Trying something new with Adobe Spark. Check it out with the link below:
https://spark.adobe.com/page/Oq74BuiC6qjbZ/
Author: chrisbagger
Born and raised in Oregon. Enjoy spending time with family, camping, traveling, and wine tasting. Hobbyist photographer that enjoys all kinds of photography. Visit my website https://www.chrisbagger.com
Coastal Getaway
Went to the Oregon coast for a few days to get out of the valley and relax. 
We had some great weather for walking on the beach. 
A great campsite with a very short (30 steps) walk to the beach. Beachside State Park is one of our favorites. 
Changing tides change the landscape and give you some textures you don’t normally see. 
Back home now and can’t wait for the next retreat.
All photos taken with my iPhone X. The best camera is the one you have.
Ankeny Day Trip/Lens Test
This weekend I took a day trip to Ankeny Wildlife Refuge just west of Jefferson and took some photos while trying out a new lens I got for my Sony A7. The new lens was a Rokinon 35mm f2.8 full frame auto focus lens I picked up for traveling as it is very small and lightweight. I wanted to test it out before a vacation to see which camera/lens combo I wanted to take with me.
Pre-dawn shot of Willamette Valley Vineyards. 
Spring time between the vines. 
Black and White silhouette. 
Sunrise. 
Ferns in the marsh. 
Black and White pathway. 
Willamette Valley Vineyards.
Overall the lens performed well and I enjoyed shooting with it. I think for my trip I will travel with my A7 and two lenses; 50mm and 35mm, and of course plenty of batteries. I will also have my Sony RX100iii and my GoPro. Look for photos from that trip coming soon!
Steens Spring Break Road Trip
I took a Spring Break road trip to the Steens Mountain area in Southeastern Oregon this year with my son and my dad. 3 generations, 3 states, 4 days, and over 1,000 miles of memories. We rented a house next to the Fields Station in Fields, OR, population 8.
After driving the 6.5 hours from Salem to Fields we spend the night in the little house we rented from AirBnB.
The second day we travelled down into Nevada and visited Bog Hot Springs. Well worth the detour to relax in the hot water in a secluded spot.
Bog Hot Springs 
Jake and I 
Three Generations
Jake had a burger and milkshake at the Field’s Station while my dad and I opted for the burger and beer combo. Went to bed early on the final day and woke for the drive home, another 6.5 hour drive. Everybody had a good time and enjoyed exploring the bottom right corner of the state.
24 Non-photography Items to Carry in your Camera Backpack
I just purchased a new backpack for photography, not my first by a long ways, a Lowepro Protactic 450. While I was loading it up with photography equipment I started thinking about non-photography items that I want to carry with me as well.
So, here is my list of things to carry that don’t directly relate to photography:
- A small pouch to carry these items (a mini backpack if you will)
- Small flashlight
- Gaffer Tape
- Zip ties
- Notebook with pen
- Small first aid kit
- Sharpie
- Paracord
- Multi-tool
- Spare batteries
- Safety pins
- Crazy glue
- Earplugs
- Sunscreen
- Lip balm
- Reading glasses
- Eyeglass repair kit
- Fire starter
- Binder Clips
- Canister with some quarters and $50 cash (amount may vary)
- Plastic bags–gallon, quart, and sandwich
- Small bungee cords and straps
- Dry bags
- Business cards
This list is by no means all inclusive, but is my list of items that don’t take up much room in my pack, but are very handy when you need them. I keep them in their own small pouch that I can remove in case I switch camera bags or if I am going for a drive I will throw them in just in case.
When I am flying to a destination I remove the multi-tool because it has a knife blade, and I will place that in my checked luggage. Over time I am sure I will add items, but for now this works for me.
Check out my website: http:www.chrisbagger.com
Starting to Take Some Portraits
The last couple weeks I have been playing with portrait shots and using my son Jake as a model. I took my him to an Oregon State basketball game and before the game we stopped at a spot on campus to take some pictures. I wanted to take some shots with fall colors in the background. This was a very quick shoot with my new to me Sony A7 with the 50mm f 1.8 lens.
This one was taken by a gate with a brick post I thought looked kind of cool.
I edited a couple in black and white, it eliminates the fall colors, but I have always liked the look of B&W.
This was couple days later with the same camera setup. I really like the eye autofocus system that the Sony cameras have.
I took this one in front of the Christmas tree also with the A7 and 50mm. This was shot at f 1.8 to blur the lights on the tree. I also used a Rotolight Neo shot through an umbrella camera left to light his face a little.
Portraiture is fairly new to me, but I am enjoying learning and working with light to get some different looks. Thanks for reading!
Fun at the Beach
Took a trip to the beach for a few days earlier this month, stayed at the Looking Glass Hotel in Taft, just outside of Lincoln City. We booked this trip in July so weather was going to be a crap shoot, but we got about as lucky as you could get with weather in the 70s all three days we were there.
The first night we walked down on the beach from the hotel and were treated to a great sunset. Played around with a couple shots from the iPhone X using the live mode to get some long exposures.
The next day we drove down the coast to Depoe Bay to look at the whales and then on to Newport for lunch and beers.
Later that evening we went to Fogarty Beach and my wife and son let me play around with a flash trying to get sunset family pictures.
Had a great time at the coast and look forward to going back again!
Silver Falls, Fall Colors, and Checking Out a New (to me) Camera
Went for a little hike this weekend at Silver Falls State Park. We started at the North Falls Trailhead and hiked to North Falls and then down the creek for a mile or so. The parking lot was pretty full and there was quite a few people on the trail for the end of September. We got to the North Falls and took a few pictures of the falls which looked pretty good with the Autumn colors just starting to show.
This was a chance for me to get out hiking with the family and also a chance to try out my new to me Sony A7 that I picked up used from Adorama. I decided after years of using my Sony A6000 it was time to venture into full frame. I picked up the A7 with a 50mm f1.8 full frame lens both used for what I thought was a pretty good price.
I really enjoyed shooting with the A7, it is not as fast as the a6000 focusing, but I was shooting landscape shots where slowing down is typically a good thing. The menu system and setup is very similar so the learning curve wasn’t bad.
Used the eye autofocus to shoot a couple of portrait shots and this works as well as it did on the a6000.
I still like the a6000, but for landscape and portrait shots I think I will mostly switch to the A7. The next step will be to sell a few of the APSC lenses I have for the a6000 and replace them with full frame lenses.
Thanks for reading, time to get out and shoot!
Crater Lake Drive in Early September
On the Friday before Labor Day early in the morning we left our campsite at Odell Lake to drive down to Crater Lake to drive the Crater Lake Rim drive and take some pictures. The rim drive is a little over 30 miles long with a lot of pullouts and picture opportunities.
When driving around the rim every view looks spectacular, especially if there is blue sky and sunshine or some dramatic clouds. This doesn’t translate into good photographs and I found myself looking for something interesting to put in the foreground to make the photos more interesting.
Placing a tree with some interesting bright green moss with the lake in the background also allowed me to frame the moon in upper left of the image.
Stumps and trees can help the frame the lake and add interest to photos as well.
My favorite foreground subjects were my wife and son who joined me on the drive.
We finished up back at Odell Lake where Jacob enjoyed fishing from the dock.
Chris Bagger 