MorseBlog

Introduction Last summer I spent a wonderful evening photographing on Lake Pend Oreille looking back at Sandpoint during a thunderstorm that was blowing over the town. I wrote about framing another print from that evening here ... As I was using my Fuji GFX digital camera then I had a large number of images to choose from. Another image I liked was taken with an Olympus 135mm f2.8 prime lens on an adapter for my GFX. This is cropped to a 35mm frame resulting in a 30 Mpixel image. Its funny but this image did not appear on my first choices for images from that evening but a subsequent look helped me understand the understated drama of this image. Blog Cover Image As I look at it now and analyze what I like about it I find the following comments. In terms of composition the light in the upper left of the sun glowing behind the clouds is balanced with some tension by the dark mass of Sunnyside peninsula in the lower right. The hint of the mountain outlines is enough to get the whole story...

The other day I was out with my dad for a drive and as usual every trip is a scouting opportunity. The lake here, Lake Pend Oreille, is massive but has very few public access areas. Part of it is geography due to steep mountains but most of it is the sheer amount of lake front private property. So I was pleased to note a section of Bottle Bay road that had a clear view from the roadside across the lake. This made it on my mental list.  Well this morning dawned cool and rainy with soft low lying clouds, fog and mist. This gives the lake a blue mood with a palette to match. I took this as an opportunity to try out my new location and also a few others I saw on the drive. One advantage of winter on the lake is that they lower the water level about 10 feet. State law says that any river or lake shore between high and low water levels is public access. If you can make your way there then in theory the entire lake shore is open. One can walk right under the numerous docks and landings wi...

 I recently was laid up for a week with what I would guess is Covid. Almost three years dodging it and it seemed to finally catch up with me.  It was with great relief to get out and about the past couple of days for my morning walks through Sandpoint. I always bring my camera just in case and sometimes I get some nice images though that is never my intent. One must be cognizant that even the most familiar or mundane surroundings can lead to some excellent images.  This morning it was very cold (-13C) so a brisk walk well bundled-up was called for. My walk usually takes in the City Beach area and a view of the lake. Yesterday a good breeze was blowing up off the water for some extra chill. This morning however the air was still with mist rising off the water and small flakes of snow precipitating from the moisture in the air as there were no heavy clouds overhead. This light snow seemed to increase as I got close to the lake so I surmised the moisture from the lake was th...

Having arrived back in Sandpoint a little over a week ago, I find the weather much changed from when I left just before Christmas. At that time I drove down to Spokane in sub-freezing conditions but have returned in much warmer weather, often 10 degrees or more above freezing. This has been accompanied by light to moderate rain at times. The mounds of snow are shrinking slowly and the roads are almost entirely free of snow and ice.  Meteorologically, the conditions create a lot of gray skies and swirling masses of fog at all different altitudes. The warm most air (humidity near 100% most days) touches the deep snow fields and there is a ground fog that develops. Higher up great banks of fog eclipse the mountains and then dissipate into thin wisps and skeins of fog.  Overall the palette of colors remains restricted to grays and blues where sometimes a little sun makes its way through the clouds to add a small touch of warmth. It feels generally like black and white weather. I f...

I went out before my father to the lake house to open the place up. He had some chores for me and would follow shortly.  The whole area is different from two months ago when I left in the heat of early September and smoke from local fires. The first snows of winter had fallen a couple of days before and only now was the temperature edging up a degree or two above freezing.  The highway was clear of ice and snow but with white a rime of salt. The road out to the lake was still snowpacked in the shadows under the trees. The lake is also at its lowest level. After the summer recreational season the lake level is lowered about ten feet. Along this shore it extends a rocky beach ten to 20 yards out to the waters edge. The bay is merely its forlorn bottom. Fisherman’s island can now be walked to from the road.  Out on the water are hundreds of Western Grebes paddling around what must be shallows for feeding. The sky is overcast with low hanging thick cloud though small breaks a...

Here on Lake Pend Oreille the lake is lowered at the end of summer by some ten feet. This being my first winter here I have become fascinated by the exposed shoreline. It also means that due to laws regarding access to waterways and lakes that one is able to walk and fish and hunt these low water margins even if the high water shoreline is private property.  Lower Sand Creek runs into the lake here at Sandpoint and the lake in summer backs up a bay over the traditional last reach of the creek. So now the bottom of the bay is exposed and the original creek meanders over a barren frozen mud bottom smelling still of estuary mud and rotting vegetation.  And so I thought I should explore this mudflat with the creek edge in ice. Here it is bordered by houses and business on one shore and highway 97 on the other side. There are also some bridge crossings as well.  It is busy and distinctly urban but also picturesque.  This afternoon did not seem promising with the thermomet...