Balch Creek -02

Balch Creek -02

Balch Creek-01

Balch Creek-01

Mt St Helens, recollections 25 years later

On this 25th anniversary of the catastrophic eruption of Mt. St. Helens I'm going to share some of my memories and some of the photographs that I took at the time. You may have seen better pictures but these are pictures you have not seen before.

One of the memories I have is of my friend Bob Kaseweter who had a cabin at Spirit Lake. He went up to the lake on May 18, 1980 to clean out his cabin. That was the last day of the life of a person who was full of life and loved to live it on the edge. He died on the edge and I am sure that he was thrilled the last few seconds of his life. His body was never found.

........................................................

On Sunday May 18th, 1980 I had to work. I was employed by a large manufacturing facility that used a number of RF generators in the manufacturing process. As a result we could not get radio or television reception in the building. We heard rumors that something had happened at Mt St Helens throughout the day but because it was a Sunday few people were coming and going. I left work about 2 PM and headed home to NW Portland. I started down the east side of Portland's west hills and was greeted with the view below. When I got home I grabbed my camera and took the picture below. (Note: you can click on the pictures for a larger image)



There were numerous smaller eruptions over the next few months but most could not be seen because it was overcast or dark. One eruption in July, 1980 occurred on a beautiful day and I took the picture below at about the same location as the picture above.



In August I had the opportunity to fly around the mountain and into the still smoking crater. I took the picture below as we approached the crater. You can see Mt. Adams in the background.



The picture below shows the inside of the crater. You can see the growing lava dome in center left. We were close enough that we could smell the sulfur dioxide. The dome in the picture was destroyed in another explosive eruption a few weeks later.



About 24 1/2 years later Mt. St. Helens awoke once again. Up to this point the eruption has been a mellow dome building event. The new dome is still growing at one or two feet an hour. Weather permitting you can look into the crater during the daylight hours at the link below.


Of course Mt St Helens is not the only volcano in the Pacific Northwest. A very clear day in Portland is known as a five mountain day. We can see five mountains, Rainier, St. Helens, Adams, Hood and Jefferson. Four of them are dormant volcanoes and one is active. The picture below is of Mt. Hood from my backyard.



The last major eruption of Mt Hood occurred in 1790, just before the visit of Lewis and Clark. A history of activity on Mt Hood and it's possible impact can be found here.

South of the Portland there is another recently active volcanic area, the Three Sisters.


North and Middle Sister with 1,500 year old lava flow in the foreground

The entire area around the South Sister is rising which may indicate a future volcanic event. More information on this can be found in the post Volcanic hot bulge in Oregon.

Cross posted at Middle Earth Journal

Waterfall in Austria

A Black and White picture taken in the Austrian Alps. Oringinal was a 2 1/4 negative.


Waterfall in Austria

Lobsters

Iris-12

Iris-12

The making of Iris-11

I received a couple of e-mails wanting to know how Iris-11 was created. The original was a digital photo.



All of the following was done using PhotoShop Elements. You can click on the individual pictures for a larger image.
The first step was to remove the background using the polygonal lasso tool. Zoom in when using this tool.


Next duplicate the layer. Using the Enhance-Color-Remove Color convert the top layer to black and white. Using the Enhance-Brightness/Contrast command increase the contrast to bring out the texture as desired.


Use Filter-Artistic-Dry Brush tool blur the second layer.


Return to the black and white layer and click on the layer tab in the upper right hand corner. Adjust the opacity of this layer using the slider. I used about 60%.


Use the Layer-Merge command to combine both layers. Adjust the color use the Enhance-Color-Hue and Saturation command to adjust the color saturation as required.

Iris-11

Another new Iris

Iris-11

Fungus on dead alder tree

Fungus on dead alder tree

Lily

Another new spring flower picture.

Lily

Yellow Iris

This is a new Iris, it's still blooming right outside my back door.


Yellow Iris

Rhododendron

Here in Oregon it's Rhododendron time down on the valley floor. In a few more weeks they will be blooming in the mountains.

Rhododendron

Tulip

Tulip

Salmon Berry

Iris-09

Iris-09

South of Munich

Like my home in the Pacific Northwest, Bavaria is wet and gray much of the time. Like the Pacific Northwest there are few places more delightful on a warm summer day.


South of Munich

Southern Germany

As someone who had grown up in the Pacific Northwest I was always in awe of the ancient structures in Europe.

Southern Germany

Natural Abstracts#8 (Rose)

Natural Abstracts#8 (Rose)

Window Boxes

Original photo was a 35mm slide taken in Southern Germany.


Window Boxes

Cactus

Spring-05

Neon Begonia

Neon Begonia

Natural Abstracts #7 (Begonia)

Natural Abstracts #7 (Begonia)

Munich in winter

Munich in winter

Canal in Yokohama

Canal in Yokohama

Fruit Salad

Fruit Salad

Natural Abstracts #4 (Canna)

From a digital photo of a canna flower.

Natural Abstracts #4 (Canna)

Berkeley circa 1972

Berkeley circa 1972

Old Barn

This is a picture taken near Bend, Oregon. Highly PhotoShoped image from a 2 1/4 transparency.


Old Barn

Spring

A picture I did yesterday of some tulips in my front yard and posted over at Middle Earth Journal when I couldn't find anythig in the news I wanted to rant about.


Spring

Silver Falls in Winter

Silver Falls in Winter

Forest Floor

Another Black and White from Portland, Oregon's Forest Park


Forest Floor

Bridge over Balch Creek

A black and white image for a change. The original was a 2 1/4 negative, Ilford Pan F.


Bridge over Balch Creek

Industrial Arts

I found this incredible splash of color on a drab industrial building several years ago. Original was a 2 1/4 transparency.


Industrial Arts

Iris-08

The last Iris picture for awhile, I promise.

Iris-08

Iris-07

Iris-07

Iris-06

The house keeping is about done and we should be back to "Just Pictures" soon. You can see the Index of Pictures By Subject is taking shape over in the right sidebar.


Iris-06

Index of Images, Still Life

Updated April 12, 2005

....January, 2005....

• Strawberry


• Gothic Pears

....March, 2005....

• Still Life 03


• Still Life 02


• Still Life 05

....April, 2005....

• Fruit Salad

Index of Images, Landscapes and Scenes

Updated March 13, 2006

....January 2005....

• Snow Fence, Bavaria


• Street Scene, Salzburg


• Balch Creek


• Bavarian Scene


• Japanese Garden


• Yokohama at night


• Munich

....February 2005....

• Winter Green


• Really Old


• Multnomah Falls Lodge


• Walking a Bicycle


• Near The Dalles, Oregon


• Multnomah Falls in Winter


• Jackson Bottom In Winter


• Sunday at the Oregon Coast

....March 2005.....

• Urban Rain Forest


• Moon Light


• Old Building in NW Portland

....April 2005.....

• Sunset in Bavaria


• The Pond


• Bridge over Balch Creek


• Forest Floor


• Silver Falls in Winter


• Old Barn


• Berkley circa 1972


• Canal in Yokohama


• Munich in winter


• Window Boxes


• Southern Germany


• South of Munich

....May 2005.....

• Lobsters


• Waterfall in Austria


• Balch Creek-01


• Balch Creek -02


• Cat Tails

....June 2005.....

• Rock Creek in Winter


• Old Building

....August 2005.....

• Produce Cart In Munich

....December 2005.....

• Rural Bavaria


• Sun and Moon Set


• Cold Beauty of Winter


• Cold Beauty of Winter II


• Cold Beauty of Winter III


• Cold Beauty of Winter IV

....January 2006.....

• Cold Beauty of Winter V


• Cold Beauty of Winter VI


• Cat Tail in winter

Iris-05

Iris-05

Index of Images, Nature

Updated: May 31, 2005

....January 2005.....

• Chicken of the Woods


• The Colors of Winter #1


• The Colors of Winter #2


• The Colors of Winter #3


• The Colors of Winter #4


• The Colors of Winter #5


• The Colors of Winter #6
  

......February 2005.......

• Tree Frog


• Other World Fungus


• Squirl at Cook Park


• A Natural Work Of Art"

.....March 2005........

• July 1980 Eruption, Mt St Helens


• Pacific Tree Frog


• Spring-A new Begining

.....April 2005.....

• Salmon Berry

.....May 2005.......

• Fungus on dead alder tree


• Mt St Helens, recollections 25 years later


• Cat Tails

.....June 2005.......

• Indian Pipe

Index of Images, Abstract and Other

Updated: April 14, 2005

.....January 2005....

• Desert Abstract


• Portrait of Soo Kim"


• Natural Abstracts # 1


• Natural Abstracts #2


• Peacock Feather


• Natural Abstracts #3

......February 2005.......

• Natural Abstracts #5


• Bits and Pieces


• Walking a Bicycle


• Iris Close Up


• Natural Abstracts #6

.....March 2005.......

• Quartz Crystal


• Magnetic Storm


• Alien View


• Wormhole


• Running Scared

....April 2005....

• Industrial Arts


• Natural Abstracts #4 (Canna)


• Natural Abstracts #7 (Begonia)


• Natural Abstracts#8 (Rose)

The Pond

Index of Flower Pictures

Updated June 04, 2005

......January 2005.....

• Spring


• Iris#1


• Iris#2


• Rose15


• Orchid#10


• Tiger Lilly


• Perennial Glad


• January Crocus

......February 2005.....

• Iris #3


• Straw Flowers


• Another Crocus


• Tulip Close Up


• Alien Flower


• Clematis


• White Flower


• Iris Close Up


• Pansy


• Cherry in Spring


• Pink Orchid

.....March 2005......

• Poppy Up Close


• Orchid-09


• Brown Eyed Susan


• Purple Flower


• Orchid-14


• Azalia

.....April 2005.......

• Iris-05


• Iris-06


• Iris-07


• Iris-08


• Spring


• Neon Begonia


• Cactus


• Iris-09

.....May 2005.....

• Tulip


• Rhododendron


• Yellow Iris


• Lily


• Iris-11


• The making of Iris-11


• Iris-12

.....June 2005.....

• Orchid-16


• Pink Rose-2


• Perennial Glad-2


• Pink Cala Lily


• Begonia

Sunset in Bavaria

Sunset In Bavaria

No Picture....Just some verbage

I have added a couple of sites to Other Art Links over on the right. The first is Autochromes from WW I, really amazing and well worth a visit. The second is Penny Postcards by State (hat tip to magpie at Pacific Views ). If you enjoy images and history these sites are for you.

And while I have your attention, I have nearly 100 images on this site now. It is time to get organized so over the next few days/weeks/months I will be working on an index by subject.