10 years ago, I took this image along the banks of the Klickitat River in Washington along the Columbia River Gorge. If you are familiar with that region of the Pacific Northwest, you know it to be one of the most magical places on this Earth. I know it as one of the few places that I truly consider home.
Starting in 1997 I began spending a substantial portion of my life in the Gorge photographing, hiking, getting Poison Ivy, throwing rocks and getting lost. My introduction to the Gorge didn’t come from the countless times I had driven through it as a teenager, but as a recommendation of my friend Terry Toedtemeier. Terry was a gifted photographer, geologist and an amazing person – one whom I owe an amazing debt of gratitude. He setup a trip to the Gorge for our class one day, and due to weather, and other conflicts I ended up going out alone, and spending the entire day in the rain taking pictures at Catherine Creek with an old Bronica S-2 that was a good 20 years my elder. I shot more than 10 rolls of film that day, and this image remains one of my favorites from that trip.
Over the course of the next few years, I exposed thousands of frames of film, guzzled hundreds of gallons of gas in my primer-black 74′ Chevy pickup, and walked countless trails, cliff edges, log flumes and river banks searching for something. The few times Terry joined me were… interesting to say the least. We always found something interesting, and we always got into some sort of mischief.
Terry passed last year while giving a lecture in Hood River on Wild Beauty. I have thought about him often over the last year, and how he influenced my education, career, and photographic course. The majority of images in this grouping would not have been taken had I not met him, or the hundreds of others that are either unprinted, or just not shown. Even though we hadn’t talked much in the last 7 years after I moved back East, his work, teachings, and ideas influenced the way I went about things, and there isn’t much a time that goes by that I don’t think about my friend.
Thanks Terry.
I remember you posting about Terry when he passed last year. I remember that he seemed to be a truly good friend and it saddened me that you had lost a friend like that. I’m sure Terry would be happy to know that you are still thinking so highly of him. I’m sorry for your loss and for his family.
Hope all is well with you. You seem to be keeping pretty busy.
In good health, Beaux.
Thanks Beaux. I am always busy with work, doing nothing, and playing with my kids. I haven’t been blogging as much as I like – but that’s the way it goes sometimes I guess.
It sounds like you’re having a rough go of it lately, and I know what you’re dealing with but it will happen – and then you’ll start to forget what it was like to be sick.
Take care.