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.

Spanning 90 years of expeditions into the Gorge, Wild Beauty showcases what has to be the who’s who in Northwest landscape photography:  Carleton Watkins, William Henry Jackson, Albert H. Wulzen, Benjamin A. Gifford, Darius Kinsey, Lily White and Ray Atkeson just to name a few. This book distills what I love about the place into a series of photographs that are to me a joy to peruse and examine. Some of the images I have been lucky enough to have seen in person, yet the majority I had never seen and some of the photographers I had not heard of. Having spent a great deal of time hanging around Terry some 10 years ago now, I took everything that he was willing to give and took to the Gorge and made it my second home for almost 4 years before moving out of state.

If you have the chance to see the exhibition at the museum I would recommend it, and I myself wish I was able to do the same. The exhibition ends January 11th, and I am 2,642 miles away, so unless I accidentally get dunked in a vat of toxic waste and become the Flash it looks to be very unlikely that I will be in town before then.

I have gone through cover to cover 3 or 4 times now, just taking in the imagery, and it makes me realize how much I miss the place I call home and how much I miss my friend. This book is one of my favorites of all time, and I have to thank Terry, John and everyone at the Northwest Photography Archive who made this happen.

As a side note, I put together a small list of my favorite places on umapper, so if you are interested check them out and maybe the next time I am in town I will bump into you there.

Terry taught me damned near everything I know about photography, a couple of things about life along the way. Through Terry I became exposed to many great photographers and photographs I never would have. I met people who influenced the way I see, and taught me how to sculpt my vision into a beautiful silver expression of what I saw. On top of all that, what I will remember most about him was unique way of living. Terry was amazingly gifted, and equally as giving, and a little on the goofy side too – but that's what made him Terry.

I first met him while at PNCA my second Sophomore year, or maybe it was my interim-junior year… dunno, but it didn't take me long to realize that this fellow teaching my Photo History class was someone I could learn from. So I sponged, or monopolized as some would say, but we became fast friends. At his urging I went to Catherine Creek, and I was struck dumb with awe – to this day that is one of my favorite places. Many trips to the Gorge, and to the hardware store (to dig and pour a foundation by hand) later, Terry took on trip to the Coast; Cape Mears. This place is amazing, and just a bit dangerous if you stay too long (which we invariably did). I remember it because what I saw was someone with the same vigor and passion as this dumb kid who was just out of school. Even as we were wading through stomach high sea water holding our gear above our heads, we were lauging about how freakin cold the damned Pacific is, and how we better get our asses out of the water lest we end up in Hawaii.

The world is a poorer place without you Terry…. you will be missed.

** edit **

Terry's obituary was posted last night on the Oregonian site.