T'was a crisp winter's day in the mountains high above the city is where this tale hath begin...
For real though, it wasn't just crisp, it was frickin' freezing! I was up in Welches, Oregon, essentially the gateway from Portland to Mount Hood, to shoot a property for sale in the area for a client. She offered me run of the condo if I wanted to stay a few nights, and being as the mountain was covered in fresh snow from the day before, my camera would not allow me to say no.
I Turo'd myself a snow-ready all-wheel drive, snow-tire-laden Audi Q3 (for a ridiculous $30/day!? I heart you sharing economy) and headed on up the mountain.
While it was cloudy and overcast much of the first day, I took advantage of that time to shoot the interiors (figured I should probably do the job I was actually up there for...), with one eye on the weather forecast for any opportunity the following day. It showed partial sun that afternoon, so took a gamble, grabbed my camera bag, bundled up, drove to the trailhead and started hiking my way up to Mirror Lake.
And that was the day this Pacific Northwesterner in his sophomore year learned the value of snowshoes. Not because I had them, but because I didn't, and EVERYONE else did! It was about 2.5 miles each way, and about a half dozen hikers or so that I passed were taking the snow-covered trail like it was nothing. Meanwhile, me and my hiking boots huffed and puffed and slipped and slid my way through the thing. I even had to retire one of my trekking poles on this one (don't ask why...). It didn't help matters when one set of hikers on the way back down saw my tripod and figured to boost my morale by explaining "Mount Hood is covered in clouds. Can't see a thing."
And, as a I found out about 30 minutes later, they were right.
Sort of.
She was definitely covered up.
And at first I was a bit bummed, but then I looked around at the sky and there were patches of sun raining down on stands of trees surrounding the snow-covered lake bed. I figured it wouldn't be a complete loss as I was already seeing some ridiculously idyllic winter-wonderland frames all around me.
And then, just before the sun began to set, she decided to give me a short, but glorious, reminder of who's in charge here. For about 15 minutes, Mount Hood decided to pop out of her office, just to remind me who's boss.
At the perfect time.
With the perfect light.
And the perfect colors on the perfect clouds.
I could not have asked for a better scene. It was THE very image I was hunting for.
Had I been 15 minutes earlier or 15 minutes later, I would have missed that opportunity (and had I had snowshoes, I probably would have been).
Anywho, here she is, hope you dig...
And here’s some some more zen moments from those few glorious days in the mountains.
And for more of my riffer raffers and wacker knackers:
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