“Chehalem Fall (2)”

Location: Newberg, Oregon (2020)

Sunlight, breaking through on an afternoon in November of 2020, highlights the panoply of vineyards that make up this splendid corner of Oregon’s Willamette Valley wineries.

Passing clouds always make for interesting light. It’s never the same for more than a few fleeting seconds. Both shadow and sunlight seem to compete for attention as they chase each other across the landscape.

Having photographed here for the first time in October of 2019, I knew I had to come back under different conditions. And this time, I wanted the red steel barn of Chehalem Wines to be the main character in this dynamic scene.

With the light changing so quickly, my role was in timing my photographs. Tripod setup and camera settings constantly being fine-tuned between sets of exposures, I witnessed and waited for moments when the scene contained what I thought to be the right amount of shadow and light.