Photography from the First Week in November

November photography can be an iffy thing. Sometimes the weather is perfect and the fall colors are still vibrant. Sometimes everything is gray and drab. Last year I started a series of posts looking at photos I had taken during a specific week. The fifth week of December was the last I posted. I like sharing my photography, so today I give you five photos taken during the first week of November.

November Photography 2021

November 6th, 2021, dawned gray and dreary after a full night of rain. Still, I felt I could find something of interest to put before my camera, so I headed out. Driving along the Clark Fork River, I stopped several times to photograph the river, rocks, grasses, and other subjects I felt might make a good texture. Texture in this case refers to the background you might put behind an isolated subject. For instance, in my car photography, I often isolate the car from its setting, and put a solid color, or gradient, behind the car. I thought rocks or grass might be more interesting. So far I’m not impressed.

I also stopped to take pictures of bridges, notably railroad bridges that cross the Clark Fork. You can see the bridge shown above from Montana Highway 135, not quite half-way from St. Regis to Paradise. But to get a close-up view of the bridge, you have to turn onto a dirt road that leads to the Peninsula campground. The dirt road goes right under the bridge.

The bridge itself dates from 1908. Built by the Northern Pacific Railroad, it bore the name NP Bridge #208. Today we call it MRL (Montana RailLink) bridge #11. It is a Pratt deck truss bridge with a total length of 543 feet. The longest span is 150 feet. Of the fifty-nine pictures I took yesterday, this is my favorite. If you like it as well, you can buy a copy from my Red Bubble gallery here.

An Oregon Photo from 2006

I spent most of 2006 in California during the last year of my mother’s life. For my birthday that year, I bought myself a Nikon Coolpix L3. The idea was to see if I wanted to give up film for digital photography. The L3 was great fun and I took it everywhere. The photo above was taken on a shopping trip to Medford, Oregon–home of the closest Costco. I took a backroad, Oregon Highway 238, which follows the Applegate River south of Grants Pass. I loved this bridge, surrounded as it was with fall foliage. And as for digital vs. film? My Christmas present to myself was my first Digital Single Lens Reflex camera, a Nikon D80. I’ve never looked back.

A Portrait from 2007

After my mother’s death, I chose to take a road trip. I call it my 6,000 mile Sunday drive. I took three months to drive from Crescent City, California to Buckhannon, West Virginia and back. Actually, I put over 10,000 miles on my odometer, and that doesn’t include the long weekend trip in my cousin’s car. One of my objectives on the trip was to visit as many gay campgrounds as I could find. I stayed at gay campgrounds in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and West Virginia. Two in West Virginia. Who knew?

At Longfork Campground, I was sitting in the hot tub when a handsome young man approached me. Learning that I was a photographer, he expressed an interest in having some portraits done. We met in the resort’s game room where I offered him my leather. I proceeded to take over 300 photos of him, almost all Not Safe For Work. Usually, I don’t do portrait work, and this was my only attempt to date to do anything pornographic. I wouldn’t object to doing more–should any other handsome men want to approach me.

Curiously, I find that the only photography I did during the first week of November 2008 was a portrait sitting by a fellow in Missoula–where he kept all his clothes on.

Los Angeles in 2011

The first week in November, 2011, Kevin and I traveled to Los Angeles for a medical marijuana conference. While I spent most of my time in rather boring meetings, I did take the time to get out camera in hand. The photo above shows our hotel and the buildings behind it. The Westin Bonaventure’s architecture is striking–four round glass towers surrounding a central round tower. I took more photos downtown, including the Los Angeles Public Library building, as well as some of the floral displays typical of Los Angeles. Despite living in California for over 15 years, this trip was the most time I have ever spent in the state’s largest city.

Obligatory November Car Photography

Anyone who follows my work knows that I take a lot of photos of cars.  During November, 2012, Mike Henry and I got in my Saab 9-4x and drove out to the coast.  I can’t remember what business I had in California–something concerning my mother’s house.  Of course I took a lot of photos on the trip.  Courthouses, lighthouses, landscapes, seascapes.  But how can I leave this post without a photo of a car?  

Please feel free to leave any comments at all about photography, bridges, portraits, Los Angeles, even cars.  If you’d like a copy of any of the photos, let me know.  Only no comments selling drugs, sex, porn, or stories about your naughty roommate.  I get way too much spam as it is.