Clackamas County Fire District - Oak Grove Burn to Learn








Some images today from a training excercise near my house today. The fire departments call this sort of live fire excercise a "burn to learn". The idea is to set a series of small fires in old building that has been approved for this use. After each small fire is lit, trainees can watch how a fire develops and grows in a real world environment. They light a fire, and put it out, and crews will alternate in and out of the building for the training. At the end of the training they let fire consume the house while they protect nearby exterior exposures. These 'burn to learns' are an extremely useful training tool.

Delicate


Dandelion seed pod.

Green Tomato


A green tomato from my garden. Yummy! Main illumination is with a large flashlight directly behind the tomato, with a smaller flashlight illuminating the stem. Shot using ISO 100 at F16, 1.6 second exposure. Used my Canon 28-70mm USM L series lens.

Mt. St. Helens same day

Another shot of the mountain.

Mt. St. Helens Sept. 24th 2006


Went and visited the Johnston Ridge Observatory near Mt. St. Helens with Cassandra and Bryson today. Got some cool shots of the crater releasing a little bit of steam and went and walked around some of the trails as well. The observatory is named after geologist David A. Johnston who died in the May 18th eruption while observing the volcano from nearby Coldwater II Ridge. His final radio transmission to his collegues gave the world its first notice that the mountain had started its devastating eruption. The site where he was located at was directly in the path of a massive pyroclastic flow that destroyed everything in its path. After the eruption, that ridge was named after him.
In this image I wanted to show both the volcano and the devastation it caused, as well as the life that has come back up since then. I feel that I captured this well in this image. To get this image, I mounted my camera on a tripod, used a circular polarizer to cut back on some of the haze. The exposure is F22 at 1/4 of a second using the ISO 100 setting. I also used fill flash to bring out the detail in the stump.

September 11th, 2006

Today I don't have a photo for you.

No cheesy tribute photo, no attempt to understand this day through photographic interpretation when I still, to this day, have trouble fully comprehending what happened.

You see, its been five years since our country was attacked by terrorists, five years since many innocent people lost their lives in some of the most horrible ways conceivable, five years since we all witnessed ultimate acts of human bravery and self-sacrifice as well as ultimate acts of human depravity and cruelty.

I'm not going to preach politics to you, as many other blogs will undoubtably do today. I won't bore you with self-aggrandizing tales of what I experienced that day. All of us have equally important tales of what we experienced that awful day.

Instead, I want to ask you to do something.

Remember.

Thats it. Never, ever forget what happened five years ago. Never forget your anger and fear. Never forget your slowly dawning disbelief at the enormity of the attacks on our nation. Never forget how the attacks changed your life. How your priorities shifted.

Remember.

Never forget what you and people the world over did that day and the days after. Whether it was giving blood, donating money to charity, calling a loved one or simply saying a prayer. Don't forget that.

Remember.

Remember what our society was like before and after September 11th 2001. Question yourself as to whether or not you are satisfied with how things are in the world today. What are you going to do about it? Remember, we all have the power to change things. Nineteen men used their power to create carnage and destruction. To cause the people of the world to fear, cause some to hate. Caused us all to look at each other with suspicion. It only took nineteen men to do that. There are millions of us. Millions of us who want peace. Changing the world starts with us. Here. Now.

Remember.

Remember those lost. Remember all the heroes who sacrificed their lives trying to save the lives of others. Remember those passengers on Flight 93 who decided to take matters into their own hands, who died trying not only to save their own lives, but the lives of others as well. Remember the innocent people, who were just doing their jobs, who never had a chance. The airline passengers, the airline crews, the office workers whose last decision was whether to die by being burned to death or to die by jumping out of an office building. And, politics aside, you must also remember those who died at the Pentagon. They also never had a chance.

Remember.

Remember ten years from now, when this day becomes a national day of remembrance. When you are at home with your family and friends. Perhaps having one last barbeque before the crisp days of fall settle in. Please remember why that day is a holiday. Please remember to take a moment and reflect, appreciate those around you.

Always Remember.


Flowers from Rhododendron Garden


Some miscellaneous flowers.

Blue Heron at Portland Rhododendron Gardens


Heres a shot of a Blue Heron that I nearly stumbled into, I was walking along, looking at the ducks, saw some movement in the corner of my eye and looked up. Right in front of me was this huge (and irritated), Blue Heron. I quickly shot off a shot, then turned on my flash to fill in the shadows and gain some detail, and got a second shot before he flew off. His reaction to my presence is evident in this image, I have to say, I was nearly as surprised as he was!

Waterfalls at Portland Rhododendron Gardens




Some of the many beautiful waterfalls there.

Ducks at Portland Rhododendron Gardens



Just a couple of shots of some of the many ducks at the gardens.