Slacker!

Ok, so I went on a workshop on the Palouse in June,

and that sort of knocked me off my blog stride...kept thinking about returning to report but, not surprisingly, something always came up. The Palouse workshop was an experience...huge place, great light and, during June, intense greens and golds of wheat and barley and lentils getting serious about growing. The terrain on the Palouse really suited my eye, and my mind started picking up comps in all directions. I particularly liked views from above---aspecially from Steptoe Butte---but things clicked in all directions and from all angles for me out there.

But, surprisingly, after the workshop, I was singularly nonproductive. I worked steadily on the images I captured but, unlike years past, I didn't really have that burst of creativity after a 'shop. I made some strides in my processing skills, but I wasn't going out and creating anything. I made a few stabs at getting out, but nothing really clicked. Toward the end of July, I finally made a run up to Rainier specifically to shoot Myrtle Falls at sunrise. The weather in the PNW has been odd all year...everything seems to be two weeks to a month behind, including the snow melt up on the Mountain. So at the end of July, when wildflowers are generally starting, I found myself crunching out to Myrtle Falls: at least half the trail was still under snow, and past the falls, the trail was still marked by the Day-Glo straws in the snow.

I captured the falls, not really to my satisfaction, but a solid image. When I got up to the overlook at about 5:30 am, there was a guy there taking video of the falls: he was making a documentary/promo piece for the NPS, I believe, to help publicize the reopening of the lodge after extensive remodeling. He wrapped up and moved farther up the Mountain; I shot a few more bracketed exposures and headed back down. I made it all the way out and back to the lodge over snow without incident: as I stepped off the last of the snow patches and onto the paved path leading to the stairs to the lodge, I hit an ice patch and went ass over teakettle in a truly spectacular manner. And came down. Hard. Really hard. I landed on my butt, and when my feet returned to earth, my heels struck so hard, it snapped my left leg to the inside, and the inside of my knee whacked pavement. That was not my main concern, however, as I lay there, curled up on the ice, wondering what a fractured tailbone might feel like.

It took about 30 seconds of contemplation before I was set to try regaining my feet.

Surprisingly, it was not that hard. Also not surprising, my b'hind was complaining, or rather, it was leading the chorus...back, ribs, abs...none of them happy. And a bump on the knee. Gutted it out, and got back to the truck, and decided, well, I wasn't dead or disabled, I could manage Reflection Lake and Christine Falls. By now it's after 7:00 am, and the lakeside is sort of crowded: 7 or 8 people trying for the icon shot. I found a comp I like and, grunting a bit from the early violence, set up for the low, wide angle shot I wanted. Crouched down even lower, because my shadow was trying to creep into the frame. I am, if I haven't ever mentioned it, a magnet for goofs with point-and-shoots. Don't get me wrong: some of my best friends have point-and-shoots, but I attract the ones who stand in my light and tell me how cool their point-and-shoots really are, in comparison to my DSLR. All of a sudden, the perfect light on my foreground flowers is obscured...Uncle Bud and his pocket PnS is in my damn back pocket and would like to offer me lessons in comp and exposure. Asked him to move for just a second, got the shots I needed, listened to Uncle Bud for 12 to 14 seconds, nodded as if suddenly enlightened, and left for Christine Falls. A slight interruption on the way though: Ruby Falls!

My midsection and butt are singing like the chorale in Bethoven's 9th, but I saw a stone bridge over the loop road that returns to Paradise and pulled over, and lumped back up the road. This is gooood! A small cascade falls tumbling through the rocks and then over a granite (andesite?) slab...great textures, and water moving at many different speeds were perfect for a range of shutter speeds, but I knew it'd make a real good long-X. I shot, and shifted and grunted and moaned, until the comp finally clicked. Great rays shining through the trees and picking out some of the whitewater upstream. The stream's action across the slab was beautiful, and the main drop held detail like nobody's business. What a great place!

But, Houston, we have a problem: I am not in good shape here, both in general, and as a result of the fall I took. I limped down the hill to the truck and settled in. My tailbone is hurting bad by this point in the fun, but I had convinced myself it was 'just' bruised. I was up there on the Mountain, one of my favorite places, and I figured I'd be in pain there or at home, so I went ahead and aimed the chorus of abuse going on in my midsection toward Christine Falls.

That Christine, ahh, she's a beauty...an icon for a reason, and I don't care if she's the result of blasting for the road. Christine and I, though, we have a star-crossed relation...or maybe sun-crossed. See, Christine is the one of the first 'big' falls near the road on your way in from the Nisqually entrance. That means, it's usually dark when you pass her in the morning, on the way to the bigger , bolder image opportunities, and too late in the day on your way out. So I always see Christine in full sun, and she's simply not at her best.

So this image is worked to within an inch of its life: I did a lot of multiplying of layers to bring back detail in that left wall of Christine's little gorge. It's an OK image...pretty solid, but someday, Christine deserves a trip of her own. My flickrfriend Maryanne (little m:)) nailed Christine on an overcast day, and then dedicated a post of her to me. Very nice! The post and m!

So, I had a doctor's appointment schedule a few days later for bloodwork and an A1C test. Did great: A1C was down smartly and I was back to actually managing la vida diabetica pretty well. "So, doc, while I got you here, I took this fall a few days ago...." In those few days, my innards seem to have made their peace with the abuse, and only my tailbone and cheeks are still hurting. In the meantime, however, now that the 'core' chorale has finished, my knee has decided it's time for an aria of its own. All locked up, and hurts bad all the time, but especially when I rotate on it at all. Doc and I concur that the butt is just bruised, but the knee requires diagnosis. Good news: nothing seems torn or popped; bad news: a strained Medial Collateral Ligament. Great. Ice and antiinflammatories for a week, and then Physical Therapy.

I hate PT.

This entry is getting too big. I'll continue in Part II.