our first location, which was where the train also stopped. One of Marilyn’s shots shows two men who tried to fix whatever was wrong, and another shot shows the engine when it took off.
Since we didn’t know whether the engine was going to be able to make the rest of its route, we decided to head to Northwest Trek and check out some animals while we were in the neighborhood. On the walking portion, we saw a cat or two, wolves, foxes, eagles and owls. On the tram, we saw bison, big-horned sheep, mountain goats, elk, moose, and deer.