Hiked up to Lake Angeles this last weekend (6/19/10 – 6/20/10), the trail is clear of snow and trees. Also, the lake is now 100% thawed (frozen a bit a few weeks ago). I’ve had a cold this last week and so hiking up the 2500′ was pretty brutal as my body was already tired from fighting this cold. At the lake, all the campsites were thawed out, though a few still need to be cleared a bit. Weather was a comfortable 55F average with clouds moving in and out.

On Sunday, we woke up at 04:00 and hiked up the western ridge line over the lake to watch the sunrise. Once the sun came up, the rain came down, so we walked back to the lake to eat breakfast and hike out.

All in all, it was a good hike and it felt really good to get up high with some alpine views. The snow is slowly melting and soon more trails will be open and void of snow. The next hike will probably be Heather Park, but we’ll see how fast the snow melts and what the conditions warrant.

Lake Angeles – Images by Jeremy Johnson



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Lake Angeles, Olympic National Park
Port Angeles, WA

She looked at the table towards my Leica M6 and said, “anyone who owns and knows how to handle a Leica should have my father’s camera.”

I’m starting a new photo project, and for this project I have been looking for a medium format camera to shoot some very detailed portraits. I had a Hasselblad for a few weeks, but sold it to finance a much needed computer upgrade.

Last week, at the Marine Corps Ball, the Leica came along for the ride. I set it down on the table with a half-assed intention of making some photos. The wife of a retired Gunnery Sergeant, noticed the camera and began making conversation about how she used to work at a camera store and how her father was a photographer.

In between conversations, a few of us at the table thought it would be fun to share a bottle of wine, so I ran off to find an overpriced bottle of wine to share between three Marines over a steak. When I returned, the Gunny’s wife offered the camera to me, mentioning that she’s had it for years and hasn’t used it. I didn’t know what to say, except, “thank you” over and over. I had been looking for a larger format camera, to cost me between $500 and $800.

The camera, a Mamiya RB67, is a monster. The thing is huge and weighs a ton. RB stands for Rotating Back, and 67 means 6×7. 6×7 is a medium format film size that is 4 1/2 times larger than 35mm. Included with the Mamiya was a 65mm lens (wide angle), a 90mm lens (“normal”), and a 180mm lens (telephoto). Also included were four film backs, 2 for 220 and 2 for 120 film.

One thing about this camera, its HUGE. I mean, the pictures don’t even do it justice and it weighs like 7 pounds. I’m still learning how to properly use it and am finding that a tripod will be necessary in most cases. The downsides are actually upsides though, I was looking for a big camera with a big negative for image quality and a technical requirement for me to slow down and think about the image.

Something I’ve come to realize, a lot of photographers call the Leica their “sketchbook,” after lugging this Mamiya around for two miles on a hike the other day, I can definitely see how a Leica could be considered a “sketchbook” compared to this monster.

Speaking of Leicas, the other thing I’ve known for a while, and keeps being reinforced, is how much I really enjoy shooting with this camera. I think with the setup I have, I could pretty much photograph everything that interests me. Would I miss some photos due to manual and slower focus? Sure. Would I miss some photos due to extreme low light and/or missing ttl? Definitely. In the end though, like I said, everything that’s really interested me in the last year or two could be shot with a Leica, and a 35mm or 50mm lens with Tri-X pulled to 200 or pushed to 1600 ISO.

I <3 my Leica(s)

Finally developed a few rolls of B&W Arista Premium. These photos are from activities that led up to the march through downtown Victoria. There was a press conference and several staged street performances mocking the Olympics.

The final activity was a Good vs. Evil wrestling match pitting popular Anti-Olympics Activists against members of Canada’s government and the International Olympics Committee.

Last month, Lindsay and I took the family on the Clallam County farm tours. Throughout the day the weather changed dramatically from windy and rainy to warm and sunny. The first farm we visited was the Bekkevar family farm on the east end of Sequim:

The last farm we visited was the Dungeness Valley Creamery:

I arrived home earlier from Victoria where I photographed the beginning of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics Torch Relay. Starting early at 8:30 I arrived at the Parliament building with plenty of time to spare. My day didn’t end until 9:30 PM. The morning until 11:30 was spent photographing the Torch Relay ceremony at the Parliament Building. The afternoon, from 2:00 PM until 9:00 was spent with the protestors of the Olympics.

I got the feeling that most Canadians weren’t entirely unsympathetic to the protestors. The final dollar amount is looking to be close to $6 billion, and the complaints are that the money could be better spent.

The Torch Ceremony was very well organized and attended. As for the protest, it was fairly organized with about 350-500 people participating. One thing I found very impressive was the restraint and professionalism Victoria and Vancouver police showed towards the protestors. The protest had no permit for any of it’s activities and shut down several intersections from a few minutes to a full 30 minutes in the case of an intersection in front of the Royal Bank of Canada, which is an official sponsor of the 2010 Winter Olympics.

While the protest did nothing to stop the Torch Relay or the Olympics, it did manage to force the relay to detour and shorten much of it’s route, disappointing hundreds of spectators. After forcing the detour, the protest made it’s way to Parliament, where the Police made a weak stand to stop the protest. The truth of the matter however, is that the ceremony was open to the public, and the police acquiesced. By this time the rain was pouring and I walked away, tired and starving.

More photos: http://www.photoshelter.com/gallery/Victoria-Torch-Relay/G00009U06kEI2PGs

I was scheduled to do another photo session with Stephanie this afternoon. I found out earlier that she was going to bring her “Little Red Riding Hood” costume for the session. Not feeling very excited about doing more portraits in my garage, I suggested we head to the forest. For the most appropriate location I chose a trail that runs behind Peninsula College.

The lighting setup for this: one EX550 with a light orange CTO gel bouncing off a white umbrella in the upper left outside the frame. The B&W background was done by desaturating green and yellow in lightroom, took me all of 3 seconds.

I keep staring at the same images over and over trying to make sense of what I keep capturing on film and file. The portfolio used to be a complete mystery to me. Now it’s a partial mystery. After a lot of reflection and thought about what kind of photographer I want to be, I took another crack at building a portfolio. This is the first take:

Port Angeles/Clallam County is the theme. Now that the theme or idea has been found it is much easier for me to figure out the holes and where I need to replace some images with stronger images. While I have some beautiful photos from around the world, they don’t really say much about me or the subject. This first round of portfolio selection represents in rough draft form what I’m trying to say. Clallam County is a unique place with all walks of life and I’d like to somehow represent that in photos.

I’m not much for rain, but I do appreciate what it can do for photos. Not many people photograph in the rain, but there are a number of unexpected and often beautiful photos that can be made when the wet stuff hits.

I happened to be kinda bumming in my office thinking about a lot of heavy stuff while the rain poured outside. The weather fit my mood. Suddenly a beam of light burst through my window. I jumped up, grabbed my camera and the 70-200 (the only canon lens I currently have in my posession) and ran outside. Just as I suspected a light rain was still falling as the sun burst through the clouds. The wet and back-lit leaves made for some great photos and cheered me up at the same time.

Meh. Stephanie was kind enough to allow me to photograph her while I practice lighting. I know what I want to make, but I’m thus far unable to make it. Part of it is gear – no softbox, no shoot-through umbrella’s and crappy strobes. The biggest part really is lack of experience. So, here I am working to fix that. Photography is undoubtedly hard work, especially being able to realize a new vision.

For what it’s worth, here’s Stephanie sharing a joke with my wife Lindsay.

It’s been a while since I’ve busted out my flash and radio trigger, but I’ve been inspired lately so I asked my brother to pose for me.

The set up here is super simple, it was really dark out so I was shooting at 1/200 f/4 ISO 1000 and flash power at 1/64 with a mid-orange gel.  Flash is camera right and slightly forward of Jeff.