Nature Photography, LLC
Newsletter
August, 2013
Last Chance to See Us at a Show This Summer
Our show season is winding down, with only one show left this summer. The Sunriver Art Faire, held August 9-11 just 15 miles south of Bend, Oregon in the planned community of Sunriver, is your last opportunity to see us at a show until we return to Pasco in November. Come by and say hi, and bring all your friends and neighbors. With a Saturday street dance, Sunday breakfast, and all kinds of activities for kids in addition to fantastic artists and professional entertainment, it should be a great time!
Hours:
Friday, August 9 --
Saturday, August 10 --
Sunday, August 11 -- 9:30am to 4:00pm
Plus we would like to give a huge thanks for all who came to see us in Aspen on such short notice. (Hi Crystal and the Dans!) We had a fabulous weekend, despite the rain, and look forward to doing the Aspen show again next year.
Our Favorite Hiking Accessories
Getting the kinds of images that we like to capture often requires a wilderness hike (oh darn!). In addition to good hiking boots, sunscreen, and bug repellant, there are some hiking accessories that can make the journey a bit more pleasant. Here are some of our favorites:
Walking sticks. An often under-appreciated piece of gear, walking sticks serve a myriad of purposes. They allow you to use your upper body to assist in uphill jaunts and help protect your knees while going downhill. They can be used to move slightly-out-of-reach plants to one side for a clear photograph. If necessary, they can be used to splint a leg or form the basis of a shelter. And they make great – if somewhat challenging – clubs for a rousing game of acorn golf. Just be careful not to lean on them overly much; they can and will break, and that can send you tumbling if they were supporting too much of your weight. They are meant to be an assist, not a primary weight bearer.
Refillable water bottles. Regardless of what terrain you hike in, adequate water is a must, especially in the summer (though dehydration occurs just as easily in the winter). Since we both carry packs on our hikes, Camelbacks and other water bladders are not necessarily a good option for us, though they might work very well for you and are worth looking into. Our favorites are simple, refillable water bottles with some sort of loop through which a carabineer will fit. We attach them to the outside of our backpacks and, if the hike is long enough, stash a few more inside the packs. Terence likes the aluminum ones because they can take a bit of a beating, while I prefer those with attached straws so that I can quickly and easily take a sip without having to unscrew the lid or remove the bottle from my pack. After the hike they are easy to clean and refill for the next hike, and good ones will last for years.
Gaiters. For those who may not know, gaiters are pieces of fabric that wrap around your shoes or hiking boots and go part of the way up your leg, effectively sealing off the spaces between laces, boots and pants. Gaiters are a fabulous invention. Not only do they help to keep pebbles, sticker burrs, ants, and mud out of your shoes, they also help to protect your pant leg from things that would rip and tear them open. And when they are in dire need of a good cleaning, you can usually just toss them in the wash (though putting them in a mesh delicates bag first is always a good idea in order to keep their hooks from catching on other garments).
Carabineers. One of the classic all-purpose hiking tools, carabineers come in handy in all kinds of ways you cannot imagine until you need them.
Bear spray holsters / tear away strips on hiking shirts. Our hikes often occur in bear country, which means we are usually carrying bear spray. One of the fundamentals of bear spray is that to be effective, it must first be accessible: no burying it in a backpack or tucking it away in a hard-to-reach pocket. On the rare occasion that you might need to use bear spray, you must be able to reach it, remove it from its carrying spot, and get it aimed quickly, usually under circumstances that have your adrenaline going and your hands less than steady. (This is one situation in which carabineers are not ideal.) Holsters attach to your belt and keep the can easily accessible at your waist. Tear away strips on hiking shirts are simply little strips of fabric that are sewn onto the shirt at one end and attach with Velcro at the other end. By threading the strip through the handle of the can of bear spray, you can keep it at its most accessible: even in a panic you can rip the can away from your shirt for immediate availability. None of this is meant to frighten anyone who would like to go hiking in bear country. Bear spray is very similar to fire insurance: you will likely never need it, but when you do, you are sure glad you have it.
Don’t forget your small first aid kit to care for the blisters, bumps, and bites that are common accompaniments to treks through the wilderness. Make sure you know where you are, and have a plan for how to find your way again should you get lost (GPS, map and compass, etc.). Most of all, find what works for you, and get out there and hike!
August Specials
Get 10% off of unframed, 8x10 prints of “A Quiet Lunch” and / or unframed, 8x12 prints of “Early Evening on the Amnicon River” when you order from our specials page. As with all of our unframed prints, these prints are eligible for our No Hassle Returns.
Fun Facts
August 24th marks Vesuvius Day, of the infamous
·
· The 79 A.D. eruption is among the most powerful volcanic eruptions ever recorded.
· Vesuvius had another major eruption in 1631. Over a century later, during ongoing reconstruction, the ruins of
· Though the Italian peninsula boasts several active volcanoes in seas and on islands, Vesuvius is the only active volcano on the mainland in all of
· The last eruption of Vesuvius was in 1944, toward the end of World War II, when it created havoc for the Allies by destroying some of their planes and forcing airbase evacuations.
· Today an estimated 3 million people, including all of the citizens of
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