We've all seen it as we drive through the Gorge.  In the day-time, it's a perfectly perched castle on top of the ridge.  At night, it's an alien spacecraft that has just landed and is on the prowl for victims.  The night-time story is one that I was told as a child. I don't remember who told me the tale, but I'll just default the blame over to any one of my older brothers.  Every-time we drove by the Vista House at night I was fairly confident that it would be our last.  I was also very impressed that we drove through the Gorge at the EXACT time the spacecraft landed EVERY SINGLE TIME. Impeccable timing on our end..... or theirs?  These were the things that occupied my mind on these ominous drives with my family. 

The world famous Vista House is one of the most photographed locations in the Gorge.  With good reason too.  Dedicated almost 100 years ago in 1918, it sits proudly at 733 feet above the mighty Columbia atop Crown Point, an area that was often referred to as "Thor's Heights".  In short, this is where I would live if I were to design the ultimate "house."  Not because of my Thor-Like biceps*, but because of it's pure awesomeness.

Although the Vista House is an excellent stopping point as you travel along the Historic Hwy, an even better stop is at the Women's Forum Viewpoint just west of the Vista House.  From this point photographers capture the iconic view of the Gorge seen on millions of postcards since 1918. 

Although this location is anything but obscure, I feel like it's a must for inclusion in our ongoing project.  We gave it a shot on our way back from Portland recently, but being the perfectionist that I am, the lighting wasn't quite good enough.  I'll be back soon when time allows, but in the meantime, here's a quick shot pulled from the lapse that just won't make the cut.


*And when I say "Thor-Like Biceps", I mean the opposite of that thing.

We love taking family photos.  There are so many different personalities within a family, and we love the challenge of showcasing each one of them.  

For this shoot, we originally had planned on taking photos up near the Rowena Overlook area.  Me and Jesse arrived early and confirmed our suspicions that the wind was trying to blow our faces off, so we quickly changed locations to the city streets of The Dalles.  

The Dalles has so many neat buildings with different personalities, giving us an excellent selection of backgrounds.  We settled on some older brick buildings near the railroad tracks and stayed within a city block.

We typically shoot family photos for about an hour, and this was the case with the Boones.  As we've discovered in the past, after an hour, most kids want to kick you in the knee-caps rather than smile for photos, so we didn't push our luck.  

Here are a few selections from the Boone photo session.  Biggie-Size thanks to them for allowing us to share some of our favorites.