2012 Highlights slideshow – Images by Andrea Johnson
Highlights include in chronological order: Point Lobos, California, Israel – Tel Aviv & Jerusalem, Jordan – Wadi Rum & Petra, Heli-skiing Canadian Mountain Holidays Bugaboos, Canada, Puerto Rico, Australia – Northern Territories & Queensland, Willamette Valley wine country, Oregon
It’s impossible to capture Oregon’s epic harvest in words, picture perfect conditions that are better shown than described. We had three months of blissful summer weather with no measurable rain June – mid September, without any heat spikes to sunburn fruit, and cool nights to retain the acidity. In the ten years I’ve been photographing harvest at home, these are the most ideal conditions I’ve encountered, making the past three weeks of pre-dawn wake up calls well worth the effort. Here’s a few hightlights of the harvest in Oregon’s Willamette Valley:
Harvest day sunrise over Mt. Hood and Sokol Blosser's estate vineyard, Dundee Hills
Pre dawn light at Sokol Blosser's estate vineyard and aerial view over Elk Cove's Mt. Richmond vineyard, Yamhill
Alloro Vineyard Whole Farm Dinner at Alloro Vineyard prepared by award winning chef Cathy Whims of Portland’s Nostrana Restaurant. 95 % of ingredients sourced from the Alloro estate property.
Alloro Vineyard team, left to right: Tom Fitzpatrick (winemaker) and his wife France, Nancy Clark, David Nemarnik (founder and vineyard manager), Erin Ertz, and chocolate lab Abby
Perfect summer evening at Red Hills Estate Vineyard, Willamette Valley, Oregon
Acclaimed Gilt Club executive chef Chris Carrikerevent cooks up a succulent slow roasted pig
Guests enjoying special pourings of Archery Summit pinot noir
Click here to check out the gallery of photos – http://bit.ly/ArcherySummit
(versions of this story ran in Oregonian and World Hum in 2012)
I’ve been working as a professional photojournalist for over a decade yet I still face the same challenge wherever I travel. How can I create meaningful ‘sense of place’ photographs that convey the uniqueness of each location; the sure-footed agility of Himalalyan Sherpas who effortlessly passed me on the trail to Everest Base Camp, the surreal experience of swimming with jellyfish and drift diving with sharks in Palau, or the incredible sense of freedom floating down fresh untracked powder helicopter snowboarding in the Canadian Bugaboos? It’s a never-ending quest to create photographs that create the same emotional impact in the viewer as I experienced during these assignments.
It takes time to allow a place to impress itself on you and to reflect on its significance afterwards. And time and attention are the two resources we lack most in today’s fast paced ADD culture. I was reminded of this challenge once again on a recent trip to Australia’s Northern Territory. I traveled extensively throughout Australia in 2001, but monsoon rains stopped me visiting the top end of the Northern Territory. I hadn’t realized the importance of that trip at the time. The openness of the land, devoid of modern distractions and illusions, allowed me to clear my mind and remove the creative blocks to begin my career as a photojournalist.
Stuart Highway, Northern Territory, Australia
I now had my chance to return to the areas of Australia’s Northern Territory I’d missed, traveling with a group of journalists while testing the newest Canon camera. To complete my assignment I’d be required to shoot almost exclusively with this ‘prosumer’ model (the EOS D650 also known as the Rebel T4i in the United States) aimed at the market between consumer and professional; a camera that wasn’t yet released to the market so I wouldn’t have a user manual or an opportunity to test the gear beforehand. And this time instead of three months, I’d have just five days to explore.