Portland at Night

Night photography; my first dip into this style was about one month ago. There has always been a desire to try and see what happens but the opportunity just has not presented itself. As is turns out I had to create the opportunity and my brother was here to come along so we hit the road at midnight to see what came out of the dark. My brother made some suggestions and I had some ideas of my own. Our first stop was out near University of Portland.

ISO100 f16 30 second exposure Nikon D7100 18-200mm VR lens Induro c113 carbon 8x tripod Induro SA12 ball head.

In the shot above I waited for some time to get cars going by just at the right time to make trails in the shot. We had some fun and headed out for the next location to see what we could find. The Saint Johns Bridge is an iconic bridge with its Gothic architecture and green paint. Shooting it at night was going to be fun with all its lights and tall towers.

ISO100 f13 20 second exposure Nikon D7100 18-200mm VR lens Induro c113 carbon 8x tripod Induro SA12 ball head.

Placing the tripod in the middle of the road at 1 am in the morning was a little scary but I liked the perspective view this gave down the road. Again we waited to get the timing right on the cars coming through the frame. Our next goal was a view of the bridge itself and we looked through the neighbor hood to find just the right spot to shoot from.

ISO100 f10 30 second exposure Nikon D7100 18-200mm VR lens Induro c113 carbon 8x tripod Induro SA12 ball head.

The key to the lighting in this shot was the fact that I was part of the way up a short driveway for a little extra height and my brother was standing and holding a large peace of cardboard up to block the light from a nearby porch light. We made a few shots very quietly so as to not wake any of the people up in the house very near by. My brothers idea was the waterfront near OMSI so we headed down in that direction. I parked the car in there parking area and walked to the edge of the river at the top of the bank for some starting shots.

ISO125 f10 25 second exposure Nikon D7100 18-200mm VR lens Induro c113 carbon 8x tripod Induro SA12 ball head.

With the longer exposure I got a lot more light reflection on the water surface. All the colors of the city come popping of the page with the contrast of darkness. Next we headed down to the water surface on the dock near by.

ISO800 f13 10 second exposure Nikon D7100 18-200mm VR lens Induro c113 carbon 8x tripod Induro SA12 ball head.

Thinking about the fact that the dock would move I setup right between two large steel support columns to help stabilize the tripod. I also hung my camera bag from the center column of the tripod. All this and the very calm night made it possible to get this shot. I think the dock stretching out across the water makes this shot. Zooming in I made a shot of the water that looked just like a painting.

ISO800 f13 10 second exposure Nikon D7100 18-200mm VR lens Induro c113 carbon 8x tripod Induro SA12 ball head.

For my last shots on this blog post I have a comparison between slow and fast shutter speeds and the difference it makes on the water. We had so much fun shooting these shots and I learned so much about it. I cant wait to get back out there and shoot some more.

ISO800 f13 8 second exposure Nikon D7100 18-200mm VR lens Induro c113 carbon 8x tripod Induro SA12 ball head.

ISO800 f13 2 second exposure Nikon D7100 18-200mm VR lens Induro c113 carbon 8x tripod Induro SA12 ball head.

As the exposure time gets longer the water gets more silky and the transitions of the colors on the water become more blended. This will not be my last trip out at night for sure. I look forward to the next one.

More trips to Lost Lake Bouldering

After my last trip up there I went back the next weekend for more fun and lots of cleaning. I spent the first 2 hours mapping the boulders above the road and then set into cleaning boulders for climbing. This was done in late May and the flowers were in bloom. What a beautiful time to be up climbing.

I cleaned two main boulders and put up 15 problems on that day.

These are located above the road and about 2/3rds the way up the hill next to the tree line.

Hear is a short timelapse off some of the problems that I climbed. So many are working on this place and the climbing is so nice. I have personally climbed 25 new lines right after brushing and cleaning. A friend of mine has done over 100 this way and others that I have seen up there have done so many more. There is so much to climb it is incredible. I hope some day that all involved will receive the thanks that they deserve. I know that I am supper happy for every climber that has ever cleaned a rock our route of any size and the lasting benefits to the community that it brings. Thanks for reading and enjoy the short video.


Lost Lake Bouldering from Tymun Abbott on Vimeo.

Dog creek. Rugged and beautiful.

I was going through my photo's the other day and came across my folder full of shots of a trip that I took up Dog Creek just east of Dog mountain in Washington. This trip was done in March of 2011 with a lot of water in the creek. We did not get all the way to the top of the drainage but we had a great adventure and saw an incredible canyon.

The loop we took.

Dog creek falls. The starting point.

Climbing the left side of the falls wall.

View looking down from the top.

The creek above the falls.

More drops.

Looking for a way across

We climbed up and through.

Drop after drop.

Looking back down the creek.

Looking onward

Working are way around the next one.

Nice falls!

Just above the falls.

Finally a flat spot but not for long.

The flat part of the creek.

Right around the corner more falls awaited.

We had to go higher to get past this one.

The creek below.

Making our way back down to the creek.

Looking down the creek from the landing.

My friend checking out the way ahead. This would be what stopped us.

The creek dropping and turning the corner.

Lots of water!

Climbing up super steep moss to see the creek above.

Beautiful falls below

The creek continues on.

The drops just above were the creek goes into a narrow slot.

We headed up to go out and the view was great.

The car way below.

Looking south across the gorge on a beautiful winter day.

After this last shot it took some time to work our way past the cliffs and down but we made it without incident. A wild adventure for sure and one to return to with more time.

Lost in some new boulders with my family.Holly Grace and Joy

A few weeks ago I made a trip back to a bouldering area that I was shown in the spring of 2013. Due to an injury I was unable to climb at the boulders that year and could not wait for this spring to get out to them. So when the weather broke my family and I went out for the day. We all had a great time and I sent about a dozen new problems with countless more to go.

Fresh spring flowers were just coming up and there was dew from the cool morning air on the ground. I had seen a waterfall near buy and went to check it out first.

A beautiful falls of about 70 feet. On the way back down to the road I passed some larger firs.

Just below these I came to a boulder that really caught my eye last year. It is incredible and I am glad to report that it is being worked on by some strong people and I hope it goes down.

The den boulder. Pretty sure something spends the winter under this one.

Next my family and I headed down the trail to find some bouldering for all.

Holly Grace and Joy 

Grace gets in on the action.

Joy loves to climb more than I do which is saying something

I decided that the direct line back to the road would be best to find new problems so Grace and I took off. In no time I found some lines to climb.

12 foot slab in the flops is always fun.

This boulder has 8 lines all told on it alone.

The top out on this one proved to be harder than it looked. You are only seeing the top 1/3rd

The boulders are great and the place is huge. Lots of more work to do and info to post soon. Thanks for reading.