Mt. Hebo is a little-known spot just inland from the Oregon Coast, right where highway 22 meets the great costal highway 101.  The trail, which starts at Mt. Hebo Campground, actually runs about 8 miles total, though it’s about 6.5 miles round-trip to the spectacular summit views.  Since our start time was a bit later than planned, a summit trek was all we could fit in.

That’s not to say there was any compromising on quality for the day.  The trail winds through amazing secondary and old growth forest, with descriptive signs filled with trivia along the way.  These signs teach such tidbits as the fact that the bracken ferns along the trail may be eaten when they first emerge from the ground in the spring.

Fire ravished this forest in the 1900’s, so the Forest Service replanted most of the area, aside from the early stages of the trail which runs through homestead land.  This becomes more and more apparent as you compare the early sections which contain varied ages and tree sizes to the later sections where the forest is much more uniform and specific.

Once we hit the summit, we were treated with a grand, yet hazy, view of the surrounding mountains and ocean.  I found the view to be quite disorienting, as the reflection of the sun off of the ocean gleamed bright white, while the shades of the forest-covered hills were a rich deep blue color.  This reverse in colorization made it difficult to distinguish each element in the view.  See for yourself in the full gallery of photos.  Enjoy!

This year, Portland’s Rose Festival will include a bonus third weekend.  Normally, the two weeks of celebrating Portland and its cherished roses spans only two weekends, and they always seem to fly by.  This year, I decided to be there at the beginning for the first time as a photographer.

Friday night marked the beginning of the Rose Festival with a spectacular fireworks display along the Willamette River.  People lined both the Waterfront Park and the Eastbank Esplanade awaiting the show.  I positioned myself on the east side between the Hawthorne Bridge and the Morrison Bridge, with the firework launch barge between my camera and the downtown skyline.

This was my first time ever shooting fireworks, so it was quite a learning experience.  I loved the fact that it felt like everything I loved about three styles of photography: Urban, low-light, and fire.  Enjoy the full gallery to see more!