A Week in Oregon; My Most Disappointing Photo Trip Ever

Photo: (Above) “Obsidian Dreams” – Big Obsidian Flow, Newberry National Volcanic Monument, Oregon

I recently returned from a full week in Central Oregon; Granted, it was an extended-family vacation. As I had done on numerous other family vacations, I brought multiple cameras with definitive plans for a variety of picture taking opportunities in the beautiful area around Sunriver, Oregon, and the surrounding Deschutes National Forest.

I’ve taken family vacations before with very little expectations for photography. Several years ago we spent more than a week in Playa del Carmen, part of Mexico’s Maya Riviera. The only camera I took with me on that trip was a tiny pocket-sized (20mp) Sony RX100 Mark 3. I knew on that trip I was going in “tourist mode” with my little camera rather than taking a more professional approach with my higher-end gear.

On this trip, I took all my gear. I had researched places like Smith Rocks State Park, Lava Buttes, the Sisters Wilderness, the Deschutes River, various lakes, and even possibly planned a quick detour to Crater Lake on the way home.

Despite my research and expectations, this became a case of “the best-laid plans of mice and men…”

Leaving the San Francisco Bay Area, we made it about a hundred and fifty miles north before we saw the first smoke from area wildfires coming over the horizon. The Mendocino Complex fire had just started. Further north, the Carr fire in Redding — which had already been burning for several days — was just starting to explode in severity. All of Northern California and Southern Oregon was blanketed in smoke from the fires near Redding and Crater Lake. By the time we arrived in Sunriver, we had completely clear blue skies with temperatures forecast to be 10 to 12 degrees above average hovering around 100 degrees each day.

To make matters worse, somewhere on the 8-hour drive up I must have pinched a nerve at the base of my skull so that by the time we arrived I could barely move my head in any direction. A day and a half later, the smoke arrived and filled the central Oregon skies with a thick, hot, hazy blanket.

Eventually, between my immobile neck, the smoke, the heat, and a dozen family members taking up hours and hours to sort out the daily group activities, I just gave in to the course of circumstances and decided this wasn’t going to be the trip for any photography.

Photo: Panorama overlooking the Big Obsidian Flow from the Obsidian Flow Trail in Newberry National Volcanic Monument, Deschutes National Forest, Oregon

On our second to last day, we took a drive into the Newberry National Volcanic Monument to visit East Lake. While there, we took a short detour to hike along the edge of the Big Obsidian Flow Trail.

The end result: I returned home from my week-long trip with a grand total of two processed images. Both of these images (presented here) were shot with my tiny Sony Rx100mIII pocket camera.

I shot a series of vertical frames to create the panorama from one of the overlooks and a small detail of some obsidian that I used to create the above Dharma print called “Obsidian Dreams.”

I recall my religious studies which according to the Buddhist religion says expectations are the source of disappointment. I learned to let go of any photographic expectations and simply tried to enjoy my time away from home with the family (in-laws included) as if I wasn’t even a photographer.

My source of solace is that I have another trip to Oregon scheduled in a couple months and am busy making plans to extend my trip for some additional make-up photography opportunities.

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Gary Crabbe is an award-winning commercial and editorial outdoor travel photographer and author based out of the San Francisco Bay Area, California. He has seven published books on California to his credit, including “Photographing California; v1-North”, which won the prestigious 2013 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Gold Medal award as Best Regional title. His client and publication credits include the National Geographic Society, the New York Times, Forbes Magazine, TIME, The North Face, Subaru, L.L. Bean, Victoria’s Secret, Sunset Magazine, The Nature Conservancy, and many more. Gary is also a photography instructor and consultant, offering both public and private photo workshops. He also works occasionally a professional freelance Photo Editor.

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