Postcard from the Cascades

The River Flows

The river flows quiet and swift
It twists and turns as the waters drift
It branches and breaks—its fingers entwine
It grows and grows—snakes like a vine.

The river with the soft scent of a calm day
With the smell of clean—hanging—still—in the grey
And sweetness carried on the breath of morning
It caresses the river—the waters flowing.

The river—crystalline from winter melt
And sweet with the summer soon felt
It tastes of springtime—the season between
And flows the river—so blue and clean.

The river—its lazy trickle of water
The musical rhythm—the ocean’s daughter
It whispers and murmurs—a song of its own
Playing over and over—in continuous drone.

The river—so clear and cool
The water flows—the color like a jewel
Its soft arms embrace the shore
The river surging from the days before.

The river flows quiet and swift
It twists and turns as the waters drift
It branches and breaks—its fingers in twine
It grows and grows—snakes like a vine.

Kailey Jennings

(To see a larger version of this image, just click on it)

To see more of my work, both in photography and digital painting, please visit my website, www.corkrum.com…or visit my Flickr Page.

Postcard from Olympic National Park

I call this photo, “A Deer Trying to Save the Planet.” Cute name, don’t you think? I shot it up on Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park. For those who don’t know, Olympic Nation Park is on the Washington State Olympic Peninsula, west of Seattle.

Its such an interesting place as it encompasses beaches along the ocean all the way up into the Olympic Mountain Range. This photo was taken at about 5,200 feet.

Because so many people visit the area, the deer are not afraid of people and will let you get close for photographs. But, I would not recommend any petting. Hurricane Ridge offers a magnificent view of the Olympic Mountains…but as the name implies, this place can get very, very windy. Also snow in July is not unknown.

The park itself is a wonder of nature. The west side of the mountains is mainly beautiful beaches and rain forests. That side gets about 150” of rain per year…the most rain in the continental US. The east side gets considerable less rain…one area northeast of the park gets only 16” per year. The east side features a plethora of old growth forests, mainly consisting of Sitka Spruce trees.

The day I was up here there were plenty of deer wandering around the large grassy fields. I photographed several of them, but this one was by far the most interesting.

(To see a larger version of this image, just click on it)

To see more of my work, both in photography and digital painting, please visit my website, www.corkrum.com…or visit my Flickr Page.

Postcard from Oxford

I am back home in Tucson after a road trip that covered seven states and well over 3,000 grinding miles. I am still recovering from all that, but eventually you will see some of the best photos from this trip. I had a great time and did a lot.

This image is from a trip a few years ago to Great Britain. It is the Oxford Museum of Natural History…a fascinating place that would take several visits to take it all in. As you can see from the picture, there are several skeletons from prehistoric animals spread all over the place…including a T-Rex that you can see off to the right (I shot a close-up of the T-Rex and showed it to you two years ago in this blog).

Actually this very large structure also houses another museum…The Pitt River Museum. Its hard to tell where one museum ends and the other begins as the only way to get to Pitt River is through the Natural History Museum. Pitt River is actually the name of a British explorer who collected thousand of  archaeological and anthropological artifacts from all over the world. The collection now counts over 500,000 artifacts, donated by travelers, scholars and missionaries. And that does not include the exhibits in the Natural History Museum.

Actually, it was the architecture of this building that inspired me to take this shot. You just don’t see this kind of architectural design in America. It was built in 1861 and would be classified as Neo Gothic architecture. The ornamentation of the stonework and iron pillars incorporate natural forms such as leaves and branches, combining the Pre-Raphaelite style with the scientific role of the building. In that vein, statues of eminent men of science stand around the ground floor of the court…from Aristotle and Bacon through to Darwin and Linnaeus.

By the way, if you are bothered by clutter, be forewarned that both museums hold a lot of stuff. Otherwise it is well worth a visit.

Postcard from Sonoma

When I was a young boy, I used to sit out on the patio on Memorial Day and listen to the Indy 500 on the radio. It was a tradition with me…and still is. Now, of course, I watch it on TV. I am not a big racing fan, but I never miss the Indy 500. It is just something special.

Last weekend, after a wait of over 60 years, I attended my very first live Indy Car race…at the Sonoma Raceway here in Northern California. It is not an oval track like Indy, but rather a 2.3 mile road course.

Unlike football, basketball, baseball, hockey, or any other sport you might name, one gets to get up close and personal with drivers and their cars, not to mention pit crews, car owners, and some of the great legends of Indy car racing. I got to see legends like Johnny Rutherford and Mario Andretti and several more as they wandered around the garage area. I met a couple of current drivers and look inside their racing machines. It was all very interesting, and yes, exciting.

It was a two day event with some racing and qualifying on Saturday and the big race on Sunday. I will save some of the details for later blogs.

I was with my friend Dave from Wenatchee and his good friend Pete who flew in from Wisconsin for this race. They stayed with me in Walnut Creek and, in exchange for room and board, paid my way into the race track. Both are avid Indy car fans and they brought me up to speed on the fine points of Indy car racing. Thank God I had them as my guides.

A friend of Pete’s advised us to sit at turn 2 as we would be able to see a lot of action there and still be able to see about 2/3 of the road course…and he was right. We also found one of the few viewing spots on the track that had a couple of shade trees so we were able to escape the wrath of the August sun. 

We sat there for both days except for the qualifying trials on Sat where we sat in the main grandstand just above Pit Row. I won’t go into details, but the qualifying rounds were as exciting as the race on Sunday. It is all about strategy, not to mention speed.

On Sunday, after surviving the earthquake and the inevitable road closures, the race track, which is only a few miles from the quake’s epicenter, was deemed safe for racing. We were able to get our seat in the shade so all was good.

If you ever watch auto racing of any kind, you know that the most dangerous and exciting time of the race is when the race officially starts after a couple of warm-up laps. The cars get up to full speed and try to jockey for better position. That was especially true this day. I had my camera ready aimed at turns one and two and just kept continuously shooting away. And true to form, there was a huge melee of cars touching each other, going off the track into the dirt and spinning out. That is what you see in this photo as the cars come out of turn 2.

Fortunately, all the cars were able to get back on the track and continue the race. And an exciting race it was, especially the last 10 laps. Three of the lead cars figured their gas wrong and had to pit, putting them out of contention. One car who was leading the race, ran out of gas in site of the finish line and finished 14th. Three other cars ran out of gas after crossing the finish line…two stopped right in front of me.

Bottom line was I enjoyed myself thoroughly and hope I can do it again next year. I will have a few more pictures of this race event for you in the near future.

PS: I am going on an extended road trip and will not be able to do another blog until I get back to Tucson in a couple of weeks. So, don’t give up on me.

(To see a larger version of this image, just click on it)

To see more of my work, both in photography and digital painting, please visit my website, www.corkrum.com…or visit my Flickr Page.