Mount Shasta Archives - Loree Johnson Photography

Flexibility and good hair days

by Loree | Apr 7, 2015 | Uncategorized

The other day I looked in the mirror and couldn’t believe how dry and frizzy my hair was! How did this happen? Then I realized that I went from a very humid climate to an extremely dry one over the past two months. My hair was screaming for moisture. It was time to get out that leave-in hair conditioner that I brought with me but hadn’t been using because it wasn’t needed. I’ve also been going through a lot of chapstick lately. Funny how I get into a routine and fail to notice when the routine needs to change. It wasn’t much of a problem when my life was pretty much the same day to day. But now that external circumstances change all the time, paying attention and being flexible becomes more important. In fact, I’d go so far as to say flexibility is a key to happiness, as well as soft, smooth hair.

Days End – Black and White

Ever since I arrived here, on the outskirts of Death Valley, it’s been a constant windstorm with blowing sand and dust. I’m anxious to explore and photograph Death Valley, but photos of blowing dust aren’t exactly what I had in mind. So, I’ve been watching the weather forecast and thinking my photo shoot will have to wait for at least another day until the wind dies down. Being flexible will hopefully give me better photographic opportunities, and it gives me time to edit and re-edit some photos from the past few months.

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Good Morning Crater Lake – Black and White

I’ve been making a mental list of images that I wanted to try in black and white, but haven’t had much time to spend on converting them, which often involves quite a bit more than just desaturating. So, I’ve taken advantage of the bad weather induced downtime to work on some of them.

Moonrise Over the Cable Bridge – Black and White

In the past month, my travel days have been pushed back a few days here and there due to circumstances beyond my control. In the past, this would have caused a lot of stress and anxiety around disrupting the planned schedule. But now I’m learning to roll with the inevitable changes that happen along the way. I figure it will all work out just as it should, so why worry about it?

Takhlakh Lake with Mount Adams – Black and White

And, thanks to the extreme wind, I’ve added to my monochrome portfolio, which I have a tendency to neglect, kind of like my hair.

Yosemite Moon – Black and White

Before and After

by Loree | Jul 9, 2014 | Art, Mountains, Oregon, Photography, Rivers, Siskiyou County, Waterfalls

Okay, maybe just after. Because of the recent spate of oppressively hot weather, and numerous projects in the works to transform a motor home into a home, I haven’t been getting out with my camera as much as I would like. So, in my relentless quest to improve my craft, I’ve been learning new things about editing images.

Peaceful Path

Thankfully, I made the decision to shoot my images in raw format soon after I started taking photography seriously. This means that the raw data, exactly as the camera captured it, is saved and available to me so I can start from scratch when re-editing an image. Having the raw material to work with allows me to “cook” it properly, rather than try to redeem an image that I had inadvertently “overcooked” in the past.

Spectacular Shasta Valley Sunset

Since most of my early learning in photography was concentrated on exposure, composition, depth of field, and other technical aspects of capturing images, much of the raw material I have is quite suitable for re-editing. It seems clear to me that taking my photography to the highest level possible involves both capturing of good images, and enhancing those images to convey a vision. Whether that vision is exactly what my eyes saw at the moment, or a vision in my mind of how the scene should appear really depends on the image. Usually, it’s a bit of both.

Whitehorse Falls

Looking back at some of these images, I realized that in my efforts to enhance them and convey my vision, I went too far. I’ve since learned that less is more and subtlety makes all the difference in photo editing. Whether it’s gently enhancing one color while leaving the rest alone, softly subduing the highlights without darkening the shadows, or selectively burning and dodging the way Ansel Adams once did in a darkroom, it’s really the small moves that make the biggest impact.

Columbia Gorge Sunrise

When contemplating this article, I had originally intended to show before and after of each of the images. However, when I looked at the before images, I was quite frankly a bit embarrassed by them. That’s when I made the decision to only post the “afters.” I do believe that some of the “befores” have been posted in earlier articles on this website, so those of you who really want to see them will just have to do some searching.

Blue Layers

My goal has always been to share my unique vision through photography, with images that capture not only the actual sight, but some of the feeling of being there, or the emotion of witnessing a scene. Hopefully, as I continue accumulate knowledge and tools, I move closer to fulfilling that goal.

Always learning…

by Loree | Mar 26, 2014 | Birds, Gratitude, Mountains, Oregon, Siskiyou County, Waterfalls, Wildlife

I posted a few months ago about how photography has taught me to see in ways I never did before. Lately I’ve been pondering all the other things I’ve learned as a result of photography. I’m not talking about f-stops, exposure, ISO and such, although I have learned and continue to learn more and more about all those things. What amazes me sometimes are the things I learn almost by accident because of my photography. For example, I learned how to tell the difference between a golden eagle and an immature bald eagle because they look similar and I wanted to know which bird I had photographed.

Golden Eagle Perched

In this image, you can clearly see the golden feathers on the back of the head and neck which are characteristic of golden eagles, no matter their age. In the image below, no such golden feathers are present, meaning it is a bald eagle which hasn’t matured enough to be “bald” yet.

Eagle in the Sun

I’ve learned the weather conditions which cause lenticular clouds to form because I want to be prepared to go out with my camera when these beautiful and photogenic clouds materialize around the local cloud generator–Mount Shasta.

Cloud Dance

I’ve learned the phases of the moon and the patterns of rise and set times for both the moon and the sun because then I can plan a photo shoot to either capture the moon

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A full moon rises near Mount Shasta in northern California

or capture the stars in the dark night sky when there is no moon.

Milky Way

I’ve learned the terminology for different types of waterfalls. Not only so that I can describe them accurately, but also so that I know what to expect when making a trip to a waterfall I’ve not been to before. This is a plunge waterfall.

Autumn at Watson Falls

This is a fan waterfall.

Wahkeena Falls

And this is a block waterfall.

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Sunset at Middle Falls

There are other types, too, as well as “combination” waterfalls that have characteristics of more than one type.

These are just a few of the many things I’ve learned because of my photography. As I continue to challenge myself and photograph new things in new ways, I’m excited about all the things I’m likely to learn along the way. My sincere hope is that for as long as I live, I will never stop learning.

It’s Spring and Love is in the Air!

by Loree | Mar 19, 2014 | Birds, Wildlife

At least in the animal kingdom it is! I can’t help thinking about the scene in the Disney classic Bambi when all the animals are “twitterpated.” I wonder if that’s where the founders of twitter got the idea for their name? The male birds are showing off and the females are playing hard to get.

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Show Off

Nests are being built and readied to hold eggs…some probably already have eggs in them.

The Heronry and Mount Shasta

All over, animals are pairing up, working together, and soon there will be babies everywhere!

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Off to Work

Some animals have already had their babies.

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Family Resemblance

Spring is the time for birth, renewal, and of course, flowers!

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Bee on Rosemary

So, if it’s spring where you live, rejoice and get outside to enjoy mother nature coming alive again after winter’s slumber. And if spring hasn’t quite arrived for you yet, take heart in the knowledge that it’s right around the corner!

Missed the shot!

by Loree | Mar 7, 2014 | Birds, Gratitude, Mountains, Photography, Siskiyou County, Waterfalls, Wildlife

I cannot count how many times this has happened to me. Sometimes, it’s my fault. I’ll shoot something only to find out that the camera settings were all wrong, and the opportunity has passed. Or sometimes, it’s because my thinking is messed up. Like the time I drove right by a perfectly beautiful shot of the Shasta River, on my way to the Klamath River. Thinking at the time, well if there is morning mist rising from the tiny little Shasta River, imagine how beautiful and misty the big ole’ Klamath will be. But, it wasn’t. And of course, by the time I got back to the Shasta River, it wasn’t either. Sometimes I miss the shot through no fault of my own. Like the time I was driving back from the Tulelake Wildlife Refuge and noticed the most beautiful sunset colors reflected in the marsh along Stateline Road. But, there was no where to pull over and there was a big-rig right on my tail. By the time I found a safe place to stop, the color had faded.

For the longest time, I would get angry at myself, or sad, or disappointed when I missed a great shot. It was as if I somehow failed as a photographer to have seen something beautiful and not captured it to share with the rest of the world. Then, a few weeks ago, I realized something. There is infinitely more beauty in this world than I will ever be able to see, much less photograph. I have been extremely lucky in my life to see some amazing things, and even luckier to have photographed a few of them. So now, if I miss a shot, instead of being upset about not capturing it inside the camera, I feel grateful for having witnessed it at all. And I also feel grateful for the amazing things I have been able to capture. Here are a few of them: