I’ve been car-free for almost two years now, which has really limited my camping options. Luckily for me, my former partner reached out and proposed a barter. I watch her dog while she goes to New Orleans, and in return I get to borrow her car.

I decided I wanted to see the Painted Hills in central Oregon, about 5 hours away from Portland with the route I took. A surprising amount of people have never visited here. It isn’t close to much.

We made some stops along the way, only navigating with a paper atlas, maps picked up from ranger stations, and some CDs I borrowed from the library. Very 2008. This is from the summit of Rooster Rock Trail in the Santiam Mountain Range.

The change in scenery throughout this 3 day road trip was pretty surreal. To see rainforests, high deserts, and canyons in a few hours makes me extra appreciative to live in this beautiful state.

A basic campsite off a dirt road in the Deschutes National Forest. Shoulder season camping is great for the lack of people, but lame if you actually want to use your hands at night. It was about 35 degrees. The stars were alive under the towering Ponderosa Pines, and Hazel (the dog) and I found a cool femur bone in the morning.

The main attraction. The Painted Hills. Formed by millions of years of geological and volcanic activity.

The colors and landscape were truly otherworldly. The park was pretty quiet on a weekday so we did a lot of barking and joyous yelling on top of the hills in the wind.

The second night we stayed at a campground outside of Prineville. As I was watching the sunset, Hazel came up to me and pushed her head into my body, her way of giving a hug. It was a sweet moment that felt like being rewarded for taking her on this trip.

Only 3 campsites out of 30 were occupied and I was the only one silly enough to be in a tent.

We played the last day loose, not determining a plan until after visiting the Clarno Unit of the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument.

The “Palisades” were stunning, but the hiking trails were short and there wasn’t a proper city within an hour drive.

The trip was peaceful, it was nice to spend time with Hazel again doing what she loves (being outside), and lovely to spend time with my own thoughts during a time when my thoughts are actually pleasant.

I think I expected some sort of emotional weight to the trip, or maybe more lessons learned from traveling without a smartphone, but I think simply being present and appreciative is enough sometimes.

Check out the blog if you want more story behind these pictures! All were taken on an Olympus Tough TG-6.

Paraty was so colorful, both in the nature and in the architecture.

I love the composition of this shot! The lines of the clouds, sea, waves, wet sand, and dry sand weave together like a warm blanket.

I didn’t have the time/energy to take a walking tour of the city with a guide, but I know this church is older than the United States. I had a really emotional moment shortly before leaving for my trip, looking at the full moon and knowing I would soon be seeing the same moon from the other side of the world.

A few of the crew I met on the kayak tour.

I have to give a shout out to small(er) towns for opening up the possibilities for kids to be kids aka playing! Such as unsupervised jumping off bridges.

If you know me as a photographer, you know I like to get down low. If you know me as a dancer, you know I also like to get down low.

A cutie white heron who gave a nice honk as we passed by it.

I won’t soon forget the smell of the shin-high mud we trekked through to get out of the mangrove and back into the ocean.

A boat chilling in front of my favorite swimming spot from this trip.

I have a couple blogs up from my time here, but I’m using the gallery page on my site as an Instagram replacement for shorter blurbs.

I didn’t want to bring my Fujifilm camera (too expensive) or my Minolta film camera (too bulky/expensive), so I snagged a used Olympus Tough TG-6.

It’s not much better than a modern cell phone camera, so the editing has to do a lot of the heavy lifting. Many of the pictures from my Brazil trip will be color graded to match how the scene felt. I’m honestly not that interested in realism.

As seen here. The blues of the underground metro helped intensify how literally cool it felt compared to the late-summer tropical air on the surface.

I love a perspective shot at a music festival. It’s always fun to me to see how big a crowd is and say “hey I was in there shaking ass.”

The architecture in São Paulo surprised me at times with how historic it felt.

Something I noticed in both São Paulo and Paraty is how GOOD buskers/street performers were. Maybe it’s the vacation brain talking.

I loved how intent this woman was at picking out the perfect pop culture trinket. I’m also fascinated by how much humans communicate with their hands (especially Brazilians).

Mascots also are fun to take pictures of. I think the pressure of discrete street photography is lessened when you can’t see the human inside.

I wasn’t really “into” cars before street photography to be honest. The dents and missing hubcap on this car seemed to fit in well with the graffiti.

Two friends of mine asked me to shoot their actual engagement! I was honored to be there for such a big moment in their lives and also excited to try something new (see: scary) with my photography.

Bryn’s very beautiful vintage ring, featuring diamonds obtained from a family member’s ring <3 I shot on a mix of film (Portra 800) and digital.

This experience was extra fun since they both had engagement rings and both did their own proposals :]

Cameron’s ring! Apparently the jeweler was very impressed that not only the woman would be wearing diamonds. I love Portland’s embrace of defying gender roles.

They made it happen at Washington Park, where they met on their first date. Also where Bryn and I met on our first friend date :]

The rain let up this day for just enough time for us to squeeze this in during (what would be) the golden hour. We get a lot of grey hours instead.

The grain from the film stock is heavy here, the redwoods in their apartment courtyard blocking out the little light remaining.

Look how happy and excited my friends are!! Their giddiness was contagious, and we warmed up over a cup of tea afterwards before I walked home.

I got asked to hike this trail twice in the same week by separate people. The experience was a little Groundhog Day-ish, but I won’t turn down the opportunity to spend time in the mountains if it’s given to me!

On one of the two days I went, the snow came down in big fluffy chunks, and I loved the feeling of being removed from the outside world through that snow globe effect.

The trails would have been impossible to safely traverse without handy shoe-spikes.

The mist came in from the falls and I felt like my brain got wiped clean. We scrambled up closer and marveled at the structures of the ice formations on the ground and cavern walls.

I am a sucker for dappled sunlight coming in through the trees!

Some long(er) exposure practice on the stream here. I believe this is the East fork of the Hood River.

Yours truly <3