I so liked the sound of the informal get-together that Ralph and his friends had in Seattle, I feel inspired to try something like it where I live. I'll be at the Coffee House on the Newport bayfront at 9am Saturday, Nov 13. I have absolutely no agenda, itinerary or plans! If no one else shows up, I'll just take my camera across the street to the docks. Weather permitting, I'd be doing that anyway. If anyone else comes, we can decide then (looking at a few prints of current work would be fun.) I think it would be great fun if this became a regular(monthly?) meeting of mainly film camera lovers, the bigger the camera, the better.

http://www.thecoffeehousenewport.com/

Denise

I haven't traveled 200 miles to meet a woman in a coffee shop since I got married - might be fun :-> Ron

I can't claim to be worth a 2 hr drive, but Newport certainly is. Hope you can make it (But do watch the weather forecast. Every year I say, 'This is going to be a winter I become a storm photo'ing fool, out there braving the elements!' So far, hot chocolate behind a nice picture window has been more my speed. Maybe this year!

d

I hate to have to point out that 200 miles is more than a two hour drive, unless of course you are driving at 100mph! In any case, it would be worth the trip, if only to be able to spend some time at the Newport Aquarium. I think I might take you up on this myself. As for being a storm photographer, I have been working on a collection of images taken during some of the most inclement weather that we have up here (I live in the Columbia River Gorge). For those pictures, I usually just work with an old, beat-up Hasselblad instead of the 8x10 (if there is too much wind). Ever since I heard Ron Cronin speak at the Photography Fanfaire a couple of years ago did I decide to brave the elements and finally become more than a fair-weather photographer. Now I have no bad weather excuses for not going out to photograph, in fact I tend to get excited when the clouds start to gather, (and after all, how do you think Ansel Adams was able to get his photograph of "Clearing Storm, Yosemite Valley" if he hadn't gone out while it was storming).

So yeah! Expect to see me there. Maybe we could entice Robert Brummitt to go too.

Michael Stathatos

Well, I had a conversation with Bruce Barnbaum once and I gather he drives or use to drive like a bat out of hell. He shared that he was coming from Eastern California to Beaverton, Oregon for a talk I set up. He said I'll be there shortly. I said you, "you flying?". " No, driving." was he response with a smirk. The talk was for the next day. He told me all his little tricks. Wild. More power to him!
Ron is another wild photographer. I have seen photos of him scaling down sea cliffs with 80 pounds of camera gear strapped to his back. I think he uses a Deardorf. He and John Wimberley are the only photographers I know who pack that much gear. I believe in Ansels approach, load in my gear in my car, drive and work from the parking lot. Specially since I have a blown disk in my spine. Trying to avoid the scalpel.
Here's another storm chaser I met thru John Wimberley, Mitch Dodrowner www.mitchdobrowner.com
Thanks for the invite Mike. I'll get back to you once I know my schedule. Organizing things for PEG and other events. We need to talk more my friend.

Michael,

Thanks for catching my thinko so graciously. I do have a heavy foot, but not quite that bad! You also managed to get me excited and motivated for the next big storm. I have an old 120 film rangefinder that will work great from inside a big plastic bag (minus a lens peephole.) This just might be the year I become an extreme weather photographer! (Beach extreme, that is. No tornados !! [Yet?])

Here's a couple of handy sites I keep bookmarked:
http://hmsc.oregonstate.edu/weather/tides/tides.html
http://www.tripcheck.com/Pages/CamerasEntry.asp

Denise

...and remember, as someone much wiser than me once said, "There is no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate wardrobe." Also, thanks for the links.

Good morning, M Stat;

Thank you for the reminder. Yes, it is clear that God did invent both fleece and Goretex just for we who live in the Pacific Northwest. There was 0.36 inches in the rain gauge here this afternoon.

Enjoy; Ralph, Latte Land, Washington

Denise, it's a 5+ hour 332 mile drive for me, I wish the train track from ?????, can't remember, to Newport was still in use. I'd take the train from Everett, well Seattle to ??????, is it????

I looked it up, To take the train one would go to Seattle and take the train to Portland, then a bus to Albany, then another bus to Newport. All of this is equal in time to a flight to New York. $82 each way cost is much lower though.

I used to camp at the Beverly Beach campground, the best I've ever seen by the way, but my truck is getting fixed. Last time I was in Newport was at the Carbon workshop with Vaughn, my wife and dog stayed at the Elizabeth Street Inn, I stayed there too, very nice but costly. They had a blast on the beach and cuddled up by the fire overlooking the Pacific while I slaved away making Carbon prints.

A monthly meeting would be nice though, I just have to figure out the transportation. You know that Beverly Beach campground is nearly impossible to get spaces a lot of the time of the year.

Curt

It's real devotion to wish to travel that many miles but I think Ralph's original idea was for folks to meet in their general regions. Not to travel 3oo+ miles. Save that for the the annual meet ups or for this sub-forum. Go green.
The weekend of the 13th is Veterans weekend. The official day is Thursday but many local schools here in Beaverton and Portland are using the day as a 4 day holiday and I know that some parents are also in-line with this as well.
My son who is taking a photo class has some assignments that I will be helping him with. Maybe I'll work closer to home.

Curt,

Train is now run by Portland and Western.
Train Leaves Albany through Corvalis, but tracks no longer go to Newport. They stop at Toledo, which is up the bay from Newport.
Train runs past 2 nice covered bridges, both accessible from Highway 20 if you know where to turn off.
Train runs at night.
Unlikely you can hobo on the train ;-) - its usually woodchip hoppers and boxcars running to the mill at Toledo.
But Toledo has some nice old buildings in downtown should you decide to drive.
Don

I love traveling by trains myself. Much easier then flying and whole lot less stress too. I had to take the Greyhound to Medford last month and that was an experience I wish to avoid forever. I was talking to some folks that it would be nice if Oregon could make a train service that traveled from Portland to Ashland. Something that was between Amtrack and Trimet. If that Train had arteries that fed into other locations of Oregon so much the better.
After reading Al Gore's "Our Choice" and knowing what we can as a people can do. I wonder why not and how to make it so.

I've taken the Coast Starlight From Seattle to Santa Barbara, trains are a nice way to relax, service from my home town to Seattle hasn't been established without a nights stop over in Seattle. It's too bad the rail service isn't more wide spread. A fun time would be to have some photographers go together on a train, like a rail workshop or get together.

Travel by train can be a lot of fun, but schedules aren't always as posted.
The day that ALaska took the MD-80's out of service, I was flying from Sacramento to Portland in the morning. Cancelled!
No rental cars, no other flights available including out of the Bay Area.
I managed to get the last seat on the Starlight, including a sleeping berth with toilet/shower combo (unbelievable but true - same cramped quarters)
Train was to leave on Friday at 12:35pm (afternoon)
When I got there, train (northbound) had been delayed by track collapsing into sinkhole at Goleta, near Santa Barbara.
Long wait and many delays.
At 12 midnight, some firm rented the Sacramento Amtrak station to film a customer service film. Lots of fun to watch.
Northbound train arrived 3:30am, and I boarded.
Nice sleep, but upon awaking I found we'd been sidelined for some backed up freights.
Beautiful crossing at night of the Cascade from Klamath Falls to Eugene, with arrival in Portland at 2:30am. Station sure is quiet then!
So that's only 23 hours from Sacramento to Portland, after a 15 hour delay in boarding....

On the other hand I've made many other enjoyable train journeys on time, including over the Sierra to Reno and back (from Oakland) on early Amtrak, Oakland to Portland and back -- all on early Amtrak with real dome cars, none of the amtrash cars of today, Also the Zephyr through the Feather River Canyon, and the Rio Grande Zeypher from Salt Lake to/from Denver via the Rockies..again with original dome cars....

Wish Amtrak would bring back the domes!

Yeah, sometimes Amtrak runs off what I call "Train time" I had an experiance not as bad as yours Don's but when it happen with me I had my two young children with me and time even ran slower as they wanted to run up and down the lenth of the train and get off the train and eat in the dinner car and have snaks all the time in the observation car and bascally run me ragged. I was very gratful for finally arriving home. But I still love the train over driving or even flying.
I was really hoping that as a nation we would embrace our rail system once again and I understand it has started at a slower rate. I read that travel by rail is on the increase. Lets hope that we can see more and more trains in the future. It will help in so many ways.

Brief programming note:

The weather in Newport tomorrow (Saturday) will be seriously craptastic -- a steady rain with little artistic compensation (one wimp's opinion, of course).

Also, as I hope everyone is aware by now -- stay off the jetties. The tragedy for the couple who were swept off by the waves is almost unthinkable. And unbelievable. The waves crashing over the jetty that day were incredible. Who in their right mind...? I live a mile from the South Jetty, within view, and directly under the flight path of the Coast Guard rescue helicopter. It circled and circled and circled. Very depressing. The whole town is shaken. We don't like suicide by stupidity. So, if or when you visit the ocean, enjoy the awesomeness of it all, but please, be smart.

d

Denise, I think I will stay home tomorrow (Portland) after seeing the forcast - can you do this again when the weather will be a bit nicer? Really bad about those people swept off the jetty - Ron

Regretable.

But Avoidable.


The couple that got washed away should be nominated for the annual Darwin award.

I've always thought the Darwin Awards were a little mean and maybe even in poor taste. Until now. I finally get it. As irrational as it feels to admit this -- I'm angry with that young couple. I can't even imagine the pain their families are feeling. I know the grief everyone in Newport is feeling, especially those of us who lived with the Coast Guard helicopters for so many hours. But... onward.

Ron, I will definitely post here the next Saturday that looks good and I'm on the Coast. Spouse wants to get back to skiing, so I will have to timeshare salt spray with snow this winter!

Maybe we who are interested in photo'ing get-togethers can let folks on this forum know when and where we're planning a shoot. Just an informal announcement and invitation to show up. No pressure or expectations. Just fun with like-minded friends. Although the distances our geographical boundaries cover are formidable, you never know what works out.

carpe diem,
d

I agree, Denise.

I understand your anger and feel similarly (But direct it toward the husband who led this family to its death).

I am very familiar with waves covering the top of the jetty at Newport -- I went out of Newport on three different Pelagic (birding) photography trips this year - the trip on March 2 was phenomenal for the huge wave action surging over the ocean ends of this Yaquina Jetty -- and I was on a boat between the two of them coming back into Newport with waves that were huge with 45 second period (huge rollers offshore, and huge surf onshore). I was pretty concerned as we "surfed" in higher than the jetties on left and right. With the length of the jetty, there were 3 successive waves at any time that were covering the distance of the jetty (3 in a row at any time)

I'm sorry that I won't be able to make it to the coast today, better to spend it in the darkroom.

Absolutely perfect idea! Darkroom it is . We'll save the Coast for a better day.
d

Good morning, Denise, et al;

The way that the weekend down there turned out is disappointing. We did hear up here about the couple out on the jetty. Whether or not they put themselves into harm's way is not really any solace for the families who have lost their young adults who were just starting their lives together. Weather is one of the things that is not always predictable and dependable. There have been a few mountain climbing events where the decision was made to turn around. The mountain would always be there. That is coupled with memories of searches for people who did not come home for dinner, both searching on the ground and from the air.

For the weekend time spent up here, that was put to use up at Snoqualmie Pass finishing some of the work on the ski patrol building (a new antenna and work on the radios for me), and in completing the last required training this year in getting ready for the coming ski patrol season. The camera was used for photographs of the group (one of the largest ever up here; 140 people) in the classes and the activities on the hill learning how to use the newest equipment for getting people down off a chairlift that has come to an unexpected stop.

Enjoy; Ralph, Latte Land, Washington

Humm! was thinking Newport thats not too far so read on and realized, you mean NEWPORT OREEEGONE, garsh I was thinking maybe Newport Washington on the boarder of NO Ideehoo and Wash,,, Sorry guess I won't be attending.... would have to sell a camera to fund a trip like that...

Have any participants in North Ideeho, around Sandpoint, Bonners Ferry, Couer d' Alene?