New on 500px : Once Upon a Time by Christina_Angquico by Christina_Angquico

This tree in the Columbia Hills just reminds me of a fairy tale the way it sits so perfectly on the slope .

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New on 500px : Rusting In Beauty by BrandtM by BrandtM

So I finally found “The Car”. Last year I drove all over The Columbia Hills State Park looking for “The Car”, to no avail, I drove back and forth, up and down, hiked around without success. Then over the winter I decided to try to track down “The Car” on Google Earth. Well I found it, there is was sitting just yards from where I drove, parked and walked, mocking me from it’s hillside perch. This year I returned, and within minutes I found my prize, and it didn’t disappoint. Though “The Car” has been photographed by many more before me and smarter than me (they obviously had far less trouble finding it), it didn’t disappoint. How perfect, an abandoned rusting car sitting on a flower filled hillside overlooking the Columbia River valley. Michael Brandt Photography
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New on 500px : Conair by Christina_Angquico by Christina_Angquico

Contrails are fantastic 🙂
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New on 500px : Wildflower Sunrise by raygreenphotography by raygreenphotography

My first time out for Rowena Crest overlooking the mighty Columbia River in Oregon. At 4:00 AM I had the extreme good fortune of seeing my new photog friend Bronwyn pull into the parking lot. My humble thanks go to her for sharing her secret locations and techniques for capturing this amazing scene! Thank you to everyone for taking a moment to view my work, for voting and/or for any constructive comments!
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New on 500px : Radiate by JeremyCram by JeremyCram

Spring in the gorge…Thanks for looking!
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New on 500px : Happy Place by northwestcapture by northwestcapture

I spent a little time balsamroot hunting over the weekend and this was one of the pretty scenes I came across. Goes to show that this flower doesn’t need to be 3 inches from your lens to be photogenic. Enjoy!
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New on 500px : Throw Caution to the Wind by TjThorne by TjThorne

http://ift.tt/1cRHAV1 http://ift.tt/1cRHCfO It looks best on black. Click the photo to make that happen. This is from a spur of the moment hookup with brotogs Aaron Feinberg and Alex ‘aNorg’ Noriega out in the Eastern Gorge. On this day the weather was pretty crazy. My girlfriend and I were out in the gorge gathering nettle when Aaron texted me telling me he was heading to Rowena. When looking at weather forecasts earlier in the day I had resigned myself to NOT shooting. However, I had my gear with me.. so I went. I enticed Alex to head out with cell phone shots of the crazy weather happening around us and we all met on Rowena Plateau. There was such dynamic weather going on. While in the gorge we got absolutely dumped on, hailed on, and basked in glorious sunlight off and on while driving around on Larch Mountain. There were lots of clouds coming off/rolling over the hills and moving through the gorge proper with additional sudden downpours, hail, sun, and wind. Upon passing Hood River the weather opened up a bit and the sun shined a bit more… but behind to the west it was armageddon in the gorge. We had some virga/rainbow happening off and on to the east over The Dalles with crepuscular rays, downpours, and clouds to the west. At times I was confident that we would get something epic, and at other times I was questioning why I was getting completely soaked in a downpour. We had some clouds breaking to the west during sunset while lenticular clouds spun off of Mount Hood to the south. As the sun started to set it cast light on the lenticulars.. so we changed our approach and started shooting to the south. I was caught farther west at our location with no trees to use as a foreground or compositional element. Furthermore, all the trees are windswept to the east (to the left in this photo) which didn’t provide enough visual interest to counter the cloud movement. I found this patch of balsam which mirrored the clouds, snapped a few frames, and moved on. I wasn’t too confident in my shots from the night. I was just going with the flow and firing away rather than taking my normally calculated approach. It’s also easy to feel that lack of confidence when you’re shooting with such great and talented photographers. After the shoot we headed to Hood River for dinner, drinks, and conversation. There’s a photographic philosophy that was coined by Arthur Fellig back in the 40’s: “f/8 and be there.” Meaning.. that in order to get his shots in acceptable focus without fussing he would set his aperture to f/8 and then ‘BE THERE’.. as in position himself in the moment. Since that time the saying has resounded in the hearts and minds of photographers of all kinds. It’s one of the first sayings you hear as a photographer. Fellow photographer/brotog Jeff Swanson amended the saying: “f/it and be there”.. and I have to say.. that saying has inspired me to take these moments for what they are. Stop fussing about the weather forecast. Stop hemming and hawing ‘should I go, should I not go?’. Stop making excuses.. and start living. Life is fleeting, so “f/it and be there”. Even if you don’t get the shot you’ll be left with standing in a beautiful place with good friends.
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New on 500px : Flower Eruption by BrandtM by BrandtM

The flowers are phenomenal at the Columbia Hills State Park this year. A beautiful place to spend a couple of days basking in spring’s glory. Michael Brandt Photography
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New on 500px : Columbia Hills Sunset by harderjah by harderjah

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New on 500px : The One Tree… by JeremyCram by JeremyCram

From a beautifully calm and peaceful morning this spring in the Columbia River Gorge. Thanks for looking!
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